Looking for a "Pre-Wash" cleaner...

[MnRiverman]

I know stratmosphere has a product like this (Stage 1 Car Care), but I am curious as to any other companies offering this?



I`m just looking for a mild spray on soap to remove some of the crap from my hatch and lower door panels when I go to the pressure wash place in the middle of winter.



Thoughts?



- Anthony

[DCT]

I`ve tried several of the waterless washes mixed in a spray bottle for this purpose. None of them really does much. Probably the best one was 1oz of QEW mixed with warm water in a quart spray bottle. Still, it doesn`t remove much dirt without the aid of a wash mitt/towel.



In the end, anything that could be "sprayed on" that would remove the dirt without the aid of a mitt/towel would probably be too strong to use on paint.......... for sure, it would probably remove anything on there that is protecting the paint.



There`s always hope though! Maybe someday.

[Jesstzn]

Stage One was an advertizer over on http://forums.vwvortex.com/zeroforum?id=24



but I see they are gone now and from what I remember one guy jumped on the band wagon and said it was ok .. a few got the free sample then like most things no one said much more. If it was great they`d still be ranting ..

[Accumulator]

Yeah, if the StageI stuff worked I think we`d all know about it. IMO any "prewash"/"presoak" will be of limited value without some kind of mechanical agitation. I presoak with the foam gun, and while it helps *a little*, when things are really dirty (i.e., when you *need* this kind of thing) the dirt usually sticks to the finish enough that "touchless" methods just won`t cut it.



As white-F150 said, anything strong enough to be effective will have its own drawbacks. But some kind of QEW/S&W mix might be worth experimenting with (not like it`s likely to cause any trouble).



I`d try using a "self-cleaning" LSP like Collinite or Meg`s #16 and washing often enough that the dirt doesn`t really get built up on there. If you`re gonna dry it, maybe spray it down with a WAUD/QD product to provide a little lubrication so you don`t mar it as much by rubbing in any residual dirt.