It's an OCD thing I guess, I got my answer already so we can close this thread

 

Beautiful car btw!

 

The only good thing I can think of about the hellaflush crowd is they understand being clean. It's all about pride and attention to detail. Mine is nowhere near as clean as yours and has some paint flaws, but I get a lot of compliments about how clean and tasteful my car is. Another reason why I bought a stock one was to ensure there is no hack job crap anywhere.

 

I can agree with that, don't like the hellaflush crowd but they do keep things fresh

 

so for the not so smart (me) what are the prime things to cover when using a high pressure wash or hose? Other than the intake.... Cover the alternator? Anything else? I am **** about my engine bay looking clean...but I am not sure what to cover so i haven't sprayed it or degreased it yet in fear of breaking or ruining anything.

 

I don't see any harm in spraying everything other then battery and intake. As long as you let everything dry, you should be ok.

 

Be careful around any electrical connection if you're using high pressure. I wouldn't ever use high pressure water, but that's just my opinion. Through the many times I've taken apart my car, I've cleaned the engine bay as well as all the parts inside the bay. From this point on it's just a matter of keeping them clean (by not doing things like driving in the rain) which is as simple as using QD and old microfibers that aren't good enough to be used on my paint anymore due to stains or being dropped on the ground, etc..

But to better answer your question, my steps would be simple green 1/2 strength and spray it all over the dirty parts of the engine, tranny or whatever is hard to clean. Let it sit for a few minutes, but not long enough to actually dry up, then spray off (not high pressure, just normal hose pressure) and then either wipe down or used compressed air as someone else mentioned then just touch up with QD and some old microfiber drying towels or whatver you use

 

So I zipped off the hood vent with my cordless impact, put the vent in a trash bag and tucked the edges under, put it back on the hood and washed the car. Worked good. I'm really **** about the cleanliness of my car, usually I take my wheels off and put the stock bbs on to wash and then clean my rpf1s and put them on clean, but I was lazy. I didn't like the results because I couldnt clean the inner barrel of the wheels with the big brakes

But anyways it took about 3mins to do so not an inconvenience at all

 

Take the wheels off to clean them! That is OCD lol. I try to take them off a couple times a year to clean the backs of them, but not everytime I wash the car lol.

You have a clean car though man!

 

Well usually I just QD or waterless wash the car, I think I've only washed it with water maybe 6 times since I've owned it for 2 years... I only wash it when I get a ton of bugs on the front. I'm OCD and **** haha

 

I live out in the country, I know ALL about the bugs, its very annoying!

 

I have never wanted water in my bay when I'm washing my car so I've used this method and it works perfect. I'm very **** about my bay as well...

1. Buy some small 1'x1' terry cloths or grab an extra towel from your house
2. Place it on top of the grill on the hood and fold it where its all covered and the towel doesn't touch the paint on your car
3. Wash your car and don't spray water directly on that towel.

Its worked perfect fir me for three years and no water has gotten in