Last week, after washing my car, I found some tar and a few bugs on the lower panels of my car, you know, the really grungy areas like the rocker panels. I went down to the basement to get a can of Tarminator, sprayed it on, let it dwell for a minute, then wiped it clean with a fresh MF. I thought to myself, "D@^^n this is working awfully well". I looked at the can, and behold I had confused the Tarminator with Invisible Glass. At first, I was scared, thinking that a week later my paint would look dull, ect ect. But I really haven't seen any deterimental effects. DON'T get me wrong though, I'd NEVER use it on my nice contaminant free car again!
At the risk of sounding completeley crazy, here goes - I slept on it, and thought about the many possibilities of using windex or another cheap glass cleaner as a body solvent, on really contaminated vehicles, before claying, and polishing. I had a vehicle coming up, that was extremely dirty, from head to toe, the rocker panels, lower fender, and front bumber had seen NO love whatsoever, and was FULL of bonded contaminants. I done a dawn wash, which helped a LOT. Afterward, I proceeded to dig out the windex and use it to pretreat some of the lower panels, in effect to help save my clay. I sprayed some on my microfiber towel, pressed it up againt the area to be cleaned, let it sit for a minute and gently wiped away. It really made a WORLD of difference. I done the same to the rest of the lower panels on the car, and when It came time to bring out the clay, I discovered, that the windex residue left on the lower panels, was reacting with the clay, and in effect, disinigrating it. No problem, I just rinsed it off, then went at it again. Worked perfect, my clay didn't really pick up anywhere NEAR as much contaminants as it normally would have down there. All in all, while I was claying the lower portions of the car, I felt a LOT safer, knowing that less contaminants would scratch the car.
I taped off the trim, pulled out my trusty PC, all my polishes, and went to town, as normal. At the end of the day, everything turned out very nice. NO, damage was done whatsoever that I could tell.
What my question is, What am I missing, is there something that I'm not thinking about? Is there something else that could do a better job? Please keep in mind that I'm FULLY aware, that windex was NOT meant for paint, and if I was not planning on polishing the paint, I would have never done this step!
ANYONE feel free to chime in, I would like to get as many opinions as I can about this, as I get hold of a LOT of really neglected cars. TIA :waxing:
At the risk of sounding completeley crazy, here goes - I slept on it, and thought about the many possibilities of using windex or another cheap glass cleaner as a body solvent, on really contaminated vehicles, before claying, and polishing. I had a vehicle coming up, that was extremely dirty, from head to toe, the rocker panels, lower fender, and front bumber had seen NO love whatsoever, and was FULL of bonded contaminants. I done a dawn wash, which helped a LOT. Afterward, I proceeded to dig out the windex and use it to pretreat some of the lower panels, in effect to help save my clay. I sprayed some on my microfiber towel, pressed it up againt the area to be cleaned, let it sit for a minute and gently wiped away. It really made a WORLD of difference. I done the same to the rest of the lower panels on the car, and when It came time to bring out the clay, I discovered, that the windex residue left on the lower panels, was reacting with the clay, and in effect, disinigrating it. No problem, I just rinsed it off, then went at it again. Worked perfect, my clay didn't really pick up anywhere NEAR as much contaminants as it normally would have down there. All in all, while I was claying the lower portions of the car, I felt a LOT safer, knowing that less contaminants would scratch the car.
I taped off the trim, pulled out my trusty PC, all my polishes, and went to town, as normal. At the end of the day, everything turned out very nice. NO, damage was done whatsoever that I could tell.
What my question is, What am I missing, is there something that I'm not thinking about? Is there something else that could do a better job? Please keep in mind that I'm FULLY aware, that windex was NOT meant for paint, and if I was not planning on polishing the paint, I would have never done this step!
ANYONE feel free to chime in, I would like to get as many opinions as I can about this, as I get hold of a LOT of really neglected cars. TIA :waxing:
