Some random thoughts after today's detail...

I just want to get some things off my mind and out into the open. This might be a long thread, so be sure you have some time.



Today I did a full exterior detail of the RL. My process consisted of a Dawn wash, claying with clay magic, pre-wax cleansing, #7, #26, trim protectant, tire dressing, and 20/20 for the windows.



1) First off, today was the first time I used Turtle Wax MFs that you buy from AutoZone, per Scottwax`s recommendation. They`re really nice, much nicer than the ones I got from Wal-Mart (Concordia).



2) I don`t know if it`s my paint, but after washing the car with Dawn, I still noticed some water beading on my paint. Maybe it has something to do with the surface tension on the clearcoat.



3) I also used Claymagic for the first time. The actual bar is not that bad, but the lube reeks. Don`t know what to compare the smell to, but it`s not pleasant like Meg`s QD or Mother`s. Plus the cheapies only give you a 12oz bottle--the other`s give you 16oz.



Some of you may kill me when I mention this, but I dropped the clay bar near the end of the process. Now, this happened while claying in the garage and the ground wasn`t really dirty. Another thing is that when the clay bar is coated QD, it`s rather difficult for any large debris to embed itself--even if the clay didn`t hit the ground; for instance, i`ve had lots of junk come off the bumpers when claying. Wiping the clay bar with an MF and kneading it can get you passed the problem.



Of course if the claybar fell on a dirty driveway, then yeah i`d pitch it. But I felt that this was an exception.



4) #7 is pretty useless for clearcoated cars. I`ve only seen it`s benefits on dar colored paint, like red or black. From my understanding, when dealing with a clearcoat, my main objective should simply be to remove as much surface imperfections as possible--something I haven`t accomplished yet. It`s like polishing glass: the surface needs to be smooth to get that perfect shine.



5) I might do a second coat of #26 on the on the hood, roof, and trunk. One thing great about 26 is that you can leave it on the car as long as you want and it will still buff off easily. today I had the pleasure of waxing the whole car first, and then going back and buffing it off easily. I will never forget those days of buffing cleaner waxes after letting them dry for too long. :sosad



6) EO 20/20 is great!



7) Regarding Meguiar`s Endurance tire gel, be forewarned that as much as it provides durable lasting protection for your tires, it similarly can create durable lasting stains on your buffing towles. Today after applying 2 coats of Endurance high gloss, I used a terry cotton towel to buff the tires off (i only use these towels for buffing rough surfaces). The towel was very black obviously, but thinking that dawn detergent could cut through stain, I spent a lot of time in front of the wash tub trying to get the stains out. Even bleach wouldn`t cut it! Also, the EO tire applictor was very tough to clean after using endurance. I would squeeze the foam part and out would come this thick, non-water soluble gunk. No wonder this stuff lasts!



At any rate, I feel I need to segway into my next point.



8) Being that the towels and applicators had waxes and oils built up, I had to use an EXTENSIVE cleaning process. First I pre-rinsed the towels and applicators in a wash tub, then filled the tub with some Dawn dish detergent. Agitated for a while, then dumped, re-filled with water, Dawn, and some Oxi-Clean. Then agitaged the towels in the tub and dumped the water again. Some of the MFs still had some darkish stains however.



So this is what I did: I took some liquid detergent and with each MF towel, rubbed some detergent right on to each stain with my hand. I also did the same for the applicators. After that I threw the towels in the washer. But before starting the wash, get this: I added some ingredients for some super stain cutting action. Here`s what I put: a half scoop of Wisk powdered detergent (yeah, it`s powdered, but sometimes powdered works better than liquid); about a quarter cap full of liquid detergent; 2 squirts of Dawn dish detergent; half scoop of oxi-clean; and, what I think was an imporant ingredient, an ounce of some orange citrus degreaser/cleaner.



I ran the wash for about 25 minutes. I actually stopped the washing machine right before it was about to drain and reset the timer to the beginning so that the stuff would continue to agitate. Ran two rinses. Then went to air dry the towels. They look very nice and clean now! :up





At any rate, that`s all I can think of now. Thanks for reading!

What can I add:



For tires I use a OEM foam that I use a couple of times then garbage with it, no need to wash. Nor do I buff the tires, just let the product to dry.



My MF towels are throw on the washing machine at a temperature of 80ºC and liquid detergent. They are always great.

Acura_RL - - Excellent post! It sounds like you like you had a really full day.



Water beading: I’m not sure that the beading or not beading tells us much of anything. Not too long ago I used the PC on half of my rear deck. Started with Meg’s #2, then 3M PI-III MG, then PI-III FG. Did a thorough wipe down of both sides of the deck with a Dawn solution and followed with water. The other side has multiple (30+) layers of Zaino. I happened to remember an earlier thread about beading so I sprayed water on the rear deck. The beading on the Zaino side and on the freshly polished and Dawned side were identical.



