is dawn dish soap bad for your car?

I don't see why it would hurt the car, but there's really no need for it. Most of us that would need the wax stripping ability of Dawn are prepping for a full detail anyway- usually to include polishing and pre-wax cleaning. The first polish will remove the wax.



IMO, just use a car shampoo.
 
I tried dawn, and all i got was a squeeky clean surface...:nixweiss Didn't seem to do any real harm. I'm not about to do it every wash, but I would think that once a year would not hurt. I mean, environmental pollution has to be much more damaging than using dawn once a year!? Besides, your going to add protection to the paint right after the use of dawn...



I think Joey Green (the guy who does finds others uses for household items; Like using coke to clean your toilet) said it best on a radio show: Sometimes manufacturers don't want the public to know that their products can be used for other purposes other than what THEY market them for. Here's his site: http://www.wackyuses.com/uses.html

and here is the coke link: http://www.wackyuses.com/coke.html



Like the coke example mentioned earlier, do you think the Coca-Cola Bottling Company really wants the public to know that their product is strong enough to clean toilets? Can you imagine those cute polar bear cubs sliding down the hill finding mama polar bear scrubbing the toilet with a brush and coke?
 
I was polishing the tops of some painted motorcycle saddle bags that were very oxidized. I went over them quickly with the rotary, and couldn't have been happer. I gave them a dawn wash (actually Ivory) to was away the polishing oils and shine enhansers from Hi-Temp Light Cut, and I found I still had more polishing to do. I had been hesitant to buff too heavily around the edges as not to burn the paint, but after the Ivory, I knew I needed to do more.



I agree that dawn will wash away oils that make the paint appear wet, but its really not much of a problem because then you know where you need to polish more. I'm happy I used Ivory when restoring the saddle bags, and it will probably make my choice of sealant last longer as well.
 
another qx4 said:
so your saying that eagle one a2z will work as an engine wash??



btw: ive never detail an engine before. scare that i might screw something up:o .
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Engines are very easy, I usually use a pressure washer and steamer. All you have to do is cover the dist. cap with plastic and I cover that with a towel to keep the plastic in place, then turn on the pressure. Hit all the hoses with VLRP, Mothers on the chrome, sweeeet! Give it a try sometime.
 
too bad all i have is a hose, toothbrush and some other soft bathroom brushes. so will A2Z work on the engine since DAWN might not be strong enough for a 93 MPV that hasnt been engine detailed ever before (very nasty inside, so nasty that my belts squeak like crazy ( well cleaned the belts and it got a lot better).
 
I feel Dawn belongs to the kitechen and car wash liquid belongs to the car care and garage. To strip the old wax, the high quality cleaner of polish from the same company who markets your wax or sealant should do the job. Also, wax is organic mostly and I wonder how many weeks (or months) "old wax" can keep its staying power on the paint (I think not that many weeks).
 
Open your minds and knowledge will follow.

Yes, Dawn belongs in the kitchen and if one has the time, knowledge of other dedictaed prep de-waxers, or intends to polish prior to applying a LSP that performs best when applied to a surface denuded of oils, please use that product. Period.

This elite attitude about the once in a while use of a APC, in reality thats what Dawn really is in the broadest sense, is unfounded and not based on the true science of detergents, soaps, pH, surfactant chemistry, paint and trim vulnability etc.

Let's face it, more people use dish washing detergents on their vehicles than those that don't and many of us, including myself, has done so in a chronic manner in the past (distant). Indirectly, leading to a wax or QD shortly thereafter because the shine was dulled.

Zaino was not created just for elite detailers, but for the general public.
 
I'd never use it on my car or my customer's cars but once in a while to strip heavy grime/wax isn't going to hurt the paint. I still feel it is better to use your claying and polishing steps to remove old wax though.
 
Scottwax said:
I still feel it is better to use your claying and polishing steps to remove old wax though.
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I agree Scott completely. I can not see too many people wanting to add a new LSP and not polishing the paint in some manner but we are the detailing elite and our eyes are tuned to notice any surface marring. To the point where we are obsessed with achieving perfection that the untuned will ever notice.



