oh gees, why do people have a holier than thou attitude in this thread, it is not the politics section

 

Petroleum comes from the transformation of organisms that were once alive. Petroleum is organic just as coal is organic.

 

This response is not to get into a pissing match about what products are best and what are snake oil or full of fillers. But, a lot of use don't use our cars the same way as others do. My Vette is millenium yellow and I constantly get compliments on how shiny it is. Since I bought it two years ago it is primarily my track day car. I take pride in ownership and want the car to look clean and prepped when it rolls out of the trailer. But, if you were to use a halogen light and examine the paint, you would see faint swirl marks. Can I spend the time to "correct" the paint and then use Zaino, Adams, Griots, Meguairs, 3M or any of the multiple high quality products from Autogeek to make my paint perfect as it can be? Yes, but I won't. This is a track car that looks better than 95% of the street Vettes in my area. This car is on the west coast where it is dry, no humidity and dusty. This car follows other track cars at 130 mph on the track and is being media blasted by dirt, sand and metal particles from the high performance brake pads everybody is now running. In the dry months I try to track at least once a month. That means having to do minor paint correction once a month. Sorry, but I have better things to do with my time.

A car that is driven on the street at speeds under 100 mph and kept in a covered stall is not subjected to the same elements that a track car sees in dry environments. And yes, humidity plays a big roll in how much dust is floating around on the track.

The other issue is some of us do not have soft water where we live....so hosing a car off and drying with air will not really give you the results you want. Hard water contributes to dull finishes, even if you do not have obvious "water spots". Just doing a final rinse with distilled water makes a noticeable difference in shine where I live.

I also do not believe that ANY wipe on coating will protect my paint from media blasting when tracking. Everybody says their product will "protect" the paint....well maybe it does but that is a very vague and broad statement. What exactly is the level of protection when the vehicle is "used" as intended? Here is a test I'd like to see some of the car care product manufacturers do. Take a car, prep it as you would and coat it with your best level of protection. Then take that car to Sacramento International airport and park it under one of the street lights in long term parking (this insures that a seagull is going to drop a nice wad of **** on your hood or roof). Now leave it there over the weekend on a 100 degree summer temps. If you can wipe off the crap and not see any marks or etching, that is one hell of a level of protection.

Am I ok with my Vette only looking perfect from 3 feet away from paint? Hell yes. If I can use a spray on product (Chadwicks, Zaino, Uber, Meguiars, etc) that will make my paint look great, shine and fill in any minor imperfections with those evil "fillers" I am good with that. Being able to do my car in under 10 minutes is a big plus in my book. For the "waxers" out there, I commend and admire cars that look perfect under a bright spotlight. The key here is there are multiple levels of protection, clarity and shine that people will accept. This level of knowledge ranges from how to fix the problem paint and others that have no idea of what "paint correction" is and think going through the car wash is detailing their car.

Luckily for us there are multiple quality products out there that allow the end user to achieve any level of shine, protection and look they want on their Vette.

 

 

I thought Chadwicks worked ok. I liked the smell, but I got the weird black flakes floating in it after several months. I haven't reordered but I have been lazy about even bucket washing my car lately. The car still looks great unless it's covered with dust/dirt. Then I hit an automatic car wash. It's my daily driver. Someone already keyed it. about 2 feet near the rear badge. So I'm not sweating the small stuff anymore.

I always liked to use Honda cleaner on my sportbike. Spray it on and wipe it off and it cleans and leaves a shine. But a car is a lot more surface area. It would probably take a whole can to do a car.

 

I rinse the car thoroughly with a high pressure water hose, then wipe dry with the towels. I have never washed my car with any kind of soap, nor, as strange as it may seem, waxed my car.

Except.....

If I am at a car show and don't have access to water, I wipe down the car, first with my California Duster, then using the micro fiber towels and some ADAMS Detail Spray to get the oils/tar/bugs off the car from the travel.

The factory finish is great, and has not lost any of its shine, over the years.

Joe

 

So you blow the car off with a air compressor then wipe it with a dry towel?

 

No, high pressure water hose......*THEN* towel off!

**************************
Corrected the wordage of my post.......

Thanks for bringing that to my attention!

