QEW winter use and road salt

White95Max said:
I have some green WCD MFs and some economy MFs from Er*e C*tton that I use for QEW washing. I won't let my nice ExcelDetail supreme MFs touch all that dirt. I use the mediocre towels for that.
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That's what I was thinking, did not want to use my quality MF'S for a grungy job. hey on a sidenote I just washed my black Jimmy after work and looks awesome. it had road salt on it as well as the TB. took your advice and went to a stronger mix, used my sprayer ( as usual) to pretreat the panels. also added a couple of spritzes ( is that a word ? ) of Z6. used my new mitt and everything is back to normal with QEW. still not sure what the issue was ( worn mitt ? mix not strong enough ? not enough product on the mitt ? ) but I will use everybody's suggestions from here on in. would like to thank you White95Max and all the people who have responded to this post. looks like we got to the bottom of another car washing mystery. must have been a case of " UE " user error ! :LOLOL
 
I would make sure that the MFs you're using have a pretty thick nap. You're wiping off a lot of dirt and other foreign particles, and you want those particles to be held away from the paint. Many of the cheaper, locally-available MFs have a short nap, and therefore, wouldn't be good towels for this purpose IMO. I haven't seen the ones from Sam's Club, but the best ones I've found from WalMart are the "Detailer's Best" blue MFs, and those have a nap that is too thin for my liking. I do like them for other grunge work though, like plastic polishing, or buffing off other plastic/rubber products.



flatstick said:
would like to thank you White95Max and all the people who have responded to this post.
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No problem. I hope your QEW experiences in the future are as good as mine have been! :)
 
White95Max said:
I would make sure that the MFs you're using have a pretty thick nap. You're wiping off a lot of dirt and other foreign particles, and you want those particles to be held away from the paint. Many of the cheaper, locally-available MFs have a short nap, and therefore, wouldn't be good towels for this purpose IMO. I haven't seen the ones from Sam's Club, but the best ones I've found from WalMart are the "Detailer's Best" blue MFs, and those have a nap that is too thin for my liking. I do like them for other grunge work though, like plastic polishing, or buffing off other plastic/rubber products.







No problem. I hope your QEW experiences in the future are as good as mine have been! :)
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With everybody's advice I am sure we will be fine. BTW us northern boys need to stick together. :lol
 
flatstick said:
With everybody's advice I am sure we will be fine. BTW us northern boys need to stick together. :lol
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I'm from the north but living down here, guess my blood is thin'd out if I'm worried about washing in this cold. :grinno:
 
gmblack3a said:
I'm from the north but living down here, guess my blood is thin'd out if I'm worried about washing in this cold. :grinno:
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Makes sense this summer it was above 90 for more days than I care to remember. not being use to the heat makes you notice it more. if you grin and bear it you will get used to it a little more. if you have a garage that will ease you pain as well. guess that is the price we pay for being an Autopian. neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will stop us from producing the ultimate shine and protection :LOLOL
 
flatstick said:
Makes sense this summer it was above 90 for more days than I care to remember. not being use to the heat makes you notice it more. if you grin and bear it you will get used to it a little more. if you have a garage that will ease you pain as well. guess that is the price we pay for being an Autopian. neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will stop us from producing the ultimate shine and protection :LOLOL
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True that! I finally got the wifes car to where I'm happy with it and its raining today. I told her since I have the day off we can take the beater, car seat in the back of a coupe with a 2 yr old is so fun. :grinno:
 
gmblack3a said:
True that! I finally got the wifes car to where I'm happy with it and its raining today. I told her since I have the day off we can take the beater, car seat in the back of a coupe with a 2 yr old is so fun. :grinno:
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Boy nice to have a beater and leave the other car in the garage. gotta love when you can do that. :bigups
 
I wish I could do that. But fortunately, I'll be taking a class here over winter break (gotta love 5wk college breaks! :) ) for 2wks, and my neighbor is also taking that class at the same time. So I can leave my car in the garage and ride with him. :)



I'll throw him a few bucks every week in appreciation for the convenience.
 
White95Max said:
I wish I could do that. But fortunately, I'll be taking a class here over winter break (gotta love 5wk college breaks! :) ) for 2wks, and my neighbor is also taking that class at the same time. So I can leave my car in the garage and ride with him. :)



I'll throw him a few bucks every week in appreciation for the convenience.
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Hey that is cool get to leave your ride in the garage for 2weeks. at least it will be out of the elements instead of outside :getdown
 
I'll still have to go to work a couple times a week, unless my neighbor wants to hang around for a while (I work on campus). But that's better than driving every day. I love driving on the snow with my Dunlop WinterSports, but the car gets so dirty.



BTW it's 53*F here now! :) :woot:







But back to highs in the upper 20s by Wednesday... :(
 
White95Max said:
I'll still have to go to work a couple times a week, unless my neighbor wants to hang around for a while (I work on campus). But that's better than driving every day. I love driving on the snow with my Dunlop WinterSports, but the car gets so dirty.



BTW it's 53*F here now! :) :woot:







But back to highs in the upper 20s by Wednesday... :(
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That is awesome :clap: .... 61 here today, 61 tomorrow, 50 Wed and 36 on Friday ( when I get to detail a black Lexus Rx330 ). guess we have to take it when we can get it.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
I keep pointing folks back to this procedure link:



http://www.taurusclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=117



That's the best way I've found to QEW safely. I used it many times last winter, and am planning to do the same this winter. I have not yet had to use the QEW so far, though.
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I have read that article many times, make lots of sense. I guess I have my QEW working good now as I did my black Jimmy yesterday with no issues ( road salt was present as well) just was trying to get a grasp where the issue was. suppose now that it seems fixed I will try to repeat my process exactly the same everytime. ( was it the stronger solution ? old mitt shot ? ) I am not sure but guess I met my learning curve with road salt :spot
 
flatstick said:
I will try to repeat my process exactly the same everytime. ( was it the stronger solution ? old mitt shot ? ) I am not sure but guess I met my learning curve with road salt :spot
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Yep, that's the key. I found that after the first time, I got familiar with how much water, QEW, QD, and other components to use. At first I had to dial in the combo based on the size of buckets I was using (volumes can be decieving!) but now I just have marked off where to fill the water to, how many capfulls of QEW, FI, etc. That's pretty much the biggest issue, IMO.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Yep, that's the key. I found that after the first time, I got familiar with how much water, QEW, QD, and other components to use. At first I had to dial in the combo based on the size of buckets I was using (volumes can be decieving!) but now I just have marked off where to fill the water to, how many capfulls of QEW, FI, etc. That's pretty much the biggest issue, IMO.
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You are doing it as I felt it should be done. I just did not account for the fact that I might want to bump up the strength on the QEW mix. what is that old saying ... you learn from your mistakes ? suppose this is a prime example of that . :dance
 
Just wanted to post a follow up on the QEW problem that I had on one of my trucks. did a black Lexus Rx 330 the other day with QEW and after the wash and dry inspected the finish. flawless is all that I can say, no marring at all. wanted to post this because it seems people that have not used QEW are worried about creating new scratches. rest assured if your technique is sound you can use it on a black Lexus ( with road salt ) without any issues. I did not create this post to put QEW down. was looking to see where " I " made my mistake. my advice to somebody who is unsure would be the following : use more product that you think you need, make one small pass only, rinse your wash mitt or MF well before applying more QEW. I am by no means an expert using QEW but after viewing everybody's suggestions to correct my technique these seem to be the key factors. no pics of the Lexus was getting dark when I finished sorry.
 
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