PDR Technician: A Journey Through Clearcoat Maintenance For The Detailer Part VIII

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3-clear-coat-differences

Now I suppose you would like to know what products you can use for washing your vehicle. First you have to make sure that when selecting a product that the label says something about the type of clearcoat that your vehicle has.

You have probably heard that you can use dishwashing soap to wash the car, and you yourself are probably guilty of it. Think about it, dishwashing soap is used to remove the grease from your dishes, at the very least, this dishwashing soap is removing the wax and/or the silicone. Silicones are available in many vehicle polishes and in some car waxes. If you use dishwashing soap, then you are essentially removing them, which means every time that you use the detergent you have to reapply the polish or wax. This could be pretty awful if you simply don’t have the time to apply either of these.

The very same de-waxing happens every time you put your vehicle through commercial or coin-op car washes. The objective of these car washes is to turn out clean vehicles. These car washes are so rough in application that you can be absolutely sure that your polish or wax is gone. I remember a time that I was so excited about my new car that I swore I would keep it as clean as possible every single day. I would squeeze it into covered parking spaces and when that wasn’t possible, I would cover the entire vehicle. Basically, it became an obsession and the car never went without a wash for more than two consecutive days. As a result, and not too long after, my hood was peeling as well as the top of the car. The clearcoat was peeling, not the polish or wax that I never put on after the wash. After all, in my defense, the sign did say final wax just before the giant blow dryer blew it dry. I’m hoping I’m not the only one who has done this.