 

Ah yes, the ongoing debate. Well let's try to imagine that particles of dirt, no matter how microscopic have no effect on the paint finish. If that could be achieved then it would not matter which method you chose to clean your cars finish.
Being a auto finish painter I once painted a buddies black car, putting extra effort into it because he was a bud of mine.
Color sand, rub out, was perfect with only swirls showing which then had to be removed.
After removing the swirls it was perfect, like a black mirror !

If you rub anything over a perfect finish that has any minute abrasive qualities it will be seen in the finish, because I noticed that when water washing the dust off this perfect black finish.

Guy's, it's about what your willing to accept and how much effort you wish to put out there on your cars finish.
Adding in that light colors will show less than your darker colors and how actually flat the finish is.

Oh, I also forgot to factor in your eyesight and ability to see well.
Hey, it's true....we don't all see the same thing the same way.

Yesterday I water washed a deep blue finish, yes I saw the swirl marks left by the dirt being washed off, no big thing, It's livable !
I would not have done this finish dry, the effect would have been seen more.

So I say, what your happy living with is the answer. But I doubt that a dry wash can be less abrasive than wet. At least till someone provides actual scientific proof, beyond the high performance claims of the manufacturer.

 

You won't know until you try it. It's not really dry wash. It's waterless. I believe it is not anymore abrasive than water wash. It is better though.
I have been using it for 20 years now and I am sold on it. The previous 30 years I washed with hose and bucket, so I have a little experience washing cars.

 

When washing a car with water, the initial rinse does not remove all the dirt, tthere's still dirt and abrasives on the paint finish. These abrasives are wiped across the finish when a soapy sponge or mitt is used. So I don't really understand the huge issue with waterless or dry-wash products.

I have used "DriWash" with good success for a very long time. I am not very impressed with the new formulation, it doesn't give the soft and luxurious super gloss finish that the old stuff did. But still it does a good job and DriWash is what I use most often, maybe once a month. About twice a year, I do a full water and car soap wash. But also, my car lives in a garage, covered, and it never stays outside overnight. So it only collects dirt when I am actually driving and using the car.

 

the stuff i use is rinseless, so not really dry

 

I didn't coin the phrase "dry wash", I thought we all understood that it actually means no water.
I've used the no water products for longer than 20 years, but I still use water when it is needed.
For me no product or method fits every circumstance !

 

You might know, but "dry wash" is misleading to some that have never used it. Just clarifying to those people.. If I ever drove my C5 through mud or a wet dirt road I would wash it with water, too, but I haven't yet.
I agree that one size doesn't fit all, but for many C5 owners waterless wash products are the perfect fit.

 

I agree, I never call it "Dry Wash" because it sounds like you're trying to wash a dirty car with a California Duster. The other problem is that a lot of people don't realize that there is a difference between "Waterless" and "Rinseless" so those are used interchangeably as well. In fact, when CF put this thread on the front page, it was clear whichever editor wrote about it had no idea what he was talking about.

Within the rinseless category alone there are as many variations (some much better than others) as there are with a traditional soap and hose wash. I use a combination of waterless and rinseless techniques on my daily driven C6, Presoaking a panel with waterless solution, wiping the panel with a folded microfiber saturated with rinseless solution, 1 pass per side, set aside to wash when all sides have been used, and a folded dry plush microfiber to dry the excess solution on the panel, 1 pass per side, set aside to wash when all sides have been used.

For the presoak, I find that a small pressure sprayer works phenomenally compared to a spray bottle. If the car has a little bit of road grit behind the fenders or on the rear valence, I can also filll the sprayer with water or diluted solution to quickly blast off the heavy grit before the wash, the same way one would do with a hose, but without having outdoor water access, or without dragging the hose out.

 

I was going to order Chadwick's, but decided on Meguiar's.

$8 a bottle? Can't go wrong.

 

I switched from Chadwicks to Mequiers. It seems to work just as well.

 

Please keep us updated on your experience over time.

 

Will do.

 

Ok, everyone submit a picture of their car after using their preferred product and procedure. Then we'll all vote to see who has the shiniest car.
Don't mention the product just send a generic picture. You have one week to submit a photo then entry is closed an we'll vote. Good luck to all.