Preparing for a Roadtrip

We've all gone on roadtrips and plan out other ones, whether that a day trip or a vacation spent cruising around your country of choice.  But there in lies the question, how do I take care of my car?  First is accepting that regardless of what you do your car will get dirty, it will get wet, bugs will manage to at full force aim for those hard to reach spots in your grill with that certain splat sound.  Or the fact that no matter how many cars are in a parking lot yours will be chosen to have a bird bomb land right on it.

But how do we effectively remove bugs and bird bombs that can cause serious etching or eat away at your paint if left untreated without having access to a garage and full detailing arsenal.  Easy, we take our effective and travel friendly products with us and since we all have too many microfiber towels we can easily spare a few of different kinds.

Personally here is what I like to bring on a regular day trip.  Now I will I preface this with saying the most important thing to protect your car during a roadtrip isn't what done during it but before it.  Having a properly protected car with a solid cleaning regimen and layer of wax/sealant/etc... will be the best way to protect your car during a road trip.  Now I'm not saying you need to fully 2-step polish it before a trip, but if it's been 4 months since you last waxed it it may be time for a booster.

Now on to my personal favorites

Why?

Starting off with the interior, 1z Einszett Cockpit Premium, it's effective, has a neutral slightly citrus smell.  And works on almost any interior.  Remember we're on a roadtrip so space is limited and we don't need 10 options for a single job, even though looking in the background you can see multiple waxes, cleaners, car soaps, etc...    Microfiber of choice: ProForce 300gsm (or so) towel, it's cost effective, it works, and they're great for interior work and dirty jobs.

Next is a glass cleaner, arguably the most important thing when driving, a clean windshield, windows, and rear window are essential to being safe, especially when you get in stuck in that torrential downpour or dust storm.  For this I use Meguiar's D120 Glass Cleaner, it's great, safe for tinted windows and has an awesome grape smell.  Now personally I like CarPro Fast Glass towels better overall, but since it requires water to clean and the towel gets soaked after every use it's just not effective on a roadtrip because that towel has to go somewhere and I'd rather not have a soaking wet towel in the car.  Microfiber of choice: Microfiber Madness Cloudbuster, hands down one of the best glass towels I've found.  It cuts through heavy dirt and dust with no problem and a simple flip to a clean side ensures no streaks, residue, or light distortion occurs which can happen when leftover residue is left on a windshield and is downright dangerous.

Lastly, detail spray.  For all of those bug splats and bird droppings.  Here is a toss-up between Optimum No Rinse and Ultima Waterless Wash, either one wins.  Microfiber of choice: 360gsm standard dual nap towel.  They have both sides for heavy detail spray and a buff to remove any leftover product.  Remember we're just trying to remove the effected area, not a full car wash while stopped for gas.

To set this up I'll bring a couple plastic bags and two of each towel, one bag for clean towels, and one for dirty.  That way there is no cross-contamination between towels and they're cheap and found everywhere, we all have that drawer.  For the bottles ensure they are fully closed so there is no leakage and store them in your trunk or in the backseat to your preference.

There ya go a simple how-to setup for any road trips you may encounter.  Safe travels and thanks for reading!

Taking Care of Your Equipment

You've got all the products and the car is all cleaned up.  You're done right?  Almost...now comes the clean-up portion.

I'll begin with a list of common tools used and how I personally clean them as well as possible issues that you may face.

Towels

For basic cleaning of towels after using them I will bring them in soon after I'm done and they go straight into the wash.  Now right now I've been continuing to use 3D Towel Kleen (you can find my review here).  I find that it works great, gets them clean, and fluffy.  This is not a requirement as I used All Free & Clear for a few months and found no detriment to using them but I do find that a dedicated microfiber cleaner does bring them moderately softer.  It is extremely important though that any cleaner that is not created with a microfiber cleaner purpose is dye free, scent free, and is not a fabric softener.  The issues that could arise should you do this are clogging towels, possible marring of your paint, and just degraded performance overall.

Here is a possible scenario, you wash your vehicle and just don't have time to wash your towels for a day or two, what do you do?  Well two options, which I have used both, and found worked just fine.

The first is for those of you that do rinseless washes such as myself, for this I will put all the used towels back in the bucket of water and rinseless wash solution.  

Option number two is for when you don't have a pre-mixed solution to store the towels until you can wash them.  For this situation I will mix 1-2 gallons of water and 1-2 ounces of APC (all-purpose cleaner).  This varying on how many towels you have and how soiled they are.

Common issues that you may run into after using towels for quite a while are lack of absorption, towels no longer as soft as they are when new, and after washing your towels they do not have that same feel such as washing and drying isn't fully cleaning them.  This usually occurs with towels that are used for wax buff off, unfortunately washing and drying over time isn't enough to full clean your towels.  But alas there are solutions to this.

One solution many people do and some on every wash is right in your kitchen pantry.  Vinegar.  Many people after washing their towels will put their towels in another rinse cycle but this point adding vinegar to their rinse cycle only.  The amount varies with some people using 1 teaspoon per towel, but a simple portion to add is 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup max depending on towel load.  Vinegar helps assist in removing any residue that may be embedded in towels.

