I promised that one day, I would make a step by step guide, explaining the washing process that I carry on my Le Mans Blue every Saturday. Finally, that time has arrived and hopefully this will help you in taking better care of your M5.

Since my wax layer is gently fading away and I want to try a new wax, I will also include the steps to Wax the car.

1. Introduction
2. The Tools
3. The Wheels
4. The Foaming
5. The Washing
6. The Drying
7. The Preparations for the Wax: Claying and Glazing
8. The Waxing
9. The Final Touches – Windows, Exhaust Tips and Tires.
10. Conclusion

For the making of this tutorial, I kept my car unwashed for two weeks, so the dirt is more evident and easier to photograph. My M5 sees 100km/60 miles a day on its Daily Driving tasks, which is made of 80% Highway 20% City.

Here is how the car was BEFORE any washing took place, 2 weeks of driving:
























1. Introduction

There are no magical secrets in maintaining a car in a pretty condition. It is all about patience and time, together with the right technique and the right tools.

When you polish a car and correct all of its defects, one of your main concerns is how to maintain the perfect finish for as long as possible.

The Perfect Finish comes at a cost. That cost is your patience in maintaining the standard throughout the task. This means, if you want it awesome, then there is no corner cutting. Each step and each part of the car, should take the same amount of care and attention to detail.

Every time you will wash the car, you will be in direct contact with the paint, washing the dirt away from the panels, rinsing and drying it. Your main objective is to remove all of that dirt and have the car squeaky clean, but without hurting the paint finish that sits underneath. For this, the right technique and tools will come into place.

As for time, in average for my Saturday morning wash, takes me around 1 hour per car (I wash the M5 and then wash my lady’s MX5).

Remember, all is achievable, as long as you set your mind to do it right J

2. The Tools

This is where you will have so much choice and much to spend money on! It is great to try different products and see the different results and the ones you will enjoy to use more.

I have mentioned most of the tools covered for this tutorial already on my previous post, so please use it if you are interested in knowing what I use:

I keep on buying new products and trying them out on a regular basis. When they hit a huge mark on my book, for their performance and usability, I stick to them and keep an eye out for forum talk about possible better options (and then try them out and decide for myself).

Main rule for tools: Wash them after use, keep them clean and replace them when they get old.

But I will keep the product discussion out of this tutorial. You can always drag it to the other thread if you want to discuss products.

3. The Wheels

The wheels are always the first step in washing a car.

Why? Because they are heavily dirty with nasty contaminants like brake dust, which you don’t want to splatter on paint that you have already washed.

Main rule in washing the wheels: Wash them when they are cool to the touch. If they are hot, the water in the wheel cleaner/shampoo will evaporate and you are left with neat wheel cleaner on your wheels. That is not good for the finish, at ALL!

Since my wheels are regularly waxed (every 2 months), I just use normal shampoo for them.

2x Buckets (one for washing solution, one for water only to rinse mitt)
1x Microfibre Mitt
1x Shampoo
1x Wheel Brush
1x Brush






First step is to Rinse the wheels properly with the pressure washer.






Then I have foamed the wheels, making sure I foam well the inside of the wheel. Then with the Wheel brush, wash the insides properly.








Now with the Microfibre Mitt, wash the face of the wheel, making sure you get into all those little corners in this design.





Keep the mitt clean, by rinsing it on the rinse bucket!



Use a brush to clean the wheel bolts recessed area.



Then just rinse again and move on to the next wheel!

Tip: After doing all the wheels, I use the mitt to wash the exhausts as well. This will help me remove most of the grime and make the cleaning with the metal polish later on much easier!


4. The Foaming

After getting the wheels done and clean, move on to Foam the whole car.

1x Foam Gun
1x Shampoo
1x Wheel Wells brush
1x Tire brush



Foaming will help in lifting the dirt from the paint and dissolving it slightly. Again, you want as little dirt as possible on the paint when you get to the stage of entering in contact with the paint.



Foam the entire car (wheel wells included). Let the foam sit on the paint for 5 minutes…





While you waiting for the foam to do its thing, with a brush, wash properly the wheels wells.



Also, with a tire brush, wash the tires! This is important if you want them to look good and for the dressing to really shine (instead of turning brown).





After you are done, rinse it all off thoroughly.

Tip: When you are rinsing, rinse the car at an angle, so you push the dirt out. Rinse the panels in the correct sequence, to make sure you don't throw dirt into an already rinsed panel.




5. The Washing

Now we get to one of the critical points, where you will be entering in contact with the paint, which has dirt on it.

Things to keep in mind when washing a car:
. Always start with the top part of car, leaving the bottom parts for the end.
. Wash the car in the shade and when the car is cool.

To avoid creating swirls, washing marks or marring the paint, you need to use the right tools and the right technique.

As for tools, you have:

2x Buckets, with Grit Guards
1x Lambswool Washing Mitt
1x Shampoo



The water on the buckets is warm. One bucket has the shampoo (the one with the red ring) and the other one has just water. Two caps of Dodo Juice born to be mild is enough for the 10l of water. Put the mitt in the bucket with water and shampoo. Fire the pressure washer in the bucket, to get the mix of shampoo done.





