Is direction important?

D

dsemmler

New member
I am new to the boards and looking to keep my new car looking new, so I have been doing a lot of reading. One thing that I have not really seen discussed is the direction of strokes when washing, sealing, polishing or whatever.

For instance, when I am washing the car, should I keep my strokes all in one direction or can I wipe all over with the mitt in all directions? I don't want to do anything that will damage the car so I thought I would ask first. I would rather ask a dumb question than risk causing swirls or something by making a basic mistake.

Thanks,
Derek
 
I go front to back on the horizontal surfaces and top to bottom on the vertical. This is in Case you mar the paint it will be less noticeable. If you are not marring the paint it wont matter what direction you go. It's not like going right to left on horizontal surfaces will mar and going front to back won't.
 
I'm not sure how much it contributes to results....I imagine everyone has their own opinion on this and their own technique. Mine is to follow the wind flow pattern over the car on every surface as much as possible. What I have taught myself never to do is to use a circular motion for anything...washing, polishing, waxing etc....
 
Thanks to all for the feedback. While it may not be crucial whether I go front to back or back to front, it does seem to be the consensus to try and reduce or eliminate the circle motions and use straight lines.

In the past, I was never washing my car with the thought of preserving the paint and finish so I was all over the place (up, down, left, right, circles, diagonals, etc).

Thanks again, now once I decide on the products to buy, I know it will be best to use straight lines.
 
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