QEW and Salt

[imported_matthew]

I purchased QEW this week and want to give it a spin. I have a few questions though. First my car has a bunch a salt film from the waistline down. Its not as "thick" as it was after the first snow storm back in November, but it is somewhat coated. I was thinking of going to the Touchless first, but it is very sunny today, and since I don`t like them to towel dry it I will have lots of water spots from the drive home (about 15 minutes).



I haven`t used QEW yet, but I was thinking of using 2 (5) gallon buckets, one with water (to rinse out the mit) and the other with about 1 gallon of water and the approaite ammount of QEW.



Can I use QEW if I have salt on my car? How do I do it? I have read many threads and searched, but they mention using the mit and then spreading it on the section and using a towel (I have MF Towels) to wipe it down then dry. I don`t feel comfortable doing that, especially on the doors, fenders, etc which are vertical. It just seems that I am going to scratch it, is that true? Can someone explain what they mean by wiping it down with a MF Towel?



I`m going to be doing this in my garage today. Thanks for help if anyone can provide any tips with regard to washing it and the wiping down with the towel since I am confused.

[mustangmike]

QEW works very well on a car with salt IMO.



I like to go to the pressure wash first and blast off as much salt as I can. Sometimes I will drive around for 10-15 minutes afterward to blow excess water out of the cracks and etc even though the pressure wash is just down at the end of my street. I haven`t had any problem with water spots doing this. I have also just hosed my car down in the driveway first and pulled it into the garage right away. The salt comes off easier without scratching if it is slightly wet. I have also on really cold days wet it down with water in a spray bottle a panel at a time and done the QEW.



Your idea of the 5 gal rinse bucket might work, it would take longer for the rinse to get dirty. Or you could use a smaller bucket and just change the rinse water more frequently.



I like to go over each panel twice. The first time I put the mitt to a panel pretty wet. I rinse the mitt, reload it in the QEW bucket, and wring it pretty dry. Then I go over the panel again which soaks up a lot of the dirty water. Then you would dry the panel with your MF. I have used cotton to dry simply because I haven`t had any MF until recently.



I have also used cotton to wash with instead of a mitt. I have some plush cotton "bar towels" that are about 14 x 14 that I have dedicated to wash cars with. If they get too dirty I just grab another one.





After the whole car is done I like to QD it.



I understand your apprehesion, just take it slow and don`t put a lot of pressure on your towels or mitt. It will work well. :xyxthumbs

[shaf]

Like Mustangmike said, if you can, I would hose down the car (especially undercarriage and wheelwells) at a station or at home. One disadvantage of washing the QEW way is that you don`t get the big, rinsing spray of a regular wash. At least if you hose it down you can hope to dissolve and rinse away some of the damaging salt.



The technique Scott describes uses a regular cotton bath towel to wipe off most of the water, then do a final drying wipe with a MF cloth. If you use cotton though, it`s important to get good, not cheap, towels which might explain the trouble I`ve had soaking it up sometimes. :rolleyes:

[imported_matthew]

Well guys, I just did it and I`m less than thrilled.



I probably did it totally wrong,and I`m afraid I have swirls and scatches that I did not have before. I started off with the front passenger door, and it didn`t seem to get that wet. Anyway I went over the whole door, then I used a MF towel and wipped it down, top to bottom. I started to see some white marks on the paint (the car is black). I figure this is just some lint or something else.



Anyway I went out and hosed the rest of the side down and tried again, and it got a little bit better, but not much. I ended up using QEW on both sides, from the bottom of the windows downward. I took it out into the sun, and it did look clean but I saw some horzintal scratches that I don`t recall being there before.



It doesn`t look that bad, but there appears to be a bunch of fine scratches all around now where I qew`ed. Big bummer for me. :(

[imported_matthew]

I`m thinking about it now a few hours later, now that I`m calmed down and not thinking about the swirls, etc, I think the problem that I had was the wash mit that I used. I got it from CMA, and it was linty, and really hard to get all the dirt out of it. Also, I used 1 gallon of water, plus 2 cap fulls of the QEW. There was no suds at all, which is normal. It just didn`t seem like a cleaning agent. But the worst part was the wash mit I was using, here is a link:



http://www.properautocare.com/chenwasmit.html



It is too big, and too much of the "fuzzies" come off while washing. Also it absorbed so much of the QEW/Water that I had to put another gallon and more QEW in it cause it was wasting so much.



What is a better way to wash when using QEW and or Car Shampoo? I will buy some new mits or whatever I need. Next question, If I had a spray pump or something to "mist" or "sprary" the soultion onto it first, would that have been better? I can go to Home Depot and buy some kind of spray bottle for next time.



I`m not going to give up on the QEW, because I would like to wash in my garage rather than outside, since I can do it any time inside, and not have to worry about water spots or sunlight.



Is there anything wrong with using QEW all the time if I can figure out how to properly use it?