M3 washing by hand (2 bucket method)

[Glan gluaisne]

I wash with 2 buckets and use a DI. The less you touch the car the less chance of creating micro scratches / swirls. Drying the car you run a high risk of creating swirls as there is a lack of lubricant across the paint. There are, of course, plenty of other opportunities to add micro scratches at other points, my own preference is to do it this way.

Here’s a pic demonstrating the value of the 2 bucket wash.

That's a really good point, and one I should have remembered. My first Prius was black, and I wasn't too careful when washing it, mainly because, at the time, I was driving well over 20k miles a year, so always seemed to be washing it in a rush. When I came to sell it, I gave it a really good wash and noticed that the paintwork was really bad, covered in small swirls and microscratches, that probably looked worse because it was black. Took me hours to cut back the paint and polish it so it looked half way reasonable.

It looks as if my lazy approach of regularly giving the car a blast with snow foam, pressure washing and then a gentle rinse with DI water might be better for the paintwork, as well as being fairly quick and easy.

 

[JCremonini]

Drying the car properly shouldn’t cause scratches as you shouldn’t wipe the car dry. Buy some large drying towels, lay them flat across the largest parts of the car , dab and then lift . For smaller areas just pat dry.

 

[Jason71]

I have been experimenting with ways to make cleaning easy and quick while minimising risk of damage.
I have a white M3 which I wash most weekends since after my 300 miles of driving per week it looks like this:

I have never been a car cleaning obsessive but it makes me sad to see it like this. Thus I want it clean as quickly as possible with as little effort as possible and to not damage the paint work
So far what works for me is pressure washing (basic Karcher M2) with 40 degree warm water and car shampoo using a large bucket as the water source.
This takes off 90% of the dirt and works much better than tap water (which is about 8 degrees this time of year) even if using a bucket lowers the pressure a bit.
After that I blast a bit of snow foam on then quickly go over it with a wash mitt periodically using the pressure washer gun (lance removed) to clean the mitt, still with warm water. This negates the need for more buckets
After that I rinse it off with cold water from the pressure washer. This seems to get it pretty clean and minimises rubbing.
Every few weeks I spray on some Maguires Hybrid ceramic wax.

Since its white tar spots can be an issue. Not too bad since its winter but WD40 is widely recommended for these and does a good job.
The one advantage of white is that it does not really show up water marks so the only thing I dry is the windows using a microfiber towel

 

[DrJFoster]

There's a good step by step guide here - I really liked the bit about drying the car with the autogym stuff, I gave it a try and it really works.

Cleaning a Tesla

 

[asherwood]

De ironised water works great and saves the drying with a cloth method which I used to find was the stage that caused most of the swirls in the paintwork.

the only problem was that it only tended to last 10 or so washes before the product became less effective. (The one I purchased was a non refillable deioniser) so I’d buy a more expensive refillable one if I get another.

the other method is to get a strong air blower, I’ve seen this works really well on my car which is a ceramic coating. (Standard garden blowers are not strong enough in my experience)

 

[Glan gluaisne]

De ironised water works great and saves the drying with a cloth method which I used to find was the stage that caused most of the swirls in the paintwork.

the only problem was that it only tended to last 10 or so washes before the product became less effective. (The one I purchased was a non refillable deioniser) so I’d buy a more expensive refillable one if I get another.

the other method is to get a strong air blower, I’ve seen this works really well on my car which is a ceramic coating. (Standard garden blowers are not strong enough in my experience)

This is useful, thanks, as it's pretty much what I'm aiming to do.

If you know how much DI resin you have in the vessel (in litres) and also know the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the incoming water, you can calculate how much deionised water you can get from any unit. The non-refillable units seem to be very expensive for what they are, from what I've seen.

A refurbished 4.6 litre refillable DI vessel costs about £35 delivered, and holds about 4 litres of resin. An 11 litre refurbished DI vessel costs about £40 delivered and holds about 9 to 10 litres of resin. DI resin is best bought in 25 litre bags, which are around £80 delivered (but you need to watch the shelf life, apparently). Once wet, the resin has a very long shelf life, so it might be better to pay a bit more per litre for a smaller quantity.

There is an online calculator for giving the volume of water from a given volume of DI resin and TDS here (you need to fiddle around a bit to derive the info you need): Resin_Calculator.xls

You can measure TDS easily and cheaply with a meter. I bought one for testing our borehole water when we first had it drilled and although just a cheap one from ebay it seems OK. It's one exactly like this, cost under £3.50 delivered: Digital TDS 3 Water Quality Tester Purity Meter Pen Stick TEMP PPM Test Filter | eBay

Our water has a TDS of around 235ppm, so a 4.6 litre DI vessel filled with 4 litres of resin would deliver around 410 litres of deionised water before it needed a refill. If I opt to use an 11 litre vessel, filled with 10 litres of resin, then I'd get about 1025 litres of deionised water from it before it needed a refill. Cost would be around 4p/litre, I think (excluding the cost of the reusable DI vessel).

It's also a lot cheaper if DI water is only used for the final rinse, which is what I'm planning to do.

 

[NigelT]

Drying the car properly shouldn’t cause scratches as you shouldn’t wipe the car dry. Buy some large drying towels, lay them flat across the largest parts of the car , dab and then lift . For smaller areas just pat dry.

sure, but not everyone has the same technique, approach or patience. You have your approach, I have mine etc etc.

