"HowTo" take care of the exterior?
 

Having never owned a nice car, and also reading about how sensitive Subaru paint can be, I am extremely scared of hand washing my car.

I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but is there a "how to" on washing and otherwise taking care of the exterior/paint/etc? I don't want to scratch or leave swirls or anything like that, so far I've just been hosing it off or taking it to a touchless wash, which I understand you need more than that sometimes (especially up in the northeast...).


Tips on products and particularly, what to actually use to wash the car (mitts, towels, sponges, brushes, or what?). I'm sure as far as the soap/polish/wax goes everyone has opinions, but as far as the actual thing that is making contact with the car- what's best?


Thanks!

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25599
2-bucket wash, thread details what to buy, but you really just need ONR, 2x 5-gallon buckets, microfiber sponge (nice to have 2 to go back and forth with), drying towel (chamois), everything else is optional/nice to have.

Grab your popcorn...I like their products, but their video series is very educational, regardless of the brands you end up using.

http://www.adamspolishes.com/t-videos.aspx

This is *exactly* what I was looking for.

Thank you!

Don't like all the products recommended in this one but here is autogeek's How To on car washing

http://www.autogeek.net/exterior.html


Poke around the detailing forums a bit (autopia, autogeek, detailing bliss). You'll learn a lot in a hurry with the search button

Kind of off-topic but can anyone comment on the difference in purpose of wax vs clay bar?

best guide on the net.

clay bar pulls the impurities out of paint.

wax is a protective barrier between the clear coat and environment that often provides UV protection and makes the car look damn sexy

Yup, clay bar is a cleaning product. Pretty amazing actually. It'll pull crap out of the paint you don't even know is there, without scratching if you do it right. You should wax/sealant after using it though as it'll pull most of whatever coating you use off too.

Clay will NOT pull off most coatings like wax if used with a quality detailer as lubricant - it will pull the impurities (crap) off right through the coatings. In fact, many of the most recent impurities will actually be in the coatings themselves. When it does this it will leave tiny pores in the coatings requiring a thin re-application of the coating to fill in the pores.

It's pretty amazing stuff but it is NOT a cure for scratches, swirls, waterspots, etc. It mostly removes the stuff you can't even see that dulls the finish over time.

Just one more weapon in the arsenal against mother nature's intent to destroy our rides!

I've also found Larry at AMMO NYC has an extremely in depth and detailed video series. His videos show these techniques can be used on everything from a Honda Fit to old Ferrari's.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AMMONYCdotcom

Good stuff! Thanks!