I always used to bring my old car through a car wash and leave it at that. But after buying 2 new 2025 vehicles for my wife and I, keeping the paint nice and making the vehicles last for as long as possible has become a priority.
I wash the vehicles regularly. The routine has been touches soap and rinse, then hand wash, rinse again, dry with O’Reilly brand microfiber and then speed shine. I would rather get into a better routine and ceramic/wax the vehicles instead.
I’ve been reading a lot about Clay Towels vs. clay bars. My question for that is should I expect to have deep contaminants already for a year old car or do you think a clay towel will do just fine for now? And how often should I use either one? Ive already been experiencing the iron marks on my white paint so I was going to use Griots clay sponge and their iron decontaminate to get them out. Then I planned on ceramic spraying the whole truck after I’m done and doing the same with my wife’s car. Also bought the Ryobi 18v handheld blower to dry easier after the ceramic is on for future washes. Am I going about this right?
Are there any products I should be using? Am I going about this all the right way? Anything I’m missing? I just want to get a good routine going so I can keep my paint as good as possible for as long as possible.
Also rock chips in the paint, I have a couple of them. How should I go about correcting that?