Chapter two: How do you clean your bleepin' car?

With the interesting input in the window cleaning thread, I thought why not take it one step further and ask the next logical question. 

How do y'all keep the exterior of your car clean? I'm not taking a full detail and wax, I'm talking about your "maintenance" cleaning. The quick, "whoa my car is dirty" clean before the work week. 

I've had halfway decent success with a foam gun, various wash mitts, and a water blade/chamois for drying, but a long time ago I remember an attachment for your hose that would dispense purified water, leaving you with no need to dry at all due to the lack of water spots. Not sure if that's a thing anymore. 

What y'all got? What's your quick and mostly effective cleaning method for your daily driver? 

Old Jeep gets driven through the next door manual car wash every few weeks to keep the salt off
New Jeep gets driven through the next door manual car wash and I bring a microfiber scrubby
BMW gets washed in the back yard with a hose, whatever car soap I have at the moment, scrubby, wheel cleaner, microfiber towel dry, and carnauba wax afterwards

$40/month subscription to a drive thru car wash, good for ten washes a month. Break even is three.  I usually go once a weekend and once during the week, depending on weather.

Since mine is ceramic coated and is driven very little, a quick spray off at the manual car wash is good. No drive throughs, as I don't want the paint or wheels to get scratched up.

Big wash is a 3 bucket method. Normal 2-bucket method for the car, separate one for the wheels.

Optimum no rinse wash and wax or I've seen people use power washers and leaf blowers

I do this:

Car wash occasionally (white trucks don't need washing) and every three-ish years send it to a local detailing firm for $150-200.

I stripped my Crosstour down to clear coat, waxed and polished it, then did a ceramic coat. 

For the next year, washing the exterior meant just spraying the pollen off with a hose (it's black) and it looked like it did a year ago. 

Are you supposed to wash these things? 

The dailies get washed whenever it rains unless it's nasty. Then it gets a blast with a foam cannon, mopped, and blasted with the pressure washer.  Ten minutes tops. 

The Mustang gets a bath before an event with the pressure washer and a mop. Maybe 15 minutes tops. 

The Bentley gets a spray with Griot's Speed Shine and the kiss of a microfiber cloth. Anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on what else I'm cleaning. 

One of these makes life a lot easier when it comes time to wash anything. 

car....wash?  those words go together?

$3 or $4 at the nearby self-done car wash a few times a year.  Car or motorcycle.  With the bike a bring a towel and try to get it dry enough to not hate the ride home.

I'm "efficient with my effort".

I'm so used to driving E36 M3boxes I barely wash anything. Wife got a new CX5, already looks like hell because it rained... and its got less than 500 miles on it. Is paint correction / detail / ceramic coating worth it when its doomed to get washed once a year? I own a bunch of detailing stuff. Unfortunately after correcting/polishing/etc one hood and it immediately getting assaulted by rocks on the highway, I realize I don't enjoy detailing at all. Don't have time anyway at this point.

Separately, what do you guys do to wash race cars without windows? Just use no-rinse and wipe em down? So far my strategy has been "ignore it" which is working well but shows...

I don't like car washes mostly because of the brushes tendency to leave very fine scratches but also because they don't get the car clean.  They're especially terrible at removing brake dust from wheels.  During the deepest part of winter salt, I will run through a carwash once or twice to get the salt off the chassis, but that's all.  

During the rest of the year it's a hand wash.  I use a mitt, mild shampoo, and a squeegee to dry it off.  I have spent big $$ on special car wash soaps, but then I ran into a guy that was in the business making car cleaning and maintenance products.  He told me that they spend more time and money on the "fragrance" of their car wash liquid than on any cleaning ability or need to not harm a finish.  Why do many car wash soaps smell like bananas and coconuts?  Is it "exotic" ingredients?  Hardly. With that I concluded that regular "Suave" shampoo would work fine.  It's designed to get hair clean, but not strip out "essential oils".  What's not to like about that?  YMMV, but it works really well for me.  One $6 bottle lasts almost a year.  

Once a year I do the clay bar and wax the car.  Never, ever in the spring when pollen is about though.  Ask me how I know that one.  Pollen grains are like little diamonds.  The day years ago that I waxed a car in May left a signature that had to be compounded and polished out!