Tips/tricks/life-hacks for washing & waxing a big truck?

[Wulf202]

Here's what my dad did.

Have kids.

Buy a wax.

Tell kids to follow directions on the bottle.

Sit in a lawn chair with a beer.

[FoxtArt]

I have never waxed any vehicle that I have owned. Having a shiny vehicle is one of those things that doesn't matter to me. Every time I get one of our vehicles washed it alwys rains or I drive on a country road pretty regularly so they never stay clean for more than a day anyway.

I prefer to buy hail damaged vehicles. Something that's been hit while it's in the dealer lot is AWESOME. I'm married, not trying to impress anybody, no purpose for cosmetics at this point. And yeah, I don't spend a weekend waxing it.

Note, I'm not ripping on the people who do, different strokes for different folks. Sometimes it may be useful to ask yourself what's the real motivation behind some of the things we do though.

[cableguy11]

I take it to a place near my FIL's in Texas when we visit...for 50.00 they wash and wax and I sit under a shade tree and the waitress from the bar next door brings me beer!! Once a year or two..

[Bailey Guns]

I'm very much leaning towards this.

I used to roll my eyes at people who paid someone else to do mundane but relatively simple tasks like changing oil or washing and waxing a car, but as I get older I find that I value my TIME more and more and the prospect of having to dedicate most of a Saturday or Sunday to washing and waxing appeals to me less and less.

If it's a nice Saturday or Sunday I'd rather spend time with the family or go on a motorcycle ride than wash and wax my truck.

Ditto with oil changes on a car, which I like to think of as "10 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of work - followed by an hour of cleanup."

Bingo.

I recently had a drain pipe separate at a joint under my house. Could I have fixed it? Of course...simple matter of cleaning/drying the joint, applying some adhesive and pushing the pipe back together. The crawling under the house, thru the crawl space, in the mud, climbing over pipes and other obstacles just didn't appeal to me. Called a plumbing company, 2 hours later nice young man shows up, crawls under house, gets coated with mud and spider webs, fixes joint, comes out extremely muddy, filthy and stinky and hands me a bill for $100. 5 mins to actually fix the joint, 25 mins to get in/out, 10 mins to get somewhat clean with the hose. Plus lotsa laundry at home.

Money well spent for that kinda work these days. A few years ago...yeah, I'da done it myself. Not so much any more. Same thing with car maintenance. I'll do the routine wash/vacuum but for anything more than that someone else makes a buck.

[kwando]

Pressure washer with a foam canon. Ladder for the roof, porter cable for the polish. Spray wax to touch up, I live on a dirt road so I am not as anal about keeping my vehicles spotless but I do like them looking nice. Spray wax with hydrophobic properties have gone a long way, give those a try.

Helps with maintenance cleanings. Use a leaf blower to help with the drying process

Full detail twice a year.