What did I do wrong?!?!?!?

D

Diesel917

New member
Hey guys,



Im a rookie here looking for insight... Right now I feel absolutely horrible... downright bummed out... why you ask? B/c I washed my car last night and it seems to look dirtier than it did prior to the washing.



Here's what I did...

I don't have access to a hose at home so I took the car to a Do-It-Yourself bay...

Brought all my own equipment...

2 buckets, NXT car wash, Sonus WW, Meg's Water Magnet, Viking Drying Towels, Sheepskin Mitt... basically I simply used the bay for its water only...



Anyways, I look at the car today and see that theres water marks/soapy looking film all over my dark blue paint. I can see the swipes I made with the towels and it looks horrendous. What went wrong here???



I used the Sonus WW for the first time last night and felt like it didnt pick up much water... merely just pushed and spread it around... I was disappointed but I think that I might have simply been using it improperly.



Anyways, back to the matter at hand... what caused all these filmy streaks??? I used 1oz soap to 1 gallon water... Was this caused from lackluster drying technique? Recycled or hard water?



Please help me out! Thanks!!!! :idea
 
the only thing i can think of is despite your 1oz to a gallon you used to much soap...I get this when I use too much of the same wash you used. how did you measure out the 1oz? I THINK 1oz is equal to two tablespoons (i could be wrong, its happened before :D)



If you got a QD laying around id give it a once over, this should get rid of the film and fresh water spots.
 
I think you used too much car shampoo in so little water, and the soap film was not washed off throughly. I usually use about 1-1.5 oz in a whole bucket of water!



Did you have a wax on your car? I find that if it is humid, a film can form over the wax layer. I get rid of it using a QD spray.



NXT car wash is pretty good in dealing with slightly hard water. Much better than some of the other OTC shampoos.
 
Well I definately used less soap than i did the 1st time I washed the car with EO Car Wash (blue liquid)... that time I had no idea what I was doing and didnt measure out. the soap didn't seem to suds up very much so I was worried that I didnt have enough :eek: I also rinsed the hell out of the car... minutes upon minutes



I was thinking that I simply didnt dry it properly... I was trying to be ultra gentle with the car and i don't know if it did much of anything to help... especially with the Sonus WW...
 
you may want to try washing the towels. That seems to bring their water capacity up to expectation. And as for the film, a quick once over with a QD spray will solve that problem.
 
Each towel was pre-washed prior to use.



So you guys suggest that I QD the entire car? I might as well just rewash if thats the case! :nervous:
 
Diesel917 said:
Each towel was pre-washed prior to use.



So you guys suggest that I QD the entire car? I might as well just rewash if thats the case! :nervous:
Click to expand...

Not really. QD-ing is much faster and there's no rinsing required. I can QD my car in 8-10 minutes while a wash/dry takes about 45.
 
No, but I will try to take some when I get home later this evening. Looks like the stuff you see along the walls of a glass shower that wasn't properly dried.... :hairpull
 
It could be that the rinse water at the car wash was recycled, and not completely clean. Even though you rinsed for a long time, you rinsed with moderately clean water.

I'd also suggest a QD.



And the water spots could be from water that get sucked out of various cracks/crevices around the car as you drove home. It happens to every car. Two ways of combating this issue are using compressed air (or a vacuum set to blow) or driving the car around the block after washing, and then re-drying it. That's what I do. Sometimes you can just drive up the driveway, hit the brakes firmly, then back up quickly, and hit the brakes again. That should shake the water around enough that the majority falls out.
 
Try the QD on a panel. What have you got to loose? If it doesn't work out, you were going to rewash anyway. If it does, you've proven you can clean her up easy.



Prewashing MF towels is a good idea, but how did you do it? Always wash MF by themselves, use as little and as mild a detergent as possible (I use Woolite), and double up on the rinse cycles. Do not dry in the drier with a drier sheet! Drip dry on a drying rack. You don't want soaps/softeners to contaminate the MF.



I do a first dry with a CWB. Then blow the crevices and such with an electric garden blower. Last, I pick up the remaining water with a waffle weave MF towel. Works for me, but not something you can do at a commercial car wash (due to no electricity for the blower). For a car wash, I'd use the CWB, WWMF, drive around a bit to shake the water out of the creavices, then WWMF again. Go home, and then inspect with QD and fresh MF towel at the ready.



Commercial car washes recycle the water. That's how they can get away with operating during water restrictions. I've heard they sometimes use some nasty chemicals to help refurbish the water, like Trisodium Phosphate (TSP), which does a great job stripping your wax. Not much you can do about it, if you can't wash at home. Just plan accordingly.



Hope this helps,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top