The complete half hour car wash

[MerlintheMad]

But it’s pretty cold this am. 50F

Heh! You could drop that temp 15 degrees and I'd still be out there washing my car. Right now it's c. 26F and snow is still stuck to the back of my buggy.

 

[Doel]

no drying? For me the drying is the worst part, and also takes the most time. I have hard water though so that makes a difference.

 

[nhcowboy28]

no drying? For me the drying is the worst part, and also takes the most time. I have hard water though so that makes a difference.

Leaf blower yo

 

[MerlintheMad]

no drying? For me the drying is the worst part, and also takes the most time. I have hard water though so that makes a difference.

Yooge, game-changing difference. If I didn't have a water softener, I'd pursue how to soften a bucket of hot water; perhaps baking soda or white vinegar (which is used in softening the rinse cycle of laundry).

I have an easy time drying with a single 2' x 3' microfiber (I mentioned this in my second post). I just open it up and drop it on the roof and move it around lapping up water, working my way down. By the time I get to the rims the towel is heavy and damp, but not sopping, and I can toss in over my shoulder without getting soaked and it still pulls up all the water drops. Soft water is King!

 

[MerlintheMad]

This an informative, short read, about hard water and soft water: Does "Soft" Water Assure a Spot-Free Car Wash? – Pure Water Products, LLC

 

[washguy]

Yall are missing the point on soft water....sure if the water is really hard ,and you miss it drying off it will leave a spot....but the main point on hard or soft water is the ability to let the detergent do its job...soft water equals a cleaner car because the softness of the water lets the soap emulsify the dirt working along with the hot water of course....thats why you see on some labels of detergents "water softeners" included. I know that guy up there in Denton...hes trying to sell R.O. systems is all....you have to have soft water going into the membrane of the R.O. system to start with or you will crap it out in a hurry.
So with hard water you need more concentrate of detergent, and in rinsing just be more attuned to the crevices where the hard water will hide. Spot free water is great to use if you are in a hurry...but zero TDS makes for very aggressive water hiding in crevices...and zero tds for drinking is not good in the long run for you like you see on TV....all the flourides are removed which is what you need....I guess flourides in toothpaste will make up for that.....but drinking nothing but RO water will attack your old time fillings too Wash

 

[Doel]

Leaf blower yo

I do that but it doesn't get all the water off.

Yooge, game-changing difference. If I didn't have a water softener, I'd pursue how to soften a bucket of hot water; perhaps baking soda or white vinegar (which is used in softening the rinse cycle of laundry).

I have an easy time drying with a single 2' x 3' microfiber (I mentioned this in my second post). I just open it up and drop it on the roof and move it around lapping up water, working my way down. By the time I get to the rims the towel is heavy and damp, but not sopping, and I can toss in over my shoulder without getting soaked and it still pulls up all the water drops. Soft water is King!

hm.... that would be a lot of buckets of water to wash the soap off the car. Not sure if treating multiple buckets of water with baking soda would save me any time vs normal drying. I literally go through 6 microfiber towels drying the car off, if a towel leaves ANY streaks it's going to leave water spots, so I have to swap it out to the next towel. A "heavy and damp" towel would only lead to heartache for me haha.

 

[washguy]

you can get water services to lease you a deionising set up for your home or get distilled water...same thing...baking soda...nope wont do it.....Wash

Industrial Deionized Water in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano TX

 

[BlaydeX15]

Heh! You could drop that temp 15 degrees and I'd still be out there washing my car. Right now it's c. 26F and snow is still stuck to the back of my buggy.

It was 3°F today with a lot of wind, wish I could wash mine, but that's instant-ice temperatures. Lol.

For now, my car is grey-blue, and my license plate is basically unreadable.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I do that but it doesn't get all the water off.



hm.... that would be a lot of buckets of water to wash the soap off the car. Not sure if treating multiple buckets of water with baking soda would save me any time vs normal drying. I literally go through 6 microfiber towels drying the car off, if a towel leaves ANY streaks it's going to leave water spots, so I have to swap it out to the next towel. A "heavy and damp" towel would only lead to heartache for me haha.

(edit to add: humidity differences have to play into this, I had not considered: Alabama year-round has to vastly out humidify Utah. The microfiber is already "soaked" with your humidity levels, whereas here we typically have a humidity factor of well under fifty percent.)

Somehow you misread my description: I never use SOAP, any of it. Hot, soft water in a two gallon bucket, that's it. The difference is I am not cleaning my car, I am washing it: I am getting off all the water spots and dust and road spray, etc. It's good enough for ninety percent of what I need to make her pretty.

A plan for the whole year is to go in a couple of times and have her detailed, clayed, waxed or even have ceramic applied/restored. This I have not done yet. But my plan is that when winter is pretty much done, and I have had my car for c. a year, I am going to have the works performed on her: CLEANED.

Meanwhile, I do not need or want soap. Lots of hot, soft water is perfectly good for the lighter stuff. If there is too much grime I will go in and get a "real" car wash: this I plan on doing as many times as necessary during the winter to get the salt off the underside of my car. In between times, I will continue to wash off the visible crud that sprays up from the road, and the spots that rain down from above.

