Exterior Detailing Guide - Two Buckets And A Bird!

The first step in prepping a Pontiac for washing is to take it to a cool, well-lit area but out of direct sunlight. If it's really cool, as it was on this chilly day, direct sunlight won't be an issue. Steve starts by applying a gentle stream of water from a garden hose to wet the surface and rinse away any loose dust or dirt. Using a top-down method, he runs the water on the top surface of the car and then progressively lower on each panel.

Two buckets are necessary to wash a car properly: one for the car-wash concentrate (soapy water), and a second with clean rinse water to remove soap suds and surface dirt from the wash mitt after soaping a panel. For easy identification purposes, Steve uses a white 3.5-gallon bucket with one ounce of wash concentrate per gallon for the soap, and the black bucket contains clean, rinse water. Although many people use a hose to rinse their wash mitt after soaping a panel, thoroughly dipping the dirty wash mitt in the rinse bucket will lift all the dirt from the mitt, rather than risk having dirt embedded deep in the wash mitt's fibers, where it can contaminate the clean concentrate and/or end up being transferred to the car's paint.

Steve begins soaping, starting with the roof (T-tops) followed by the front, side, and rear glass areas. He then rinses the wash mitt in the black bucket and dunks it back in the soapy water of the white bucket. He soaps down the hood, followed by the front end and rear-end panels. After each panel, he follows the rinsing and soaping procedure to ensure dirt isn't transferred to the next panel.

Steve continues the process on the front fenders, doors, and rear quarter-panels. Note he isn't rinsing off any of the preceding panels and is working from top to bottom. Steve explains, "The weather is cool, and the car-wash concentrate suspends the dirt and surface contaminants that have not been transferred to the wash mitt. Therefore it isn't necessary to rinse off each panel after application."

To clean the wheels and tight areas of the fenderwells, SFX recommends its 20-inch wheel-and-fender brush (PN SFX-B40, retail $6.99) or the 16-inch wheel-spoke brush (PN SFX-B30, retail $6.99), bottom. Both feature white Tampico bristles that are stiff but non-scratching. After thoroughly soaping the face and outer portion of the wheel with the wash mitt, Steve dips the wheel-spoke brush in the soapy concentrate and cleans between the wheel spokes. The brush is rinsed and resoaped several times until the inner wheel surface is clean.

Steve then turns his attention to the inner wheelwell lip and gently washes the arch of the lip from the lower left clockwise to the lower right. Since the Formula has such narrow wheel openings, he washes the inner fenderwell with the mitt as well, as opposed to the 20-inch wheel-and-fender brush.

Note the amount of dirt and rubber (from burnouts at the dragstrip) on the wash mitt before it's cleaned. This illustrates the importance of washing from the top down and leaving the dirtiest areas until last in the process, as well as removing all traces of dirt and grime from your wash mitt before proceeding. Steve then rinses the Bird, along with the one clean wheel and wheelwell, and thouroughly cleans the rinse bucket before cleaning the other three wheels, fender lips, and inner fenders.