Car washing mistakes

luckydawg

luckydawg

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I would like to here from folks her on what they have seen over the years as some of the mistakes that either they have made or what they have seen others do.

I will start it off by saying I see a lot of folks ( even professionals ) make this mistake--


Its really easy to overlook or not even think about it but I have seen many people when rinsing the soap off , having the wash bucket in the way / near where the water is coming off the car- literally hosing some of the dirty water in to the wash / rinse buckets

Anybody??
 
I’ve seen people using dangerous wash media such as non Boars hair brushes to clean their car. They are just asking for marring with something like that.

I’ve seen people wash from bottom to top. Not a good idea unless you want to spread dirt from the dirtiest part of the car all over.

If using buckets, I’ve seen car dealer wash people never once change out their water. That’s from going from washing the wheels all the way to the rest of the car. The water was absolutely filthy.

I’ve seen people dangerously use pressure washers. Using the wrong tip and getting too close can lead to a disaster!
 
I work for a car dealer.

How much time you got????? Lol
 
Years ago I know I exerted too much pressure with my wash mitt. Now it's a gentle and light approach not only washing but drying too.
 
Using the foaming scrub brush at the coin op wash, as well as the crisco spray on wax.
 
DirtyCanuck said:
Using the foaming scrub brush at the coin op wash, as well as the crisco spray on wax.
Click to expand...

I know people here if fl. who use to spray PAM on the nose of their car to combat the love bugs in May & September
 
luckydawg said:
I know people here if fl. who use to spray PAM on the nose of their car to combat the love bugs in May & September
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I went on a road trip with a guy who sprayed his hood with silicon lubricant so the love bugs wouldn’t stick to the paint. Not sure if it was harmful to the paint or not.

A few years back, I had one of those 3 inch polishing pads with foam on both sides for my DA. I was using it on the trunk lid close to the bumper and didn’t realize that I was gouging a groove in the bumper with the plastic disk that was sandwiched in between two foam pads.
 
Watchin' by brother-in-law scrub off bugs with a green Scotch-Brite!
(but then, he will go to his grave saying the, "Dealership says NOT to ever wax you car, you'll void the warranty.")

Bill
 
Here's one of the biggest mistakes I see....

Not using a clean, uncontaminated wash mitt.


The fastest, simplest and easiest thing to fix in the entire wash process is to invest in good wash mitts.


Why?

Because the most common thing the majority of car owners do to their cars is wash them.


People wax them once or twice a year. But a diligent car owner will take the time to wash their car at least a few times or more a year.

Swirls and scratches come from.....


How we touch the paint


Tatty or contaminated mitt = swirls and scratches.


Take care of your mitts and cycle out old mitts for new mitts. A good quality mitt like this one costs $10.00

Gold Plush Micro-Chenille Wash Mitt, microfiber chenille wash mitt


How long does it take to remove the swirls and scratches out of a car?

5 hours? 6 hours? 7 hours? 8 hours? 9 hours? 10 hours? 11 hours? 12 hours?


What is your time worth?


When you look at it in this context, a quality wash mitt is a good value investment. Keep extras on hand.




:)
 
Next would be

Scrubbing the paint


For a regularly washed and maintained car you only need to make a single pass or two over a panel and then rinse.

What I see people do is push the mitt over and over the paint multiple multiple times. In other words, the yare scrubbing the paint.

Here's what happens. The loosen the dirt on the surface of the panel and then grind it into the paint. Thus the are scrubbing the paint.

All you have to do to avoid scrubbing the paint is "think". Think about what you're doing and then use control over how you move the mitt over the paint.


For those reading this and those reading this into the future, I recently wrote an article sharing what I think are good choices for microfiber wash mitts and other microfiber tools.


Must Have Microfiber! At least my opinion




:)
 
I have stepped down from a step ladder or stool and stopped right into the bucket at least a dozen times over the years. Usually involves a nice tumble to the ground.
 
Washing in the full hot sun, scrubbing, using the same media to do wheels and tires, dropping and reusing mitts. My favorite stories is the use of household products, I've seen different neighbors and friends use SOS pads, bleach, push brooms and just last week I sat on my porch drinking my morning coffee while watching wash his families 3 black cars with Pledge and blue shop towels. Yes the cars look just like you would imagine
 
Mike Phillips said:
Here's one of the biggest mistakes I see....

