Pre-Existing Wax

E

Exec Root

New member
I have been advised to use DAWN soap to remove pre-existing wax before I re-detail my car again.



Why is this important?
 
If you wax the car, then wash it with dawn, you won't have wax on the car anymore. Usually you want to dawn the car before you begin detailing so if you polish, you know you're polishing the paint surface rather than having to cut through the existing wax first.
 
Welcome to Autopia Exec Root. :welcome



(BTW, is your name a very round-about Office Space reference?)



People always talk about doing the Dawn wash for stripping things, but:



1) If your existing wax coat isn't very recent I'm not sure if I would bother stripping it. The first polish you use on your car will eat through what wax remains anyway.



2) The Dawn wash is highly overrated. By this I mean that it's stripping power isn't very reliable and that it has a hard time (or is totally incapable) of removing certain waxes.



3) On the other hand, it doesn't seem to hurt to do a Dawn wash once in a while (more frequently is a bad idea). Some people like its increased cleaning power over regular car shampoo.
 
The reason to use Dawn is to help prepare the surface. All of us on the board, I think, will agree that the final results depend greatly upon the basic cleaning and preparation of the surface. Dawn is a well known liquid detergent which is widely available. Had Zaino not "named" a brand, some people would probably use a dishwasher detergent (powder), etc. I Dawn wash and follow with a vinegar rinse before claying. Then Z-7 wash and apply Z-5 or Z-2 (with ZFX).
 
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