just got back from canyon woods and my car is so filthy with all the bird droppings and tree saps it badly needs a detail, but the sad thing is i got fever im now at 39.3 so that means no detailing yet for me =(

*water: tried that shampoo already, its not bad, nice lubricity and its main selling point is that its biodegradable thats basically it. as for the syringe thing, i actually don't use one, what i do is just apply all kinds of waxes and sealants sparingly. As for paste waxes i use foam pad applicators since its a lot easier to spread them using foam pads, and as for hand applying them as long as i see a thin film on the paint i try to spread it even more and i only stop when the foam pad no longer spreads smoothly and when there are no longer any thin films that i can see.

*jmpet626: wow thats some nice shine, and nice combination of cleaner wax + wax and sealant.

*praetor: the damage of water drying on paint would mainly depend on how good the paint condition is, if you still have a lot of clear coat then your car should be able to hold up for quite some time but eventually repeated instances would lead to clear coat failure, as for the damages water can do to the paint, this can also be reduced when you wax your car, regularly putting on some wax or sealant would greatly reduce the chances of drying water to penetrate through the wax or sealant and if done regularly then you have a regular dose of sacrificial layer before the drying water damages your paint, during rainy seasons i would actually recommend using some water beading waxes since using them would mean less water on the paint and the smaller the beads the faster they dry as compared to large water beads. and yeah basically what chickselog said is right. As for me when it comes to washing cars in the sun when i have no choice like when i was in bacolod, what i did was rinse the whole body, wash the body starting with the roof, hood and trunk, rinse again, start with one side of the car and then rinse again and then go to the other side before i rinse again. this was something i learned from meguiars in simex, they actually don't have a roof in their washing area but they compensate it by rinse frequently after a few panels, this way they said that the paint would always remain wet and constant rinsing would lessen the chances for water spots to dry and frequent rinsing also flushes away dust and dirts carried by the wind.

Hope this helps, and thanks for the help BTW it was so useful now i get to post pics here, thanks a lot!