Car wash location

So I was wondering where you guys washed your cars at? I wash my car out in the open and it sucks because I have to wash it at 7 or 8 at night when the sun goes down. :( So I'm just curious if anyone else has this "problem" or do you guys just wash it under some kind of shade!?!

under shade or in the sun, just wash one side at a time

yea i usually wash my car in the evening.. when its light out but when the sun cant shine on it... either that or ill wash it in the shade.. theres usually not much shade around my house tho

Isn't it "bad" to wash the car in the sun though? Even if it is one side at a time? But yeah, I guess sometimes you have no choice... :o/

yea...the sun will dry out the water an bake the soap into the paint.. either that or the water will dry an leave water spots

How bad is that for the paint job? I mean, how much "harm" will it cause (if that makes any sense)?

The sun will eventually make the paint look faded. If you polish it once a year (aside from waxing a few times), it'll keep its luster pretty much forever.

Polishing is the same as waxing isnt it?

Yeah, what's the difference between polishing and waxing?

Polishing requires an orbital buffer, it is not the same as waxing, waxing is adding wax on top of the paint, where buffing and polishing removes some oxidation from the paint. If you aren't careful you can burn through your paint using an electric orbital buffer as they can go so fast. Waxing your car has no such dangers and it can be done by hand.

I'm gonna go wash mine right now! In the shade of the trees of course :icon16:.

Never knew all the differences between waxing and polishing... thanks. I'm still a beginner at it, though. It never seems to come out quite perfect... Oh! What kind of cloth do ya'll use to wax, dry, buff, etc. the car? Thanks.

i use a foam cloth applicator to put on the wax.. then i use a terry towel to take it off.. and to dry my car i use a squeegy to take off most of the water first. then just an old towel u would use in the shower to get the rest of the water off

Trouble is I have no place to keep the car out of the rain (garage is full of crap). I should get a squeege... using two big towels sucks lol.

Yea i used to use towels. the squeegy makes it a lot faster

I use "The Absorber." Worked really well the first like 5 times but after that, it doesn't absorb as good as it used too....but it's still really good. Doesn't scratch the paint...

I use the absorber 5x a day at work and it works great. If you can get a squeegie blade as was mentioned before to get the majority of the water off first, then that helps. I've noticed that my absorber doesn't work as well as when I first got it, but it still works REALLY well. I just have to wring it out a few times per car. Also try cleaning it with a high-powered pressure washer to remove all the dirt, it works really well after that.

I got a squege today and washed my car and used it, it's a crapy squegie and didn't work well. I am waxing my car right now, it's drying, I love how the Mguires smells lol. It says to buff it out with a 100% terry cloth towel... What is a terry cloth towel? And does buffing mean simply wiping the hazed wax off?

Edit: Well I wiped it all off and it's soooooo shiny and new! I'm going to wax more often!

Yea.. u should try the nanowax, that smells pretty good also :) . i heard if u get that u can send in a rebate and get your money back.. but i never looked at the box for mine.. i just opened it up an through it away

Thourun, did you use a cleaner wax or did it just say wax? LOL :p

Ummm lol I dunno. I'll go grab it outta the garage and edit this post in a sec with the info.

Edit: What I used is "Meguiars Gold Class Clear Coat Liquid Car Wax, the most reflective wax in our history". Works well in my book but it's my first time waxing so what do I know :rolleyes:. I did it today because it was overcast and I hear thats best.

Okay cool, thanks man.