Dish soap?

[Mach1USMC]

I'm just curious- with all the great car soaps and shampoos, is Dawn really necessary for when you want to completely remove everything from a finish? It seems like it's overkill to me - especially if you are going to clay or nanoskin the car.

Thoughts?

[Setec Astronomy]

Oh no, not another Dawn thread

There are certainly many good prep products that could be used other than Dawn. There is also a growing consensus that Dawn doesn't really remove LSP's, that it simply coats them with surfactant residue that kills the beading.

It also depends on what you are trying to accomplish, yes theoretically clay or clay substitute should degrade/remove the LSP, but if you are going to polish it's definitely going to be gone.

[Mach1USMC]

I searched and there were a plethora of threads that came up but I didn't find the ones asking this question directly. I'm sure it's out there but I don't have the patience to read every thread lol

[Mach1USMC]

Oh no, not another Dawn thread

There are certainly many good prep products that could be used other than Dawn. There is also a growing consensus that Dawn doesn't really remove LSP's, that it simply coats them with surfactant residue that kills the beading.

It also depends on what you are trying to accomplish, yes theoretically clay or clay substitute should degrade/remove the LSP, but if you are going to polish it's definitely going to be gone.

Thanks for the reply- that's kinda what I was thinking. I used to use dish soap all the time (years ago) but now I try to keep kitchen/household products away from the car lol

[Setec Astronomy]

It's ok. You could use some of the "snow foam" products, a traditional alkaline/acid decon, one of the newfangled decons, or diluted APC:

CarPro Iron X Snow Soap, paint cleaner, paint decontamination soap
CarPro Reset Intensive Car Shampoo
Finish Kare Paint Decontamination System, auto paint cleaning system, de-contamination solution
CarPro TRIX Tar and Iron Remover, paint cleaner
CarPro Tar X Tar & Adhesive Remover

[Mach1USMC]

SWEET - thanks for the links! All the shampoos etc I have now are CG. I've been looking to expand my inventory but didn't know what to get.

[Setec Astronomy]

Oh shoot, I forgot a category:

CarPro Eraser Intense Oil & Polish Cleanser, IPA, paint cleaner, polish remover, wax remover
GTechniq Panel Wipe Coating Prep 250 ml.

And of course using mineral spirits or Prep-sol etc. would be the same idea. There was also a rumor going around that Optimum was going to come out with some sort of wipedown product.

[ScottB]

Use a product designed for what the need is ..... are you removing old wax ?? Are you cleaning paint ??? While kitchen products might be similar, they are not all the same. Its best to use something designed for the task at hand ....

[FUNX650]

ValuGard has a decon/neutralizing system called: "ABC".


I often just use the "C"-component (Detail Wash) of
the above system for regular ol' car-washing sessions.

Bob

[Setec Astronomy]

ValuGard has a decon/neutralizing system called: "ABC".

I would actually recommend that one over the Finish Kare simply because everything you use with the Step 1 will stink of petroleum for days after, even the bucket.