Washing your truck? Try a squeegee.

[Widget]

So I washed my truck at home for the first time after taking it to a manual wash and not being happy.
I tried a variety of things I had in my cupboard but here’s what worked the best for me.
I was washing in direct sun and the water was evaporating quickly so I did one panel at a time.
1: spray down panel with hose.
2: get a rag wet and put a little dawn dish soap on it. Rub down panel.
3: spray off suds
4: use a squeegee to remove water.

I tried windex as the final step, but it would dry before I could wipe it off, so I ended up just skipping that step and it still turned out better than I thought.

Next I want to try the barkeeper friend method, but for $.05 in soap and water, I was surprised.

using a squeegee worked amazing since the whole thing is flat. Just have to make sure the dust and dirt is gone or else you will get a slight streak in the stainless finish (ask me how i know ?)

 

[getsometom]

I've been using my giant squeegee too. Works great for all the flat surfaces then additional clean up can be made with a towel

 

[LuckysFabShop]

 

[sdk]

I suggest the 30" version of this professional window washer squeegee:

https://windowcleaner.com/products/...super-channel-squeegee?variant=42697888530583

The flat surfaces make this a breeze. Get the matching extension pole (make sure you get a long version) and use a ladder if you want to make cleaning the glass roof and windshield relatively easy.

 

[Klis]

I suggest the 30" version of this professional window washer squeegee:

https://windowcleaner.com/products/...super-channel-squeegee?variant=42697888530583

The flat surfaces make this a breeze. Get the matching extension pole (make sure you get a long version) and use a ladder if you want to make cleaning the glass roof and windshield relatively easy.

You can also stand in the bed to better reach the roof

 

[sdk]

You can also stand in the bed to better reach the roof

Good point.

 

[Jack27]

Anyone spending $50 for A 18” squeegee or $30 for a 12” is throwing there money away . Plenty of good 18” ones on Amazon with extension poles for under $30. This is the way , with a shammy to finish it up

 

[wshunter]

So I washed my truck at home for the first time after taking it to a manual wash and not being happy.
I tried a variety of things I had in my cupboard but here’s what worked the best for me.
I was washing in direct sun and the water was evaporating quickly so I did one panel at a time.
1: spray down panel with hose.
2: get a rag wet and put a little dawn dish soap on it. Rub down panel.
3: spray off suds
4: use a squeegee to remove water.

I tried windex as the final step, but it would dry before I could wipe it off, so I ended up just skipping that step and it still turned out better than I thought.

Next I want to try the barkeeper friend method, but for $.05 in soap and water, I was surprised.

using a squeegee worked amazing since the whole thing is flat. Just have to make sure the dust and dirt is gone or else you will get a slight streak in the stainless finish (ask me how i know ?)

I just finished doing the same thing in 51 deg overcast. I wanted to get the salt off after a recent snow. Sprayed it down, went over sections with a rag and dilute Dawn in warm water. Rinsed that off with water from hose sprayer. Used microfiber cloths and paper shop towels to dry off. Cloth or paper work better for me than squeegee. Climbed carefully on tonneau to reach all the way forward to dry it. Then opened the tonneau and stood in the bed to dry the roof. I could get most of the windshield by opening the door and standing on the door sill.
Getting the windshield clean is the most annoying part. Some sort of oily scum gets on it and I haven’t found anything to get it off in one pass. It took about an hour to do vs an hour round trip to the car wash plus wiping it down after the wash
. FWIW, there were streaks on the tailgate that wouldn’t rub out, so I tried a stainless steel cleaner my son had given me and it worked very well. It’s called Sheila Shine. Haven’t checked on its availability as my son has a lot of it from a former job.