Ceramic coating detailing questions

[ironlung]

I never put my hand in the mitts either... I couldn’t even if I tried because I cut the cuffs off all mitts before I ever use them. I use them like pads and apply the least amount of pressure that’s needed.

The benefit is being able to wave both arms across the paint at the same time, flipping both mitts and doing a quik second pass to make sure no spot gets missed and grab 2 more mitts.

Any mitt recommendations, or are these mostly equal?

[Coatingsarecrack]

I'm going to give the drying aid a shot next time I wash, coming up on winter so not sure if how many washes I'll get in soon.

Heard N-914 was a awesome product, Merlin's Magic Elixir sounds pretty fantastic to me so going to give this a go first.

I haven’t tried carpros actual Elixir but I love the Merlin’s homemade mix. Great drying aid and waterless product. Just started with 3oz/3oz of Ech20 and Shine Supply Clutch. Was more like a sealant I’m removal in waterless mix so dialed down and found my sweet spot

N-914 is a product I brobably use most. It’s my go to rinseless and I’ve tried a few. I feel beat performer at any price. Keep a bottle of it (waterless) in car for any quick clean ups.

If you do use Ech20 don’t over do product and you’ll love it. Stuff really pops


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[Coatingsarecrack]

Washing with multiple mitts is always a good idea. I don’t use one on each fist though, in fact I don’t wear the mitt at all. I fill up the mitt with soapy solution until it looks like a balloon and gently whisk the paint in short strokes letting the soap ooze out of the mitt over the paint. This is with holding the foam gun in the other hand letting its soapy stream cascade over the paint in sections at a time. I have a soapy barrier between the mitt and the paint and this is what flushes dirt away. All of this comes from Accumulator’s Wash Technique which I adapted and modified to my liking.

Wow... I’ve heard you guys talk about his style but never got a clear view to picture it till now..... sounds super OCD.... I’m gonna try today!


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[Eldorado2k]

This is with holding the foam gun in the other hand letting its soapy stream cascade over the paint in sections at a time.

I wouldn’t have the guts to do it that way... For me it wouldn’t be a matter of if but when I’d eventually nick the paint by accident.

I have a hard time just doing a sheeting rinse with an ordinary garden hose due to them having brass threads on the tip as you’re trying to hold it as close as possible to the paint. That’s why I made this custom piece that I snap on for the final rinse.

[Eldorado2k]

Any mitt recommendations, or are these mostly equal?

I’d say they’re mostly equal and the difference is mostly in user experience.. [however I’ve never tried using a sheepskin wool style mitt, so I can’t really speak for them]

User experience can be quite vast between all the choices available. I’ve personally become a fan of the Incredimitt/Gyeon Smoothie style mitts. Here’s all the mitts I use for every bucket wash.
-12 Smoothie mitts
-2 Meguiars microfiber mitts
-2 chenille noodle mitts [I think that’s what they call em]

The Smoothie style mitts were a game changer for me. Before them I was using the Meguiars mitts and while there’s nothing wrong with the Megs miits, the Smoothie mitts hold a ton more soapy water + they glide over the paint so smooth that they really live up to their name.

The 2 noodle mitts are strictly for the gruntwork aka rocker panels, underside parts such as bumpers, windshield cowls, and even exhaust tips if need be.

I personally think those noodle mitts especially depending on where you get them from suck pretty bad.. If you wind up with the worst version of them they tend to hold alot of water but not suds. That may sound crazy but it’s true. And due to them holding so much water it’s like trying to wash your vehicle with a big wet mop that doesn’t glide because they don’t do well at maintaining suds.

So 16 mitts. I’m actually missing at least 3 Meguiars microfiber mitts that would normally be in there but they’re either lost or don’t fit.



That’s actually my rinse bucket.. My wash bucket is a full size 5 gallon bucket.

These are some of my extra mitts I have that almost never get used.



Full disclosure: I recommend not overpaying for those Smoothie style mitts because they can actually be found for extremely cheap prices if you know where to look... Don’t ask me to find them because it’s been a long time since I had to, but I paid something like $3 bucks each and I’ve put them side by side with the ones that cost $25 dollars each and there’s no real difference. They’re both made in North Korea and I wouldn’t doubt if they’re made in the same exact place.

The only difference comes in where or who you buy them from.. If you know how to shop you can tell the difference between who’s selling the good vs. the bad. Don’t buy the orange or green ones because they actually are of lesser quality than the blue ones. But like I said the only real difference is in the user experience and none of them scratch paint.

[SWETM]

