Detailing & Washing; not sure about what to do?, Ask here!

Many of you are well aware on how to take care and protect your ride, but others are still not too sure or a bit confused about what to use and what is best to use.

We are always happy to offer you friendly advice, which hopefully can make things a little clearer and simpler to maintain and take care of your ride!

Whether you want to keep it simple such as wash & dry, to the advanced 'how to correct my paint' or even paint protection we are able to give you some advice and guidance on how to do so.

So please, do not hesitate to PM us or simply post here and ask!


Fact; Using a sponge to wash your car will mar/scratch your paintwork and is in fact one of 1 major causes of marring on paint! - Question; whats the second thing that causes marring?

Drying?

Chamois?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by poita

Chamois?

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^^ i second this one

Chamois = big no no.

Scratches your paint as you dry, or call it 2 in 1 if you like :)

Although on a serious note, yes it most definitely does cause harm to the paintwork. Drying with a Chamois (leather, synthetic is similar) will be one of the main causes of marring on your paint causing the "spider webs"

This picture below is from a Holden Monaro we did. The customer always washed with a sponge (single bucket) and dried with a chamois, the result was this;

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...36_800x531.jpg

A 50/50 (1 side corrected by machine, the other as you see it) - you can see how much colour, depth and clarity you're losing from those super fine marks! You'll notice these marks mostly in certain lights inc most especially your local service station fluros late at night!

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...28_800x531.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...79_800x531.jpg

That's a crazy difference, so what would you recommend using to dry the car? I was told a microfiber chamois

Waffle weave towel?

Compressed air and blow it dry? No contact with the paint what so ever

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sooty

Waffle weave towel?

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^^ this.

I have one of these. Best thing ever. Dry the car, wash the towel, air dry, reuse
https://www.carcareproducts.com.au/p...le_weave_large

if you want a bigger one:
https://www.carcareproducts.com.au/p..._weave_x_large


Also compressed air isnt clean air so you could be blowing contaminants onto the paintwork and un-doing all of your work

Microfibre Chamois
Microfibre Waffle Weave
Microfibre in general is the safest to dry!

No synthetic or skin chamois is the key really.

Compressed air is fine.. bbbbbbbbbut! Coming online shortly are the Metro Vac blowers which are specifically for cars and are electric. More info will follow soon!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CarCareProducts

Microfibre Chamois
Microfibre Waffle Weave
Microfibre in general is the safest to dry!

No synthetic or skin chamois is the key really.

Compressed air is fine.. bbbbbbbbbut! Coming online shortly are the Metro Vac blowers which are specifically for cars and are electric. More info will follow soon!

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I know this is quite a while down the line, but what I have been using as of late to supplement the use of a microfiber is a waterless detailer that also has some wax in it. More specifically, the Chemical Guys EcoSmart concentrate. I bought it to test for touch up cleans, but was not convinced for use if the car has been driven. So rather than waste it all, I have started mixing it up a little stronger than standard and misting the panel and my microfiber before wiping it down in 1 direction, flipping the towel regularly. It leaves the wax on the paint so once I'm done wiping the water down off the car I go back and buff over it quickly with a new clean microfiber. This is after wetting the car, foaming it and then washing the whole car down using a 2 bucket method and a microfiber noodle mitt before rinsing it down using clean water. I have found this to work quite nicely for weekly maintenance washes in between a full on detail job. What do you think?

Also, what sort of products do you recommend for washing the underside of the car? I'd like to degrease the subframe and underside of the gearbox as well as inside all the wheel arches.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raisin

I know this is quite a while down the line, but what I have been using as of late to supplement the use of a microfiber is a waterless detailer that also has some wax in it. More specifically, the Chemical Guys EcoSmart concentrate. I bought it to test for touch up cleans, but was not convinced for use if the car has been driven. So rather than waste it all, I have started mixing it up a little stronger than standard and misting the panel and my microfiber before wiping it down in 1 direction, flipping the towel regularly. It leaves the wax on the paint so once I'm done wiping the water down off the car I go back and buff over it quickly with a new clean microfiber. This is after wetting the car, foaming it and then washing the whole car down using a 2 bucket method and a microfiber noodle mitt before rinsing it down using clean water. I have found this to work quite nicely for weekly maintenance washes in between a full on detail job. What do you think?

Also, what sort of products do you recommend for washing the underside of the car? I'd like to degrease the subframe and underside of the gearbox as well as inside all the wheel arches.

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To be honest, we do not recommend Waterless washes.

