Advice on washing a very dusty car

I've been in the process of re-assembling my 69 Mustang after it came out of the body shop with fresh paint. I was told not to wax it for 90 days, which I didn't. The re-assembly process
has taken longer than expected therefore I never got a coat of wax on it. I also neglected to cover it at the end of a weekend of working on it and now it has several years of stuck on dust on it. See my attached photos.

I'd like to wash the car and try to minimze as much scratching as possible. I've watched the How to Properly Wash Your Car | DIY Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide video and reviewed the car washing checklist.

My wash plan is as follows:

1. Wet the car using a pressure washer and 40° nozzle
2. Snow foam using Meguiar's Hyper Wash
3. Rinse
4. Use the 2 bucket method and swapping out the wash mitts often
5. Rinse
4. Dry using a leaf blower

Should I pre-soak the car with something in addition to just water to help break down the dirt prior to snow foam? If so, what is safe to use on 2 stage paint and matte paint on the hood?
Should I also use some sort of drying agent to minimuze the water spotting since there is no wax on the car? If so, what product is recommend?
Also, I'm very concerned about using a towel to dry the car in addition to the leaf blower.

Once I get the car clean, I can then evaluate the condition of the paint and determine what correction steps may be necessary.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Stacey

Your wash process looks fine. There are a few things you could do to be even more careful, but it's up to you. Check out this video.



Most of the dust I see on the very cool 1969 Ford Mustang is LOOSE dust and should blow off with the pressure washer. I think it's a good idea to cover the car with a quality car wash soap using a foam cannon and let the cleaning agents in the soap go to work chemically breaking-up and dissolving any loose dirt, pollen etc., and then blast with water.

The most important thing is to make sure anything that touches the paint is soft, clean and key word, uncontaminated. Most of my recent videos always include this recommendation. Like this recent video,



Mike

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I downloaded your pics. Resized to 1200 pixels wide, uploaded them here, and then inserted them into your first post.

Forum Members Pictures



Mike

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Do you know what is the substance that has caused the stains on the matte surface?





Mike

Mike Phillips said:

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Do you know what is the substance that has caused the stains on the matte surface?

Mike

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Yes, those are water spots from condenstation dripping from the garage ceiling. Although it is insulated, we do get alot of humidity where I live in North Eastern PA. I have obtained a good water shedding and dust proof car cover from California car covers that I will be using moving forward to prevent this, as soon as I get the car clean.

Thank you for the feedback. Sounds like I'm on the right track to getting the car cleaned.

I expect to do this on Saturday. Then, I can post results and ask my next set of questions related to correction\protection.

Mike Phillips said:

Your wash process looks fine. There are a few things you could do to be even more careful, but it's up to you. Check out this video.

Click to expand...

Mike Phillips said:

Most of the dust I see on the very cool 1969 Ford Mustang is LOOSE dust and should blow off with the pressure washer. I think it's a good idea to cover the car with a quality car wash soap using a foam cannon and let the cleaning agents in the soap go to work chemically breaking-up and dissolving any loose dirt, pollen etc., and then blast with water.

The most important thing is to make sure anything that touches the paint is soft, clean and key word, uncontaminated. Most of my recent videos always include this recommendation. Like this recent video,

Mike

Click to expand...

Lessons Learned from watching "How to Wash Black Cars: The Ultimate Method".

1. I don't need to use the 2 bucket method since I will be using a fresh wash mitt per panel
2. The "blotting" method when drying. This is something I never thought of and will ease my mind about dragging the drying towel across the paint.

prettyslick69 said:

Lessons Learned from watching "How to Wash Black Cars: The Ultimate Method".

1. I don't need to use the 2 bucket method since I will be using a fresh wash mitt per panel

Click to expand...

Correct. Safest way to wash a car while avoiding instilling any wash-related defects is to switch to a fresh, clean UN-CONTAMINATED wash mitts.

I love the Chenille Microfiber Wash Mitts but it's LESS about how they wash a car and MORE about how when you wash them, they come out clean and key word - uncontaminated.

prettyslick69 said:

2. The "blotting" method when drying. This is something I never thought of and will ease my mind about dragging the drying towel across the paint.

Click to expand...

There was a guy in North California that made the blotting method or the Least Evasive Method popular back in the early 2000's. This was back in the early days of the old Autopia.org detailing discussion forum. Can't remember his name or his shtick, but his technique is legit. Just keep the drying towels from becoming contaminated.


Mike

Mike Phillips said:

There was a guy in North California that made the blotting method or the Least Invasive Method popular back in the early 2000's. This was back in the early days of the old Autopia.org detailing discussion forum. Can't remember his name or his shtick, but his technique is legit. Just keep the drying towels from becoming contaminated.

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Was that carguy? I found a thread he started in 2001 about blotting. His real name might be Doug, because some of the user names got confused in that consolidation of the forum with the other 3. I also found an AGO thread you did in 2016 about blotting, where you called it the Least Invasive Method.

PS Did you know that MOL is offline for a while now?

PPS I apologize for taking the OP's thread off-topic.

Setec Astronomy said:

Was that carguy? I found a thread he started in 2001 about blotting. His real name might be Doug, because some of the user names got confused in that consolidation of the forum with the other 3.

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Yes, I think he's the guy. If I remember correctly he was a fan of Zaino products and owned a black Porsche.

Setec Astronomy said:

I also found an AGO thread you did in 2016 about blotting, where you called it the Least Invasive Method.

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Yes, I had to look of the definitions for invasive and evasive to make sure I was accurate.

Setec Astronomy said:

PS Did you know that MOL is offline for a while now?

PPS I apologize for taking the OP's thread off-topic.

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Didn't know that. To be honest, I'm surprised 3M hasn't pulled the plug on the MOL forum by now.

Certainly not the same forum it was when I ran it. But all forums have dropped off in activity due to cell phones.




Mike

Mike Phillips said:

Correct. Safest way to wash a car while avoiding instilling any wash-related defects is to switch to a fresh, clean UN-CONTAMINATED wash mitts.

I love the Chenille Microfiber Wash Mitts but it's LESS about how they wash a car and MORE about how when you wash them, they come out clean and key word - uncontaminated.





There was a guy in North California that made the blotting method or the Least Evasive Method popular back in the early 2000's. This was back in the early days of the old Autopia.org detailing discussion forum. Can't remember his name or his shtick, but his technique is legit. Just keep the drying towels from becoming contaminated.


Mike

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I was finally able to wash my car and it cleaned up pretty well. I used multiple wash mitts and the blotting method too. However, with that being said the top surfaces are very rough. I don't even need to drag a baggie across it to know there is imbedded contaminates. This is the result of not covering the car for 7 years while working on it with the garage door open during the warm months.

I used a mild clay bar in a small area and there was a ton of dirt picked up. I plan on only using the clay bar on the top surfaces because the vertical surfaces feel very clean and smooth.

I wasn't too happy with the buffing job the body shop did to begin with and remember seeing swirls, etc from the body shops buffer so I was planning on doing some sort of paint correction anyway.

There is a small spot\stain on the black satin paint on the hood I need to figure out how to remove (image #2). Do you have any suggestions on what to use? I obviously can't do paint correction or polish on that surface. I will use my Rupes Bigfoot Mark III for the test of the car. I just need to decide what product I'm going to use. I've attached pics after the wash.