what products and methods are you guys using to clean your qx70's?
trying to get away from automated car washes, was told the cleaning products they use can do some damage to our paint, stripping away some essential things, wax being one of them.

Wellp, when I buy my Qx70, I definitely will not be going into an automated car wash. The chemicals are known to be harsh because they need to deal with different levels of dirtiness and that level can be quite excessive.

I like to stay with things I've been used to such as Meguiars Gold Class, or Chemical Guys Maxi Suds for wash soap.

The main thing for me is getting a sealant done first and topping up with a top layer carnauba wax every week or so.

Being short on time, at least to the things that don't matter much to me, this is something i'll delegate to a detailer. Often you'll find detailing shops or independent detailers that do simple washes for $15-20. Best of all if you get paint protection from the start you can be a bit infrequent with those washes without harm, although getting it done religiously is of course what you should do.

Definitely, if you're lucky enough to have a detailer that isn't too far from you, you're pretty much golden. Develop a relationship with em' and you're good to go.

The paint protection definitely just makes life easier later on, it seriously is the best investment just for ease of maintenance and preservation.

It's not even a matter of distance its a matter of quality. I wouldn't mind to have my car remain dirty till the weekend when I have more time to reach out to a detailer, at least then the mess would be removed with the least amount of damage to the paint, rather than the closest person that calls themselves a detailer.

That comes down to your judgement of course. Everyone that washes a car these days is a "detailer" apparently. You have to be able to tell the difference and know what you're working with. At the same time.. I'm not driving out a far way to get an amazing job done. It's not a show car that I'll be excessively nit-picky about.

If it means better paint condition over the long term I won't mind a trip out. At the same time some professional details have home services and some even pick up your vehicle. So those are also things to look into. But like you said it comes down to judgement, then of course what you as an individual want and prefer.

Some people I know don't care and just run it through the closest touchless car wash and those are everywhere.

Yea.. those people typically don't care and majority of the time are driving leases, so why would they lol. But different smokes for different folks right ?

So you don't do any of the detailing yourself ??