Damages from rain?

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animescreen

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If my city rains a lot and I don’t wanna do too many waterless or rinseless wash do to swirl marks and only do so when it seems warranted , what kind of damage will water do if I pull in the garage and water beads just sitting there and eventually dry or stay there and dry off when I drive?

I’m guessing small minerals will be deposited and not sure if that is hazard.

I might just foam gun dirty car and not even dry it and pull up in garage.

Just not sure what water sitting in car for days in garage will do. As my work car I drive a lot and sitting outside while my x3 will be garaged mostly


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It's depending what kind of environment you live in. Mostly rain does not have any minerals or anything else in it. Living near some places where the minerals in the earth can evaporate up and comes down with the rain can be happening. Also living near a harbor or airport or a city with a lot of gas fumes you can experience acid rains. Which this gas fumes are transformed to acid with the contact of water. And it's not certain you get these acid rains every time it rains but some time during a year.

With this said it's also why you protect your paint to protect your paint from these happenings. And the amount of one of these rains and the rain water dries on the paint. The damage is very little and will clean up with the wash what it's left after this. If you where to have the car out in the sun with these water beads on it that contain the acid or mineral. The beads acts like a magnifying glass and can potentially cause etching in the protection layer. But it's so little amount of the acid or mineral in the rain drops that it's very rare this happens.

It's more when you don't dry your vehical after a wash or get sprinklers water on it. Where the concentration of the minerals is higher and with the effect from the sun you can get etching problems aka water spots. Useally the minerals just dries on the paint and don't do damage.

So if you don't live in an extreme environment with acid rains or a very high amount of minerals in the rain. IMO it's not a problem to let it dry on the paint. A waterless wash or rinseless wash or a QD wipe down is often taken care of these as it has water softening abilities in them and that makes them to the edge of being acidic or is on the acidic ph level. And will effectively desolve the little acid rain or mineral that dried on the paint. Even a bucket wash take care of it with the little aggitations you do. It's if you don't wash at all and it's builds up residue of acid rains and minerals during a long time that you can see it to start to damage the paint. So on a well maintained vehical you have I don't think that you will ever notice these leftovers from the rain.

What you see if the vehical was a little dirty when the rain came in. Is the dirt around the dried water bead and is of no damage to the paint. So it's important to see the difference between a real water spot aka mineral deposit and water spot etching aka mineral that has etched the paint and what's just dried dirt but more concentrated where the water beads where. This you notice when you wash if it was easy to wash it off or if you have mineral deposits left which if fresh a QD or a water spot remover take care of or if you have the clearcoat etched and an abrasive product is what levels it out.

Have you thought about touchless washing at home? A PW and a DI water system will be effective to do this. Or a PW with a car blow drier or leafblower to dry the paint with. This is what I do in the summer months weekly and bucket wash every 3 weeks or so. I use a good prewash foam in the foamcannon and PW clean rinsing it off and blowdry and done. If the prewash is not getting me the desired results I bucket wash it. But you can do a waterless wash or rinseless wash much more safely after a prewash if wanted. In this way it's difference between the dedicated prewash foam and the foams or car soaps that you do contact washes with IMO and IME. We have a lot of more options of prewash foams here in the EU that's effective. You have the Gtechnic w4 citrus foam and Gyeon Foam and Griots Garage BOSS foaming surface wash that's used this way with foam on and cleaned off with the water pressure from the PW. Use the water pressure from the PW to clean every part of the vehical is going to be more effective than if you use the PW as a hose. You have the prewash foam to lift off the loose dirt and to desolve the other dirt to get the PW to clean with more effective to get the dirt off. Sometimes a contact wash is needed to be done to get the most stubborn dirt off. I always do a prewash foam and PW clean rinsing it off to get as little as possible of the dirt left when doing the bucket wash. And see it in the rinse bucket after a wash how little dirt it's left in it. The less the better and less chance to wash marring.
 
I think if I lived in an area like you, I would buy a nice rainsuit that was easy to work in. Wash your car at the beginning of a rain and let nature rinse it for me. No need to dry. Since you're basically using distilled water to rinse.

You know, in dryer climates guys pay a lot for water that does what rain accomplishs for free. And, you don't even have to mess with a hose.
 
ducksfan said:
I think if I lived in an area like you, I would buy a nice rainsuit that was easy to work in. Wash your car at the beginning of a rain and let nature rinse it for me. No need to dry. Since you're basically using distilled water to rinse.

You know, in dryer climates guys pay a lot for water that does what rain accomplishs for free. And, you don't even have to mess with a hose.
Click to expand...

But are you referring to 2 bucket hand wash or pressure wash (I think pressure wash doesn't work in rain right its hazardous)
 
SWETM said:
It's depending what kind of environment you live in. Mostly rain does not have any minerals or anything else in it. Living near some places where the minerals in the earth can evaporate up and comes down with the rain can be happening. Also living near a harbor or airport or a city with a lot of gas fumes you can experience acid rains. Which this gas fumes are transformed to acid with the contact of water. And it's not certain you get these acid rains every time it rains but some time during a year.

With this said it's also why you protect your paint to protect your paint from these happenings. And the amount of one of these rains and the rain water dries on the paint. The damage is very little and will clean up with the wash what it's left after this. If you where to have the car out in the sun with these water beads on it that contain the acid or mineral. The beads acts like a magnifying glass and can potentially cause etching in the protection layer. But it's so little amount of the acid or mineral in the rain drops that it's very rare this happens.

It's more when you don't dry your vehical after a wash or get sprinklers water on it. Where the concentration of the minerals is higher and with the effect from the sun you can get etching problems aka water spots. Useally the minerals just dries on the paint and don't do damage.

