Adding my two cents...
I do most what every one else does to detail thier truck...my deviation is in I use two separate water buckets. One for the lower half of the truck, tires etc (gritty kinda of stuff) and the second bucket I use for the upper half (not so gritty). This I am hoping is keeping the swirls/scratches to a minimum. As for drying I too use a leaf blower to get the water out of nooks and crannies. I use *American Made 100% cotton towels* I am adamant about this because what I found is that foreign made towels have stitching that is not cotton. Non Cotton = scratches. To this degree I trim off the borders of the towels and any tags that may be on them. These towels are dedicated to auto washing in my garage. For waxing/polishing I also use a clay bar and ZANO Bro.s line of detailing products. Happy Detailing yall....

 

Throw away the armor all and try Vinylx.
Works very well,excellent cleaner and not greasy,plus uv protectant.

(agree w/ the 2 bucket method)
Also use a water blade and "lots" of microfibre.
I use the 2x3' for drying.

 

ngng, all that stuff looks like it is uber awesome but its also uber expensive. If I detailed professionally or did shows, hell yeah I would buy that whole line of products. I just cant justify buying a $25 towel. Excellent info though man. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford all that stuff.

BTW, your rig looks great! Nice and bright.

Ok last thing, any real reason why you say Turtle Wax and water blades and whatnot are a no no?

 

To keep micro-scratches and swirls to a minimum, a two-bucket wash system is a must. The first as a rinse bucket, the second bucket is the wash bucket. Even then, I use the hose to pre-rinse before I use the rinse bucket. I use Meguiars Deep Crystal car wash for my soap.

I have a Porter Cable 7424 I use for my exterior needs. I like that machine. Flawless and idiot proof. Perfect for me!

Adams is good stuff. I'm using Smartwax right now http://www.smartwax.com , but when I run out, I might try Adams.

For my leather, I use SmartLeather.

For swirl and scratch remover, I use Britemax products and my Porter Cable. http://www.britemax.com/

This was the top of my Lightning a couple years ago:






I used RestoMax and PerfectPrep along with my PC 7424 to cut that milk out.

I have Meguiars micro fiber towels (I couldn't find any locally that didn't have a tag or the sewn in edge, like the Costco yellow micro fiber towels have) and clay bar, and I use Mothers Back to Black on my plastic and vinyl surfaces.

Armour All won't touch a thing on my truck.

I used to use Britemax Easy Cut and Final Shine for my chrome rims, but have since switched to Deep>Chrome http://www.deepfinish.com

I have two silicone water blades I use on my windows. Excellent tool. I also have two waffle weave micro fiber towels I use for drying.

ngng, how do you like the Menzerna? I haven't tried it yet but I hear that stuff is bomb!

Stewart

 

Why no Armour All Stewart? I only use it inside.

 

When I was a teenager, all I ever used was Armour All. I realized after a couple years the stuff I put Armour All on took on a brownish tint. My dash, trim, and tires all had a brownish coloring to it.

The seats I used it on all cracked too. I can only assume it dried out the vinyl seats over time, the opposite of what it was supposed to do.

I won't ever use the stuff again.

Stewart