[stewy604]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

My girlfriend scrubbed her entire car with a magic eraser. Discovered it when I waxed it and realized she had rubbed all the clear coat off.

DAMN!

[MisterSkiMask]

Back in high school a buddy of mine decided to polish his (mom's) minivan, with news paper, cuz it 'works great on glass!'

[alleyrivo]

Nice video but ... duh. This video points out the importance of young drivers having to own old beater cars for the first few. It's tough to teach common sense. For example: it's always a good idea to wash your face with your washcloth before you wash your ***. Amazing how many guys don't understand the concept and never will. But still ... nice effort.

[citrustaco]

thank you for the informative video

[delia]

Oh wow! Very informative video! Thanks

[ddk632]

Good tips, nice video. Thanks for posting.

I do think it's useful to many and not "duh" because, as they say, common sense is not so common!

I agree with @P1et that to get the best of the two bucket method, you need grid guards in the buckets. At least in the dirty bucket, but I use one in both buckets.

Another pro tip is to fill up two additional buckets and place the buckets at the 4 corners of the car, and walk your hose around the outside of the buckets. This helps keep the hose away from the car and from accidentally hitting your paint as you walk around to different parts of the car.

Also +1 on the foam gun suggestion, I use this also and it is awesome.

Finally, for me, I like to feel every bit of the car, know where the rock chips are, etc., and get the dirt off that is particularly stuck even after rinse and foam. I find that a microfiber glove cloth is great for this, as you run your hands along the car to wipe it and can feel tiny bumps as you go along.

I watched the awesome tutorial series on YouTube by junkman5000 and have been using his system, which is where the above ideas come from and they've worked very well for me.

After 1.5 years and about 26k miles my X6M still looks brand new, inside and out.
http://www.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=940190



Edit: forgot the final pro tip - when (if) you take your car to the dealer for service, make sure they put a big "DO NOT WASH" sign on your mirror/dashboard. I drive my SA crazy but she knows - and likely everyone there by now, also - do not wash the Superman X6M, lol! I usually remind the guys, too, when picking up the car. They can radio and make sure it's not getting washed.

[Kiwi]

Don't clean the car to often, once a month is enough and don't polish just use a good wash/wax product and don't polish the car until you really have too. If the car is garaged then it should not require polishing for at least 3 years from new.

[ddk632]

I think the frequency of cleaning would be directly related to the usage; if you drive a lot then you need to clean more often.

[JimG Z4]

When rising the car take off the hose nozzle and, from top to bottom, let the water directly from your hose cascade down the car. This will eliminate a lot of the water droplets caused by the nozzle and less water to dry off the car.