What soap to use?

[deevergote]

I know there are TONS of different soaps out there. Some have wax in them, some are very gentle... Some people use Tide laundry soap (or whatever they wash their clothes with...)

I've never really cared about my car, so I didn't care what I washed it with (most of the time I never washed it...) BUT, now that it's painted, I care.

So, what do you guys use/recommend? I'm about to go down to the store and grab some sponges and shammies, and I'll just do it with water this time, I guess... Better than using some soap that will ruin my nice new paint! (I know abrasive soaps like dish soap are out, as well as anything containing wax.)

[MRX]

Been detailing for years now and the best stuff is at the car dealerships. If u have any connections get the products they use to clean the cars. Otherwise, Mother's, meguiar's, and...i can't remember the last one but i know no good soap is cheap...spend the extra dollar or three and it'll come out beautiful. Remember to ring out the shammie endlessly then rewet it then ring it out time after time after time...the older a shammie is the better it is until it starts flaking...get the closest thing you can buy to the cowhide stuff that smells funny when wet. The other shammies aren't worth it. And never ever use wash/wax stuff...ever. Try to do everything by hand but if you have a buffer to wax with that'd be great also. Other tips include vaccuming while 1 hour and 45 minutes before sunset leaving plenty of time to wash, dry, and wax. Try to avoid direct sunlight when spraying water on the car and keep the portions of the car wet that are not being dried.

[deevergote]

It's nice to know I did just about everything right (according to what you said...)!

I just went to Pep-Boys on xplode's instructions... Grabbed myself some Mother's California Gold (they didn't have what I was looking for, Meguiars Gold Class, but Mothers seeme to have as good of a reputation.)

I also got an "Absorber" shammy thing... My friend's dad has one, and it works pretty well. I might invest in one of the real leather ones as well.

I also got a hose nozzle and a cheap-o sponge, since I don't even have those things!


Overall, it came out pretty nice. I did it just before sundown (the sun is setting right now, so roughly 20 minutes before). It's gonna rain or snow tomorrow, so it's pretty much a waste, but I feel better now. Plus, I have this stuff for next time.


My mom is marrying the owner of a Chrysler dealership. I'll have to talk to him about aquiring some soap and other detailing goodies... I may even offer to wash cars on weekends to get some experience (and maybe free parts, labor, and other fun stuff...)

[91accord4door]

i go to the car wash wash it then i hand wash it when i get home to make it spot free.sometimes if its not that dirty i hand wash it with no soap and dry it right away.

[deevergote]

That's the way I washed it before... I hosed it down and dried it off (since the paint job, anyway). Before the last Mid-Atlantic meet, I drove it to my friend's house in a light rain, and dried it off when I got there. Made the shammy dirty, but the car looked pretty nice!

[xplode]

yo deever, if you want i can get you some supplies and send you them.. espeically the shit i use. just let me know, sorry you couldnt get the megiars gold class its good stuff.. hit me up on aim if u want me to get u stuff..

[deevergote]

Ok, cool. Thanks man. I'll let you know. I wanna talk to my mom's fiancee and see what they use. I couldprobably score some good stuff there. I never thought of that before!

If not, maybe just a list of stuff would be good. I only went to one pep boys for my stuff. It was getting late, and light was fading fast. I just wanted to get SOMETHING. The Mothers stuff is actually pretty good.