 

[washguy]

Merlin soap is not a bad thing..actually plain soft water is harming your paint worse than any soap...you need a soap..i use soap in a casual meaning...you actually need a foam (suds) surfactant to lubricate and lift off what little dirt or dust is on your paint...plain water and a towel or whatever is rubbing not lifting or lubricating the magnetic road film off your paint....thats why the old time chamois are just terrible for your paint...it sucks down to the paint and you drag it along with particles that scratch the clearcoat...todays paints are made with the clearcoat in mind to do the shine and glisten to the undercoats...once you marr or scratch the clearcoat its all over.....I had a neighbor that had a high dollar car and he had a service that would come pick it up and take it to a full serve carwash every week....his high dollar car looked great from 20 feet away.....get up next to it and it looked like hammered $hit .... the whole idea on car washing is to lift away the micro dirt particles from the clearcoat with a surfactant and rinse the surfactant off while its holding the dirt in suspension........ Wash

 

[MerlintheMad]

Merlin soap is not a bad thing..actually plain soft water is harming your paint worse than any soap...you need a soap..i use soap in a casual meaning...you actually need a foam (suds) surfactant to lubricate and lift off what little dirt or dust is on your paint...plain water and a towel or whatever is rubbing not lifting or lubricating the magnetic road film off your paint....thats why the old time chamois are just terrible for your paint...it sucks down to the paint and you drag it along with particles that scratch the clearcoat...todays paints are made with the clearcoat in mind to do the shine and glisten to the undercoats...once you marr or scratch the clearcoat its all over.....I had a neighbor that had a high dollar car and he had a service that would come pick it up and take it to a full serve carwash every week....his high dollar car looked great from 20 feet away.....get up next to it and it looked like hammered $hit .... the whole idea on car washing is to lift away the micro dirt particles from the clearcoat with a surfactant and rinse the surfactant off while its holding the dirt in suspension........ Wash

I am sure that suds help lift the dirt even more than plain, soft, hot water does. But that is an extra step, it more than doubles the time and effort to get the job done: and that job is to get the surface bright.

If I know the risk of rubbing, the answer isn't to add soap. To me the answer is to pass lightly over the area ONCE and look at the towel, and if it is starting to come back dirty, then turn it; and if it isn't wet enough, drop it in the bucket and get more water going. Keep the towels clean. And pass over the area but don't ever RUB.

Keep the water clean. Absolutely do not keep using water that is turning dingy. Change the water out. It only takes a minute.

Drying is even more clearly a time to NOT RUB. I described how the microfiber is dropped open on an area and the water is sucked up; then move lightly to adjacent areas and cover the whole car with light passes of the microfiber, taking up the water as you go. Since the water is clean and holds the particles of any remaining (very light) grit, the drying towel will pull this up, not rub it into the clear coat.

Over time, over several/many washes this way, there will be some slow accumulation. But that is what the intermediate trips to the car wash are for; and the detail appointments (once or twice a year).

It's all about what can I do on a regular basis; what is practical and affordable, both time and expense. In the middle of the winter I am not going to mess with soap, which freezes faster than water. And I don't see me heading to the car wash every time my car gets speckled and misted from the road up with salt residue.

But, after saying all of that (and much of it again), I may change my mind: $44 for thirty days of unlimited car washes (each one a value of $10.95), as may times as I want, doesn't sound like a bad deal (even though I tip a couple of bucks each time). Perversely, either way I go, my car will likely be cleaner during the depths of winter than during the summer!

 

[washguy]

please dont do the unlimited carwash thing....do what you been doing....full serve brush and touchless carwashes will damage that pretty paint job..... unlimited washes mean unlimited ugly paint finishes Wash

 

[MerlintheMad]

please dont do the unlimited carwash thing....do what you been doing....full serve brush and touchless carwashes will damage that pretty paint job..... unlimited washes mean unlimited ugly paint finishes Wash

Sounds like a no win to me, Wash. We want to preserve but there is no way to do that; the best we can hope for is to slow down damage/decay of our pretty materials.

As I go over my car with the hot, soft water and clean towels, I keep a metaphysical feeling going: it's all about willing the dirt up and into the water and then into the towels; like defying any adhesive tendencies of the grit to bond with the clear coat. I "pull" the dirt up with my mind as well as the water. It's how I defy the natural tendency/inclination to "rub it out".

Try not to angst over this so much. Just get the surface dirt off with the least contact way possible, in the shortest amount of time possible. Then hit the car wash and detail shop as needed to roll back the accumulation and repair the light damage. Do this as long as you can. Then get a new wrap or paint job; hopefully years down the line.

 

[Doel]

ah I see... when I hear someone is "Washing" their car I assume it means they're using soap. Brave to wash a car without soap, I would never do that personally.

 

[MerlintheMad]

ah I see... when I hear someone is "Washing" their car I assume it means they're using soap. Brave to wash a car without soap, I would never do that personally.

