I have been doing a dry-wash on an exotic for 5yrs. Its not really "dry"; its using a very, very wet towel to lift soot, dust, lint off an indoor stored car that sees only Sunday drives AND stays under a cover. Basically, for cars that arent dirty but pickup exhaust soot, pollen, minor pollutants.

BUT, you dont use a hose, you use towels and a sink.

I tried today on my new '12 Vette that has seen 405 miles and 3 weeks in a NYC garage!!

I was given this tip by a guy with a million dollar collection who basically believes hard water, sponges, wash mitts, hard towels, etc just grind ur paint away. With just weight of wet towel he swears thats enough to wash. Your hand or pressure never toushes car.

He has one car that has not been washed in 5 yrs. Not a single water mark, swirl, residue, just pure liquid clear.
I know many will say this is destroying paint.....its just soapy water, a wet towel, and clear water.

ps, this wont work for DD, if your are caught in rain & are covered with mud, dirt, road silt, oils, etc.

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1)-I ordered a set of these Microfibre wash cloths from Griots; they are extra thick with a luxurious nap

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...hs+set+of+3.do


- I diltued a capful of Mothers Gold car wash in a beer cup

- I got the Griots washcloth soaking wet and poured a little carwash fluid on it and suds it up

-Used the the Towel, holding two edges with its own weight to pull in one direction, doing each half of the car, in 4 quadrants.

- I kept the utility sink running water, and going back & forth and rinsing, and using more diluted liquid and wring towels out about 20 times.

- I used a separate towel to do the rockers and the rear facia & air dam that had more soot/bugs, etc

- I then went over the entire car twice, with a new cloth with just clear water soaking cloth.


2.) then dried with this super thick Microfibre drying cloth.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...fiber+towel.do


This looked like a gimmick...but, its well made and dryed my entire car and Micrfibre was still dry to the touch.

Get it; you will not be disappointed. Its the perfect size, covers major areas in one sweep. I was debating this v. their 26x35 Waffle...I am glad I went with this.

I used the the soaking wet towel to go over areas with any watermarks.

The drying cloth left zero lint, threads, or fluff; its nicely stiched on sides; it even lifted/picked some wax/oil/haze buildup fom original polish.

3.) I finished up by going over the interior with these cloths:

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...2C+set+of+4.do


I got them damp and wiped down the seats, dash, tunnel and all the leather covered surrounds. Worked very well and left zero lint, threads, etc. I was reluctant to do this with other products as I was certain cotton was going to leave tons of lint and did not know what do with leather seats

The nap of these gave enoug grip to clean surfaces with just enough dampness to clean with out soaking. Everything came out looking new (its 3 weeks old !)

I might pitch the wash cloths (the rich guy did!); just so next time I start fresh with zero dirt. These Griots are a step above from the smaller blue/green Costaco/Sams' mainly in thickness & nap finess and ability to hold & pickup water.


You can do this in your garage, at night or even the rain.

Time: 120 minutes, supplies $50.

This is pic of my car today (Tommy Jr's perfect prep shine is still there!)



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

With the right washing tools and technique you wont hurt anything

 

?? Sounds like you go through more work than I do just washing and detailing my car. And I haven't had an problems. Thanks for the tip.

 

I have been doing the two bucket/towel method for 30 years, even on my show cars. My 07 will be 5 years old this January 2nd and its been "washed" 4 times. With less than 6,000 fair weather miles it only gets dusty. Why pour water on a dusty finish? The key is a light hand when wiping and drying (I use cotton towels, not MF). FWIW. It takes about 15-20 min. total time to wipe the complete car down doing one section at a time.

 

Whatever works for you and you feel good about. I mean in the end it is paint with clearcoat, nothing new that should require special treatment. Wash it, wax it, whatever, and drive it.

 

Well, doing this doesn't require wax

That's the whole benefit; I still have factory polish on a 5yr old car that's concours

 

I'll stick with water, I don't have to dry my cars. I have a dionizer. Spot free drying. I also have a master blaster, but it really does suck, it takes too long to dry the car when its hott out.

 

do what you want of course, but the whole idea of "dry" wash you presented is insane to me... even if "dry" is with a wet towel...

I know you mentioned your technique doesn't apply to DDs, but I don't think it's a great idea for non DDs either...

There is no such thing as a 100% scratch free wash, you WILL scratch the paint every time you wash your car, there is no way to prevent it, the idea is to minimize it as much as possible and I think suds suds suds, plenty of water, lots of rinsing, VERY light pressure, and avoiding long swipes are the way to go... did I mention suds?

 

The dry wah thing sounds interesting. I've done a simular method in the past when my car was only dusty. However, no body addressed how to dry wash the wheels and tires, and the brake dust issue. Although the car may get only dusty, the wheels and tires can get filthy.

 

Same way for the wheels. You just can't let them get real bad. I just wipe them down. I also get to the wheel from the inside (the car sits up on a lift). Ceramic pads are your friend. I changed mine after about 2,000 miles because I would drive ten miles and it looked like I had comp grey wheels.

 

I use damp old tube socks to wipe down wheels; just water, no soap.

Chuck them after

Come out squeaky clean,

 

California Car Duster makes a duster for wheels. It works really well.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_6ucyex74c7_b

 

Budgreen, need more on that avatar