[RideWithDanger]

I probably shouldn't say "beginner" because ive always washed my own car often and my families cars as well. But ive never done it all that well. I put time and effort into it, but had all the wrong techniques and sub par products. My new Camaro is coming in soon and its time to do it right! And the Camaro will be my daily driver, oh, and its black.

Here is what I have so far:
Chemical guys bucket with grit guard.
several other cheap buckets.
Chemical guys Citrus wash and gloss.
Barret Jackson liquid wax.
Mothers Carnauba Cleaner Wax
Stoner Invisible Glass
Barret Jackson tire shine and wheel cleaner.
2 Chenille Microfiber Premium Scratch-Free Wash Mitts
Zwipes Microfiber Waffle Drying Towel.
"The big one" microfiber waffle drying towel
Microfiber glass and window towel
Applicator microfiber sponges.
Edgeless 300 detailing microfiber towel.
Edgeless 420 buffing microfiber towel.
Edgeless 245 all purpose microfiber towel.
several other cheaper microfiber towels.
IK foam 1.5 sprayer
Rain-X
Tons of sponges, brushes, mitts, scrubbers, etc...

Also, should I get some sort of sheepskin mitt, or similar mitt as well? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated like soaps and anything else I might need or want. My goal here is to not throw a bunch of money to keep the car clean, but to do a good job and keep it looking better longer.

[SPARTAN sui]

Don’t bother with a foam gun, they’re pretty much useless and use a ton of soap.

For wash mitt, microfiber chenille mitts work well or this
https://www.theragcompany.com/the-cy...itt-with-cuff/

[RideWithDanger]

Originally Posted by SPARTAN sui

Don’t bother with a foam gun, they’re pretty much useless and use a ton of soap.

For wash mitt, microfiber chenille mitts work well or this
https://www.theragcompany.com/the-cy...itt-with-cuff/

That looks good. Might try that or something similar. I know the foam gun isn't that necessary but I can get the garden hose one for like $20 and it makes me feel a little better about not scratching the paint.

[KirkH]

I am a professional and I use a foam gun every wash. The more suds you can put on the surface, the better buffer between your mitt and the dirty surface.

For the pressure washer, cheap $15 amazon foam guns are fine. For the regular garden hose, get a Chemical Guys brand foam blaster. The cheap ones don't do a good job.

Good towels are important. I use towels from theragcompany.com exclusively.

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

Also, should I get some sort of sheepskin mitt, or similar mitt as well? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated like soaps and anything else I might need or want. My goal here is to not throw a bunch of money to keep the car clean, but to do a good job and keep it looking better longer.

I use natural sheepskin mitt on my own Camaro, but not in my business. A natural mitt requires care, and they don't last forever, but they hold A LOT of soapy water and they do a good job of pulling the dirt into the hairs.

I like Chemical guys brand soaps best.

[RideWithDanger]

Originally Posted by KirkH

I am a professional and I use a foam gun every wash. The more suds you can put on the surface, the better buffer between your mitt and the dirty surface.

For the pressure washer, cheap $15 amazon foam guns are fine. For the regular garden hose, get a Chemical Guys brand foam blaster. The cheap ones don't do a good job.

Good towels are important. I use towels from theragcompany.com exclusively.

Thank you. What do you think of the microfiber towel I listed. I just ordered it from Amazon but seems to be well recommended. Im really debating on which foam gun to get. There are some really nice cheap options for the pressure washer, but it seems even the chemical guys garden hose foamers have some issues. I may just pull the pressure washer out when I wash my car if its worth it....

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

Thank you. What do you think of the microfiber towel I listed. I just ordered it from Amazon but seems to be well recommended. Im really debating on which foam gun to get. There are some really nice cheap options for the pressure washer, but it seems even the chemical guys garden hose foamers have some issues. I may just pull the pressure washer out when I wash my car if its worth it....