Few reasons;

Firstly, when you have to use approx 5-20 cloths to ideally be as mar-free as possible to the paint you will end up costing yourself a fortune in washing and of course replacement of cloths (providing you do not have quality cloths, which of course still cost more but can offer 200+ washes).

Secondly, when you drag any cloth clean or not clean across the surface the contaminants, dirt and debris on the surface drags ALONG the surface and even with lubrication has a high chance of marring the paint. This is another reason why they invented the Snow Foam Lance, to pre-soak the paint which helps aid the removal of dirt before any friction is caused by the wash mitt during the wash process.

Lastly from experience side we have tested this theory thoroughly in early days of car washing and recently again with panels to compare how much marring is caused - unfortunately, still quite significant.

Its really up to the user and how pedantic you are about your car at the end of the day to be blunt.

If you're a wash and dry the car with a sponge and chamois and whatever car wash, so be it - this would be as impacting on the paint and causes "spider webbing" (marring) of the paintwork within 2-3 washes.

If you use 2 Buckets (1 for wash, 1 for rinse), a soft microfibre or lambswool mitt in combination with a microfibre drying towel (waffle/normal) and a pH Neutral wash, you'll drop your chances tenfold from marring the paint.

On a quick note, there is the "rinseless" wash which you can use the two bucket method which offers much more lubrication from Duragloss here. From our own testing, wasn't too bad but still not ideally recommended to wash the car.

The best solution is to have the car sealed and protected with a Synthetic Sealant (Polymer), Carnauba Wax or Paint Protection. This will make it easier to wash and maintain over the life of the car, and of course... car will look shiny always :)

Underside of the car, 1Z Einszett W99 works incredibly well. Recently did this and surprised how much came out from the arches and under-body! Definitely use a high pressure washer in combination as well if you can :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CarCareProducts

To be honest, we do not recommend Waterless washes.

Few reasons;

Firstly, when you have to use approx 5-20 cloths to ideally be as mar-free as possible to the paint you will end up costing yourself a fortune in washing and of course replacement of cloths (providing you do not have quality cloths, which of course still cost more but can offer 200+ washes).

Secondly, when you drag any cloth clean or not clean across the surface the contaminants, dirt and debris on the surface drags ALONG the surface and even with lubrication has a high chance of marring the paint. This is another reason why they invented the Snow Foam Lance, to pre-soak the paint which helps aid the removal of dirt before any friction is caused by the wash mitt during the wash process.

Lastly from experience side we have tested this theory thoroughly in early days of car washing and recently again with panels to compare how much marring is caused - unfortunately, still quite significant.

Its really up to the user and how pedantic you are about your car at the end of the day to be blunt.

If you're a wash and dry the car with a sponge and chamois and whatever car wash, so be it - this would be as impacting on the paint and causes "spider webbing" (marring) of the paintwork within 2-3 washes.

If you use 2 Buckets (1 for wash, 1 for rinse), a soft microfibre or lambswool mitt in combination with a microfibre drying towel (waffle/normal) and a pH Neutral wash, you'll drop your chances tenfold from marring the paint.

On a quick note, there is the "rinseless" wash which you can use the two bucket method which offers much more lubrication from Duragloss here.

Underside of the car, 1Z Einszett W99 works incredibly well. Recently did this and surprised how much came out from the arches and under-body! Definitely use a high pressure washer in combination as well if you can :)

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Yeah, I don't like using the waterless washes to clean the car, but I am using my waterless wash currently as the drying process. After doing a foam and 2 bucket wash method. So by the time I start wiping it down with the detailing spray it has already been washed down fully with foam and the 2 bucket method. So rather than washing the car with it, essentially I'm doing a full car wash followed immediately by a waterless wash as the drying stage for extra lubrication and also to deposit some additional wax on a weekly basis.


Thanks for the tip, I'll check out the 1Z Einszett W99 stuff now. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raisin

Yeah, I don't like using the waterless washes to clean the car, but I am using my waterless wash currently as the drying process. After doing a foam and 2 bucket wash method. So by the time I start wiping it down with the detailing spray it has already been washed down fully with foam and the 2 bucket method. So rather than washing the car with it, essentially I'm doing a full car wash followed immediately by a waterless wash as the drying stage for extra lubrication and also to deposit some additional wax on a weekly basis.


Thanks for the tip, I'll check out the 1Z Einszett W99 stuff now. :)

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Option B, try some Gyeon Wetcoat before you finish off.. It'll add some protection and make drying a lot easier :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CarCareProducts

Option B, try some Gyeon Wetcoat before you finish off.. It'll add some protection and make drying a lot easier :)

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Cool, I'll check that out too then. Thanks! :)