Test out how you like it with useing a drying aid. It may be something that you like. You don't know until you try it out LOL. I used Sonax BSD and another QD not sold here. For me it destroyed the absorbancy even if I washed the drying towel very fast afterwards. It took 4-5 washes before my the plush drying towel I used the most of the time then before I got it to soak up water in the huge amount it did before. Maybe the PFM style drying towels is better when useing a drying aid I have not tested with them and is that kind I use today. The other problem with drying aid I had was I needed more wipes to get it a clear finish. I have gotten so used to just lay out the towel and pull against me once and it gets bone dry. Maybe that works with a drying aid too. The other problem is exept for the lubrication from the drying aid. You mostly break the water tension and the capillary holding ability from the drying aid. And this is what the drying towels take advantage of to soak up water very fast and hold it in the towel as much as possible. That's also why I have been useing more drying towels than try to wring them out as they won't want to release the water from them. And I got me a leafblower to dry the car and that was also so so for me. If I have the LSP at a high performance when it comes to the water sheeting and it's not to warm outside. I might use it to dry the car with it. Otherwise it's the nooks and crannies and wheels and wheel wells with it. The problem with drying the car was that it was easy to left a little water on the paint and when it where so little it dried to water spots for me and took usually a longer time to dry the car with the leafblower. Have been thinking on getting one of the bigger ones Master Blaster. The benefit with those is they have some warm air coming out so it may help with evaporate off the little water that I get left now. I did do the water sheeting drying a while. But again it was easy to left a little water behind this way to and leading to water spots. So since I have gotten me a lot of drying towels. It's no problem to have more water standing on the paint when I dry it. So it's much trial and error to test out what works for you. And that can be different than what does works for me. Try out some different methods and see which caughts your liking to do.

The benefit with useing a drying aid is that it takes care of fresh water spots from your wash. I do a wipe down with a QD after the drying if I where to see some water spots. QD and especially waterless wash or rinseless wash in their QD dilution is often on the acidic ph level and is usefull to remove water spots. Also think it's something with the water softening properties in them that's a benefit to desolve fresh water spots. Take the Duragloss Aquawax which is actually has a lower ph level than the Meguiars Wheel Brightener D140 acidic wheel cleaner has LOL. Was surprised when I saw this when looking in the SDS from them. So have some EcH2O ready to use when you wash your car next time. And if you still have some water spots now you can do a WW or RW and I think that you will be getting them off.

IIRC it's from you Eldorado2K I got to test out washing with multible wash media. And completly agree that if you would get drying marring it's from dirt you didn't get off from the wash or your drying technique is very aggressive LOL. I got The Karate Kid pictured in my head and then you going at the washing with both hands on the vehicals LOL. Yeah I also is very thorough with how I dry in what order. The prewash is where I'm is also very thorough with the PW to clean out the seals and places where you often gets the sand particals accumulate. It's very rare I see any of these in the rinse bucket after a wash. Yeah I still use the rinse bucket after I'm done with the wash mitts. Both to store them in but also just to see how well the prewash was. So aggitate it against the grit guard wash board but leaves the mitt in the wash bucket and take out a fresh one for the next section. When I'm done with the roof I finish with washing the windshield. And when I'm done with a side of the car down to just above the rocker panels I finish with that sides windows. I feeling the glass caughts more of the heavy oily road film so I don't want that on the paint and also the window seals is a part where you have a high risk of sand and other dirt that can be marring the paint. Can sound much for some but when you get it dialed in it's goes by it self after a couple of washes. The last thing is the rocker panels and the lower end on the back of the car with 2 separate wash mitts. So 7 mitts and pads in total. When I do the lowest parts as it's not always I do. Depends on how my physical disability is at that time.

The XtraFluff Blue wash mitts is what I use. These are I think rebranded by many brands and is available in the same mf as wash pads. Gyeon Smoothie is another one but don't know if it's so much difference in the quality between them. Carpro mf wash pad is a one sided which is great too but a little smaller and I use this on the rocker panels. There is 2 colors of the XtraFluff in blue and orange. Eldorado2K and I have discussed this before and for some reason the blue one is a little thicker than the orange one. I like these mf wash mitts a little more than the mf chenille ones for the notch better cleaning ability from them. The chenille ones AGO has seems to be in a very high quality and if you like those kinds better you will be satisfied with them. They holds almost to much of wash solution when you are only use them once. So be prepared to have a lot of car soap solution LOL.

XtraFluff Blue Microfiber Wash Mitt

GYEON Smoothie Wash Mitt

Gold Plush Micro-Chenille Wash Mitt, microfiber chenille wash mitt

[The Guz]

Mike wrote this a few months ago. The concept is there.


https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-approach.html

[Bill D]

I’ve used sheepskin mitts since forever. They work well but eventually I’m going to switch to 100% microfiber mitts after seeing a video showing how their nap whisks away dirt better and more safely.

[Bill D]

The only time I would ever use buckets to wash with is when washing with the 3 step Valugard ABC system. With that, you have no choice but to use buckets.

A foam gun takes the place of buckets and can create a protective soapy barrier while whisking with the mitt. I admit it works best when a car isn’t very dirty. These days I wash the car when it is barely dirty that I don’t even need mitts. I just foam with the foam gun, rinse, and whatever light dirt that was there is rinsed away. One could wash every single day this way.

[Eldorado2k]

I’ve used sheepskin mitts since forever. They work well but eventually I’m going to switch to 100% microfiber mitts after seeing a video showing how their nap whisks away dirt better and more safely.

I’ve never skinned a sheep so excuse my stupid question, but do these mitts qualify as being of the same breed of sheepskin wool mitt? I’ve always thought so and bought the Meguiars mitt in hopes that it would be a rare gem that no one else could find anywhere on earth... But I did enough research to scare me away from ever taking it out of the plastic bag it came in. What’s your opinion of this mitt?
Use it or lose it?

The only time I would ever use buckets to wash with is when washing with the 3 step Valugard ABC system. With that, you have no choice but to use buckets.

What or who in the heck is that? Is this the distant cousin of Gary Dean that no one’s ever heard of? Or am I missing something? Lol