Finally used QEW on a DIRTY car

W

White95Max

New member
My thoughts: QEW is still easy to use and cleans well. I ended up changing the 5gal rinse bucket twice, because the water got a bit too brown for my liking. I also had a GritGuard in the bottom of the bucket.



Here's what the Max looked like after driving through the rain on a narrow country road, with lots of semi trucks spraying me as they went by... :(



DirtyCar.jpg


DirtyCar2.jpg








After: (It took me about 1.5hrs to wash the car, wheels, and wash/dress the tires.)

Oh and don't mind the dent. It hurts to look at it. I can't wait to get the Protege...



PartClean.jpg


AllClean.jpg
 
did you find it was difficult to keep from marring the paint? i am so scared to go after some dark colored cars with the stuff when they look like that but its my only option sometimes...
 
I haven't tried it on a truly dirty dark colored car yet. I will use it on my mom's car soon. I'd do it now, but it hasn't been polished yet, so I wouldn't be able to tell if there was any new marring.



I was careful about it on my car since I just polished it a week or two ago. I didn't check for any marring. I was careful and took my time, so I'm confident that I didn't instill much of any marring. I hope not anyway.
 
I used it all winter on our Odyssey and Anthracite TL with NO marring. And trust me, I looked! Sometimes, when there was excessive salt and dirt, I would hose it off first. If the vehicle was of medium dirtiness I would put 32 oz. of water in a spray bottle with an eyeballed amount of QEW as a presoak, I would spray it liberally on the panel to emulsify the dirt before I took a mitt to it.
 
I'm going to get a spray bottle for an initial spray of QEW before washing a dirty car. It's not a huge concern with a white car, but when I get the Protege (which probably isn't going to be white), I'll have to be more careful.
 
randomman84 said:
did you find it was difficult to keep from marring the paint? i am so scared to go after some dark colored cars with the stuff when they look like that but its my only option sometimes... [/



QUOTE]

I used it all winter long (sand,salt,and dirt) if I was carefull and took my time, used a rinse bucket for my washmit and changed water when dirty, I was ok. When I was rushed and wasn't carefull, I did get marring. But that was my own fault :(
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mochamanz said:
Do you think a wash brush, like the new Meg's would ease the danger of marring?
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I don't think so. I think the only way to reduce the possibility of marring is to take your time, and keep the rinse water relatively clean.
 
I get no marring on dirtier cars using a single bucket and not changing it out. Use a quality wash pad (chenille seems to work best) and do the initial drying with thick terry cloth towels and follow with good MF towels. Once you get the hang of it, washing the average sized car takes 20 minutes with normal dirt and 30-35 if nasty.
 
scott, u are a detail god, i'd be lucky to do a non marring job on my soft, black camry paint in 35-45.... ill have to get the hang of it soon since ill be detailing A LOT of EXPENSIVE cars at my country club i work at.
 
Scottwax

I was wondering how many quarts do you mix up for an average 4 door car. I am always curious how much others use. I have used only 2 quarts if the car is mainly dusty and not very dirty, and up to 8 quarts when it has a couple of weeks worth of caked on sand, salt and mud. But never really sure if I am going overboard or being too stingy.
 
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