The second solution involved boiling your towels.  This may seem odd and improbable to work but has been used for years.  By boiling your towels for 10-20 seconds then letting them air dry out you are doing a similar function to adding vinegar to the rinse cycle. 

Brushes

Moving on to brushes, in your detailing you will use a wide variety of brushes such as, Wheel Woolies on your rims, long fender well brushes, paint-safe brushes on plastic parts, between body creases, such as Race Glaze brushes, and numerous others.  The good thing is these can all be cleaned similarly.  For these a similar soak in water and APC followed by a thorough rinse out well get these clean and back to new condition.  Be advised that Wheel Woolies hold quite a bit of water and need to be dried out before storage or hanging.

Applicators

Whether it be foam applicators for waxing, sealants, or tire dressing applicators they can all be taken care of easily.

For foam applicators that are used for LSPs (last step products, such as sealants and waxes) I use Dawn, specifically Power Clean.  Dawn has been used for years to break down waxes and sealants.  By soaking these items submerged in the sink with Dawn and for 30 minutes or so, some items will require multiple sessions.  Soaking and rinsing has never been an issue and bring applicators fresh and clean, ready for the next action.

Now as for tire dressing applicators since these usually get extremely dirty require more heavy duty cleaning.  For these I wash and dry these specifically with my heavy duty towels.  These are the towels that I use for the grimy work, undercarriage work, wheel cleaning, etc... Since these get quite trashed working the similar areas there is no issue washing these together.  By washing non-paint safe items separate from paint-safe items you reduce cross-contamination and avoid any chance of having dirt getting stuck in your paint-safe towels.

Polishing Pads

The last item are polishing pads and I clean them in the same way as foam applicators.  Just a simple soak in Dawn and water in the sink.  It may take numerous rinsing out sessions to get all of the polishing oils, soap, and pads completely cleaned out.

And last but not least, STORAGE


For me I prefer to keep my equipment organized into totes, this lets me keep my product on shelves and be much more economical with my space.  It also makes sure that nothing comes in contact with the towels since the totes only contain what I choose, unlike wooden shelving which could have splinters and other debris on it.

Here's a few quick pictures of my collection.

Towels

Product Links

Microfiber Madness Towels
Microfiber Cleaner


Pads/Applicators/etc...

Thanks for reading! Post any comments or questions below.

My Latest Haul

These are the items I picked up this week in my first order in quite a while.

Links are provided for each items and reviews will follow when I get a chance to check them out.

Starting from left to right.

These are 700gsm towels from Microfiber Tech made for waterless and rinseless washes.  I like the longer nap and these towels have it on both sides and have different colors which make it easier to know which sides have been used.  This should cut down on the number of towels used for a wash for me at least because I prefer to not use short nap on a rinseless wash.

Next is Sonus Trim and Motor Kote from the reviews I've read it's a fantastic engine and trim detailer.  I plan on dressing the engine bay with it when I have a chance.

Continuing is a wax I've wanted to try for quite a while.  Bouncer's Sherbet Fizz.  It's a handcrafted wax from the UK. And since one can never have too many waxes, what's the harm in another one.

Finally just a basic foam applicator, personally these are some of my favorite, simple and effective.

Stay tuned for reviews and post up any questions or comments!

Products List: Basic Washing and Drying (Foam Gun, Rinseless Wash, and more!)

Lately I've been responding to quite a few people on what I personally recommend or use to wash and dry my car to keep proper care of it.

I figured I'd consolidate a list (with links!) of what I use for maintenance washes and you can find my technique here.

For all but the most soiled of vehicles I've moved on to pre-soaking with a foam gun.

Foam Gun and Soap

Here is the Gilmour foam gun I use from Amazon (tip if you can find the same gun from Butcher's I paid $36 for it)

           This is definitely a technique and not necessary, this just allows the dirt settled on to be moved off before touching the paint and I have found it to soften the dirt and grime on there.  It significantly reduces the dirt I have picked up with wash media.

As for foam gun shampoo I have been experimenting with a few but my recommendation as of now is Chemical Guys Honeydew.

I follow the foam gun spray with a simple rinse off then move on to rinseless washing. 

Rinseless Wash and Towels

The staple for this of course Optimum No-Rinse (for my Wash & Wax Version review click here)

For the original version click here.

For wash media I use re-usable wash media, this allows different sides of the towel (4 in total) and different towels after each side is used every time I touch the paint.  This reduces the risk of inducing swirls and scratches.  Here is a great video link that explains this in detail.

As for towels, for washing I use these from MicrofiberTech they are paint-safe 360gsm weight.

Another recommendation many recommend are the 530gsm weight found here.

Note: Use the coupon code NEWS5 for an added discount.

For drying towels my absolute favorite is the Microfiber Madness Dry Me Crazy, one towel is absolutely more enough to dry a car.  I follow it up with a simple light buff with a 530gsm towel as found above just to eliminate any residual towel marks that may have been left.

Wheels and Tires

Check out my review page here for multiple links on wheel and tire products

Thanks for reading!