Now we all know that dish wash is bad for your car, how about the reverse?

[PPLd]

How about using car wash soap to wash my dishes??
Most importantly, if car wash soap (not those with wax or polymers) is rinsed clean, will that be harmful to human?
Some cooking utensils are coated with chemicals like PTFE (Tefl0n), will car wash soap attack those coatings?

The reason that I am asking this is because I found dish wash will make the glass, ceramics and china to look dull after a few years. I suppose car wash soap will be more gentle than dish wash soap... While I do not intend to wax my dishes and admire the water beading while I eat, using car wash soap may help to keep my ceramics/china shiny eh??

Any idea?
I may be using Gold Class, NXT, Sonax, Autoglym or 3M car wash, possibly Optimum car wash too...
If there are any representatives from manufacturers, please give some feedback :D
Feed back please

P.S.: You know you are seriously addicted to auto detailing when you want to apply your detailing products around your home...

[05xrunner]

dont think car soap would have the bacteria killing agents in it like dish soap would have.

[Cman8]

It probably wouldnt cut through grease and food either as its a milder soap

[HeavyMetal]

Thae main reason for using dish soap on cars is its oil, grease and wax cutting ability. Food has a lot of oils, fats and waxes in it. Do you really think your car shampoo that's designed to not cut your nice carnuba wax job is really gonna clean steak grease and waxy fat off your dishes?

The dull on your good china and crystal is film from your water and improper rinsing. Get a good dish rinse and use distilled or DI water.

[cobalt9123]

Dish wash soap bad for your car? This is news to me.

I use Dawn all the time for pre/post correction washes.

[Spicy McHaggis]

Dish wash soap bad for your car? This is news to me.

I use Dawn all the time for pre/post correction washes.
Some say if used too often it will dry out the plastic trim on your car and make it fade. I choose not to use dawn ,but I've never seen any adverse affects myself.

[Blackthorn One]

Like HM said, dishwashing detergent was designed to get dishes squeaky clean, and remove all wax, baked on stuck on grease, oils and cooked on food residue, which is difficult stuff to remove. as 05X said, some dishwaahing detergents are antibacterial (not all, though) and car wash soap is not. The dullness on your dishes is quite possibly due to the minerals in the water forming calcium deposits on them which make them dull. Either dry your dishes after washing,or use filtered water to rinse them with. I'm sure you could polish your dishes to remove the dullness.
Not all car wash soaps are the same, and so a car wash soap may not rinse clean. You might even be able to taste the car wash soap residue on your dishes when you lick them. I doubt that it is completely safe to ingest traces of car wash soap, as it wasn't designed to be used on dishes, and thus, it may not be nontoxic enough. Frankly, the fact that it occurred to you that the ingredients in car wash soap might not be good for you is an indication that deep down, you know it isn't a good idea to use it for dishes, but you wanted to ask others, just to get a confirmation of your very accurate judgment on the matter.
As an aside, I SUPPOSE that you might be able to wax your dishes with an all natural car wax, like Zymol, which, as I understand it, uses or used food quality ingredients, however, I would still definitely wash off that wax before you ate off them. If looking at really shiny dishes is your thing, then I suppose there is a way to improve that. Maybe there is even wax for dishes, designed to make them nice for display only, for museums and such. Who knows? Maybe there are even dish shows, where people show off their rare dishes, like car shows that we don't know about. :)

[HeavyMetal]

Maybe there is even wax for dishes, designed to make them nice for display only, for museums and such. Who knows? Maybe there are even dish shows, where people show off their rare dishes, like car shows that we don't know about. :)

Actually, yes. My wife and I collect 19th and early 20th century American ceramics and decorative glassware. High glaze ceramics can be protected with carnuba or beeswax. For bronzes you use beeswax. Glassware is simply washed and rinsed well. You can buy rinses. Just use the ones you find in the soap isle.

[93fox]

Dawn dish soap is good before doing any correction. It removes all the oils and waxes for a good inspection after your done correcting i wouldnt use dish soap anymore.