Clay lube: IMO a shampoo/water mix is much better than a QD or dedicated lube. Works better and costs a lot less. I go through about 30-35 ounces when claying my Z3.



Clay kneading: I wouldn’t knead the clay since that disperses the debris throughout the clay. Stretch and fold only for the longest clay life.



Dropped clay: I often clay in my dirt driveway. I usually keep a bath towel directly under my work area when claying and it has saved my butt twice.



Microfiber towel cleaning: Recently there was a thread about MF towel losing their absorbency with age. I checked mine at found that some of the older one had lost their absorbency, so I washed them using liquid dishwasher detergent and it restored there absorbency. Dishwasher det is much stronger than dishwashing det. After I had done this I noticed that the Cascade bottle said to not get on fabric because it contains bleach. Liking to experiment, I cut a 5� square of MF in half and put one piece in a water glass of straight Clorox, agitated it every couple of minutes and left it there for about ten minutes IIRC. Took it out, rinsed, hand washed with Dawn, rinsed, dried with a hair dryer. Could see no ill effects except that it was back to its original white color. I then emailed six of the vendors where I bought MF towels and related my story and asked why there usually is a caution to not use bleach on MF. All of the answers were the basically the same. “because the overseas supplier said so� and “I think that it might shorten the life of the towel� was the gist of each response. If straight Clorox doesn’t do any more than shorten the life a little bit, then I don’t think that washing them using Cascade every 2nd or 3rd wash could have much effect. And as Taxlady posted, “I figure dishwasher detergent is pretty strong stuff. Have you seen what it does to aluminium? But, if you can`t make the MFs work properly by other cleaning methods, it is certainly better for them to deteriorate over time than be useless now.�

I don`t know if it has to do with the properties of a microfiber towel, but one thing I notice when I use a regular MF to dry my car after a wash is that it doesn`t really absorb well until it gets really damp. In other words, when it`s dry and i`m just starting to dry the surface, it hardly picks up the water. As it gets more wet, it becomes more absorbant. In fact, it`s most absorbant right after I wring the towel real well to get the excess water out, yet still slightly damp.



I don`t know if this is because of wax build-up in the towel. If that is the case, then the Dawn wash along with some Citrus degreaser should take care of that problem.



I`ve washed and used my first set of MFs about 10 times. They`re still holding up well. There are some faint stains that seem permanent, but overall the towels still work the same as day 1.





Also, I forgot to add this, but I`ve found out a nifty way to dry the inside of a sheepskin wash mit. Everyone who has one knows that after a day or two of air drying, the outside for the most part is dry, while the hide on the inside is still damp. Well, to accelerate the drying, get a small can of Damp-Rid, rap the elastic part of the wash mitt around the opening, and let it stand for about a day. Come back and you`ll see moisture in the can, which most likely came from your wash mit.



Just a tip. ;)

For easy drying you might want to try a waffle weave microfiber drying towel. They are super absorbent! The best that I’ve found are the Big Blue and Little Blue towels from CMA.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Acura_RL



3) I also used Claymagic for the first time. The actual bar is not that bad, but the lube reeks. Don`t know what to compare the smell to, but it`s not pleasant like Meg`s QD or Mother`s. Plus the cheapies only give you a 12oz bottle--the other`s give you 16oz.



For $10, what more did you want? The only job for the spray is to lube the paint surface.





4) #7 is pretty useless for clearcoated cars. I`ve only seen it`s benefits on dar colored paint, like red or black.



Yeah, thats why many people win car shows with #7/#26. :o





7) Regarding Meguiar`s Endurance tire gel, be forewarned that as much as it provides durable lasting protection for your tires, it similarly can create durable lasting stains on your buffing towles. Today after applying 2 coats of Endurance high gloss, I used a terry cotton towel to buff the tires off (i only use these towels for buffing rough surfaces). The towel was very black obviously, but thinking that dawn detergent could cut through stain, I spent a lot of time in front of the wash tub trying to get the stains out. Even bleach wouldn`t cut it! Also, the EO tire applictor was very tough to clean after using endurance. I would squeeze the foam part and out would come this thick, non-water soluble gunk. No wonder this stuff lasts!



Did you clean the tires beforehand? I dont really try to clean the applicators that well since I only use it to apply dressing. A simple hand aggitation with Tide Free and rinse is fine.



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Well, weather or not people win car shows with the 7/26 combo, my point was that #7 is best at it`s visual qualities when applied on darker cars. When I used on a red prelude with no clearcoat, the results were impressive.



The only part that made a difference was the painted black trim on the b-pillar on my car (between the front and rear passenger windows. Since it was painted black, it made sense to treat it like a painted surface. The cleansing brought some of the waterspots out. #7 however darkened the trim almost instantly. I covered it up with #26 later.