Most liked posts in thread: How I wash a MINI

So if you use the eZall to wash your MINI, do you use the soap that comes with it? Most shampoos have something for removing oil and seems like it would be like using Dawn. Which is ok if you are going to clay and then wax, but not for a quick clean up, right?

Annette

 

Nope....
The soap that was part of the kit never made it on the MINI. That was put to good use on my daughter's horse.

 

Thanks Metalman, so you can use a car wash soap instead. I was thinking only the special soap it comes with would "foam" up.
I checked and it seems most of the tack supply places near me carry it, even the one next to the dog food store so I guess I'll check this out.
Annette

 

so what soap do you use? Thx

 

Yeah.....
Stick with a good car wash soap.... I'm sure several of our vendors Outmotoring or Octaneguy and others to name a few will make good suggestions on a soap for your paint....

I'm still playing around with soaps.... Currently using up Meguiars Gold Class soap.... Next one will probably be Griot's Car Wash soap....

Lotsie (Mark) may chime in here with some suggestions he uses.....

 

Sorry, I had not been keeping up with this one. EZ-All makes one product for horse trailers and another for horses. It is truly great stuff and will not hurt your car.

Rae: I have used this on our horses for years. Simply spray it on and the deep dirt under the hair just works itself to the surface. Hose it off and dirt, grass stain, crud washes right off. Fast and easy. We have found it even cuts down on that rain rot crud they get sometimes. If it won't hurt the horse it won't hurt the MINI.

I'm sure you have a Dover Catalog (everybody does) and they sell it there.

BTW: Lotise, that is "Dover" not "Victoria's Secret" Catalog. :lol:

Jim

 

Yeah well....
Jim also feeds Foggie oats..... Go figure.....

 

One thing you should note....
The high pressure system that Dwight and the e-zall are not in the same league. The high pressure systems will always out perform the "low pressure" systems as far as the quality of the "foamyness" being generated. They are also much more expensive and maybe classed as a more "professional" system.
I like the e-zall system because of the low investment cost, it's quick and for me does a pretty good job.

 

FYI: I got my pressure washer at Lowe's for $100. 1500psi @ 1.3gpm. Use it for lots of stuff besides washing my MINI. BTW, that detailing guru I mentioned is Octaneguy! Ask him a question about car care and he'll bury you in info! LOL

 

I asked him a Question on how to wash my new white wheels and he's mailing me samples of a new unreleased prima product. :lol:

 

Griot's is very good, I have also used Prima's Mystique which I is also very excellent

 

Thanks for this and the previous Dwight. Looks like this might be a winner

Seems we have two parallel positngs going on here. Yours seems like a real time saver. The foam canon and mitt method is pretty close to what I'm doing now. Works great (I'd add using a garden blower to blow off most of the water before drying but the gist is the same)

I'll call OG, haven't talked to him in awhile anyway

 

NOTICE:

Forget what I said about EZ-All. There seemed to be some confusion. The soap MM was talking about was for horses and he was correct not to use it on his car. The soap you wanted was their "Trailer Wash", which is formulated for car finishes. I went to their site and did not see it listed, so I called them. It had not been a big seller and was discontinued, even though it worked very well. My bottle was getting low, so I just ordered the last two, gallon bottles of it that they had in stock. What a shame. All their products really work as advertised.

Jim

 

Danger - Danger - Danger Will Robinson...

 

It really is (was) great stuff, or I would not have recommended it. I guess I have a collectors item now. Well, at least until I use it all up, which I will.

Jim

 

Any reason you could not use another shampoo of a similar formula?

 

Little more info about the power washer/foam canon

http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/detailing/6018-scd-foam-cannon-ultimate-mini-wash.html

 

I'm sure you could, but I only have experience with EZ-All, so I can not recommend any others. I guess I shall have to look around and see what else is out there.

Jim

 

Guess I'm late to the party...drying takes far longer than washing..when you dry the way I do. It still takes me about 45 minutes to do a MINI from start to dry. If I could just be happy with washing and drying, I'd finish in 15 minutes. But I have to blow the water from the grills, panel lines, gutter, emblems, lights, etc...and dry that. Clean and dry the door jambs, bonnet, boot lid, etc..

I've tried about 6 different soaps and Meguiar's Hyper Wash is the best. Some soaps produce a lot of foam but leave the paint just as dirty as before you foamed it. Optima's Car Wash is like that. The best soaps will have plenty of suds but will quickly dissipate within 10 minutes. You want the soap to drip so that at first it softens/dissolves the dirt, then flows off. The pressure washer helps to remove that and anything else it loosened.

Hyper Wash will eventually strip off/degrade the wax, so following the wash with Hydro before drying is simple enough. I've had very good results with mixing Mystique and Hyper Wash for the best suds while leaving that polymer shine. Using Mystique only, even with 5oz of soap doesn't produce sufficient suds to clean thoroughly.

Note that at 1800psi, the foam is almost as thick as shaving cream yet it still dissipates. A car with a good protective wax will dissipate faster.

Richard

 

Don't be too disappointed. Once you get the cannon set right, it don't take too many more then a couple passes to turn your MINI into a snowball!