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After washing the car I always used to spray the bodywork with a solution of water and Turtle Wax rinse magic, which is no longer available. A pity because it did a lovely job of beading the water and making it run off. I was wondering if dishwasher rinse aid would do the same job or would it do any harm to paintwork or seals. Is there a product available used by professional valeters?
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I use a car shampoo that has a rinse aid in it - sure makes my job easier and much quicker to leather off. Even on a car with no wax if used in a decent concentration it gives reasonable water beading.
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The Rinse Aid for dishwashers is the opposite of that for car bodywork. The former is a beading agent/water repellent and the latter a wetting agent.
You can still buy the rinse aid in Wilkos under a different brand name in a gadget that fits onto the hose pipe or just about any other place than sells valeting supplies you can add a capful to a bucket and sponge or jug it over the car.
e.g. www.ukvaletsupplies.com/product_details_20.htm
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I'm not sure that water beading is a good thing to have.
I find that the beads, ie: the large drops of rain water simply dry and leave a gritty deposit where they used to be. This spoils the look of the paintwork. Seems to be dependant perhaps on whats in the water as it comes down from the sky .......
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Best to use rain water from a butt for washing a car - you never get water marks after it has rained as there's virtually to minerals in rain :)
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Best to use rain water from a butt for washing a car - you never get water marks after it has rained as there's virtually to minerals in rain :)
There's lots of grit comes off house roofs and goes into the water butt, and I have no intention of grinding that into my car's paintwork. I'd sooner have the water marks caused by the minerals in rain water.
Edited by L'escargot on 26/03/2009 at 07:25
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>> There's lots of grit comes off house roofs and goes into the water butt andI have no intention of grinding that into my car's paintwork. I'd sooner have the water marks caused by the minerals in rain water.
I should have said I use the butt water for the initial soak, and for the rinse.
Too cold for my little handys for the main wash ;)
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There's lots of grit comes off house roofs and goes into the water butt and I have no intention of grinding......>>
That's why the butt tap is not at the absolute bottom of the butt. All stray particles will have floated to the top or settled at the bottom so the only contaminants will be the odd microscopic plant life of no significance. I always use it for screenwash, antifreeze mixture and rinsing chamois skin/synthetic rag.
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Ooops, and I got my applications back to front in my last post!
I too wonder if too much beading i sa bad thing, as it seems to make water hand around in nooks and crannies such as inside the doors or behind trim mouldings for much longer.
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The Flash car wash system (gadget) has a de-ioniser compound in it that does the same thing, I believe. They were about £20 when they came out, but have been discounted (if not discontinued) since, although I gather it worked pretty well.
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If you wash your car just before it rains (or even whilst it is), the vehicle will be left with a spotless, streak free exterior finish after the rain.
I live in a hard water area and this is the only way it can be done, apart from carefully wiping every inch of the panels with a chamois leather (even that's not guaranteed).
The Finish system has been discontinued, although for a while the local discount stores were selling off the bottles of concentrate used to make it work.
Edited by Stuartli on 25/03/2009 at 16:00
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Once a year I "Gunk" the engine bay, engine, and pressure wash. Loads of water spots and although not "concours" finishing with a watering can of warm water and a few drops of dishwasher rinse aid left a lovely finish on the cam covers, block, and painted areas. Evidently though it is only dilute detergent so may try this year with a few drops of washing up liquid. It does not seem to work on waxed bodywork as it still leaves spots of residue from the hard water.
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>>Once a year I "Gunk" the engine bay, engine, and pressure wash.
You're a brave man.
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Is there a product available used by professional valeters?
Yep. It's called a chamois leather.
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Indeed although chamois is so yesterdays news - I use a Vileda Flunky now which is far more useable and almost everlasting. Gotta love synthetics.
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Vileda Flunky, eh?
Cheers Stu, I might have a look out for one of those becaue I'm not that impressed with my current synthetic.
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I find that microfiber cloths work well, bought a big pack of them from Costco, I even let SWMBO have a few for her domestic duties.
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I have bought a new Vileda Flunky off of ebay today, the one i have had for the last 15 years is still going strong but does look a bit sorry for itself now, however with a new car on order i thought i would treat myself to a new one. A really excellent product, worth every penny it costs !
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I think I pay about 6 quid for my Flunkeys when I do buy them, which is once a year or so ( given how much valeting they do thats pretty good ).
I also have a customer who has me buy her them as she uses them for drying the dogs off with and rates them very highly for this task.
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In fact i think mine dates back to when i was mobile valeting, however its only been used about once every 2 weeks for the last 10 years since i gave that up !
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Indeed although chamois is so yesterdays news - ..........
I prefer natural materials whenever it's possible ~ leather shoes, cotton or silk shirts, woollen suits. And a real chamois leather for drying my car. As for microfibre cloths, I can't stand them. They stick to the rough surface finish of my hands. Eugh!
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