I know its good to wash car yourself rather than going to a auto car wash places. The problem with me is that I live in an apt complex that does not have any hose and I live on 3rd floor. Too much work to clean using buckets... Any suggestions??

Thanks

 

Find a friend with a place you can use. Or, check the regional forum here or on www.audiworld.com for a place that allows you to rent time in a garage.

Good luck. Given your challenge, I'd definitely suggest a good synthetic sealant (Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket is the one I use). REAL durable stuff if you can't garage and frequently wash your car.

 

I used to have the same problem. Here is what I used to do. Grab a bucket and a wash mit with good quality car soap and head to one of those DIY car washes. They have spigots on the building to fill your bucket with water. Just use the wash bay for the pressure washer (low PSI) for water to rinse. This takes longer but you avoid scratching the hell out of your car. Then dry and pamper the finish with a good quality carnuba wax. The wax is a good idea this time of year to help protect agianst road grime etc. Good Luck!!

 

That's exactly what I used to do when I didn't have access to a garage or hose while I was in an apartment. Since it takes a little bit longer to do, I would usually go at night when there weren't too many people there. If you do it during the day, you run the risk of dealing with some *** with an attitude. Happy washing!

 

Some DIY washes have signs that say 'no bucket washing' or something along those lines. Washing at night can help to avoid hassles, however then you can't see your work as easily either. This is a good solution though. Don't worry about using the high pressure sprayer, but don't get too close, and don't aim for your door / trunk seals and you should be just fine. Kind of a fun exercise, playing 'beat the clock' to try and get all of the suds rinsed off before you run out of quarters. I often use these type of washes during the winter when my car is filthy and I have my outside faucet / hose shut off for the winter.

I suggest spending on a really good detail maybe once per year with a durable hand wax job... sounds illegal doesn't it then just maintaining the car clean as you can... A good wax job can last for months if you spray if off with water often, whenever there is dirt or grime on it.

There are also 'touchless' auto car washes around that don't have the spinning brushes, just rotating spray nozzles. They don't work very well, but they won't scratch your car either.

In my town there is also a really good carwash where you hand the car over, they vacuum, then pre-wash with hose and by hand, then it goes into the wash building where there are stages with mixed automatic washing and hand washing, rinse and spray wax, blow dry and hand dry... I was really concerned about them using their machine on my Mercedes at first, but I know the owner, and he tells me the key is getting all of the dirt off during the initial hand wash so they keep their machine brushes as clean as possible, plus they change the brush material out often and clean it and keep a good spray of water going while its running. I've been very happy with their work so far, not bad for $20. I haven't taken my A6 to them yet though.