After summer storms - how do I keep up?

[joeyb7]

I`m lost - on black paint (in this case, black subaru paint), what do I do after a rainstorm? I feel like if I towel off most with a microfiber or waffle weave towel when the paint is dirty that I`m only putting scrathes on the finish? :wall



On the other hand, if I leave the water on there, even with a good wax job, I`ll get spots.



So what do I do?? leave the water on, towel it off... I feel like it`s a lose lose situation :think:



Can someone experienced help me out??



Thanks in advance everyone!!

[Bill D]

In a pinch only, try a QD like Poorboy`s Spray and Wipe while drying, it has cleaners in it and can aid in lubrication while drying. This might be the next best thing to running some de-ionized water from a filtered hose or CR Spotless set up or, a complete wash. Understandably, both of which are not possible on the road, at work, etc.

[joeyb7]

thanks bill... my main concern though is if what if the car is dirty... even with QD am I scratching the paint... would I be better off just getting spots??



That`s where my concern is, if it`s a few days dirty.



any other suggestions people... I usually don`t even use a QD, I`ll just lightly drag a MF across the surface to get it semi dry, and usually the rest air dries easily.



Am i doing the right things? I can`t wash it after every time it rains.

[scottabir]

ugh welcome to the black paint club where we get many WOWs! that looks amazing for the first ten minutes after we get done detailing it then it looks dirty again. The price we pay for having that mirror finish for a few minutes :D.



Seriously you might want to look into PB`s Spray and wipe and some Pakshak ULTRA MFs to give it a quick once over after it rains (provided you are not driving through deep mud puddles and such).

It works good even on black just remember to take your time and dont try to hurry through the process and remember it is spray and WIPE not spray and SCRUB ;).

The spray and wipe is a lot better than using a "normal" QD. I cannot QD my car without it leaving micro marring. S&W helps to greatly reduce the marring. But most likely you will have some no matter what you use on the paint (unless you are accumulator and have 4 hours to wash the car ;))

[joeyb7]

Thanks for the tips scottabir.



What exactly do you mean by micro marring... scratching the surface?



If you use a qd, or even just a MF with no QD to lightly skim the surface, what is too dirty? Keep in mind I`m talking about a weeks worth of dust/contaminants, not driving through mud, etc.



It sucks to think that I`ll be putting more scratches in the car by drying it off... but do I really have any other choice? I want to avoid scratches... but I guess that`s better than water spots, right??



Keep em coming, I`m looking for more of what people do in this same situation.



Thanks

[Accumulator]

Yeah, mircomarring means *very* mild scratches. The kind you might get away with on white but that will drive you nuts on black. Life`s too short (and clear`s is too thin ;) ) to polish all the time, so I would do what you can to avoid such things. But then I woke up one morning and decided that life`s too short for black cars :o




But most likely you will have some [marring] no matter what you use on the paint (unless you are accumulator and have 4 hours to wash the car ;))



Heh heh...actually I washed my WRX in a lot less than that; it went pretty fast and I only had to polish it once a year or so. But I kept the KSG refreshed on a regular basis and I never let it get too dirty.



Everybody with a black car oughta buy a foam gun.



I`d just wait until you can wash it properly. I never seem to have a problem with water spots. IMO a good (and recent) application of the right LSP oughta keep the spots manageable, as in, they should just wash off. I never had any trouble with them being hard to remove when I had black cars so maybe I`m missing something here, but I wouldn`t risk the marring by trying to do anything short of a regular wash.

[Bill D]

Everybody with a black car oughta buy a foam gun.



This perhaps the single best piece of detailing advice I`ve ever followed! :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

[scottabir]

This perhaps the single best piece of detailing advice I`ve ever followed! :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

I want one SOOOOOO bad!! I need to find the $50 bucks laying around! :LOLOL

[Scottwax]

I normally just wash mine conventionally...well, QEW anyway.

[joeyb7]

:confused:
Yeah, mircomarring means *very* mild scratches. The kind you might get away with on white but that will drive you nuts on black. Life`s too short (and clear`s is too thin ;) ) to polish all the time, so I would do what you can to avoid such things. But then I woke up one morning and decided that life`s too short for black cars :o







Heh heh...actually I washed my WRX in a lot less than that; it went pretty fast and I only had to polish it once a year or so. But I kept the KSG refreshed on a regular basis and I never let it get too dirty.



Everybody with a black car oughta buy a foam gun.



I`d just wait until you can wash it properly. I never seem to have a problem with water spots. IMO a good (and recent) application of the right LSP oughta keep the spots manageable, as in, they should just wash off. I never had any trouble with them being hard to remove when I had black cars so maybe I`m missing something here, but I wouldn`t risk the marring by trying to do anything short of a regular wash.



Thanks accumulator, this is exactly the advice I was looking for. I keep a good coat of polish/wax on my car, and clay it a few times a year. By LSP do you mean liquid surface polymer/polish...sorry, kind of a newb still.



I`m glad to hear that you think just the spots aren`t something to go crazy over. The bug me, but I`d rather have less scratching on the finish. And you`re right, after polising with poorboys polish w/carnuba it seems to do a great job on the spots, it`s like they were never there.



What does everyone else do....might as well keep this thread going so others can benefit.



By the way, what is a foam gun, what are the benefits? I`m totally out of the loop on this one! :confused:

[joeyb7]

I normally just wash mine conventionally...well, QEW anyway.



do you mean you wash yours after every time it rains? :think:

[scottabir]

LSP = last step protection

[Scottwax]

do you mean you wash yours after every time it rains? :think:



Yeah, if it isn`t going to rain again right away.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, LSP= Last Step Product. Maybe you oughta consider a different one from whatever you`re using now. Some of the ones I use on our vehicles (e.g., UPP, the Klasse twins, Collinite wax, Meg`s #16) are pretty resistant to stuff sticking to them. The waterspots will just wash off instead of needing to be *polished* off. A lot of it will depend on the rain and airborne contaminants in your area though, so you might have to try a few to find the right combination of looks and protection.

[chml17l]

Joeyb7--If you haven`t already, I suggest downloading David Bynon`s free detailing guide here--guide (http://www.autopia-carcare.com/freeguide.html) and the link to our secret decoder ring (http://www.autopia.org/forum/faq.php?faq=secret_decoder_ring) that will help translate most of our abbreviations and jargon.



IMO several days worth of dust/dirt and that mixed with rain is risking too much on a black car even to use PB`s S&W. You may really want to give Protect All`s QEW a shot as Scottwax suggested. The advantage there is it can be quicker than a conventinal car soap wash because you don`t have to rinse the QEW off the vehicle.



However, I have in a pinch rinsed a similarly dirty vehicle and used S&W/Detailer`s Pride WW and very soft, deep nap microfiber towels to very gently lift the crud from a car with minimal to no marring (Disclaimer--but I`ve got notoriously hard Audi clear coat).