How Much Dawn Dish Soap to Wash a Car?

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PandaSauce

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I squeezed a pretty fair amount of dawn into my bucket to wash off all of the polish and what not that I had laid down. It go super foamy and seemed like a lot.

Washed it twice and it was still beading.

Should I just wash more times, use more soap, is there a better stripper?
 
Weird. I've seen it pretty much everywhere. "don't wash your car with dish soap, you'll take it down to the clear coat and it won't have protection"
 
PandaSauce said:
Why do so many people say that dish soap will take everything off?
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Keep in mind that:

Just the fact that you're a member of the
AGO forum/community, will allow you to
experience many an epiphany.


Hopefully the perpetuators of car-care mysticism,
myths, misinformation, and (at times) malfeasance...
will soon hear "The Voice of Reason" and unite with
us AGO-ian's in our efforts of enjoining others to
disregard and debunk such madness as listed above;
and, experience epiphanies of their own accord.



Bob
 
PandaSauce said:
So is there anything wrong with using dish soap?
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Well technically it is a degreaser. So while it may not knock it out in 1 or 2 quik tries, [same way that pan of spaghetti is tough to get clean once it's had time to sit] It will eventually strip the cured wax/sealant/protection off your paint. It'll be left squeaky clean, the dry kind of clean. And dry paint usually ends up in bad shape or worse over time..
Not to mention dried up rubber trim & seals. I could be wrong, but I can't imagine all the cars I see on a daily basis with clearcoat failure having lived a life with proper car soap.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Back in 2002 when I first joined Autopia, everybody talked about using Dawn to strip off LSP from vehicles...they were not noobs, nor was it urban legend...
It may have started when Zaino was all the hype. I believe their first recommended step is a Dawn wash...

I remember a post when someone once said, "Dawn is for dishes, keep it in the kitchen" and I agree.
 
70fastback said:
Back in 2002 when I first joined Autopia, everybody talked about using Dawn to strip off LSP from vehicles...they were not noobs, nor was it urban legend...
It may have started when Zaino was all the hype. I believe their first recommended step is a Dawn wash...

I remember a post when someone once said, "Dawn is for dishes, keep it in the kitchen" and I agree.
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They might've said it back in 2002, and it might've worked on Zaino and other products that were big 14yrs ago.. But that doesn't exactly mean it's sure to work the same with the products of today.

I'm not declaring it won't, but there's certainly a chance it might not.. Especially when you consider how big carnuba waxes must've been around 14yrs ago..

Same way Megs Super Degreaser might've been the the bomb once upon a time, but new products get developed every year. That's why when Nicholas@Autowerx said Super Degreaser was pretty weak compared to 3D Yellow Degreaser, I wasn't all that surprised to hear it.
Would Dawn Strip the best coating available today on 1 try? It sure as heck better not😏lol.

Would it strip some good ole fashioned carnuba wax? Probably so.

Doesn't change the fact that someone recommending washing with Dawn gets little to no respect for that comment. Not by me, not in 2016. But then again I wouldn't wash my car with Dawn, so I naturally have that opinion towards it.

But if it works for you or anyone else and they're happy with the results they get, then it's got nothing to do with me.
 
Eldorado2k said:
They might've said it back in 2002, and it might've worked on Zaino and other products that were big 14yrs ago.. But that doesn't exactly mean it's sure to work the same with the products of today.

I'm not declaring it won't, but there's certainly a chance it might not.. Especially when you consider how big carnuba waxes must've been around 14yrs ago..

Same way Megs Super Degreaser might've been the the bomb once upon a time, but new products get developed every year. That's why when Nicholas@Autowerx said Super Degreaser was pretty weak compared to 3D Yellow Degreaser, I wasn't all that surprised to hear it.
Would Dawn Strip the best coating available today on 1 try? It sure as heck better not😏lol.

Would it strip some good ole fashioned carnuba wax? Probably so.

Doesn't change the fact that someone recommending washing with Dawn gets little to no respect for that comment. Not by me, not in 2016. But then again I wouldn't wash my car with Dawn, so I naturally have that opinion towards it.

