To use dawn or not to?

It seems to me that if you are using it ONLY to alledgedly pull all the wax or sealants off of a car before you detail it then there won't be any long term damage. You are going to polish it and wax it within hours of "Dawning" it so any oils that are pulled out of the paint are going to be put right back in....right? :think: Granted it's not something that I would use to wash my vehicles with on a constant basis.....that's what car wash soap is for....on just plain water. If I am using just plain water I always add an ounce or two of DP 4n1 to the bucket cuz my water is SO hard at home anyway. I don't know....I just think that the long term "damage" is minimal if you don't use it for every wash and are waxing the car afterwards anyway.
 
mose said:
You are going to polish it and wax it within hours of "Dawning" it so any oils that are pulled out of the paint are going to be put right back in....right? :think: .
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There are no oils in a modern automotive finish...there are no oils in plastic (yes, plastic is made from petroleum), there are no oils in rubber. Can paint, rubber, and plastic be damaged by chemicals? Yes, but it's not by "removing oils".
 
god people get too freaky about this. YES DAWN IS FINE ON YOUR CAR!!! I've done it for years to get old wax off and there has never once been a problem...not once.
 
I stand (or sit) corrected then! What is that is SO bad about Dawn then? I thought I read something somewhere about it "drying" something out. Either way I will continue to do what I do until I find out a real reason why it's bad.
 
What amazes me is that the same folks that believe Dawn is sooo terrible will without hesistation use acid to wash their vehicle - citric acid containing washes. The pH of Citric acid is about 4.:shocked. The wild part is that the citric acid is no more than a buffer in these solution masking/decreasing the high alkalinity ingredients that are really doing the cleaning.



If people would move beyond the "folk-lore" and look into the chemistry, neither Dawn or citric acid containing products are episodically harmful to your paint but could cause problems with long term usage on rubber and plastics.



Ever use a citrus or alkaline wheel cleaner. Amazing how well tolerated the clear coat on these item withstand such frequent assaults. :nixweiss



Personally, I would not Dawn if I have a dedicated wax/sealant remover. If I did not I would use without hesitation or fear.

If you are planning to clay and polish, a normal Z7 wash will remove any residual oils and worn wax.
 
mose said:
What is that is SO bad about Dawn then? I thought I read something somewhere about it "drying" something out.
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I think the issue is that paint, plastic, and rubber can be damaged by UV radiation from the sun (just like your skin). Dawn is pretty good at washing off the silicone products we use to protect paint, plastic and rubber (particularly the PDMS trim products that get used on plastic and rubber). I think it's this UV damage that gets blamed on the Dawn after the protection is stripped away.



[My prediction is this thread will now go on for about 10 more pages while people argue about this, as usual.]
 
mose said:
I stand (or sit) corrected then! What is that is SO bad about Dawn then? I thought I read something somewhere about it "drying" something out. Either way I will continue to do what I do until I find out a real reason why it's bad.
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It's a matter of frequency. If you clean certain surfaces (e.g., some rubber/plastic trim) too often with harsh products you can damage them. Dawn can do this, as can a lot of other things.



Never done it for me, but then I don't make a habit of using harsh cleansers on such materials.



Heh heh, people who advocate solvents like IPA, let alone PrepSol (both of which I use and like) or citrus degreasers (which I also use and like) over Dawn might consider how much more gentle Dawn is on human skin compared to those other products ;) Dawn is pretty mild stuff, it doesn't even strip wax for me the way it does for David B and others. Lousy lubricity though...



And yean, Dawn works fine on stuff like motor oil; they really do use it to clean up wildlife after oil spills.
 
very well said. if it works for you do it. i personally don't think zaino would deliberately tell you to use something that would harm your car in anyway. heck they'd be out of business if they did. if you're going to use it one time to strip all the contaminates and wax, etc. from you paint do it it is not going to harm your car. your paint won't fall off the car, it won't difigure it in any way. are there other ways to strip your car of everything on your paint? absolutly, perhaps this is one of the easiest ways. again if it's a one time thing just do it. just my 02 cents.
 
Whats the lubricity like with dawn? Im sure it keeps those swirls down while its drying out all the plastic and rubber.:woohoo:



Everyone need to use common sense. How many people take a shower with dawn? If you dont, then why not? I mean cmon, we have our hands in it when we are washing dishes.. :werd:
 
I think the lack of lubricity causing marring would be eliminated by having it 'sit' on the paint via a foam gun and not touching it. But the contaminants that people are mentioning would likely need scrubbing, so why not rinse and rewash with a car happy detergent afterwards?
 
After trying Dawn to remove stuff off the car for a fresh application,

I just don't trust it any more especially that I like to wash the paint with my wash mitt

and boars hair brush for lower parts.



I am placing my order soon for PS21 Total Body Wash, oh I am buying the gallon of that

thing!, Citrus Based product by a company I trust their research for better products

such as the wheel cleaner! not a dish washing research on the other hand.

product is pricy but worth every penny, this thing can be used

for engine, lower undercarriage parts and strip wax's / sealants off the paint

With the right dilution of water / product mix.
 
BlueLibby04 said:
... How many people take a shower with dawn? If you dont, then why not? ..
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Heh heh, I'd rather shower with Dawn than AutoInt's "A" :eek:



FWIW, I wash my hand quite frequently (dogs+allergies) and I probably wash my hands with Dawn about as often as with any other product (the sink-mounted dispenser in the kitchen is handy and Dawn's a lot cheaper than the stuff that my wife uses instead), and it doesn't mess with my sorta-sensitive skin at all :nixweiss



But then I've shampooed the dogs with Griot's Car Wash too :o :D





evilWagon- Nah, IMO there's no getting around Dawn's crappy lubricity. If it dwells that'll help dissolve/emulsify the contamination, but it won't help with the "moving contamination across the paint" issue. Rewashing with a high-lubricity shampoo will be "after the horse has left the barn" bacause some of the abrasive [stuff] will have been loosened by the Dawn and you gotta get through the contamination for Dawn to do it's thing to the LSP anyhow. I haven't found Dawn to be very effective when used as a "touchless" wash, but I've never tried it with a pressure washer either and that might work OK.



The only time I use Dawn is to strip an already-marred surface, something that's so scrached up that I'll have to do aggressive polishing anyhow. If the finish is better than that, I won't risk introducing new marring by using something with such poor lubricity to wash. And if I want to strip a marring-free surface (to change LSPs or something), I'll wash it properly first and then use IPA, or TAW, or "A", or some solvent or paint cleaner...those work better than Dawn for me anyhow.



But when I'm gonna throw a quick detail on a service loaner or some other beater that I don't really care about, Dawn is what I reach for to do the initial wash.
 
Here in Thailand, A lot of people use dishwashing agent to wash their car

because it's MUCH cheaper than the car wash soap :p



After reading threads here, i decided to go with dishwashing for stripping my wax too :)
 
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