With microfiber towels, you want to look for 70/30 polyamide/polyester fibers, Korean made towels. The GSM (thickness) determines the purpose. Very thick (800-1200 GSM) towels are for rinseless wash, medium thickness (400-600) are for remoing polish and wax. Thinner than that are for interiors.

Glass towels for glass. Waffle towels for drying.

Color coding the towels keeps from contaminating a towel. Mine is:

black/grey- wheels tires
pink/purple- polish
blue/green- glass
yellow- interior
white- rinseless

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

it seems even the chemical guys garden hose foamers have some issues. I may just pull the pressure washer out when I wash my car if its worth it....

I have 2 cg garden hose foam blasters. The older one leaks around the gun but that doesn't affect it much. They work great for me. They will be in heavy use at CamaroFest!

[RideWithDanger]

Originally Posted by KirkH

With microfiber towels, you want to look for 70/30 polyamide/polyester fibers, Korean made towels. The GSM (thickness) determines the purpose. Very thick (800-1200 GSM) towels are for rinseless wash, medium thickness (400-600) are for remoing polish and wax. Thinner than that are for interiors.

Glass towels for glass. Waffle towels for drying.

Color coding the towels keeps from contaminating a towel. Mine is:

black/grey- wheels tires
pink/purple- polish
blue/green- glass
yellow- interior
white- rinseless

Thats a lot of good info, thank you!

[karmatourer]

Stick with Chemical Guys brand-great bang for the buck.

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

Thats a lot of good info, thank you!

You can take a look at this thread to see the other few items you will eventually need:

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...hlight=bitchin

[Gunkk]

to the OCD car care club!

Kirk has already posted a lot of good advice. There's some more this thread too:
https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=550934

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

My new Camaro is coming in soon and its time to do it right! And the Camaro will be my daily driver, oh, and its black.
..., any recommendations?

I owned a black car once, and keeping swirls and scratches off a black car is a b!tch. If you have the budget for paint correction & paint protection film, do it. The front is an absolute must, but because your car is black more of the car you can cover with film the better. Our cars like to pick up sand and grit on the rump end. Making that easy to clean without scratching is a must. Coatings can help a lot here. A buddy of mine recently dropped $1k+ to respray the front bumper cover on his black gen 5 SS daily driver. He didn't have PPF on the car but is thinking about it now so he doesn't have to spray it again in another 5 ish years...

There are some really good new videos touting the benefits of self-healing PPF. Engineering Explained is a great channel with a lot of good objective information. Suntek Ultra, 3M PPF Pro, and Xpel ultimate are all top of the line self-healing films. He's got a second vid where he puts Xpel's ceramic on top of PPF, which makes car cleaning SOOO much easier! You can use a durable hydrophobic coating like Gtechniq EXO or Feynlab Topcoat to the same effect for less $ (and can DIY these two coatings vs. pro install).




I have PPF and coatings on my non-DD Z and my splitter/rockers/hood insert are a breeze to keep clean and at 20 months old still the car looks as good or better than factory new.

[RideWithDanger]

I really do want some PPF but unfortunately I'm on a budget. And again I don't expect a perfectly clean DD for all eternity. But keeping it looking it's best would be nice.

I'm halfway tempted to wrap the whole car in a satin black or something else for a few years.

[Gunkk]

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

I really do want some PPF but unfortunately I'm on a budget. And again I don't expect a perfectly clean DD for all eternity. But keeping it looking it's best would be nice.

I'm halfway tempted to wrap the whole car in a satin black or something else for a few years.

For what you would spend on a vinyl wrap of the whole car ($3k+), you can easily do PPF on the parts that matter (if not most/all of the car). In either case you're paying more for labor than materials, and PPF doesn't require disassembly like vinyl does.

IMO, investing $1k to PPF the front bumper is worth every cent. Then you can DIY a top-shelf durable hydrophobic coating like the 2 I mentioned above on the entire car for <$100.
An annual DIY polish + durable hydrophobic coating + a good washing discipline can really make a big difference in keeping the car looking good for a long time without breaking your budget.