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I thought it finally time I begin talking about this innocent activity since it’s the source of dozens of emails I get every month…
…car washing gone bad.
and how it can directly impact the health of your clear coat finish.
I grew up watching my dad wash the family car on Sunday afternoon… I even got to help.
He grabbed some old towels and rags from the garage “rag box” , the garden bucket and rinsed out all of the potting soil, stole some dish washing detergent from the kitchen. …got the garden hose and 2 hrs later… VIOLA!
We even got soaked and “washed” too, fun stuff!
Car washing 40 years ago…
Fast forward to 2015…
I know what you are thinking… aren’t modern car finishes supposed to be better than the old days?!
The answer is yes and no.
Yes, modern automotive finishes are designed to last longer since they have a top “clear coat” protecting the actual base color.
However…
The plain fact is the modern clear coat (top layer protecting the base color of your car ) require specific care (when compared to older paint technology pre 1990) to last and keep looking great.
If they are neglected or washed incorrectly they can start to quickly dull and can deteriorate then fail in less than 2yrs…I see it in the mall parking lots every day.
And still…. In 2015 NO ONE talks about how easy it is to innocently damage a modern clear coat finish and how to correctly care for and wash a modern clear coat finish without damage.
...and what do most people do to wash their expensive investment... a strip mall automatic car wash...
The video above that I made for you exposes the “dirty secrets” about how easy it is for automatic car washes to cause not only long term damage but immediate damage to your delicate clear coat finish.
Classic automatic spinning bristle damage
Notice the white arrow...this curving matches exactly the spinning brushes at any automatic car wash. This Toyota is about a year old, I can take pictures like this all day long at any shopping mall.
So let's get back to washing in your driveway. I want to briefly cover things you should never use to wash your new vehicle.
First off never use ANY cleaning product designed for house hold cleaning on your car…period.
they are all high pH which means alkaline or caustic….great for cleaning toilet, shower glass and ceramic counters… BAD for delicate clear coat finish, rubber and plastic trim pieces.
A high pH formula will strip any wax right off the car and actually attack rubber trim and cause it to dry.
The most common offender…. Dishwashing detergent from the kitchen….death for modern clear coat finishes. If you happened to just wax your car… wash with Dawn… you just stripped off all of the wax, leaving your clear coat finish completely unprotected and vulnerable. Dawn also has the added capability to silently and over time attack the clear coat finish since it is caustic.
Don’t use cotton towels. Since the invention of micro fiber it is all that should ever touch the surface of your car. Micro fiber is engineered to pick up dirt and grit and keep it away from the finish….cotton simply rubs it around. Micro fiber is also softer and more absorbent than cotton.
To sum up don’t use anything that is intended for home cleaning use. Buy dedicated accessories that will only be used to wash your vehicle. If you were to do a traditional “2 bucket wash” in the driveway you would use automotive specific shampoo, dedicated bucket(s), micro fiber wash mitt(s), micro fiber drying towels.
Later on I will do a post about micro fiber care. They should not be treated like your regular laundry.
That’s all for now! I promise there IS light at the end of the tunnel!
Keep a look out in your inbox in a few days we are going to head down to the beach to wash a couple cars…without a hose!
