WASHING The only rule I have about washing your car, which happens to be the same rule I have about sex in a relationship, which is: do it often! This will prevent any contimanants from hardening, leaving only damage in its wake (ie- bird droppings contain ammonia which eats through your paint and leaves a nice ugly blemish). But before starting, make sure the car is cool. No, not the Fonze in Happy Days cool, I mean temperature wise. Be sure it's also out of sunlight to prevent soap or water from leaving water spots and streaks. In in a large bucket, mix about 2 cap-fulls of car wash solution with water, filling the bucket two thirds of the way. The large bucket lets dirt rinsed out of your sponge settle at the bottom instead of being re-applied to the car's surface. Note: Never ever use dish washing detergent as your car wash soap. That stuff's made to dissolve grease, which will strip off car wax faster than Demi Moore's clothes in a movie. This step is optional, but it's always good to be thorough. Examine your wheels. Will they require the strength of Hercules to clean? If so, spray the wheels and tires with a strong stream. If you like, use a wheel cleaner, generously spraying your wheels. Or just simply use a sponge or wash mitt to clean the wheels. For the tires, immerse a wheel cleaning brush in the bucket and start cleaning the tires. Then rinse. Dump the dirtier-than-a-hillbilly water and repeat step 1 to begin cleaning the car. Note: Why is this step even necessary? Cleaning your wheels can consume a lot of time, so cleaning them seperately before the car will prevent water from spotting and streaking on the car while you clean the wheels. Rinse the car thoroughly, using strong streams to remove loose dirt. Don't forget the wheel wells and radiator grill. Note: There's no shame in crying at this point when you wash away the dirt to reveal new dents and dings. It happens to the best of us. Immerse a clean sponge, soft terry cloth, or wash mitt in the bucket and start washing the car. Work your way from top to bottom, rinsing often to keep the car surface wet. Try saving the low sides for last because they're probably the dirtiest, and you don't want any more dirt than necessary in the bucket. If you haven't done so in Step 2, clean the wheels. Note: You will not be able to wash off the heavy oxidation on your paint surface if you have any. Oxidation is usually the rough, sandpaper-like rigid crap that attaches itself to your paint surface and will require chemicals or clay to remove. Instead of a strong spray for the final rinse, use a gentle, flowing stream from the hose. This might require you to remove any mechanical spray handles from your hose. But a smooth, gentle, flooding motion from top to bottom should do the trick. This will save you drying time because the water sheets off rather than leaving spots and drops everywhere. Dry the car immediately using soft 100% cotton white towels, a chamois, or a synthetic chamois. Don't forget the nooks and crannies (ie- the bumper guards on the doors). Open the doors, hood, and trunk and use a seperate towel to dry the jambs in between them. I like to open and slam the doors, trunk, and hood a few times. This flushes out any water hiding in cracks, door panels, and body trim. Don't forget your wheels because water can leave spots on chrome. Try to dry the water residing in your lug nut holes (if visible). Note: Try not to use bathroom towels because they tend to leave lint behind (pretty noticeable on dark colored vehicles). A good alternative would be a chamois or the imitation ones. A compressed air canister (air duster) is good at blowing out water in the lug nut holes on your wheels (if visible), and flushing out water in hard to reach cracks and crevices. Expect washing and drying to take about 30-60 minutes, depending on how thorough you want to be. It will usually take me a good 45 minutes to wash and dry. Then I drive around the block really quick to flush out any water that's hidding and which only comes out when you drive. A wash mitt is highly recommended because its long fibers easily pick up dirt and the same dirt comes off easily in the bucket instead of going back on your car. For me, drying the wheels is the biggest pain because of the lug nut holes (4 wheels and 5 holes per wheel = 20 holes). I've found if not dried properly, water spills out and leaves spots on my chrome wheels and also on the car. The air duster comes in really handy for this scenario. Even though I dust my car everyday to remove contaminants, these paint destroying monsters eventually catch up and I end up having to wash the car every other week. The average interval between washes should probably be every 2 weeks. For the car wash solution, I've tried Blue Coral Meguairs Mothers Turtle Wax Zymol All of them sheeted water fairly well. Mequiar's is pretty good and Mothers smells like bubblegum (marketing ploy to attract young children? but it's not often you'll see an 8 year-old washing a car). I can't really recommend the car wash solution with built in wax like Blue Coral. Even though they claim the shine and protection of a wax layer, it doesn't even come close to the shine and protection you get from the real thing. I mean you can use this if you're really too lazy to wax afterwards, but I generally try to avoid it. So in the end I choose to go with Zymol or Meguairs(about $6 a bottle). No, not because it's tranparent and pretty, but thick and rich, creating a good lather. They cleaned very well, sheeted water effectly, and left a good shine.