"Brave" is a euphemism, I more than suspect!

I used to get really annoyed at how effectively I did the "rain dance". Count on it, four out of five times I washed my car, there would be precipitation within 24 to 48 hours; where there had not even been a forecast of any precip whatsoever before my car wash.

Then my attitude (because of the Stinger) went through a metamorphosis: I enjoy seeing her clean so much that it is actually a pleasure to wash the dust and spots off. If the grime is too heavy, I treat us to a "real" car wash. And with my thumbing my nose at the weather goddess, I no longer can perform consistent rain dances. I've lost the metaphysical contact.

 

[nhcowboy28]

touchless carwashes will damage that pretty paint job..... unlimi

Hey wash,
Edumacate me. (Not trying to ask this like a smart sass)...

How will a touchless car wash damage the paint? Too much pressure?

 

[KiaWill]

Hey wash,
Edumacate me. (Not trying to ask this like a smart sass)...

How will a touchless car wash damage the paint? Too much pressure?

I'm curious as well. Don't know how harsh the chemicals they use to wash.

 

[washguy]

Hey NH and Kia I had a touchless wash in one wash of mine .....I was there on the job for the whole install and the testing of it...and to learn the computer programming....so one of the vehicles we used to test was my Mom's brand new Jag.......so heres why a touchless is just as bad or worse than a brush/chamoi strip kind of wash. To get a car clean you need friction to get the magnetic road dirt/dust whatever to release from the paint.....I say magnetic cause it is...as your rolling along you suk up the dust from the air /road whatever and it sticks to the paint( static charge ) thats how they paint and undercoat new cars on the dipping and paint line they charge them with either neg or positive and the paint and undercoat will cling to the panels....so back to touchless...since their arnt any brushes to cause friction....the touchless uses heavy duty alkali on the first pass (presoak) then followed by super heavy alkali soaps on the next passes....thats for friction...then if you picked out a decent place they next passes would be acid based to neutralize the alkali 's that were laid down .....then rinsing and spot free.... the touchless is using chemicals for the "friction"...those chemicals will hide in crevices everywhere.........so back to Mom's new Jag....after a couple days of testing it had millions of pinholes in the clearcoat.....YIKES......for very 3 degrees of temp rise in the summer the whole chemical strength will change.....my question is...."Do you want to expose your ride to some YOYO guy running a touchless?" not me......gas stations touchless is a death sentence for your cars paint......rollover full serve brush washings are You getting the Guys cars dirt that is in front of your ride...lol think about it..where is the dirt on the brush just in front of your car?.....the pay wax with all the colors and lights in the full serve is called ''dummie wax" cause thats the guy thats buying it...but we are all thankful for those guys. To keep your paint awesome ..lots of slippery wonderful soapy suds and a good rinse....actually self serve washes that are kept up and have a lot of cars...thats the place to go...they will have hot soft water and a good soap...ask the folks that are there how they like this particular place? most self serves are dogs,but there is almost always one where there is good ownership and good products.... dont diss a good self serve... Wash

 

[Peeso33]

Hey NH and Kia I had a touchless wash in one wash of mine .....I was there on the job for the whole install and the testing of it...and to learn the computer programming....so one of the vehicles we used to test was my Mom's brand new Jag.......so heres why a touchless is just as bad or worse than a brush/chamoi strip kind of wash. To get a car clean you need friction to get the magnetic road dirt/dust whatever to release from the paint.....I say magnetic cause it is...as your rolling along you suk up the dust from the air /road whatever and it sticks to the paint( static charge ) thats how they paint and undercoat new cars on the dipping and paint line they charge them with either neg or positive and the paint and undercoat will cling to the panels....so back to touchless...since their arnt any brushes to cause friction....the touchless uses heavy duty alkali on the first pass (presoak) then followed by super heavy alkali soaps on the next passes....thats for friction...then if you picked out a decent place they next passes would be acid based to neutralize the alkali 's that were laid down .....then rinsing and spot free.... the touchless is using chemicals for the "friction"...those chemicals will hide in crevices everywhere.........so back to Mom's new Jag....after a couple days of testing it had millions of pinholes in the clearcoat.....YIKES......for very 3 degrees of temp rise in the summer the whole chemical strength will change.....my question is...."Do you want to expose your ride to some YOYO guy running a touchless?" not me......gas stations touchless is a death sentence for your cars paint......rollover full serve brush washings are You getting the Guys cars dirt that is in front of your ride...lol think about it..where is the dirt on the brush just in front of your car?.....the pay wax with all the colors and lights in the full serve is called ''dummie wax" cause thats the guy thats buying it...but we are all thankful for those guys. To keep your paint awesome ..lots of slippery wonderful soapy suds and a good rinse....actually self serve washes that are kept up and have a lot of cars...thats the place to go...they will have hot soft water and a good soap...ask the folks that are there how they like this particular place? most self serves are dogs,but there is almost always one where there is good ownership and good products.... dont diss a good self serve... Wash

Thanks Wash. Never though one could learn so much about car wash in just one post.