We thought a three-day photo shoot of the new Chevy 3500HD towing a 25-foot Bayliner to the jewel-like lakes in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest would be fun. Then we saw the desert dust accumulate on the rig, 70 dirt-road miles from the nearest carwash in Mesa. How would we keep the rig camera ready in this dust bath?
Fortunately, we’d made an earlier stop at Wal-Mart, where we snagged Meguiar’s Flagship Ultimate Detailer and a bundle of microfiber towels. With a single microfiber towel and a light misting of the detailer, we cleaned the whole truck, leaving behind a shiny surface that kept dust at bay on glass, chrome, paint, fiberglass and wheels.
The first truck cleaning took 10 minutes. The touch-ups took five. Hydrophobic polymer technology, according to Meguiar’s, is what kept water from spotting after we got back to civilization, but in the desert it seemed to make the truck less “sticky,” so some of the dust would actually fall off when we thumped the fenders. Back in town, where the water is so hard and the air so dry, the detailer was necessary to remove water spots. In fact, the detailer was so quick, easy and effective that we quit using soap and water altogether. $15.99; meguiars.com
