Before the wash process begins feel the finish. Take your open hand and run it across the rear glass of the car. If you hear a swishing noise then you have fallout and your vehicle detail job will require an additional step. If the finish is smooth and there is no noise then you can skip the clay process. If the noise is present you will need to use a clay bar to remove the surface contamination before any wax can be applied. I would say that 90 % of the cars that I look at daily have industrial fallout and my customers don't even know it.  Industrial fallout is airborne contamination that you cannot see on your paint surface but you can hear it. Industrial fallout happens to all vehicles that spend anytime outside. Fallout can be rail dust if you live near a railroad, it can be the overspray from your neighbor refinishing his lawn furniture it can be a lot of different surface contaminates including but not limited to tree sap. DO NOT PANIC, There is a cure. The cure for industrial fallout is a product called a Clay Bar. The clay bar comes with a special liquid lubricant that must be used for the product to work correctly. The area with contamination is sprayed with the solution and then the clay is rubbed back and forth over the paint and glass surfaces.  As the clay is rubbed over the paint surface it will pickup any surface contamination and stick to the bar. The clay should be rotated when using to avoid rubbing the contaminates back into and scratching the surface being cleaned. Soap and water will work as a clay lubricant just as well, just be sure to keep the car sprayed with water do not let hard soapy water sit on the paint or glass even out of direct sunlight as water spotting will occur adding an additional step to your detail process. Attack the fallout with the clay bar in small sections and make sure that each section is clean before moving to the next area to be clayed. If the area is clayed properly it will feel  smooth and you will not hear any noise when you rub your hand on the  surface. Clay the entire vehicle including the glass. Do not use the clay on any surface that has texture or any black mat surface, it will not work. Clay is to be used on smooth shiny surfaces only.  

When all contamination has been removed you can begin the wash process.  Start with a clean five gallon wash buckets, add three capfuls of real car wash soap to the bucket.  DO NOT use dishwashing detergent it will strip off any wax that your vehicle my have). Fill the buckets with warm tap water and suds it up. I recommend you purchase two new cotton car wash mitts. TIP (Using a permanent marker mark one mitt for paint and the other for wheels). Never use the paint mitt for cleaning the wheels or tires and vice versa. When the car is cooled down in the shade spray the vehicle down with a hand controlled hose end sprayer. The object of the water is to allow heavy dirt to be removed from the paint surface before sudsing up the car. Using the wash mit dipped in the soapy wash water start at the top of the vehicle and wash from the top down. I personally break down the vehicle into three segments. I wash the top of the car first then the hood and then the deck lid of the car. I then do the front end of the car and the two fenders. Then I move to the doors and then the rear quarter panels behind the doors finishing up with the rear body area of the vehicle. Do not attempt to wash every panel before rinsing. Wash off the suds after completion of each of the three of sections of the vehicle. Do not hesitate to spray off the entire vehicle througout the process keep it wet to reduce water spotting. If the vehicle is exceptionally dirty I will then open each door and wash the jam area (inner door) being carefull not to get grease from the door latch onto your wash mit. The tire mit is ususlly your best bet in the jam area. To rinse the jam just let the water run onto the jam keeping the water from entering into the interior of the vehicle. The same process can be done for the jams of the engine compartment and the rear trunk. The final stage of the wash process is the wheels and tires. In my opinion car wash soap and water cleans wheels and tires best. Harsh chemicals should be avoided and can sometimes ruin tires and stain wheels beyond repair.

The final rinse of the vehicle should be done with the hose end removed. Rather than spraying it on and causing the water to bead up let the water run onto the painted surfaces. If you have a decent wax job on your vehicle most of the water will just run off in sheets. Last year the people at Mr. Clean came out with a spotless rinse product that greatly reduces the chance of water spotting on your vehicle. It removes the contamination in hard water and works quite well. If nothing else it gives you a little more time to deal with getting the water off the vehicle. Personally even when I use the spotless product I tend to dry by hand as well. I start by drying the all glass first and then move again to the top and dry down to the bottom of the vehicle. I finish up the drying process by drying the jams of the vehicle.

At this point we are close to being done with the exterior of the vehicle. I usually finish up by cleaning the exterior of the glass. For this operation I use a product called 20/20. It is probably the best glass cleaner that I have found.

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