Is Traffic Film a reason to not top off Sealant after a wash?

[hooked]

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of watching YouTube detailers and there’s the idea that if you do a maintenance wash you shouldn’t apply a refresher coat of whatever product because the soap you used is not strong enough to remove traffic film, so you end up sealing that grime on top of your paint or it’s not going to allow your topper to adhere to the layer below.

My maintenance wash process is to clean ONR and then apply Opti-Seal after that. Am I doing more harm than good?

[UncleDavy]

You are not necessarily doing any harm but you are sealing dull paint. The only way to remove road film is a good machine polishing. Mike Phillips wrote a piece about it a few months ago. You can probably find the thread.

[Eldorado2k]

If your lsp is any good at protecting and shedding dirt aka making the paint easier to wash, then there shouldn’t be any traffic film on the paint after your wash.

Traffic film is great at sticking to paint that’s not protected.

[acuRAS82]

It’s a non-factor. Whatever microscopic accumulation of road film that sticks to your current LSP that is not going to be washed off will remain on your current LSP; OR will remain under a newly added LSP. Either way, you should eventually polish and/or prewax cleaner it when the finish becomes dull looking due to the eventual buildup over many months.

[PA DETAILER]

If your lsp is any good at protecting and shedding dirt aka making the paint easier to wash, then there shouldn’t be any traffic film on the paint after your wash.

Traffic film is great at sticking to paint that’s not protected.

:iagree:

[supercharged75]

Once a month or 6 weeks use a product that has heavier cleaners rather than ph neutral. This will help release the traffic film (not the same as bonded contamination from brake dust etc). Then move forward with your sealant. Only polish if you are going to clean, clay, then polish, degrease, then lsp.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[FUNX650]

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of watching
YouTube detailers and there’s the idea that
if you do a maintenance wash you shouldn’t
apply a refresher coat of whatever product

because the soap you used is not
strong enough to remove traffic film...

My maintenance wash process
is to clean ONR and then apply
Opti-Seal after that.

I’ll suggest that if your current soap isn’t
quite strong enough to remove the normal,
(or abnormal), amount of traffic-film build-up
that’s accumulated between car-washings...
then you should switch to a soap that will.

IMO: P21S Total Auto Wash is such a soap.



Bob

[swanicyouth]

Traffic film lol... You need special soap to remove it! It’s like the biggest pot of nonsense right there brah. If you keep up on washing your car you’ll be fine... I mean, if you don’t wash the car for a year - you may need to go more aggressive & decon + clay.

But; this thought that there is “traffic film” on yr paint after washing it if the the car is somewhat maintained is silly.

Like all the car washes all the detailers have been using all the years - folks - they just don’t work! It took 1 guy on You Tube to figure it out... You gotta wash your car with some Pep Boys style APC to get it clean cuz it’s NOT pH neutral!!!

So screwy. First of all - any soap or APC you are diluting to wash bucket dilutions is pretty close to pH neutral cuz you are diluting it in 5 gallons of water. Unless you are going to use like a few liters of it or something. It may bump the pH a point or so - which in the real world is what we call “clinically insignificant”.

Second, who says soap can’t remove traffic film? People have been using Dawn since the beginning of time to clean greasy pots and pans. Dawn is a soap - not unlike are car soaps. Nobody needs APC type soap get grease off their pots and pans. But, somehow, no soap that we pay like $20 a quart for that is specially formulated just to clean cars will work. We’ve all been scammed! Duped! It’s a conspiracy!

Third, whose to say pH is necessarily the most important factor when removing oily road film? Quite frankly, if you’ve ever tried to clean up oil with water based ANYTHING it works pretty poorly - regardless of pH. Just try to clean some REAL engine sludge off with Megs degreaser or similar. Good luck there. Then try to dilute that same degreaser in 5 gallons of WATER.

Quality car soap works well if used correctly on vehicles of decent maintenance. How do I know this? Because I’ve topped my wax or sealant like a million and one times after washing with regular soap and there is no dirt or traffic film on the wax applicator or towels. The only thing on it is wax....

The thought is crazy. Just keep doing what you are doing man. What matters more than any specific soap you use is just how well you wash your car.

[dlc95]

Traffic film lol... You need special soap to remove it! It’s like the biggest pot of nonsense right there brah. If you keep up on washing your car you’ll be fine... I mean, if you don’t wash the car for a year - you may need to go more aggressive & decon + clay.

