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Well colour me educated!!! :goodpost:
What an outstanding post Mike, enjoyable, informative & innovative! What a fantastic method & as has been mentioned already - eliminates the need for the Two Bucket Method. Kinda makes me wanna start from scratch (no pun intended) on our family car & do my maintenance washes this way.
I like it, I like it a lot. Nice job Mike, great post! :urtheman:
Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaryn NZ
Thanks Aaryn!
This wasn't an exciting article to write but I cannot count how many times I've shown and shared this article at the Barrett-Jackson Auction yesterday and Thursday.
Like I said in the start of the this thread, I get asked this question a LOT!
It's 8:15am Saturday morning and I'm getting ready to leave for the last day of the Barrett-Jackson Auction. I'm sure I'll be sharing this article even more today. This article an my article on how and why to inspect your microfiber towels.
:)
Great article, as always Mike. It all makes perfect sense. I have two coated vehicles and one coated motorcycle and I very carefully wash each one using mitts. This is going to be my new method. Thanks for your time and for sharing your expertise. When I read something like this that you have put together, it seems so obvious that I feel like a big dummy for not having thought of it myself.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
:updated:
Shared here,
Upselling ceramic coatings
:)
:updated:
Shared here,
Review: Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax by Mike Phillips
:)
Thanks Mike for this excellent and useful article. Couple of questions.
What about using a foam gun or cannon first? Your thoughts on using either as a prewash in general and if you did use either as a prewash would you still use 1 MF towel per panel?
I currently used GG PFM's for drying after blowing off much of the water with a small car blower, what's the advantage of using a waffle weave instead?
You could do all of the above.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob m
- Pre-wash
- Foam Gun/Cannon
- My method
- Dry
Many of the type of people that would hang out on a forum like this and even go to the extent of joining this forum and then posting to this thread ARE the type of people that would do as many steps as possible to SAFELY clean/wash their ceramic coated car.
I get it.
At the same time - I wrote this for the average person. The average person that is willing to either go to the research work and expense to Do-it-Yourself and install a ceramic coating OR $$$ pay someone to do it for them is also the type of person that will do a LIMITED number of steps to protect their overall investment, (vehicle + the coating investment), but at some point too many steps become overkill for the average person and they wills imply say, screw it and run the car through a car wash or wash it any old way in their driveway.
So my goal with this article was to
KISS or Keep it Simple Simon
The cost to wash a car in the manner I layout in this article IF a person already owns a bucket and then all they purchase is the towels and the wash is about $50.00 - the towels are only $20.00, a super deal in my opinion for really nice washing towels. The car wash is $30.00 and a person could go cheaper.
So what I wrote was for the average person to be able to safely wash their coated car if at a MINIMUM they will get new quality microfiber towels and the TAKE OWNERSHIP of the management of the towels as I shared in the pictures.
Here's a quote by yours truly....
It takes HOURS to buff out a car, not to mention chemically strip and install a coating, it takes SECONDS to put scratches into the paint.
And the way scratches get into the paint is by the way WE --> TOUCH it. It's that simple.
The two most common topics I talk about on this forum is abrasive technology, the stuff we use to remove scratches and the touching the paint, the things we do that have the potential to put scratches back into the paint.
I've made a career out of educating other people on these two topics.
No advantage. Cheaper is all.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob m
Again in context, you're enlightened and willing to invest more money into quality tools. (drying towels are tools). The average person just wants to wash their car and then move on in life.
I also wrote this for the owner of a Ford Raptor Truck I recently detailed and installed coating onto. He asked how to take care of it. When someone asks,
How do I take care of my coated truck?
What they are asking but probably don't know they are asking is,
How to I wash and dry my truck.
Make sense?
Dealership Work - 2019 Ford Raptor - Holograms
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...r_Coat_003.JPG
:)
Sure does make sense. Thanks again.
Another one - when washing the towels - hot, warm or cold water? Drying temps?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob m
I use cold for washing and warm for drying. I would use warm for washing but we don't have a water heater near our washing machine here at work.
Here's an analogy I share in all my classes.
If you drive an old Ford, sooner or later you have to replace the starter motor as it's going to wear-out and break. After removing the old starter motor your hands are going to be BLACK with years of oily sludge on them that came off the starter motor and surrounding frame and engine.
This black oily sludge is going to have penetrated into the pores of the skin on your hand, like this,
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...dirtyhands.jpg
Now you could wash hands like you see in the picture above in cold water with some soap and you can get them clean. But my first-hand experience, (no pun intended), is it will be easier to get your hands clean if you use warm to hot water. The reason why is the hot water or heat helps to soften and loosen the oily sludge. Cold water doesn't do this.
At the same time you don't what to get miniaturized nylon and polyester fibers too hot as you will tend to melt them and/or make them hard and crispy. If you do this they are now the opposite of soft and gentle and this defeats the original intended design and purpose for microfiber towels.
Hope that helps...
p.s.
And yes, those are my hands after I removed and then installed new U-joints in the front and rear drivelines in my truck.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...rt_Cop_022.JPG
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler..._Truck_094.jpg
Review: Dirt Cop Hand and Surface Towels by Mike Phillips
:)
Just to wrap it up, would you separate out the MF towels used when washing the car from those that are used to apply detailers and/or wipe off sealants and waxes? I'm thinking MF's used to wipe off coatings may be too far gone to bother washing - or am I wrong?