Seeing as you've been so frank with your experiences and seem to be a bit shocked at how much time this detailing malarkey takes, I thought I'd share my weekends detailing efforts.
Started yesterday on the sprog mobile.
My 5 yr old Kia Shortage in white.
This doesn't get pampered as much as the Zed.
This past year it gets washed once a month or so.
A coat of C2v3 every few months.
And that's it.
Yesterday I gave it a more thorough going over.
Used a 5 litre pump sprayer with a wand to spray pressure on.
Left to dwell for 5 mins while I filled my 5 buckets (no outside tap )
2 buckets to rinse, one for clay mitt soap and 2 for my 2bm wash.
With the pre wash soak the 4 weeks worth of dirt came off with little effort.
I didn't bother rinsing coz I then moved to my clay mitt.
Used extra soapy shampoo mix as lube and gently wipewiped over the car.
As I did this last year it was quick and easy as not a lot of bonded contamination.
Done in about the same time as it took my 2bm wash.
Then a rinse.
Then Pat dry with a damp MF towel.
I could have used fallout remover but I ran out .
Didn't see many yellow dots this time anyway.
Being a white car it really shows up ingrained dirt.
So treated once a year I treat it to a paint cleanse.
I just use autoglym SRP as I have a big old bottle left.
Didnt spend ages working it til clear like a polish, just a quickie like applying wax then buffed off.
Applicator pad wasn't that dirty after showing that semi regular C2v3 keeps the paint protected a bit.
Then topped it off with some C2v3 which was again faster than a 2bm wash.
Today I gave the Kia rims a good clean.
Never sealed these before but treated them today.
Used wonder wheels hot wheels gel........bought it for an amazing £1.73 years ago at Tesco and IT BLEEDS just like fallout remover .
Wasnt bothered about perfection so didn't clay every last bump off.
A blast with my cordless leaf blower then left to dry.
An hour ago I gave a quick IPA wipedown then just sealed the faces with Gtechniq C5.
So for comparatively little effort the car is pretty much sorted.
Hopefully just needing quick washes and wipe downs with C2v3 over the next 12 months
Most grueling part was the SRP and that's just coz I'm used to a quick 5-10 min C2v3 coat