Detail spray - can you really spray something on dirt and wipe it off?

**imported_zenhog** · 07-14-2003, 07:52 PM

This detail spray idea goes against any grain that I have regarding washing and minimizing scratches while you do.

Now I`m not talking about a car caked with dirt and mud here, maybe my car today when the idiot lawn company mowed and the timmer guy must have trimmed the lawn edge next to my car. It looks like some of the trim particles that were cut were thrown and stuck to the rocker panels on one side. Not a lot of stuff, but pieces of grass and I`m sure <some> dirt...

So I don`t feel like doing a below-the-belt car wash and want to take the car at lunch time and impress someone, so.. the answer maybe detail spray?

Spray something on a dirty car and then wipe it off with a towel? Common sense tells me that no matter what kind of towel, you`re grabbing dirt particals and wiping them around on the surface. Sandpaper, anyone?

Now I know it`s the same concept with a wash mit but we`re talking tons of soap suds and liquid to insulate the finish from the dirt particles. Can detailing spray accomplish the same thing?

If you use and believe in detail spray, what do you do to be careful that you don`t put a much of scratches on your surface? Blast enough of it on that the crap runs off the car first?

I`d love to be able to turn to something like this, or the quick and easy wash stuff I`ve read about, but I just can`t get past this idea that it will introduce scratches.

Someone explain to me how to get into the new world here.. lol..

C

**jmsc** · 07-14-2003, 08:16 PM

zenhog,

Your concerns are my concerns. I would never use a QD to clean grass off of my car nor any dirt. Most Autopians use QD to wipe light dust off or for spot bird droppings or after a wash.

Personally, I use QD only AFTER a full wash. I use QD for presentations or to cleanup water spots or droppings. That`s it. If it needs wax then I wax the car. It takes me as long to wax a well-kept car as it does to QD (15 mins).

If it were me I would spray water on the lower panels. Then QD if all the grass clippings and dirt are off. Otherwise wash the car first.

**Bobby G** · 07-14-2003, 08:50 PM

Good question. Let me share my experience.

I have been using my QD process on my cars since 1988. That`s when I started traveling for business using my own car. At the time I was driving a guards red Porsche 944 Turbo.

Anyone who knows me knows I hate a dirty car. So, what do you think I do at rest stops and my final destination? Yep, I QD. On heavy dust/particles, I use a car duster follwed by a detailing spray and a towel. For light dust the spray and towel are all that is required. After 157,000 miles up and down the Atlantic and coast to coast, my paint was still perfect. No swirls, no scratches, no kidding.

If you follow read my QD technique, you understand that I don`t wipe dirt back and forth. I spray, wipe in one direction, then turn the towel. It`s perfectly safe.

db

**imported_zenhog** · 07-14-2003, 10:22 PM

Ok David, you`re moving me off the fence now. I`ll take a bottle of the Sonax spritz I got from you and head to the office tomorrow...

**shaf** · 07-14-2003, 11:31 PM

I know I`ve said this lots of times, but I find that using a duster like the CCD takes care of so much of the dust that the MF towel hardly gets dirty by the time I`m done QDing. Makes me feel much better about the whole QD process.

**evor1** · 07-15-2003, 02:27 AM

I came to these forums, trying to figure out how to end the scratching I was doing to my black Mustang.

I learned that the weekly (or even more freq) washings (plus my technique) were doing it.

Now I haven`t washed the car in over a year (garage queen).

I drive it, Cali Dust it, followed by QD (Z6) when I really want it to look perfect (or am going to cover it).

I use a fairly liberal amount, along with Micro-fibers, to remove bug guts. Pretty careful with the bug guts. Lots of shell parts, etc. so I make sure not to drag them around. I spray it up good, wipe in one direction with one towel, respray, wipe with a new towel.

I don`t think I have really added any scratches since the first weeks of ownership a year or so ago. Back then I washed all the time drying with leather chamois, then moved on to cotton, and then the duster / QD method.

Now if only I could work up the guts to use my PC to go after some of the scratches I put in, in the beginning!

**JimS** · 07-15-2003, 07:04 AM

I know nothing.......but my experience has been that Poorboys Spray & Wipe works great on light to moderate dirt. Just spray it on and wipe it off to reveal a slick shine without scratches. I haven`t done a full wash on my Silverado in about a month and it`s spotless every day and this includes the days that it rains. I just Spray and Wipe.

**FoundMyPath** · 07-15-2003, 08:08 AM

So if you don`t have a Cali Duster and just a bunch of MFs, you could probably apply DavidB`s techniques in wiping across one motion, turning over the MF and wiping across another single pass and continuing doing so until it was free of dust.

What happens when you are in between coats of Klasse SG or something and drive a daily driver? I don`t imagine I`d want to wash it each time I want to apply the next coat. And I`m a little too lazy to go buy a Cali Duster (tons of house work after the main job to do). Should I just QD prior to applying the next layers of SG?

**Accumulator** · 07-15-2003, 10:36 AM

FoundMyPath - I`m in your situatation with my WRX- two coats of SG, want at least 2 more. I`m gonna wash it first, even if I just drive it once.

sveet- If you`re doing OK with QDing a black car (

) then break out that PC and go for it. You won`t mar the car unless you drop the PC on it.

**Thomasfl** · 07-15-2003, 11:55 AM

I agree with JimS, the Poorboy`s Spray & Wipe is great for actually cleaning your car when it is slightly dirty. This morning it rained and I am at my office with the car outside, when I went to lunch I grabbed a MF and some S&W (mixed with some QD) and went over the car in about 5 minutes. Looks like I just detailed the car.

**Vegas1** · 07-15-2003, 03:34 PM

In the past the only QD I ever used was Z6, and that was only after I had washed or put another coat of Zaino on. I was always scared to death of messing up my finish.

Enter Poorboys Spray & Wipe. After I read about it`s many praises I figured I`d give it a shot, since I had also just applied some EX and really liked it. Spray & Wipe on a dusty or lightly soiled car is amazing. Super shine, clean and not a scratch to be found anywhere. I normally wash my car at least once or twice a week, but since I`ve been using Spray & Wash (just about every day it`s so addicting) my car hasn`t seen a hose in about 3 weeks and looks great. An oustanding product to say the least.

**ofelas** · 07-15-2003, 03:53 PM

I suppose after browsing this forum I`ll be convinced that there`s stuff out there better than a mud bath :nixweiss

**imported_Intermezzo** · 07-15-2003, 04:10 PM

zenhog, back when I first heard of people doing a QD on their slightly dusty cars, I also had a hard time believeing this would not lead to a ton of swirls. I`ve since realized that regular QD sessions (once every few days) and reducing the frequency of doing a `full` wash will actually lead to less swirls and marring on your paint. And in the meantime, you`ll get less embedded contaminants in your paint and a car that looks freshly detailed all week long...not just from Monday to Wednesday (assuming you detail your car on the weekend).

**2500Hemi** · 07-15-2003, 04:32 PM

:wavey Hello Ofelas welcome! Good to see some of you fellow DTO guys here. There is plenty of great info so read up but don`t give up on the mud baths they are too much fun sometimes!:up Nice truck.:xyxthumbs

**ofelas** · 07-15-2003, 04:39 PM

Hey bud good to see you here as well...now that I know how seriously these guys take their detailing I`ll feel guilty about self-cleaning my tires with a car behind me

Checked out my feeble attempts at detailing?

http://www.autopia.org/gallery/showg...1&ppuser=11749