 

[NigelT]

For anyone who might be interested I bought the 7L vessel a few years ago from here: Refillable 0ppm Water Filter (7 litre) RG-Filter-7L

I generally refill it about once a year with resin and check the TDS readings semi regularly. For my needs, which is fairly regular washes, every other week or so - no issues. (230ish ppm from the regular tap)

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I've been looking at refurbished vessels from this seller: Items for sale by divessels | eBay

They seem good value, as they have new heads fitted, and it's the head and down tube that usually gets damaged (we have a couple of larger vessels just like these as part of our house water treatment system).

~£35 for a 4.6 litre vessel and ~£40 for an 11 litre one seems like pretty good value.

 

[NeilG40]

Does anyone else find that the lines down the side of the Model 3 make you miss bits, I've noticed it much more than my previous Leaf that was more slab-sided.

 

[pdk42]

Another good way to avoid drying marks, without the need for deionised water or wiping down, is to wash the car in the rain!

 

[Gatsojon]

For some reason I've found the need to wash the M3 far more often than any other car I've owned. Being black means it looks great when clean, but pretty grim when dirty. Giving the car a foam and pressure wash is quick and easy, it's preventing water spots that takes the time. I've got a big bundle of microfibre cloths (good value from Screwfix - currently £25 for pack of 50: https://www.screwfix.com/p/microfibre-cloth-blue-50-pack/62624 - no connection, other than as a happy customer) and they are very good for drying the car off, but it's still a bit of work.

I've found myself looking into getting a DI unit, just to rinse the car off. I made up a car wash trolley a few years ago, as my ancient Clarke power washer doesn't have an wheels or stowage for the cable, hose, etc, and there's room on it for a small DI vessel. The plan is to plumb it in so that there is a bypass around the DI vessel for foaming and pressure washing, that can be turned off to run deionised water through a low pressure hose for a trickle rinse.

I'm hoping that a gentle DI rinse will allow me to give the car a quick wash, without the need to dry it, in order to prevent water spots. Our water here is fairly hard, and the outside tap is fed directly from our borehole, before the water is treated and softened, so has a total dissolved solids (TDS) reading of around 235ppm.

The DI vessel and resin is a bit of an investment, roughly £50 for the vessel and fittings, plus another £75 for enough resin for two refills, but that set up should give over 2,000 litres of deionised water, so enough for quite a few car rinses, plus it may be handy for cleaning the house windows (I've been thinking of getting a water fed pole for a while for that).

Has anyone here experience of using deionised water for spot-free rinsing?

Living in Manchester, we are blessed with a huge amount of deionised water from the sky! I use rainwater from the barrel system to feed the pressure washer which gives enough head except in the driest periods.

 

[Torokruger]

On Thursday rinsed car down with pressure washer then Polar snow foam then thorough clean and chamois then soft massive towel completely dry.
Then hours of fun using a tiny clay bar kit (Autoglym) around the whole car (amazing what small imperfections you can get rid of) then another wash and dry then finally (Autoglym) Ultra high definition wax, wow ! it looked great until a 5 minute drive later with all the crud on local roads back to filthy but rinsing it clean was a heck of a lot easier.
White cars are a right pain.

 

[ebraith]

I suppose the final thing I have to say about DI is that I only ever wash off with it. That gives me more litres before a recharge.

 

[pgkevet]

My pressure washer died a couple of weeks ago so I just used the hose with one of those adjustable pattern spray-guns. It's almost easier - narrow spray to flush the mud out of the wheel arches then wide pattern to rinse over and get the worse of the loose stuff off car. After that a soft sponge in one hand and rose in the other so anyhting you loosen is instantly flushed away and the sponge flushed frequently. At this time of year in Wales there's no point doing more than washing - 200yds up a single track and it's filthy again. Come spring and signs of a drier spell and I'll go over it thoroughly, clay off any residual spots and redo the surface finish. I have my own borehole with excellent pressure and it was quicker without having to drag the pressure washer/extension lead around as well as a hose. No point worrying about water spots when it rains most days....

 

[davidmc]

After that a soft sponge in one hand and rose in the other

Very romantic

 

[tess19]

Living in Manchester, we are blessed with a huge amount of deionised water from the sky! I use rainwater from the barrel system to feed the pressure washer which gives enough head except in the driest periods.

Doesn't rain water contain bits which could scratch the paintwork?

 

[spon88]

I use the two bucket method after a good hose down to remove any loose debris. I have ceramic over PPF so pretty easy to keep clean and looking decent. A couple of large car drying towels gently applied to finish off. Once a month is enough for me to be honest and even at that, my neighbours still look at me a bit odd.

However I do question my sanity even with this simple routine. With earlier cars, I used one bucket and a hose pipe. A good wax once a year and the car still looked pristine. I supect we've all gone a bit potty with this car paintwork malarkey

 

[Subevo]

Here’s my method

 

[J0hn.r]

My time is extremely limited, so even I enjoy washing it I'd rather be driving it so here's my method:
Once every 2-3 months I call my favourite detailer (man-in-a-van) which does a proper end to end job: for £60 he will prewash, foam, wash properly (2-bucket style), clay bar, apply wax and sometimes polish. Inside and out.
Then every week or 2 weeks (depending on time) I spend just 15 minutes doing a few of the steps but skipping a few others: prewash rinse and apply citrus foam with a Bosch pressure washer, then leave the foam for 5 minutes and gently rub some of the more stubborn dirt patches with a wash mitt. At this point the paintwork is silky due to the treatment applied every 2-3months so I don't have to do much of that. I'm always in awe of the state of the wheels, almost no brake dust at all which used to be my worse bugbear (Back to dirty state in just 2 days in my previous cars).
Then another rinse and a 10min drive to dry. Very quick and I hope not too painful in terms of swirls - we'll see.