Best Paint Prep Solution?

[Bruno Soares]

So i won’t use dish soap on my car. But a weird scenario.......

I soak some applicators i used to apply wax and soaked them in an APC overnight. No go after rinsing out. Tried overnight with P&S R2R..... still no go.

Then i soaked them in Palmolive for an hour and they rinsed alot cleaner. I do feel like the dish soap did a good job of breaking down the wax.

I don’t know if the same can be said for waxes or sealants but it was a night and day difference.

I keep reading that the Dawn myth had been busted. Is their an article that anyone knows of? Would love to read.


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I think when I saw it was a video on youtube. But what probably happened in your case is that wax couldn't handle something basic, Dawn has a pH of about 9 (Palmolive might be higher). That might be enough to break down the wax you were using. But good sealants should tolerate a pH of 9 without a problem. Coatings would not break a sweat as they usually handle up to 12/13. I think if someone wants to break down old wax without polishing they might have better luck at a touchless car wash, those need to clean without contact so they often have very alkaline soaps that will destroy wax and maybe a sealant, perhaps in as little as 1 wash.

[mc2hill]

I soak some applicators i used to apply wax and soaked them in an APC overnight. No go after rinsing out. Tried overnight with P&S R2R..... still no go.

Then i soaked them in Palmolive for an hour and they rinsed alot cleaner. I do feel like the dish soap did a good job of breaking down the wax.

I don’t know if the same can be said for waxes or sealants but it was a night and day difference.

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I would recommend Tide Free and Gentle liquid for this. I soak my sealant pads in a small tub (I found some food containers that are just big enough to hold a 5.5" pad) - add enough to cover the top of the pad after a few squeezes to get the Tide in the foam, and let it sit for a day or two. Then pour out the liquid (even down the sink) and rinse the pad - no more sealant.

My client/friend uses this method to degrease old parts (he even had some very large stainless steel tubs made for large parts) for his pre-war cars. The parts come out clean, and 'gunk' is absorbed by the Tide.

[glen e]

I realize I’m in the minority and have read many articles on it but I use 50-50 IPA after a polish. For about six months I used car Pro eraser, and didn’t see a rdifference .Polishing for me is a mechanical process, not a chemical process so I think getting the surface physically clean with IPA gets me ready for the LSP. Worked for me for over 15 years this way. Also it may be different for older cars, all the cars that I’ve detailed Have been less than a year or two old, most of them are brand new.

[CleanIT]

I ended up using Turtle Wax Max Power wash at full strength. Worked very well. I used a foam cannon, let it sit, then rinsed. You could immediately tell the beading was gone and water was laying flat on the surfaces. I then polished. The Turtle Wax Max Power wash has a pH of 10.2 at max strength. It's inexpensive too at $8.

Max Power Car Wash Detergent | Turtle Wax

[joebruin77]

Does pretreating the paint with Optimum Power Clean diluted 3:1 and/or adding Power Clean to the wash solution effectively remove wax and sealants?

[CleanIT]

Max Power car wash does claim that at full strength it can remove existing wax/sealants. To what extent is anyone's guess. It definitely removed a significant amount of wax that was previously on my car. Nothing beats polishing it to really remove it, but for a recently applied wax, I'd say the Max Power Wash will do a good job removing a good amount of it.

[gizzsdad]

I have no idea why Dawn / Dish wash keeps getting recommended for strip washing these days.

I actually think we can probably thank Sal Zaino for that.