Not using a clean, uncontaminated wash mitt.


The fastest, simplest and easiest thing to fix in the entire wash process is to invest in good wash mitts.


Why?

Because the most common thing the majority of car owners do to their cars is wash them.


People wax them once or twice a year. But a diligent car owner will take the time to wash their car at least a few times or more a year.

Swirls and scratches come from.....


How we touch the paint


Tatty or contaminated mitt = swirls and scratches.


Take care of your mitts and cycle out old mitts for new mitts. A good quality mitt like this one costs $10.00

Gold Plush Micro-Chenille Wash Mitt, microfiber chenille wash mitt


How long does it take to remove the swirls and scratches out of a car?

5 hours? 6 hours? 7 hours? 8 hours? 9 hours? 10 hours? 11 hours? 12 hours?


What is your time worth?


When you look at it in this context, a quality wash mitt is a good value investment. Keep extras on hand.




:)
Click to expand...
Great point Mike

What I do now is a non-traditional 2 bucket wash

One bucket is empty & the other bucket has my soap solution with about 10 high quality MF towels. I use one MF saturated towel on a regular sized panel & then it gets squeezed out & tossed in the empty bucket-- NEVER going back into the clean wash solution.

When I am done, I take that bucket of wringed dry MF towels and fill the bucket up with clean water, slosh them up and down a bit, wring them out and immediatly put them in the wash. The leftover soap in the towels is enough to " clean " them
 
luckydawg said:
Great point Mike

What I do now is a non-traditional 2 bucket wash

One bucket is empty & the other bucket has my soap solution with about 10 high quality MF towels. I use one MF saturated towel on a regular sized panel & then it gets squeezed out & tossed in the empty bucket-- NEVER going back into the clean wash solution.

When I am done, I take that bucket of wringed dry MF towels and fill the bucket up with clean water, slosh them up and down a bit, wring them out and immediatly put them in the wash. The leftover soap in the towels is enough to " clean " them
Click to expand...


Kind of like this?

How to safely wash a ceramic coated car by Mike Phillips - Traditional Hose & Bucket Approach

Pro_Ceramic_Coating_Wash_076.JPG




Towel #13 going into the dirty towel bucket.

Pro_Ceramic_Coating_Wash_147.JPG




:)
 
Yes
Guess you beat me to the punch

I think its a great way to wash-- coated or not
 
I was using this multiple towel method and switched to using multiple wash mitts instead because it thought it would reduce marring since they are plusher. However, I’m going to switch back because the mitts are heavy when loaded up with ONR and I feel like I have to reload it when I’ve used one side and want to use the other side. With the towels, they are lighter loaded up and I have more of them so I don’t have to reuse one if I think it’s got too much dirt on it.
 
hooked said:
I was using this multiple towel method and switched to using multiple wash mitts instead because it thought it would reduce marring since they are plusher. However, I’m going to switch back because the mitts are heavy when loaded up with ONR and I feel like I have to reload it when I’ve used one side and want to use the other side. With the towels, they are lighter loaded up and I have more of them so I don’t have to reuse one if I think it’s got too much dirt on it.
Click to expand...
The whole point pretty much IS TO NOT reuse them- they never go back into the wash bucket!!
 
luckydawg said:
The whole point pretty much IS TO NOT reuse them- they never go back into the wash bucket!!
Click to expand...

Agreed. I would use one half of the mitt on a panel and then flip it to the clean side to do another panel, but by then a lot of the liquid had already leaked out of the mitt, so I end up scooping some more ONR onto the mitt. I never dunk the dirty mitt back into the bucket. But I’m going back to using towels instead of mitts.
 
hooked said:
Agreed. I would use one half of the mitt on a panel and then flip it to the clean side to do another panel, but by then a lot of the liquid had already leaked out of the mitt, so I end up scooping some more ONR onto the mitt. I never dunk the dirty mitt back into the bucket. But I’m going back to using towels instead of mitts.
Click to expand...

You don't really need the mitt dripping uncontrollably with ONR (or any other good RW).

In fact, just pull it out of the RW solution and squeeze it to the point of "a drip here or there". Then use a rolling motion on the mitt or towel. Flip the towel, etc......

Against all traditional wash methods, I know. But this is the beauty of the RW.

Your "Heavy" wash mitt is using (and wasting) too much product.
 
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