Looking for car washing advice

[adiggs]

Good afternoon all,

I have a couple of related problems that I bet a few of you will have some opinions on and can help me out with.

The first problem is that I've been driving an econobox for 20+ years - a car I wash annually, whether it needs it or not. Ok, sometimes I skip a year here and there. The real point being that I've gotten a long way through life and never really needed to learn how to wash a nice car. Now I'm driving the Roadster, and I foresee more car washes in my future. I plan to be hand washing, but suggestions on tools, techniques, and washing / waxing stuff to be using would be greatly appreciated. In almost no time, I've discovered that Jet Black Roadsters need to be hand dried - it collects water spots at an amazing pace.

The second problem, related to the first problem, is that we have extreme chemical sensitivities in the house. So I can't use just anything for washing and cleaning the car, inside especially, but even the outside. So I'm looking for either a product line, or just individual washes and waxes, that have a short and friendly ingredient list. Of particular interest here is leather and other interior cleaners that might work for chemically sensitive folks.

One suggestion for car washing stuff we've run into is Zymol (Official Zymol Website - Home
). Any opinions about their stuff in general, as to how well they work for a Roadster? Anybody with chemical sensitivities with experience with their stuff, or with others?

Thanks for the help,
Asoka

 

[jerry33]

The second problem, related to the first problem, is that we have extreme chemical sensitivities in the house. So I can't use just anything for washing and cleaning the car, inside especially, but even the outside. So I'm looking for either a product line, or just individual washes and waxes, that have a short and friendly ingredient list. Of particular interest here is leather and other interior cleaners that might work for chemically sensitive folks.

I'd suggest the best way to deal with this is to get the car completely wrapped with paint armour. This will protect the paint and you will be able to choose a product based on your chemical sensitivity.

 

[Doug_G]

You don't need anything fancy... Just a simple liquid soap.

 

[dhrivnak]

And I found a leaf blower does a great job of getting most of the water off. Then a small towel will get the remaining drops off. For me it is much faster as well.

 

[Mr X]

all you need is water and a towel

 

[wiztecy]

When I purchased my Roadster, Radiant Red in color, it also had lots of droplet spotting after washing. I ended up buying a "Spotless" professional car washer filter which has two very tall cartridges to filter out hard water deposits. It filtered the water down to 4 parts per million but the end result still had spots! Lime deposits was my biggest concern but I ended up buying an Eddy lime descaler that I feel works and remedies my biggest concern. I'll be taking back the Spotless, bought it from Costco online so there's no issue there.

There's nothing special about the Roadster's paint, wash / polish / wax it as you would any other car. Just don't spray water down in the vents, on the fans, or any area that has electrical connections or motors.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

And I found a leaf blower does a great job of getting most of the water off. Then a small towel will get the remaining drops off. For me it is much faster as well.

I forgot that trick again.

..but I like doing really fast short runs!

 

[vfx]

One suggestion for car washing stuff we've run into is Zymol (Official Zymol Website - Home
). Any opinions about their stuff in general, as to how well they work for a Roadster? Anybody with chemical sensitivities with experience with their stuff, or with others?

I know a meticulous Roadster owner that uses this regularly.

 

[slcasner]

There was a good thread on this a while back: Any tips on detailing a Roadster?
My own post in that thread was about techniques: Any tips on detailing a Roadster? - Page 7

 

[adiggs]

Thanks all for the comments and links. That link for tips on detailing the Roadster seems to have MY CAR, or at least a really good facsimile, starring early in the thread as a Jet Black Roadster, with a mirror shine. Now I have something to shoot for, though that's going to take some training and practice

We're going to start trying out the Zymol stuff - we like that the ingredients are listed.


I tried out the leaf blower idea yesterday - I liked how that worked so well, I see a purpose built car dryer / blower in my future.

 

[Botbldr45]

Griots Garage .... If you have the wrap the spray on car wash is outstanding..... Don't need water just soft wipes and follow directions!