Insane said:
Am I going to do less damage to the paint in terms of swirls if I do a Qew vs traditional car wash
I'd say visa versa probably. QEW is great stuff I am impressed, especially for quick winter details. I think if a car had caked on dirt that's baked in like sometimes in the summer time, you'd be better off using traditional wash. With a traditional wash you are putting a lot of water on the surface first then using a lot of suds, which help prevent swirls IMO, then you rinse off a section at a time taking away all the grit. And if you use the right wash, z7 or Bubble Bath for me, you'll get the surface to bite the way you want too. I've never seen swirls after using either of these but I have condition when I use each particular wash, BB when the car isn't that dirty, and Z7 if the car is dirty or I'm putting Z on a polished car. Having said that, if the car isn't that dirty there's no reason why you couldn't use QEW with great results. In fact I love this stuff.
A tip is use a capful of QEW in a half gallon and do half the car, the water will be dirty, then dump, and put another capful per half gallon for the other half of the car. If you do it this way you wont be washing the second half of the car with real dirty water, and the solution will be the same strength as the recommended two capfuls per gallon. If your using a paint cleaner like AIO after, it probably wont make any difference. Also, use a good quality mitt like the 100% wool mitt on autopiacarcare.com, if your concerned about swirls.
Never use anything you use on wheels on paint. I once was in a hurry to trade in a car. I washed wheels first, the rinsed sponge and bucket. Washed the paint with the same sponge and bucket, and got swirls. Rail dust got stuck in sponge. It wasn't that bad because it wasn't a CC, but it still was a pain. This was twenty years ago and it still chaps me today. Now, I don't even use a sponge on wheels but a wheel brush only, and I love it. Nice and soft and ergo, does a great job on wheels. Use p21s wheel gel, it sticks all over the wheel, then agitate with brush and the wheels are almost a pleasure to wash, where once they were hell on my back.
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/oxo-17006.html