So if you don't live in an extreme environment with acid rains or a very high amount of minerals in the rain. IMO it's not a problem to let it dry on the paint. A waterless wash or rinseless wash or a QD wipe down is often taken care of these as it has water softening abilities in them and that makes them to the edge of being acidic or is on the acidic ph level. And will effectively desolve the little acid rain or mineral that dried on the paint. Even a bucket wash take care of it with the little aggitations you do. It's if you don't wash at all and it's builds up residue of acid rains and minerals during a long time that you can see it to start to damage the paint. So on a well maintained vehical you have I don't think that you will ever notice these leftovers from the rain.

What you see if the vehical was a little dirty when the rain came in. Is the dirt around the dried water bead and is of no damage to the paint. So it's important to see the difference between a real water spot aka mineral deposit and water spot etching aka mineral that has etched the paint and what's just dried dirt but more concentrated where the water beads where. This you notice when you wash if it was easy to wash it off or if you have mineral deposits left which if fresh a QD or a water spot remover take care of or if you have the clearcoat etched and an abrasive product is what levels it out.

Have you thought about touchless washing at home? A PW and a DI water system will be effective to do this. Or a PW with a car blow drier or leafblower to dry the paint with. This is what I do in the summer months weekly and bucket wash every 3 weeks or so. I use a good prewash foam in the foamcannon and PW clean rinsing it off and blowdry and done. If the prewash is not getting me the desired results I bucket wash it. But you can do a waterless wash or rinseless wash much more safely after a prewash if wanted. In this way it's difference between the dedicated prewash foam and the foams or car soaps that you do contact washes with IMO and IME. We have a lot of more options of prewash foams here in the EU that's effective. You have the Gtechnic w4 citrus foam and Gyeon Foam and Griots Garage BOSS foaming surface wash that's used this way with foam on and cleaned off with the water pressure from the PW. Use the water pressure from the PW to clean every part of the vehical is going to be more effective than if you use the PW as a hose. You have the prewash foam to lift off the loose dirt and to desolve the other dirt to get the PW to clean with more effective to get the dirt off. Sometimes a contact wash is needed to be done to get the most stubborn dirt off. I always do a prewash foam and PW clean rinsing it off to get as little as possible of the dirt left when doing the bucket wash. And see it in the rinse bucket after a wash how little dirt it's left in it. The less the better and less chance to wash marring.
Click to expand...

Well I’m in Seattle (suburbs) so the air quality is great and so I don’t think there is any minerals from earth or acid rain. So in that regardless I’m safe.
When you say protect your paint. You mean like a wax, sealant or ceramic coating right?

I’ll be waxing soon after wash, clay, ironx, .. Its garaged so should be ok right from these water elements.
I’m happy to hear that I can just get soaked in water (my car that is) from heavy or light rain here in Seattle and park it in my garage and not do anything. Maybe next day I’ll do like a rinseless wash. But should be ok leaving it in garage with water beads just laying there for let say 1-3 days. I say 3 days at most cause sometimes I’m so busy won’t have time to do rinseless even though it’s quite fast.
Touchless washing? I heard of washless and rinseless but not touchless lol
PW and DI.. system seems expensive but have no idea what they are either.
I’m guessing PW is power washer?
I was thinking along that route too. If I do pressure wash and use my leave blow dryer I’ll never touch the car and will be kind of like the 12$ I pay for rinseless wash But DI I’m not sure what that is.
 
PW and DI.. system seems expensive but have no idea what they are either.
Click to expand...

DI = De-ionized water = water that has had (most of) its mineral ions removed. DI water would be even purer than RO (reverse osmosis) water.
 
If you are going to clay your car, be sure to get a fine clay such as Pinnacle fine clay bar. Some clay will mar the paint more than others. Polishing will get rid of the marring, but I am assuming you don't own polishing equipment.
And, be sure to get a quality clay lube.
 
Yes protection of the paint is with wax or sealant or coating.

PW/ power washer or pressure washer and DI/de-ionized water. The benefit with DI water is you don't need to be drying the vehical as it dries spotless. Yes the DI system can be pricey but mostly it's the resins that's used to get the water de-ionized that's expensive. And more so if your water source has a high amount of TDS/total dissolved solids. The higher TDS you have in your water the faster you need to be switching out the resins. So it's just how much you are prepared to put in money wise.

If you have a LSP that has a very good beading and sheeting ability. The blowdry option is also great when doing a touchless wash. Remember this is just a way to extend a little time until you do a wash where you touch your paint. And depends on what kind of dirt you have on the car and how effective your PW and prewash products is. For some this is a good option and a fast one if you have an easy access to the equipment to set it up. And just another way to have your car clean looking. I do touchless washing instead of waterless wash or rinseless wash as for my situation it's easier to do. Also here is what kind of environment you live in and what kind of dirt you have on the car mostly.

Here is one option of a DI water system. And it's used on the final rinse to not go through the resins to fast.

CR Spotless Water Systems, deionization system, water de-ionizer, purified water systems, cr-spotless, spot free rinse, spot free car washing
 
The rain is full of acid and will eventually melt the paint off. I would cover your car in a thin layer of super glue to ward off evil rain spirits.

Just kidding. Rain here is fine. Just make sure to keep paint protected (wax/sealant/coating). You’ll be fine. You could waterless every day when you get home which I think is overkill. In the raining months i will add a layer of sealant every 2 months. I waterless once a week with no issues of water spots or etching. Wax your car and wash it.... you’ll be good.


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yesterday we had one of those light drip 5 minute rains. I was annoyed, because that kinda rain leaves spots and looks bad. THen in the afternoon it opened up and my nicely protected car got a bath with minimal to no spots. It's all about how heavy the rain is for me, but I never worry about the drip drips either. I get to it when I can and there isn't any damage. As others mentioned where you live will factor into this.
 
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