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Washing/Detailing

3K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  vanhalo 
#1 ·
Hey,

I'm a new owner to a Jeep and looking for any advice on cleaning and detailing supplies? What's best for the soft top and hard top? Are they any products I should stay away from or lean towards?
 
#6 ·
Where did you hear this?



Use Novus plastic polish on the plastic windows. The plastic used for the windows is called isinglass. 303 products are very good, much better than Armor-all for your dash and interior plastics. Any decent car soap will work, don't use dish liquid/soap as it will strip the wax off the paint. Microfiber or old tee shirts make great rags for cleaning and polishing. Only use paper towels on the glass.
 
#9 ·
I don't know who told you that but they were dead wrong , the reason you don't use paper towels in engines or transmissions is because of the paper lint left behind after using them. It tends to clog up things.
 
#18 ·
I suggest a soft brush to wash the front of the jeep with.
I have banged the tips of my fingers on the hood latches and door hinges so many time that now I use a soft brush on the whole jeep.
 
#19 ·
Slightly off-topic, but I think you'll see where I'm going.

My father's business since 1988 has been a self serve car wash. He has always tried to provide better equipment than his competitors to retain customers and reduce damage liability. As such, he runs natural hog's hair brushes in all of the bays.

His car wash also has 2 20' tall bays to accommodate tractors and buses and those are usually the bays I use. Asphalt trucks, concrete mixers, big rigs, you name it use those bays. The brushes see hard use in them.

I hit the Jeep with pre-soak, then high pressure soap, then rinse, and then the brush (AFTER I rinse the brush out very well first... 20-30 seconds.. basically until you can't see soap run out of it anymore) and brush the Jeep in 1/4s and quickly rinse what I just did and wet down the rest of it so the dirt stays in solution, and move around the entire thing. When I'm done with the brush, I rinse the soap off with spray wax, and then switch to "spot free rinse", which is just reverse osmosis (distilled) water down to 4 parts/million. I rinse it off until no more soap comes off of it (the velcro on the top holds a ton of soap as do most panel gaps) and call it good. FWIW, summer washes (no effort on chassis and maybe hit under the hood every other month... in the winter I do that every week) take me about 35-40 minutes. $1.50/4 minutes = $11.50 for a thorough car wash w/spray on wax, no damage, no water spots, and no drying. When I lived too far away to use his business I sought out a local wash with good equipment and paid to use theirs, so it's not like I only do it that way because it's "free".

I've been doing that for 10 years with the same equipment the public uses and abuses (to extents you can't imagine)... 0 scratches have been added to my plastic windows. Beyond that, I've owned 5 black cars (including the TJ) and have washed them all that way. Not a single scratch has ever been added to any of them from the hog brushes.

I found a comparable brush head on Amazon if you want to do it at home, but it isn't cheap:

http://www.amazon.com/Montana-Origi...6105509&sr=1-3&keywords=boars+hair+wash+brush

If you want the "real" equipment, he buys all of his stuff from Harrell's Carwash Systems in Indianapolis. Call them up and they'll sell you the real deal. Not sure what they cost, but the last time I ordered a mirror forest from them (a case of trees... I don't remember how many are in a case but I think it's like 200) it was $40 or $50. We don't sell trees (we have scent machines) so that was even the "special order" price. Also, I don't know what it is, but his window wipes are the only thing I've ever used that don't leave streaks. I've tried to all and none of it works for me. Dad is looking to retire soon so I need to grab about 5 cases before he gets out of the business (save the shipping).

I have never used any products on my top (I have a buddy with a 68 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed 'vert that had a bad experience with them that required a new top, so I never touched them) and if I'm honest my factory Mopar top held in very well and looked good for 13 years. It's still water tight now, but it's in need of replacement and I'm afraid to drop it for fear of it not going back up (the hard plastic bits around the door surrounds have caused the top to tear at that location about 3/8"). Keeping it clean seems to be enough and I'm not disappointed with the the amount of life it gave me. No products required for your top is my verdict. Just cleaning.
 
#20 ·
Plexus
303 Aerospace Protectant
Dionized Water
 
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