I havent waxed my car ever since I got it brand new back in 2012 and I want to wax it and clay bar my car soon so what products do you guys use? my car is a WW X, and how do you guys wash the car with clay bar and wax? I learned how to do it on youtube but just don't really know what products to buy and etc. thanks for sharing some of your opinions!

 

Over years I have accumulated almost $1,000 in car care products and tools just to clean my own car. It's my hobby/labor of love I suppose.

My favorite brand for almost all chemicals right now is Chemcial Guys out of CA - they also have a great Youtube channel showing you how to do it all. But then there are many other Youtubers out there doing a great tutorial show with many other products as well.

Anyways, for 1-2 times a year I follow this process below for my big detail- i.e. Winter and Summer Prep. Average time from start to finish with breaks is 6-8 hours for this process. Exterior only. I use specialized products and tools for each step.

1)Wash Rims and Tires
2)Rinse car
3)Wash car using 2 bucket method and foam gun
4)Dry Car
5)Clay Bar Car
6)Polish with dual action polisher (normally not needed except once a year if you keep up maintenance and protection after having polished it correctly once)
7)Use a paint sealer (not wax!) to seal the paint - it is a hard synthetic shield so to speak that outlasts wax 4:1 but it is not as lustrous as wax
8)Wax car on top of Sealant layer

Maintenance washes between these bigger details include.

1)Wash Rims and Tires
2)Rinse car
3)Wash using 2 bucket method and foam gun
4)Dry Car
5)Wax car (or more sealant if you want)


Car Sealant is all synthetic and will last up to 6 months (YMMV).
Wax will generally not last past 4 weeks (YMMV)

Sealant will give you some shine but provide longer lasting protection.
A good wax on top of sealant will give you excellent shine and even more protection.

 

how do you clean the wheels? i find it kind of a pain cleaning the Evo MR BBS wheels with tons of brake dust. I will try cleaning th ewheels first before my whole car next time.

 

I bought a nice brush to clean my wheels and I use a bucket of spay water and just take some time to scrub all the brake dust off

 

I've tried quite a few different clay bars and ended up sticking with Mothers. It's a little softer and easier to work with than some of the others and still gets the job done.

 

I use either Bleech White from any local auto store or Diablo Wheel Gel from Chemical guys.

Once I switched the stock Brembo pads to Hawk pads 80% of my dusting issues went away.

I have a curved hard bristle tire brush for the rubber tire, a soft long bristle brush to do the majority of the rim surface, a round lug nut brush as well as a "weasel" brush to get in between the spokes.