Other car care tips for a new owner?

[cobb]

Unlike the past few cars Ive own, Ive really done little to nothing to the outside or interior. Most of the stuff I have done is either PM or fine tuning. Then other stuff like brake, clutch adjusting filter and fluid change.

Anyway, want to treat my new car right, scion xa. I decline all the stuff they wanted to add when I purchased it like the protection to the paint, fabric and under coating. Looks like it already has an undercoating, I sprayed the interior carpet and seats with scotch guard and all plastic and nonfabric surfaces with armour all. Although they said the car did not include the stuff, it has an autobutler sticker on the window, the same service they tried to sell me.

So, Ive washed twice and waxed once the car and used tire shine on both sides of the tires including the spare, careful to not get any on the brakes. Ive used rain and fog x on all the windows and a bug/tar stuff on the front hood, air dam and side mirrors. I have the can with me to reapply as I under stand the rain washes it off and I use both rain x for car wash solution and wax. I also have a 10 pack of terry cloth towels that have been washed, some microb beed towels an absorber towel to wipe the car dry. Of course two cans of fix a flat in the rear.

Ive also jacked it up and sprayed the cvc boots, steering rack boots with silicon spray inaddition to all the gaskets, window and door seals and other rubber parts.

Did I forget anything? Is washing waxing once a month too much or too little? What about the surfaces around the door gaskets and hatch gasket area? Do I need to wash/wax those areas too?

Ive notice since the waxing it seems to resist pollen unlike the other cars around me.

Thanks

 

[Cerbera]

Do you own a buffer? Eventually you're going to have fine swirls from regular washing. If you're willing to spend the time and money, I suggest you go to Autogeek. They have great guides. I would highly suggest a car cover if its parked outside.

Yes wax is amazing. I love it when it rains because all I have to do is drive 60 mph and all of the water beads slide right off the car

Invest in microfiber! That material is amazing and get a PROPER microfiber detergent. Anything else makes it feel rough and don't put it in a dryer! It will melt! If anything, you can tumble dry or let it hang. Also, that detergent is great for anything else like towels.

 

[BIGIRON]

And loose the "fixaflat". If you use it, you'll never be able to get a good balance on the tire. Get an inexpensive 12volt compressor if you don't want to use your spare to make it to a tire shop.

 

[JackBlades]

Silicone spray for the door gaskets, and yes, wax the door jambs.

 

[9volt]

Ive also jacked it up and sprayed the cvc boots,

Rule #1 - don't get under a car without jackstands. Crawling under a car supported only by a jack is an uncool way to die.

 

[cobb]

Yes, I use jack stands with a hydrolic floor jack rated twice what my car weighs. I also try not to crawl any further under the car than needed. I use to be a mechanic and we did not have a lift at the shop I worked in, so first thing was to look for a place to jack, try jacking it, if things went well, jack it up and put stands under it, lower weight of car on to stands, but leave the jack under where working to help incase it slips.

I also have a compressor that is made into my 450 amp jump starter I carry around incase someone needs a jump or inflate a flat tire. The fix a flat was left over from my wheelchair days. If I had a flat, I think changing out the temp spare would be the quickest til I get it fixed since its a temp tire.

Will get the door jams and other areas next time. Thanks. Wonder about those areas.

Also, kind of kicking myself since my car had a nice glass like finish, but now swirlies since I waxed it. Of course my old man tells me that waxing is what causes those and soon as the wax wears off you will see the glass finish again. One reason I was aiming clear of a buffer. Think my dad has an aborator one that shakes and spins, but Ive never been impressed with the work of it.

 

[9volt]

Did you buff off the wax after you applied it? What kind of wax did you use? What kind of applicator did you use? Did you applicator get dirty at any point, even a little bit?

 

[BIGIRON]

A tip a friend gave (he's into high $$ collector stuff) is to never power buff, but buff by hand and always horizontally. Says that circular buffing or vertical buff strokes create streaks that are much more easily seen than the horizontal ones.

I think he's right, but hand buffing is too much a PITA for my vehicles. Now if I had that 67 Mustang back........

 

[cryhavok]

I'm very anal about my car, and the best advice I've ever gotten is how to properly wash/wax the car. Always do straight strokes...never circular (contrary to what Mr. Miyagi suggests :laughing It is best to do strokes that would be parallel to the airflow around the body of the car.

If you do this, you will never have to worry about "swirl marks" aka the weird optical illusions that happen when you hand wax/buff a car with circular strokes.

Although waxing is a PITA, the car will look cleaner far longer and it will be easier to clean compared to an unwaxed car, so you end up saving time in the long run.

Get some Meguiars NXT wax...the shine it gives is immaculate and is extremely easy to apply/buff off. Here's what just one coat did to my car.

 

[VWTim]

Also stay away from Armor All, it can do damage in the long run by actually drying the plastics out. Look into a product called Lexol, they make leather treatment, and also excellent vinyl/plastic protectant.

 

[cratz2]

I was always taught to do the circular thing while applying and polishing wax but I met a guy that collected high end exotics and built Cobra replicas and he said the number one piece of car advice is to apply and polish out in a linear manner. And never re-use the applicator pad.

I've had very good luck with a 'wax' called Klasse. Outstanding, really. Only car that I've ever used it on that I felt other waxes were better was my 99 Civic. But my 88 BMW, 99 VW, 01 Caravan, 98 Contour and a few other vehicles I've used it on, the results were absolutely perfect.

I do two applications in a day and do it twice a year. My daily driver is a silver Caravan and even two months later, after a rainstorm, it looks like I just detailed it.

As far as the Rain X, I use the little bottle stuff maybe three months or so and I use Rain X in my windshield reservoir. I don't think I've actually applied the bottled stuff since December and the rain still streaks off the windshield and side glass.