But if it works for you or anyone else and they're happy with the results they get, then it's got nothing to do with me.
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Calm down Skippy...I don't recommend using Dawn either. And, it doesn't work for me, because I don't use it...I was merely pointing out that Dawn was recommended as far back as then. Not to remove Zaino, but as a wash prior to using. Just looked on Zaino's website and it's still THEIR recommended first step...not mine.
 
70fastback said:
Calm down Skippy...I don't recommend using Dawn either. And, it doesn't work for me, because I don't use it...I was merely pointing out that Dawn was recommended as far back as then. Not to remove Zaino, but as a wash prior to using. Just looked on Zaino's website and it's still THEIR recommended first step...not mine.
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I am calm😏lol.

And check it out, I've got an even better 1... This is straight out of the Cadillac owners manual from 1997.. Can you believe the stupid advice they're actually recommending here? It's from 1997, not 57..

Wash your new Cadillac with liquid hand soap.. Or dish soap.

View attachment 40960

View attachment 40961

Dang it, I'm all out of liquid hand soap. Lol.
 
I would really like to hear PiPUKs thoughts on the use of Dawn. I think there is a lot of misinformation on the use of it. Not just on the stripping, but the negative effects of such a "inappropriate" cleaner.

I personally think that it will have little to no negative effect on anything you use it on. People clean plastics and rubber seals with products(diluted and undiluted APCs) that are much stronger than Dawn at a wash ratio.

What's the real deal Pip?
 
ski2 said:
Dawn will not strip paint of LSPs--read through this thread-- http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/66896-lsp-stripping.html
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Great reset and thanks Ski!

I read every single word of every post in this thread and it was a fascinating discussion. At the end it got into discussing things like whether an LSP inhibits the affect of Iron X and strayed away from the original intent of PiPUK's first post but it offered some great chemical based postulations and demonstrated evidence of how difficult it is to be insured you have, in fact, REMOVED LSP. If you are inclined to spend the next hour and a half reading through it, key on the word "surfactant".

I think what i gained as a bottom line definitive is...

To remove an LSP, the single best way is to machine abrade it off.

I also came from Zaino a long time ago in a far off galaxy and if i remember correctly Sal Zaino suggested Dawn as a way to remove surface oils, grease, dirt etc. the FIRST time you used his products.
 
That stuff is the worst,it dries out your trim and wrecks your blades.and if you do it your glass can get some staining as well.
 
Zaino indeed recommends and recommended using Dawn before using their sealant (or as its called, a Show Car Polish). At that time, most users used carnauba and Dawn appeared to remove the oils and residual beading. They also offered a manual catalyst that needed to be added prior to the actual sealant which may have actually helped with bonding to paint, later becoming an additive you could mix in. Its a good product, and Sal was always available for help and response. That doesn't mean Dawn was/is the definitive answer for wax removal.

In the end, a dishwashing liquid was not designed specifically for use in car care. A couple times over several months/years likely will show no harm. It doesn't mean its not the best or better choice. I too would worry that with extended use it might harm rubber and surrounds.

Did you ever wonder why Dawn and its makers never offered it as a car wash, nor repackaged it as such ???
 
PandaSauce said:
Awesome.

Why do so many people say that dish soap will take everything off?
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Well it does but very little of it. If your wash your car every time with Dish soap it will reduce the durability of your LSP. So it's better to use a car soap. But if your want to strip the LSP off, it's not the way to go.
 
Eldorado2k said:
I am calm��lol.

And check it out, I've got an even better 1... This is straight out of the Cadillac owners manual from 1997.. Can you believe the stupid advice they're actually recommending here? It's from 1997, not 57..

Wash your new Cadillac with liquid hand soap.. Or dish soap.

View attachment 40960

View attachment 40961

Dang it, I'm all out of liquid hand soap. Lol.
Click to expand...

Could this be why come back from dealership "details" all swirled up? :)
 
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