hand wash for me, dry first to the beat of electric leaf blower(220 MPH). followed by clay bar, paint cleaner, 3 coats of polish, 3 coats of wax, (good for about 30 washes), in between every week I wash and detail spray every other week and also hand carnuba wax and buff with a DA every other week, the lony way to keep the white clean.... I aslo do the under wheels and under bottom of bed...

 

I wash my truck every weekend when I get done washing all the semi trucks. turns out beautiful every time. But I also use a very high end car wash formula that costs almost 100 dollars a bucket. But before i wash the truck I take a heavy duty tire and wheel cleaner to the engine compartment and to my wheels and tires and it keeps the truck looking even better than the day I got it.

 

i wash by hand also about 2-3 a week.. normally takes awhile but turns out great in the end.. would never take it through an auto place.. wax every 2 weeks.. been raining alot here lately but i hate the way it looks when its dirty so i still wash it when there a break just to keep the crap from building up..

 

*17 years detailing experience*

i do a handwash once a week weather permitting.

if i take it to the river or its bad, ill goto the car wash and spray it off, or if my pressure washer at home is working ill use that to wash it. it really speeds the wash up. usually takes me 30 min or so to wash and dry.

ill wax every few months, or before/after winter. and ill wax the door jams and rainx windows once a year.

theres soo many great car wash solutions out there now its awsome. they make some called "ice" or somthing that you dont have to dry it off, leaves no spots. and id say if you have a dark color you should go high grade wax by hand, only use buffer if theres paint imperfections.

the cleaner you keep your truck, the easier/quicker it is to wash/wax

 

in between washes i use the california duster, it gets dust off pretty good on the hood and especially the tonneau where dust seems to settle most

 

I quit going to auto car washers after talking with a body shop I know that does great work and is very reputable. He told me that they will ruin the clear coat and also void the warranty on anything they have painted. I don't know if he was being truthful or not but I believe him. He said you can usually also tell by water spots on the windows that are very hard to get off. He had never led me astray on anything else I know of and they do amazing work. I haven't been though an auto car wash since.

 

I will go to the DIY joint just to use the high pressure hose to blast out the wheel wells and under parts, then a quick spray. Then I will go home and hand wash.

 

the guy who owned my truck before me took it through an automatic touchless carwash quite often... now i have to deal with the effets. the clearcoat on the hood has water spots etched into it, theyre not really noticeable until i clean and wax it. it drives me crazy! and all the glass is f****d up with etched in water spots
im gunna try to buff it out of the clear coat one of these days, but i dont know...

 

Yup that's exactly what the body shop told me was going to happen. I'd only used them a time or two and I've completely quit using them now.

 

Hand wash for me....get free car wash detergent that just eats the dirt off...wash it usually every saturday at work and wax it around once a month.