This is my routine on my 05 Ram. And it's black. First of all, I use a good quality car wash soap and a really fluffy hand towel. If I were to wet the entire vehicle, and start washing from the top down, and rinse as I go, the water would dry on the paint while I finished up the lower sections. So, I always start with wheels and tires trying to keep water off the paint as much as possible. Scrub clean and rinse. Next, I clean the fender wells, and bottom of rocker panels. That's so I don't pick up any grit from these areas as I move on to other areas. Then I blast off as much dust and dirt as I can with the water hose. After that, I take my fluffy soapy hand towel and really slop on the soapy water on the entire vehicle. Then dipping my towel frequently in the bucket, I go back and clean each section, but I do not rinse anything until I finish washing the entire truck. This keeps water from dry and creating water spots. The soap will dry but that's ok. After giving it a good final rinse, I use my cordless leaf blower to blast off as much water as I can. Then I dry it down as quickly as I can polishing as I go. I usually have to lightly spray water on my towel as I go because it gets too dry. Any soap film polishes off easily but dried water spots will not. My paint is in very good condition with very few visible scratches and no swirl marks or water spots.
