After driving in rain

**goixiz** · 02-05-2003, 09:16 PM

What should i do ?

Leave on driveway ? Leave in garage ?

How to safely clean it without having to wash it ? Or i have no choice but to wash it

**samiam513** · 02-05-2003, 09:24 PM

it`s next to impossible to clean dirt off the outside of a car (without scratching it) without washing it! :scared

WASH IT!

**2wheelsx2** · 02-05-2003, 09:25 PM

There`s always QEW! I am going to try it tonight on a test mule...my wife`s car!

**goixiz** · 02-05-2003, 09:47 PM

Whats QEW ? is it QD ? or QW?

Cant seem to find QEW in the acronyms

**tj98cobra** · 02-05-2003, 09:50 PM

QEW = Quick and Easy Wash. I love it. Check out the reviews section or do a search for QEW. A lot of people use and approve.

TJ

**DETAILKING** · 02-06-2003, 12:10 AM

I would wash the car after driving in the rain. The dirt tends to stick to the car a bit more. I have no problems using a duster daily or quick detailer to remove surface dust or even rain spots, but if I drive in the rain I will wash always wash the car.........

**shaf** · 02-06-2003, 12:50 AM

After looking at rcwaldo`s thread about water spots, I just remembered a tip:

If you live in an area that gets acid rain or if your car is wet and has picked up lots of dust and stuff, it`s probably a good idea at the very least to hose down the car when you get home. Some acids and pollutants dissolve in water, so hopefully this will rinse some of them away instead of letting them sit (and dry) on the paint. A friend of mine has etched water spots because he had gone through several cycles of wetting, dirtying, and drying, which had concentrated all the pollutants/acids in the dirt and subsequently etched the paint. Fixing those is going to be one of my spring projects.

**iceman** · 02-06-2003, 01:05 AM

Originally posted by DETAILKING

I would wash the car after driving in the rain. The dirt tends to stick to the car a bit more. I have no problems using a duster daily or quick detailer to remove surface dust or even rain spots, but if I drive in the rain I will wash always wash the car.........

Ummm....where I am located, does that mean I have to wash the car almost every two days?

But what if it is raining for a whole week straight? How do you wash the car in the rain? You would get soaked. The neighbours will think I`m nuts!

**wizardofahs** · 02-06-2003, 02:01 AM

if there is any kind of dirt on the car from the rain (ie if it was driven a lot with muddy streats) I would just wash it. If the rain dries and it looks like there isn`t much dirt (there`s a difference between dirt and dust), then you can maybe get away with using a Cali Duster on it and then going over it with a QD. Doing a QD when the surface is really dirty isn`t such a good idea because it tends to marr the surface. Then again people like Scottwax seem to be able to get away with it. (look at his pictures in the Detailing section about before and after pics of klearkote`s QD).

**DETAILKING** · 02-06-2003, 01:10 PM

i wash my car once a week. It never gets that dirty, but after it rains I stop any quick detailing / duster treatments until it gets washed again.....

DK

**2wheelsx2** · 02-06-2003, 01:47 PM

Originally posted by iceman

Ummm....where I am located, does that mean I have to wash the car almost every two days?

But what if it is raining for a whole week straight? How do you wash the car in the rain? You would get soaked. The neighbours will think I`m nuts!

It wouldn`t be a problem. If it rains the whole week, there are two things working for you. One is that your car will probably never dry completely, and two is that any acidic rain would have fallen in the first day or so, and after that, the rain water is much cleaner. Check it out some time. Put out a bucket to catch the rain water when it first rains and you`ll see the rain is full of dirt, and the pH will be low. As it rains more and more, the rain water is cleaner, and the pH moves towards neutral.

**shaf** · 02-06-2003, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by 2wheelsx2

It wouldn`t be a problem. If it rains the whole week, there are two things working for you. One is that your car will probably never dry completely, and two is that any acidic rain would have fallen in the first day or so, and after that, the rain water is much cleaner. Check it out some time. Put out a bucket to catch the rain water when it first rains and you`ll see the rain is full of dirt, and the pH will be low. As it rains more and more, the rain water is cleaner, and the pH moves towards neutral.

Wow, very neat bit of info there.

I`d try this, but I`d forget and just end up with this filthy, overflowing bucket months later! :p