[CruiseControl]

This vehicle is big! What is your approach to washing it? I don't use car washes. What products do you use?

I use:

Karcher K1700 Pressure Washer
MTM PF22.2 Foam Cannon
Mosmatic High Pressure Sprayer
P&S Brake Buster Wheel & Tire Cleaner
Adams Car Shampoo

[cleex024]

Originally Posted by CruiseControl

This vehicle is big! What is your approach to washing it? I don't use car washes. What products do you use?

I use a lot of blackfire products from autogeek... as soon as we got the car I ceramic coated it with blackfire ceramic pro... haven't washed it yet but will use their autobath stuff and spray some sio2

but yeah I agree with you... this is a big vehicle and pretty annoying to wash

[CruiseControl]

Do you use a mitt or mitt on a pole to reach high areas?

[cleex024]

Originally Posted by CruiseControl

Do you use a mitt or mitt on a pole to reach high areas?

I normally just use a mitt or micro fiber towel... but it's hard getting the roof...I will probably get lazy doing the roof...id love to just let me l my wife take care of it since it's her car but she can't reach lol

[MomoM3]

Ryobi pressure washer
Foam cannon
Step ladder
2 rinse buckets w/ grit guards
Microfiber mitt
Nanolex Ceramic Shampoo
Nanolex Wheel Cleaner and Iron Remover
Nanolex Tire and Rubber Restorer
MetroVac 4hp warm air dryer (no drying towels)
Fitech Mirror glass cleaner
Kenotech Pro Showroom Shine after wash spray

[CruiseControl]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

Ryobi pressure washer
Foam cannon
Step ladder
2 rinse buckets w/ grit guards
Microfiber mitt
Nanolex Ceramic Shampoo
Nanolex Wheel Cleaner and Iron Remover
Nanolex Tire and Rubber Restorer
MetroVac 4hp warm air dryer (no drying towels)
Fitech Mirror glass cleaner
Kenotech Pro Showroom Shine after wash spray

When using your foam cannon do you foam and rise one side at a time or the entire vehicle at once? I never heard of Nanolex and will look them up since I'm experimenting with different products. What other products have you used in the past?

[MomoM3]

Originally Posted by CruiseControl

When using your foam cannon do you foam and rise one side at a time or the entire vehicle at once? I never heard of Nanolex and will look them up since I'm experimenting with different products. What other products have you used in the past?

Great question. On my M3 I used to foam the car up all at once but on my X5 I would do one side at a time since it's larger

I pressure wash dirt off first, then foam it up and let soak, then I use a mitt to hand wash, then pressure wash bubbles off.

I had never heard of Nanolex either until I dropped off my last car at DetailersDomain and now I'm hooked on the line. I believe they are the exclusive distributor in the US as far as I can tell. They are my favorite detailing brand at the moment. My current X7 will be ceramic coated with Nanolex products too. Highly recommend!

[nynd]

Honda Pressure Washer
Carpro IronX
GC Panel Wipe
MTM PF22.2 Foam Cannon
Mosmatic SGM High Pressure Sprayer
Wet Coat (sprayed on after but not in sunlight)

[CruiseControl]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

Great question. On my M3 I used to foam the car up all at once but on my X5 I would do one side at a time since it's larger

I pressure wash dirt off first, then foam it up and let soak, then I use a mitt to hand wash, then pressure wash bubbles off.

I had never heard of Nanolex either until I dropped off my last car at DetailersDomain and now I'm hooked on the line. I believe they are the exclusive distributor in the US as far as I can tell. They are my favorite detailing brand at the moment. My current X7 will be ceramic coated with Nanolex products too. Highly recommend!

Ok. I will start foaming one side at a time for this monster. Have you tried Adams shampoo? If so how does it compare?

[Tinbad]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

I pressure wash dirt off first, then foam it up and let soak, then I use a mitt to hand wash, then pressure wash bubbles off.

Not to pick on your process and by no means am I a detail expert, but I thought the point of foaming was to help dissolve dirt before you wash it off? Seems like a pressure wash before the foam would be redundant(?) I usually start with foam, let it soak in and then pressure wash off the foam and any dirt left, followed by two bucket wash.

[CruiseControl]

Originally Posted by Tinbad

Not to pick on your process and by no means am I a detail expert, but I thought the point of foaming was to help dissolve dirt before you wash it off? Seems like a pressure wash before the foam would be redundant(?) I usually start with foam, let it soak in and then pressure wash off the foam and any dirt left, followed by two bucket wash.

I take the same approach as MomoM3, pressure rinse first.

[BMWBear]

I have a pressure washer and foam cannon but find a hose and fire nozzle works better for clearing off suds from my mitt wash. I do use a the two bucket wash system to reduce the chance of debris ending back on car.

[jmciver]

My $.02 washing technique....

For the body:
- Sun Joe SPX 3000 pressure washer w/eBay special extension hoses (50ft total) and quick disconnect fittings
- eBay special stuby gun
- MTM Hydro PFM 22.2 Foam Cannon w/1.1 mm Orifice
- 1 Home Depot 5 gal bucket
- 8 eBay Special micro fiber wash mits
- Soap: Chemical Guys Honey Dew Foam or Hydto Suds
- eBay special waffle micro fiber drying towels
- Worx WG520 leaf blower
- Step ladder

For the wheels
- Auto Fanatic Wheel Cleaner
- IK Foam Pro 2 50 oz pump sprayer
- eBay special wheel and tire brushes

My technique (which I also use on my M3)...

- Pre rinse the wheels, then foam them up with the IK Foamer. I usually do 1 wheel at a time
- Scrub the tires and wheels, then rinse clean
- Pre rinse the entire X7 to remove the loose dirt
- Foam the entire X7 and let sit for a bit while I prep the bucket
- Starting from the roof, use one micro fiber wash mit, flipping once. After use, the mit goes on the ground not to be used again. I use a new mit for each section of the X7 (a total of 8 mits) so a "dirty" mit never goes back into the bucket or touches the X7
- Dump remaining bucket soapy water on the X7 in different sections
- Rinse off remaining suds with pressure washer
- Blow dry X7 with leaf blower
- Dry residual water with waffle towels

I only wash the X7 out of direct sunlight so I can get the entire X7 done before anything dries. But the size of the X7 keeps me moving compared to my M3....

[Wanderer73]

This is pretty much the process I follow with very similar products and tools. I get excellent results with the Metrovac, but not so great on cars that are not ceramic coated. You have to be out of direct sunlight as much as possible and move quickly during the drying process given the X7's size.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...;v=xaQmB_qje_4