Proper vehicle cleaning / polishing / waxing with minimal work?

[Daox]

So, this isn't really for my cars. I am mostly doing it for my bike. Although I probably should do SOMETHING to them. I'm really just horrible at keeping my cars clean. Being in Wisconsin, with our salt use, this isn't the best thing. I don't even remember the last time I washed a car (or the bike) let alone wax it...

So, I'm asking what is the correct or proper way to go about cleaning up and protecting the finish on a car? Keep in mind, I'm obviously the exact opposite of anal about this thing. When I do google searches, the amount of work that some people put into making their car look good seems ludicrous to me. What I want is to protect things, not necessarily make them look like they just rolled off the showroom floor. I want to put in a minimal amount of work to maintain (IE prevent rust, etc.) my vehicles.

So, what is the proper way to wash / polish / clay bar / wax? I'm not even sure thats the right order! I'm also looking for suggestions on products too. The other day I picked up some nufinish as it claimed it was a 'once a year paint protectant'.

[Simonas]

From what I have seen, polishing, etc. does not help prevent rust. The most important thing is to keep the paint from getting scratched deeply or in any other way allow moisture through the paint to the metal. Repair an area as soon as you see rust. Don't think to yourself, "I'll try to get it repainted next year." By then, the paint near the scratch or whatever it is will be puckered up, and if you live where roads are salted, you may find an nice little hole...

If you can't afford to paint the section decently, at least sand down the area and get some good primer on there. The primer looks better than rust holes, even if it doesn't match the paint.

Don't procrastinate.

[Frank Lee]

With every passing year I get worse and worse about keeping the vehicles washed and waxed. :/

It has been my observation that much of the surface filthiness comes from simply parking them outside overnight (garage crammed with other ****); just about every night when things cool down the cars get covered with dew and that just grabs whatever dust is on the car- and blowing around in the breeze- and glues it onto the paint.

But as far as rust goes, I'd think Sconnie is just like here, and that means we have super salt-happy morons at the DOT and city road crews. What I've seen on my pieces of junk is that rust happens from underneath and even from the inside out, meaning no amount of washing, waxing, and polishing would have helped prevent surface rust anyway. For example my F150 is the only vehicle I've ever had from new. I washed and waxed that sucker endlessly plus I know how and where to wash it (or so I thought) by looking at other F150s and seeing where they rotted out. So at the car wash I spent as much time blasting under the rockers and up and around the inner wheel wells than I did on the parts we can all see. There was always a little pile of junk gathered on top of the rear inner wheel wells and as a result of my always cleaning that out I didn't see rust above the rear wheel wells for many years; usually that's the first place I see rust on F150s. But the rockers on the x-cab got rusty first and they did so from the inside out; I've heard there is a condensation issue there. All the washing and waxing in the world will do nothing for that. I'd have to have taken the interior panels out when it was new and treat the sheet metal from the inside with roofing tar, grease, undercoating, whatever. Of course the "rustproofing" from the stealership was nothing but a scam.

[MetroMPG]

Agreed.

I would say most serious rust comes from dirt/moisture trapped where it shouldn't be, not from exterior paint issues. (Assuming there's no physical damage to the finish that will let rust start in the first place).

I used to be fanatical about washing/waxing etc. Now I wash once a year whether it needs it or not.

If rust is your main concern, the more important thing for someone living in the rust belt is getting a periodic light oil type of spray inside & underneath the critical areas. That requires drilling holes (as Frank can attest) to get it inside the panels.

[user removed]

I polish rust.

On the 1965 Honda, my goal is preservation of the original finish. I just polish and wax with my electric buffer but mostly by hand on bikes. and two separate pads. If you have a scuff, hit it with 1500. then my preference is a product that cost $43 a gallon and it is used to polish out 1500 grit scratches.

Not much salt here, but I like to pressure wash the undercarriage, in the spring. Nothing too close or you might blow the paint off.

I wash the car with Dove, the same thing I shower with, since it is good at getting grease off of your skin without too much trauma.

I wipe the car down with old towels the wife was going to throw away. If the towel has noticeable drag across the paint, it's time for a new coat of wax.

The compound I use is Production Synthetic Cutting Cream, $43 a gallon. might be sold to just body shops, not sure.

You can't save clear coat when it starts to delaminate, but other than that, I can make ugly look good.

regards
Mech

[Daox]

Thanks guys. I guess I should get on the rust preventing a bit more.

As for the bike, what about chrome? I've used polishing compound to get the rust out, but it just comes back. I don't think I waxed it though. I assume that will that keep the rust off it longer? That is actually what I got the nufinish for in the first place. I just wanted to tidy up the bike and stop it from deteriorating as best I can.

The top of the gas tank does have a bit of peeling clear. Thats what started this whole thing.

Oooh, and what about plastics on the bike? My kill switch used to be red... its now more of a faded pink. Go over that with a UV protecting interior spray?

[user removed]

If I can't wax it, I'll wipe it off with an oily rag then wipe it again with a clean (fairly) rag.

All bike chrome, even where it has been dropped bad enough where you take a file and smooth it out, then hit it with a scotch disc in my drill. Wax it or clear coat it and wax that.

Best thing for bike chrome is a brass brillo pad and the same compound I use on paint (previous post).

regards
Mech

[redpoint5]

I wash my Acura about once per year, and my bike maybe twice. Both are garage kept, and Oregon doesn't salt. I'm not sure I can be much help in this regard.

After a hand wash, I towel dry and then apply a carnuba wax to the paint and glossy plastic. Don't use wax on plastic that has a texture as it just turns things white until the wax wears off. Using a dry towel, I then remove the bulk of the wax, bringing the finish to a shine.

OT- but I wonder why stainless steel isn't used? Does the paltry 11% chromium really drive the price up that much? I actually like the unpainted look of the Delorean.

[Baltothewolf]

Wow I feel like a fanatic, I wash my civic once a week, and my Mustang once every 2 weeks...

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

OT- but I wonder why stainless steel isn't used? Does the paltry 11% chromium really drive the price up that much? I actually like the unpainted look of the Delorean.

1. Mfg's really don't want a car to last indefinately.
2. If you look at a modern car every cent counts. S/S also drives up the production costs of tooling, stamping and welding. Ford built a few stainless cars in the 30's, so it's not like they haven't thought of it.