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Washing & maintenance
- Thread starter Andreas M
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joebruin77
Active Member
Dear Tesla 3 lovers,
I am a new & proud black Tesla 3 P owner. How do you wash your car and what products do you use?
Thanks!
Congrats on your new Model 3. There are lots of posts on this topic, so you might try searching TMC.
Some general thoughts and recommendations:
-Black shows everything, including scratches and swirls. It is best to avoid commercial car washes and hand wash your car yourself.
-Unless your car is super dirty with caked on mud, rinseless washes with Optimum No Rinse (ONR), Mckees37 N-914, or Wolfgang Uber Rinseless Wash are great. If done properly, they will not induce swirls or scratches. Dry the car with soft, clean drying towels and a drying aid, such as Ammo NYC Hydrate or your favorite detail spray. Some people prefer not to touch the paint at all when drying and will use a car dryer/blower instead.
-Although the Tesla manual recommends touchless car washes, I avoid them because the soaps they use have high Ph, which means they degrade or completely strip off waxes and sealants.
-You will definitely want to protect the paint. At a minimum, I would use a ceramic-infused spray sealant such as Wolfgang Sio2 Spray Sealant or Griot's Garage Ceramic 3-in1 Wax.
-Many owners want more protection and opt to have a ceramic coating and/or Paint Protection Film (PPF) installed. Some people install a ceramic coating themselves, others prefer a professional installation. If you do both PPF and a ceramic coating, you want to make sure the paint is clean and polished. You apply the PPF first to the clean, bare paint, then you apply a ceramic coating on top of the PPF.
Water and soap….
theres thousands of threads on car care products. Not an exaggeration. Tesla paint is nothing special, use whatever you want and have time to do. Use one bucket, two, or 10.
or spend several thousand and wrap it in ppf, then apply ceramic, then another coat of ppf, and two more coats of ceramic. Then use 5 buckets to wash your car over an entire weekend to make it look marginally better than someone who parks it next to a sprinkler.
theres thousands of threads on car care products. Not an exaggeration. Tesla paint is nothing special, use whatever you want and have time to do. Use one bucket, two, or 10.
or spend several thousand and wrap it in ppf, then apply ceramic, then another coat of ppf, and two more coats of ceramic. Then use 5 buckets to wash your car over an entire weekend to make it look marginally better than someone who parks it next to a sprinkler.
DeltaOne
Member
Before getting my Model 3 two months ago, I had always used dishwashing soap and a sponge to wash our cars. Never dried them. So, I get a new Model 3 and want to do better.
I buy some Optimum No Rinse, a washing mitt and a grit guard for my bucket. And a pile of soft towels for drying. I add two or three capfuls of the ONR to about half a five gallon bucket. No water restrictions here, so I hose the car off first. Use the mitt to wash, starting at the top and working down. A quick rinse with the hose and then dry with the new towels. And some Car Guys Hybrid Wax sealant, but I haven't used this yet.
Problem? I don't like the ONR. I'm use to using sudsy soap. I don't like the washing mitt...but I'm sure it's a better choice than a regular car washing sponge. And I have found a surprising amount of grit in the bottom of the bucket when I'm done. The ONR seems to do a fine job, I just miss using a sudsy soap. The washing mitt is heavy. Takes two days to dry out.
I'm really curious how most folks around here wash their cars, I hope this thread gets lots of replies.
joebruin77
Active Member
If your car is super dirty and you can see mud or dirt splashed onto the paint, then a traditional 2-bucket car wash is the way to go. But I would say 90%+ of the time, I safely do rinseless washes using ONR. The ONR solution encapsulates the dirt and dust particles, and the polymers in it give lubrication when you dry, so you are less likely to scratch the paint.
Here are some things you can do to reduce the chance of inducing scratches or swirls when doing a rinseless wash:
1) Put some ONR solution in a spray bottle and pretreat the dirtier areas first, usually towards the bottom of the car. The ONR will dwell and encapsulate the dirt. Just make sure you do this in the shade. You don't want the sprayed-on ONR to dry on the paint before you perform the rinseless wash in the same area.