But; this thought that there is “traffic film” on yr paint after washing it if the the car is somewhat maintained is silly.

Like all the car washes all the detailers have been using all the years - folks - they just don’t work! It took 1 guy on You Tube to figure it out... You gotta wash your car with some Pep Boys style APC to get it clean cuz it’s NOT pH neutral!!!

So screwy. First of all - any soap or APC you are diluting to wash bucket dilutions is pretty close to pH neutral cuz you are diluting it in 5 gallons of water. Unless you are going to use like a few liters of it or something. It may bump the pH a point or so - which in the real world is what we call “clinically insignificant”.

Second, who says soap can’t remove traffic film? People have been using Dawn since the beginning of time to clean greasy pots and pans. Dawn is a soap - not unlike are car soaps. Nobody needs APC type soap get grease off their pots and pans. But, somehow, no soap that we pay like $20 a quart for that is specially formulated just to clean cars will work. We’ve all been scammed! Duped! It’s a conspiracy!

Third, whose to say pH is necessarily the most important factor when removing oily road film? Quite frankly, if you’ve ever tried to clean up oil with water based ANYTHING it works pretty poorly - regardless of pH. Just try to clean some REAL engine sludge off with Megs degreaser or similar. Good luck there. Then try to dilute that same degreaser in 5 gallons of WATER.

Quality car soap works well if used correctly on vehicles of decent maintenance. How do I know this? Because I’ve topped my wax or sealant like a million and one times after washing with regular soap and there is no dirt or traffic film on the wax applicator or towels. The only thing on it is wax....

The thought is crazy. Just keep doing what you are doing man. What matters more than any specific soap you use is just how well you wash your car.

Great points here.

Get your car dirty, leave it for a month, and take your car through a touchless wash.

Even with the harsh presoaks and detergents, the film remains. This is why friction washes are more effective in actually "cleaning" the vehicle.

A vehicle regularly, and well maintained should be just fine topped with a sealant after a wash.

It's a practice that has been done long before this new crop of YouTube gurus rose to popularity.

[KBsToy]

You tube gurus----love it :)

[Desertnate]

If your lsp is any good at protecting and shedding dirt aka making the paint easier to wash, then there shouldn’t be any traffic film on the paint after your wash.

Traffic film is great at sticking to paint that’s not protected.

I think the grime still builds up, but at a much slower rate. Sealants might not last long enough for the difference to be obvious because many will lightly polish the surface every six months or so when re-applying. Coatings, from my experience, don't really start to show the effencts of built up road grime/film until around the 18 month point. I recently polished up both my car and my wifes after wearing a coating for 18~20(ish) months. While both looked good before I started, the difference was quite noticeable after polishing.

[DetailZeus]

Is this coming from the purple degreaser guy? Constant use of a caustic degreaser is overkill for someone who doesn't neglect their vehicle. If you own some ONR I'm sure you maintain your vehicle just fine. I have no issue with using an appropriate APC or prewash to help break up grime during a long winter (I do so myself). But it's not like you need to douse your car in degreaser just because you drove through some rain.

I recommend Mike's article it does a good job of explaining road film Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/2009-to-2017-how-to-articles-by-mike-phillips/72159-road-film-if-you-drive-your-car-rain-your-car-has-road-film.html)

Short answer: apply optiseal after your ONR wash whenever you want and don't think twice about it.

[hooked]

I’m not naming any names. ;)

If I were to take the advice seriously, I would start with a full detail involving wash, iron removal, strip previous protection, clay, polish and apply sealant. After that, for maintenance washes, I would not apply anything else until the next big detail.

Just wanted to get other perspectives.

[DetailZeus]

I’m not naming any names. ;)

If I were to take the advice seriously, I would start with a full detail involving wash, iron removal, strip previous protection, clay, polish and apply sealant. After that, for maintenance washes, I would not apply anything else until the next big detail.

Just wanted to get other perspectives.

Good topic. Just for the sake of discussion, lets say you're using a great WOWO sealant like Powerlock that should last 4-6 months. At the start of the year you do the full detail above and apply the sealant. After 5 months you want to add more Powerlock, what do you do?

[UncleDavy]

Here is a link to the thread started by Mike Phillips about road film.

Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/2009-to-2017-how-to-articles-by-mike-phillips/72159-road-film-if-you-drive-your-car-rain-your-car-has-road-film.html)