Dummies guide to cleaning car?

[generationgav]

I know this sounds a bit stupid; but despite owning a Peugeot 206 and then my Civic for a total of around 18 months now...I've never actually cleaned either of them by hand.

I've taken both of them to car washes, jet washes & hand car washes; but never cleaned either of them myself. As I've moved in to a new property now I actually have drive space! Therefore providing it's not raining I'm going to clean, chamois & wax my car; but does anybody have any advice?
I still don't have access to a hose but I'm going out to buy any stuff I need, so what's the best way of doing it; anything I should do first? I want to do it to
a) make my car shiny, clean & streak free and
b) protect it with the wax as much as I can.

I have read quite a bit in this forum about best products and stuff; but I don't even know the basics!

Or am I making a big deal out of nothing? Do I clean it with shampoo and a sponge, rinse it with a bucket of water, dry it with a chamois and then wax on wax off?

[basegreen]

very very quickly..

two buckets, one warm and shampooey, one cold and clean
wool mitt
wash the car with shampoo and mitt, using cleaner water to rinse mitt
once all the muck is off, dry with microfibre towel or chamois or watermagnet
Then apply polish/wax, leave for directed amount of time, then dry buff off with a clean cloth

[jayt43]

and don't wash it in the sun, or when the paintwork is particularly warm.

Always better to do it yourself, even if you have to wash it on the road. Personally, I've seen those handwash chaps at Sainsbury's drop their sponges, then without even rinsing (though it's preferable to change it), pick them up and start shampooing a vehicle.

As for automated car washes, you'll get lots of nice swirls (at the very least). So they're no good either.

[generationgav]

The main thing I use is the jet wash; gets my car beautifully clean, but not dry! So it always leaves it nice and smeared; especially the windscreens.

[Type S Bournemouth]

took my ex car once to a car wash as felt lazy and regretted it ever since. Big scratches etc. Never ever again would i use a car wash. That was even the top range one. cost me £7.50 plus another load to fix all the scratches!!!

[thiswilldo]

What about the motorised car polisher/buffers? I have one that I used on my previous Civic but as yet not tried it on my new spaceship.
A useful thing to use for waxing ?

[johnd]

Originally Posted by thiswilldo

What about the motorised car polisher/buffers? I have one that I used on my previous Civic but as yet not tried it on my new spaceship.
A useful thing to use for waxing ?

The small buffers that are sold at Halfords etc are only any good for removing wax, as they do not have enough power for any defect correction. You would be better off saving your money and getting one of these;
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-sfxpol-kit.html , as the exchange rate is good at the moment stock up on all your products, and you should save yourself a lot of money. There are normally discount codes available for Autopia so pm me if you need one. They will also help you out with the import duty and delivery is about 1 week.
There is also a good guide of how to wash and prep your car here;http://paintcare-n-detailing.com/ Hope this helps.

[generationgav]

Can somebody advise me the best way to rinse the car before waxing it without the use of a hosepipe; will drying it off dry off enough of the shampoo or should I throw buckets of water over it?