2) You can use the "Gary Dean" method. Instead of a single large wash mitt or sponge, you fill the ONR bucket with 8-10 clean microfiber towels. You only touch the paint with a clean side of a towel. Once the towel is soiled, you do not put it back in the ONR solution bucket. Instead you take another clean towel. This way, you never induce dirt into the "clean" bucket.
3) You can use a 2-bucket method with a rinseless wash. You have a clean, ONR wash bucket and then you have a second rinse bucket. If you use this method, make sure both buckets have a grit guard and make sure both buckets have ONR solution. Some people make the mistake of only putting ONR in the clean bucket and have only water in the rinse bucket. This may dilute your ONR too much.
4) A lot of scratches and swirls are induced during the drying process. So even if you are super careful with how you do the rinseless wash, you may still end up inducing swirls and scratches with improper drying. You can dry using a blower so that you do not touch the paint with a towel. If you use a drying towel, make sure it is clean and soft. And make sure you use a drying aid. This can be your favorite detail spray, a wax, or a dedicated drying aid. IMO the best drying aid on the market is Ammo NYC Hydrate. You can actually dry the entire car using a damp microfiber towel. Since you never touch the paint with a completely dry towel, you have more lubrication and thus are less likely to induce scratches. I have used Hydrate and you really can dry your whole car with a single damp towel and the Hydrate spray.
5) Make sure you clean your wash mitts and towels in a way that they stay soft. Common mistakes to avoid are using fabric softener and drying your towels at a high temperature in the dryer. Both fabric softener and high drying temps harden the ends of the microfibers. Then the next time you use the towel, you are likely to induce scratches and swirls. So do not ever use fabric softener on microfiber towels and always dry them on an ultra low temperature. And if they start to feel not as soft, get rid of them and buy new towels.
Sorry if that is TMI, but I hope that helps,
joebruin77
Here are some things you can do to reduce the chance of inducing scratches or swirls when doing a rinseless wash:
1) Put some ONR solution in a spray bottle and pretreat the dirtier areas first, usually towards the bottom of the car. The ONR will dwell and encapsulate the dirt. Just make sure you do this in the shade. You don't want the sprayed-on ONR to dry on the paint before you perform the rinseless wash in the same area.
2) You can use the "Gary Dean" method. Instead of a single large wash mitt or sponge, you fill the ONR bucket with 8-10 clean microfiber towels. You only touch the paint with a clean side of a towel. Once the towel is soiled, you do not put it back in the ONR solution bucket. Instead you take another clean towel. This way, you never induce dirt into the "clean" bucket.
3) You can use a 2-bucket method with a rinseless wash. You have a clean, ONR wash bucket and then you have a second rinse bucket. If you use this method, make sure both buckets have a grit guard and make sure both buckets have ONR solution. Some people make the mistake of only putting ONR in the clean bucket and have only water in the rinse bucket. This may dilute your ONR too much.
4) A lot of scratches and swirls are induced during the drying process. So even if you are super careful with how you do the rinseless wash, you may still end up inducing swirls and scratches with improper drying. You can dry using a blower so that you do not touch the paint with a towel. If you use a drying towel, make sure it is clean and soft. And make sure you use a drying aid. This can be your favorite detail spray, a wax, or a dedicated drying aid. IMO the best drying aid on the market is Ammo NYC Hydrate. You can actually dry the entire car using a damp microfiber towel. Since you never touch the paint with a completely dry towel, you have more lubrication and thus are less likely to induce scratches. I have used Hydrate and you really can dry your whole car with a single damp towel and the Hydrate spray.
5) Make sure you clean your wash mitts and towels in a way that they stay soft. Common mistakes to avoid are using fabric softener and drying your towels at a high temperature in the dryer. Both fabric softener and high drying temps harden the ends of the microfibers. Then the next time you use the towel, you are likely to induce scratches and swirls. So do not ever use fabric softener on microfiber towels and always dry them on an ultra low temperature. And if they start to feel not as soft, get rid of them and buy new towels.
Sorry if that is TMI, but I hope that helps,
joebruin77
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