It is an illness. ;)
 
another qx4- I'd go buy some dedicated engine cleaner or at least a solvent for the worst part of *that* MPV job. Check some of the engine cleaning threads and you'll find that there a *lot* of approaches that work well.
 
blkZ28Conv said:
I agree Scott completely. I can not see too many people wanting to add a new LSP and not polishing the paint in some manner but we are the detailing elite and our eyes are tuned to notice any surface marring. To the point where we are obsessed with achieving perfection that the untuned will ever notice.



It is an illness. ;)
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Tell me about it. Why do you think I have more than 25 hours of polishing into my car now? One little defect and it bugs the crap out of me until I take care of it.
105scottwax.gif
 
I give, how should I be cleaning oils from my paint so that I can see what defects I have yet to polish out and give my lsp a solid base to bond? IPA?

Isn't a clean, oil free surface just that, no matter what steps were taken to get there?

What negative effects do dawn and APCs have?

Of course stripping the wax dulls the paint some because it IS removing the shine enhansing oils... thats what we... or at least I... want to happen, so I can see the true condition of the paint!



Save us from darkness, let the light shine, share the knowledge!
 
how bad is this for the car?
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You can look for the thread where I posted some research on Dawn. It's a generic run of the mill detergent, chemically identical to just about any other detergent, including "automotive specific" types. It's perfectly harmless to cars and paint.



However, make no mistake, many will insist it is bad for cars. Many prefer to spend more money for the same product in a different bottle, believing it is somehow superior because of a marketing claim telling them so.
 
One thing I might add about all of this, as I see that no one else has brought it up.....(if someone has and I missed it, then I offer apologies).....



If you do use Dawn or any other grease cutting dishsoap, you might want to be careful about using it on a routine basis. I can forsee it leeching polymers and thereby causing premature drying of rubber seals such as weather stripping around doors and ....more detrimentally...around moonroofs.



Whether it would do this any faster than any of the other detergents is up for discussion, I'm quite sure.



But, just an idle thought,





....BH
 
foxtrapper said:
You can look for the thread where I posted some research on Dawn. It's a generic run of the mill detergent, chemically identical to just about any other detergent, including "automotive specific" types. It's perfectly harmless to cars and paint.



However, make no mistake, many will insist it is bad for cars. Many prefer to spend more money for the same product in a different bottle, believing it is somehow superior because of a marketing claim telling them so.
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:xyxthumbs



So what you are saying is people who are afraid of Dawn as a good stripping product are more susceptible to deceptive marketing strategies?:D
 
I don't think it does a particularly good job, especially removing quality sealants. I reserve it for occasional other uses, things like pre soaking very soiled MFs or cloths
 
I usually agree with you Bill, but not this time. I find Dawn really strips surface well, no matter what the sealant. I do have to admit I never used it on a freashly applied sealant because that would be kind of silly, but everytime I have used it the surface is always quite tacky and w/o water beading. Do you feel IPA is better at stripping, or do you use Prep-Sol for that? I was a little unclear on that.
 
Though Dawn is completely harmless as a pre-sealant paint cleaner. NO ONE is advocating using this product as one's weekly vehicle washing shampoo. Dawn is just an inexpensive and easily obtainable agent for this one-time or once a year stripping to set the stage for Zaino polishes.

Most Autopians will use "job specific" agents (i.e. Prepsol) for this job because we are who we are - Type A vehicle detailing fanatics and proud of it. We have job specific agents for every detailing task for our vehicles, from specialize Q-tips and brushes to different grades of MF's for different jobs. Why? Because we want the best and most efficient products for our detailing tasks.



Dawn is not the boutique nor the best product for completely stripping oils/grime from a vehicle's painted surface but it will get the job done to the specification that is needed for Zaino to bond well for appearance and durability.
 
Burlyq said:
I usually agree with you Bill, but not this time. I find Dawn really strips surface well, no matter what the sealant. I do have to admit I never used it on a freashly applied sealant because that would be kind of silly, but everytime I have used it the surface is always quite tacky and w/o water beading. Do you feel IPA is better at stripping, or do you use Prep-Sol for that? I was a little unclear on that.
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I've used both independently and together. I find either or truly do remove all product on the finish.



Using isopropyl alcohol can be a little involved and this is the procedure I follow to make sure ( same as inspecting for swirls) I've allowed it to do the work:



Inspecting for swirls using isopropyl alcohol



Note the part where you clean your fingers with alcohol, dry them and run them across the finish. That's how I sense if anything is still on the paint.
 
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