[FUNX650]

The reason that I am asking this is because I found dish wash will make the glass, ceramics and china to look dull after a few years. I suppose car wash soap will be more gentle than dish wash soap... While I do not intend to wax my dishes and admire the water beading while I eat, using car wash soap may help to keep my ceramics/china shiny eh??

Must be nice to be able to afford fancy glass/ceramics/china. I don't have to worry about any 'dulling' on my dishes/drinkware sets----http:/www.dixie.com----(just kidding around) :) :)

Seriously: Why not just use chemicals for the purpose they are so formulated?

[David Fermani]

Dish wash soap bad for your car? This is news to me.

I use Dawn all the time for pre/post correction washes.

Yup, me too. I've also been using it weekly on my car for almost 14 months without any problems. I think way too many people like listening to internet folklore about this product. Dawn is totally safe for your paint, glass, trim and engine compartment. Can't speak for dishes though...:idea:

[JonMiles]

Yup, me too. I've also been using it weekly on my car for almost 14 months without any problems. I think way too many people like listening to internet folklore about this product. Dawn is totally safe for your paint, glass, trim and engine compartment. Can't speak for dishes though...:idea:

Dawn contains some ethanol.

Ethanol has the potential to break down some plastics.

Ethanol dehydrates rubber.

I'd say by simple logic, Dawn is not totally safe for washing a car with. Over time it may break down the plastic trim, dry out the rubber, and cause some problems with rubber seals in the engine compartment. That doesn't mean that Dawn is unsafe on cars, but may cause eventual problems if it is used over a prolonged period, maybe faster if you don't dilute it enough.

14 months in and no problems is a good indicator that it doesn't cause short term problems, but what is going to happen at 5 years, 10 years, 15 years down the road?

[Blackthorn One]

Yup, me too. I've also been using it weekly on my car for almost 14 months without any problems. I think way too many people like listening to internet folklore about this product. Dawn is totally safe for your paint, glass, trim and engine compartment. Can't speak for dishes though...:idea:
Are you saying that Dawn does not strip wax or sealants?
I think that is what the OP meant when he said that dish soap is bad. Plus, dish soap lacks the lubricants that car wash soaps have which help prevent marring.

[RobZ71LM7]

David is using opti-coat which is a permanent coating. I just applied the consumer version to my truck. That being said this thread is full of myths. In my experience Dawn is very weak at removing most LSP's and even polishing oils at times. I can tell you it does virtually nothing to Collinite. I like using Optimum Power Clean as a presoak before a dawn wash to strip the surface.

[David Fermani]

Dawn contains some ethanol.

Ethanol has the potential to break down some plastics.

Ethanol dehydrates rubber.

I'd say by simple logic, Dawn is not totally safe for washing a car with. Over time it may break down the plastic trim, dry out the rubber, and cause some problems with rubber seals in the engine compartment. That doesn't mean that Dawn is unsafe on cars, but may cause eventual problems if it is used over a prolonged period, maybe faster if you don't dilute it enough.

14 months in and no problems is a good indicator that it doesn't cause short term problems, but what is going to happen at 5 years, 10 years, 15 years down the road?

Good point, but because "may" or "has the potential to" do something doesn't mean it will. And I do understand that's not what your saying. Especially with so many different types of plastics used. I spoke to Dr. G about the issue and he claims Dawn will not harm anything and cannot attack the plasticizers in these things.


Are you saying that Dawn does not strip wax or sealants?
I think that is what the OP meant when he said that dish soap is bad. Plus, dish soap lacks the lubricants that car wash soaps have which help prevent marring.

No. Dawn will strip wax/sealants. (it won't strip OC though) I have extremely minute(not noticeable unless searched in controlled lighting) amounts of micromarring on my car after 14 months so I'd say that the lubricity of Dawn is just fine. I also use it after every paint correction and have never noticed any marring from it either. It's actually a great product to wash with. I can use it in a 95 degree full sun environment and let the product dry on the surface without any water spotting or etching. After rinsing it off the surface sheets water and continues to mitigate the chance for spotting.

Not telling everyone to stop using car wash soaps on thier car, just giving my input that Dawn hasn't done any of the damage that people claim could happen.