1) touchless means the car wash sprays water rather than the ones with the huge spinning brushes. those will scratch the hell out of your car. the best method is to wash it in your driveway with a hose and bucket. personally, i live in a loft so i have to go to one of those do it yourself car washes with the high pressure sprayer. i go when it's not busy and use my own soap with a bucket. be sure to use a good car soap. some are too harsh and will strip the wax from your car.
2) i use a micro fiber sponge to wash. cotton microfiber towel to dry. for waxing, i use the applicator that came with my wax. then use a cotton micro fiber towel to remove the wax.
3 & 4) you only need one product here. zaino z-2 polish. carnauba based waxes are old fashioned as not nearly as good.
5) 303 aerospace doesn't work as well on tires as cheaper tire protectants in my opinion. and it wouldn't work anywhere near as well as zaino polish on paint. you woulnd't want to apply it afterwards either as you'd just be adding a film taking away from its clarity.

one thing not on your list is clay bar. zaino also sells it. it will remove any and contaminants on your paint before you wax it. you should use it about once a year. i use it in the spring to get rid of the crud from winter.

 

thanks! I am ready for my Spring cleaning!

 

no problem. btw, you can only buy zaino products online. here's their site.

http://www.zainostore.com/

 

The easiest way to test your towels is to rub them on the back of a CD/DVD. If there's scratches then that's what they'll do to your car.

Proper storage/care for your towels will help them too but once they're old... they're old.

I store them in ziplock bags after I was them to keep the dust away. No fabric softener when drying them.

But then again I'm really OCD...I have a special fridge for my waxes too. Please don't ask...

 

ok we won't ask! lol

 

I'll be buffing my hood next weekend.
I was returning from the Phoenix Open, in the right lane,
behind a truck trailering an old chevy nova, who was in the left lane.
one of those large slurpy cups come flying from the truck bed and
smacked my hood in two spots before hitting my windshield.
this all happened in a instant (slow motion) at 70 mph.
left two brazed white trails on the hood that won't go after trying invisible glass.
compounding will fix the marks for sure, but if you have an open truck bed, please
don't ride around with junk in your trunk. thanks.

anyway, I did try the microfiber/cd test and no scratches, so the synthetic microfiber towels are still in rotation.
thanks for the tip, huy33.

 

Great thread everyone!
Katy

 

zaino products are great...the spraying technique of clay barring is so critical for the best results and I have to say after watching a true professional detail my car and what they use, I will never go through a car wash with a collector car that I care about again and further more I will only use pure microfiber mit to wash and dry or a 100% cotton towel. The zaino finishers IMO are the best product. I still am exploring the leather cleaner and conditioner. No verdict for me yet on those.

I can't stress enough what has been said about the storage and disposal of car detailing towels. I store mine in bags too. OCD big time

Chamois, squeegees/blades can scratch if you are not careful-it takes some technique to use them properly.

Ideally the best way to dry is to air dry with a leaf blower! LOL

 

That's what de-ionized water is for....pick up one of those systems at costco...never worry much about it any longer.

 

Here is the latest in car drying equipment!
Katy

 

I didn't notice anyone talking about the two bucket method of washing their vehicles. I picked it up from this forum somewhere, sometime ago. I use one bucket for washing (with car soap) and the other plain water, before getting more soapy water I soak and wring out the cloth I'm washing with before getting more soapy water from the washing bucket. You would be surprised how much dirt is in the rinse bucket before you are through. Also as far as soap, I have seen here in Florida (I'm on vacation) that someplaces do not allow soap for washing cars because it gets into the eco system, and does something bad to their lakes. I did find that Turtle wax has an eco friendly car wash.

 

I forgot on the last post, I also use a Calif. squeegee (has a very soft rubber blade) to get most of the water off before using a mf cloth to get the remainder of the water off. I haven't seen any scratches from that and I have been using it since new on the ES. And the water must come off the ES because of it's dark color, while the SC is more forgiving.

 

I am still waiting for my cleaning supplies. Do you guys wash your car with gloves?

 

I use all Griots Garage products: http://www.griotsgarage.com/ They have several different micro-fiber cloths depending upon claying, polishing, waxing or window cleaning/drying. I also use a silicone squeegee to get much of the beaded up water off prior to drying. Great results, no scratches.

 

Rubber gloves yes... they keep my hands silky smooth.