I like the Lamswool Washing Mitt, since the dirt goes into the fibres, keeping it far from the paint. The problem with the Wookie’s Fist, name of this mitt, is that it requires some maintaince, as in brushing after getting it washed

Spoon the water with the shampoo using the mitt. Wash half a panel with one side, turn the mitt around and wash the other side.







Go back to the buckets and rinse the Mitt on the bucket with clear water only. Open the fibres well of the mitt, so the dirt can come out.





Spoon again water from the bucket with shampoo (Spoon, not splashing the mitt on the water) and advance to another panel.





Don't forget to wash the inside of the doors!



My washing order is as follows:

1. Roof of the car. One side of the mitt, half of the roof. Other half of the roof, other side of the mitt.
2. Bonnet. One side of the mitt, half of the bonnet. Other half of the bonnet, other side of the mitt.
3. Front bumper
4. Top of the trunk
5. Top of all side panels (trim upwards).
Two panels at the time. One side of the mitt, front quarter panel. Driver's door, other side of the mitt and so on.
6. Bottom half of side panels
Two panels at the time, etc.
7. Back of the car.

Since the Wookie can take so much water and shampoo inside, it makes easier to turn it around and use in another panel. On a normal lambswool mitt, I would just do one panel at the time.

Rinse it all thoroughly.

6. The Drying

There are a couple of tricks to be used here.

I use water to dry my car… When I am finished rinsing the car, there is a lot of standing water on the car, which means extra work for the Microfibre and more touching the paint.

By applying a constant flow of water on the car, you will push the standing water out, removing 80% of it.





This works of course in a waxed car. My current wax layer is old, but it still sheets the water out

If it is a fresh wax layer, then it works even better!







The same applies to windows! (mine are sealed)









Now that the car only has a couple of droplets here and there…



Its time to bring the Drying Microfibre out and pick up those remaining droplets.

Pat drying is the safest mode to dry (instead of dragging the towel on the panel). Since now there are barely any remaining water on the panel, pat drying works perfectly.





Don't forget to dry your fuel cap area!



Pick up another Drying Microfibre and dry the wheels as well.






After this, I called it a day, rolled the car in the garage and got myself a beer!!




7. The Preparations for the Wax: Claying and Glazing

It is important, that before you lay a fresh layer of wax, that you remove all the contaminants that the car picks up, which include: tree sap, pollution fallout, disc brake dust, etc.

For this, claying is an extremely important step. The clay will pick up all these contaminants that are stuck on the paint surface, that normal washing simply do not remove.



Before using the clay, I put it in a warm water bath, so it can get soft and easy to mold.



Mold the clay in a big coin form. Apply LOTS of lubricant on the paint and just glide the clay to pick up all the contaminants. Do NOT press the clay, glide it on the paint. Mold it for a fresh new surface, when the current one has dirt in it.



If the clay falls on the ground, throw it away!!!


Now… since I want to test a new wax versus my current one, I wanted my test panel to be in perfect and equal condition. So out with the rotary, finishing pad and finishing polish to make sure its even.



Looks alright





Now, here are the products I wanted to test:



My old Zymöl Concours with HD Cleanse VS Dodo Juice Supernatural and Lime Prime Lite

On with a few drops of Lime Prime Lite to treat half the panel.



I find Lime Prime Lite to be far superior to HD cleanse, much easier to work with, instead of the finicky HD Cleanse, and gives me a wetter nuance to the paint.

Buff if off





8. The Waxing

The wax is your paint protection. It will add a bit of wet nuance and shine to the paint, but it will protect it and make it much easier for you to wash the car.

Time to test the new wax!



Apply the wax in gentle circular motions, working it and spreading it evenly.



Here is the wax curing…



And voilá!! The finished results!



I love Le Mans Blue...



Now I got half with Supernatural and another half with Concours. Lets see how they handle the test on a vertical panel.

9. The Final Touches – Windows, Exhaust Tips and Tires.

Clean windows are a must for me. I love my windows to be extremely clean.

For this, I usually use the Mark V Window Sheen, but since I ran out of it, I used my Window Microfibre, together with a mix of 50:50 water and alcohol.



Just one squirt per window side (yes, inside and out its all clean) is enough to clean it perfectly.



Next up, is the tire dressing. Since the weather is now dry, I like to use the Zaino, which gives the tires a more glossy finish.

To apply the dressing, I use a normal foam pad that you can buy in quantity on the supermarket (€1 for 10).



AFTER, taking care of dressing all the tire walls, I use the pad to now dress the plastic wheel wells! I don't like to see the old plastic and since the wheel wells are clean, the dressing goes on nicely.



Throw away the foam and move on to the next step, the exhausts.

I spread properly the metal polish first on the exhaust tip.





Then with a Microfibre, polish it gently up to a shine.





Now they look good





10. Conclusion

Taking care of your M5 is not a hard task. It is just a task that requires your time and dedication, together with the right tools and technique.

Wash all your tools, mitts and microfibres after the detail. It is an important step that should never be skipped, you want to use clean material at all times.

I do hope that this guide has been useful for you. Now go out there and take care of your M5!!