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Video: Washing the Tacoma

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We usually wash our truck on road trips as well. It just gets to dirty to let it go. What parks are you hitting?
 
Mr. Nobody said:
We usually wash our truck on road trips as well. It just gets to dirty to let it go. What parks are you hitting?
Click to expand...
We’ve hit Badlands, Wind Cave, Grand Teton and Yellowstone so far. The route home leads into North Dakota so I’m thinking a stop by Roosevelt National Park might be an order.
 
In an effort to not sound like a Dick, just know this info is only meant to help, not to castigate your video.
  • Never wash in direct sunlight. The sun heats panels and dries out your solutions faster than you think, even if it's cool out. Sunlight will also dry water faster than you're able to, which causes hard water spotting that will etch if not removed - especially if you're not using de-ionized water.
  • Always wash the wheels, tires and wheel wells first. They are by far the most contaminated part of your vehicle. Washing them first ensures contaminants do not come off of them during the paint washing phase. Also, always use a separate bucket (ideally with a grit guard) and wash pad for the wheels.
  • Always rinse top to bottom. This ensures you're not pushing contaminants up the panel and then moving on. It also saves a surprising amount of time, water and labor.
  • Always rinse after the foam bath. The purpose of the foam bath is to grab contaminants and safely drip them off the vehicle. However inevitably there will be contaminants that remain in the foam that has not dripped off. Rinsing ensures you're not marring the paint with those contaminants during the hand wash.
  • Use the 2-bucket method (3 when considering the bucket that is dedicated to the wheels). This is one bucket with your soap and water solution and another bucket with only water - both buckets with grit guards in them. The grit guards keep contaminants that come off the wash mitt at the bottom of the bucket and prevent them from being re-introduced into the wash mitt. After each panel, rinse off your wash mitt on the guard in the rinse bucket and obtain new, clean soap for the next panel from the wash bucket. I color coordinate mine: Red (rinse) and White (wash).
Here's my T3G detailer thread for more auto finishing crap.

tacoma3g.com

Detailing - The Ultimate "Ask A Detailer" Thread

So I'm a professional detailer in the Reno/Tahoe area and I wanted to get something like this out there to mitigate a lot of the confusion and misinformation I see when it comes to maintaining our trucks. I am IDA certified and skills validated. I've got skin in the game and have trained with a...
tacoma3g.com tacoma3g.com
 
Last edited:
nickyreno said:
In an effort to not sound like a Dick, just know this info is only meant to help, not to castigate your video.
  • Never wash in direct sunlight. The sun heats panels and dries out your solutions faster than you think, even if it's cool out. Sunlight will also dry water faster than you're able to, which causes hard water spotting that will etch if not removed - especially if you're not using de-ionized water.
  • Never wash in direct sunlight. The sun heats panels and dries out your solutions faster than you think, even if it's cool out. Sunlight will also dry water faster than you're able to, which causes hard water spotting that will etch if not removed - especially if you're not using de-ionized water.
  • Always wash the wheels, tires and wheel wells first. They are by far the most contaminated part of your vehicle. Washing them first ensures contaminants do not come off of them during the paint washing phase. Also, always use a separate bucket (ideally with a grit guard) and wash pad for the wheels.
  • Always rinse top to bottom. This ensures you're not pushing contaminants up the panel and then moving on. It also saves a surprising amount of time, water and labor.
  • Always rinse after the foam bath. The purpose of the foam bath is to grab contaminants and safely drip them off the vehicle. However inevitably there will be contaminants that remain in the foam that has not dripped off. Rinsing ensures you're not marring the paint with those contaminants during the hand wash.
  • Use the 2-bucket method (3 when considering the bucket that is dedicated to the wheels). This is one bucket with your soap and water solution and another bucket with only water - both buckets with grit guards in them. The grit guards keep contaminants that come off the wash mitt at the bottom of the bucket and prevent them from being re-introduced into the wash mitt. After each panel, rinse off your wash mitt on the guard in the rinse bucket and obtain new, clean soap for the next panel from the wash bucket. I color coordinate mine: Red (rinse) and White (wash).


Here's my T3G detailer thread for more auto finishing crap.

tacoma3g.com

Detailing - The Ultimate "Ask A Detailer" Thread

So I'm a professional detailer in the Reno/Tahoe area and I wanted to get something like this out there to mitigate a lot of the confusion and misinformation I see when it comes to maintaining our trucks. I am IDA certified and skills validated. I've got skin in the game and have trained with a...
tacoma3g.com tacoma3g.com
Click to expand...
Good points. Editing the video I cut out a bit of order and such. I’m limited on time when I can wash and that morning worked the best to get it done.

Certainly a 2 bucket method person. I generally only power wash the wheels unless things are pretty gross.
 
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