Quote:
Originally Posted by jediknight36
Well thats the issue. I dont have a hose or anything. So are machines ok? Or should I take it down to the DIY place, and what chems should I stay away from?
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I always wash my Miata in one of the coin-op deals in my neighborhood, as I also live in an apartment with no hose or designated washing area (subterranean parking).
I've found that the automated washes with spinning brushes quickly wear down the shiny newness on a fresh car. The paint gets this dull, lifeless look to the it courtesy of micro-abrasions from the whirling brushes. I'd assume that the brushes collect a bit of dirt from everyone's cars as they go through, and have a light sandpaper effect on the paint.
Even though the Smart has color-impregnated body panels, I'd imagine that there's a clear coat sprayed on them to give them that deep, glossy look. If this clear coat becomes dull, then the whole car will look aged.
At any rate, in the coin-op wash I always pull the soaping brush off the hanger, lay it on the ground (face up), and blast it out with the fresh-water rinse to get rid of previous users' gunk before doing any scrubbing on the finish of my car. This prevents the aforementioned sandpaper effect.
Then I blast off the loose dirt on the car with the same fresh-water sprayer, and move to the previously-rinsed soaping brush. With the soaping brush, I start with all the glass on the car first, just so that any remaining grit or chemicals stuck in the brush are loosened up over glass, instead of paint. I use the soap brush last on the very bottom edges of the car, the wheel wells, and the wheel faces themselves, to prevent sandpapering my own vehicle with my own grit
Finally, I rinse with the car with fresh water again and then hose it down thoroughly, including all crevices, with the de-mineralized (spot free rinse) water.
Four times per year, I do a Magic Clay paint cleaning and a good waxing of the surface with Zymol.
My cars always look brand new with rich, glossy paint when it comes time to trade them in, even many years down the road, so I'm pretty confident in my methods.
No need to use any of the useless "wax" or other chemicals they let you spray on the car at the coin-op place, in my opinion, provided one does a real waxing of the car a few times per year.
Hope that helps!
-Drew
Big Red
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