For interior work on non-leather, I just vacuum every other weekend, I use a California duster whenever I notice dust and I use the Armor All wipes on the dash, center console and the doors. I do like to apply it when I can leave the windows down for a few hours after applying it. I use Lexol on leather, but I can show you pics of what a 1980 Monte Carlo looks like after being treated with Armor All for 27 years. I know a lot of folks don't like Armor All, but I've yet to see a vehicle with obvious signs of unnaturally fast drying or cracking because of its use.

 

[jds009]

I'm very anal about my car, and the best advice I've ever gotten is how to properly wash/wax the car. Always do straight strokes...never circular (contrary to what Mr. Miyagi suggests :laughing It is best to do strokes that would be parallel to the airflow around the body of the car.

If you do this, you will never have to worry about "swirl marks" aka the weird optical illusions that happen when you hand wax/buff a car with circular strokes.

Although waxing is a PITA, the car will look cleaner far longer and it will be easier to clean compared to an unwaxed car, so you end up saving time in the long run.

Get some Meguiars NXT wax...the shine it gives is immaculate and is extremely easy to apply/buff off. Here's what just one coat did to my car.

Holy cow, that is one nice shine!

 

[FASTCAR]

I use Fuelon on every car, truck,boat and jetski I own..Also in my 6Gal refill for all small gas using items.

My racecars pick up 15-22 HP to the ground.
My street cars/bikes get 2-5 MPG better and more HP
Every car starts faster and gets 50-80% less emmisions.

Anything its used on WILL last longer and run cleaner.

Retail this stuff costs about $1 a tank.Comes in a multi use bottle.

As a pro drag racer I use what works.Of countless products and snake oils out there..this actually works.

Also if your not happy they give you 100% of you cash back no questions.

http://www.fuelon.com/fuelonpower.html

My new Evo turbo ran a best of 10.05@131 with a short time (60') of 1.61
Roughly 100 passes.
After Fuelon 9.91@134 Short time 1.55

I put a dose in every car that passes through my shop.Every single person says they can "feel" it.

Great for new or old cars.

 

[VWTim]

um...ya.....

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

Edited:

FASTCAR-

I seriously doubt the benefits of Fuelon. The differences posted, other than emissions, are well within the standard variations of performance due to weather and gasoline formulation changes. The claimed improvment in emissions, are, I think, totally false. Have they been checked with actual independent and repeatable tests? I would not be at all happy to find that a shop had put ANY kind of additives in any of my vehicle's fluids. I hope you at least ask your customers first; I would refuse. Lastly, I also notice Fuelon is distributed by independent associates, I assume you are one?

:buddies:

 

[Lightmeup]

I use Fuelon on every car, truck,boat and jetski I own..Also in my 6Gal refill for all small gas using items.

Every single person says they can "feel" it.

I don't want to burst your bubble, but according to this EPA test of Fuelon, the only thing every single person, including you, should be "feeling" is stupid, for falling for it. In their conclusions, they say "Vehicle operation and performance were unchanged by the additive." You could of bought a lot of STP or Bardahl with all that money you wasted.:thumbsdow

http://www.epa.gov/OMS/consumer/devices/5119201.pdf

 

[cryhavok]

:hahaha: owned

Good find Lightmeup:thumbsup:



I also don't like to use Armorall or any product for that matter on my dash/leather seats. Armorall gives a shiny finish that just makes the car look cheap and not classy at all IMO. The same is true for most leather "care" products.

For the seats/dash, just some warm (slightly soapy if needed) water and a microfiber towel cleans them right up. You also don't have to worry about any noxious smells after cleaning.

 

[Rayne]

I also got a new car this past December and haven't polish/waxed it yet because there's so many choices out there. Just been washing it with Mother's California gold car wash. There any polish and/or wax recommendations for a black car without any swirl marks or anything like that yet? Not really looking for a cleaner wax or polish with abrasives in it.

 

[cobb]

Thanks, thats a nice finish. I used rain x brand wax with the small round applicator and did as directed and made small circular rubs to apply it and circular rubs to remove it with terry cloth towels that were washed and rtoated frequently and even switched out as they loaded up with wax. I washed out the applicator and dried it putting it back in the box to reused. I did use back and forth strokes to wash the car, but not to wax. GOing to next time for sure.

I have a bottle of macguires quik wax, but decided since I had the time to use the rain x stuff. I like rain x and decided it was just as good as the rest of the products on the shelf. I lost my voice and am out of work on medical leave. I am about to go crazy as I use to work 80 hours a week, now nothing a week but doctors visits, driving my car, detailing it and helping my parents.

No thanks to the fuel addative, regular unleaded is fine for me. I am getting 37mpg doing 80 down the interestate and with mixed stop and go driving. I have twice the power and have the car weight of what I use to own. Now kleen power or kleen diesel in the little grey bottle does give you noticable more power in a diesel car and better fuel econony. I used the white bottle in the colder weather as it seemed to help me start. Never had a gelling issue.

I was mixed on using the armor all as my dashboard seemed to have a satan finish like vs the plastic or leather one, but did not want it to dry out, so I laid it on. Now it and all the plastic pieces look wet.

 

[BIGIRON]

Armorall makes a satin (dull) finish product that I use.

And, while I normally think additives are mostly made of snakeoil, Chevron Techron concentrate (expensive) really seems to work as a fuel system cleaner.

And the DieselKleen (grey bottle) seems to give slightly better mpg and quietes noisy injectors.

And as soon as my money gets here from Nigeria, I'm going to get a couple of things from JC Whitney that will increase my mileage to over 100mpg...