water spots and dirt spots after wand wash

[clem24]

So I've done a search and can't seem to find a straight answer...

Is it at all possible to go into a wand wash and wash my car, and have it come out WITHOUT dirt and water spots? All without having anything but water/soap/air/etc... touch it (i.e. no mitts, cloths, brushes, etc...).

I bring my car to the wand wash, and it looks clean and all, but after I get home, I see that light hazy layer of grime. I waxed my car not long ago. And it shows cause the water just slides off it with ease. Then there's the water spots. Even driving home at 100km/h doesn't get rid of them. Looks like I didn't even wash my car at all!

Or do I have to submit and bring a wash mitt and bucket to the car wash... It's just that my car has never been towel dried before this, so there are no swirls at all. Until one day, I took my microfibre cloth to it, and cleaned it. Immediately very very light tiny scratches appeared (invisible in most light but definitely the trademark of cloth marks). So I am trying to avoid touching the surface completely if that's possible.

Advice?

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by clem24

All without having anything but water/soap/air/etc... touch it (i.e. no mitts, cloths, brushes, etc...).

Can you clean your dishes with nothing but the tap?
Can you have a good shower with nothing but the showerhead?

For a GOOD clean, you need to use a mitt and bucket (don't use the car wash brush), and you need to towel dry with a waffle weave cloth (always make sure it's clean, and free of anything that could scratch)

I'd also suggest going to a carwash that has "spot free rinse", it filters the water, so you'll get less water spots.

And stop trying to air dry your car in Calgary by driving, there's so much dirt in this city from construction you'll always end up with a film by the time you get home.

[kaput]

.

[sneek]

It is pretty hard to get all the water off your car. I use some pretty slick waxes, and a lot of them can get most of the water off, but never all of it.

Wash your car with some good slick car soap and two buckets with grit guards. Most people don't believe how much dirt is trapped in the mit until they lift up the grit guard! It is pretty gross. I liked to use a bunch of wash mitts. Now I am using microfiber cheneal (sp) wash mitts, they are really good, and don't scratch if used properly...but they lint up pretty much from wash #1. The spot free rinse is a good idea if you don't want to dry your car, but note that 90% of the time they don't work perfectly., but they do help quite a bit. I use WW towels, they aren't too expensive for what you are getting, but some people think the price is insane ($14 for a really big towel. i think it is 20X40). The ones from eshine are my personal favorite, but there are a lot of good towels on the market. I try to avoid driving a wet car, so I dry my cars after ever wash. I have a theory that dirt sticks to a wet car more so than a dry car.

Here is a quick tip, rinse your car with a gentle stream, most of the water floods off the surface. Follow that up by using an air compressor or something of that sort to blow the water out of the cracks.

The more often you wash your car the less it needs to be waxed. So I am a pretty diligent washer. Here is the deal, if you wash your car you are bound to get swirls eventually. I use almost top of the line everything and I have had to polish my car twice to get it perfect. If you don't wash+wax your car you will get bonded contaminants. I would be willing to wager that your car isn't super smooth right now. Before you reply and tell me that your car is smooth as glass, go clay bar half of the hood and feel the difference. If you were really serious about not touching your car you could get an air wand.

http://www.detailplus.com/air_wand.htm

The reviews that I have heard are pretty mixed. You could also try a leaf blower, but that more or less just moves water around. You pretty much have to use a towel to get a car completely dry.

[clem24]

Tee hee hee, I guess the mob has spoken. Time to visit good 'ol CT. Where do ya get those grit guard thingies or does it come with the bucket?

[sneek]

Buy the blue Simoniz bucket. It is the same as the red black magic bucket. The even ship them in the same boxes.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...08474396672472
I got 3 of them for $9.99. I don't know if they are still there though. I don't go to CT much anymore.

[Calgarydetail]

is it possible to do a touchless wash? Yes it sure is. Is it easy, heck nope. Its not something that can be done at a coin wash.

There is a thread on autopia by superbee about him doing a touchless wash.

It involes using zymol vintage, a foam gun, a good soap and a leaf blower.

He has found that vintage can clean up ubline other waxes or sealents. He has found if he spray s the car with the foam gun, rinses and then blow dries the car he can get it perfectly clean.
He has tried other waxes and sealents such as zaino and found they clean well with a mitt, but not touchless. I can agree on this one, vintage is an awsome wax. Does a great job.

So can you do a touchless wash, you sure can but its not practical in calgary, and not probible in a coin wash. (although I have found i can spray my with the presure washer and then use the spotles wash and get the car 99% clear of resadue and dirt.. just an obsevation)

[sneek]

LOL but paying $1900 for wax is a lot. You are almost 1/2 way to a new paint job. Calgary have you seen the pressure washer that I have on the way? Commercial grade I don't think I will be using it very much for cars, but with a good tip I guess I could. I think it is 3200PSI 4.0 GPM. I am not even sure my water line can handle it. I guess there is only one way to find out.

[Calgarydetail]

Originally posted by sneek
LOL but paying $1900 for wax is a lot. You are almost 1/2 way to a new paint job. Calgary have you seen the pressure washer that I have on the way? Commercial grade I don't think I will be using it very much for cars, but with a good tip I guess I could. I think it is 3200PSI 4.0 GPM. I am not even sure my water line can handle it. I guess there is only one way to find out.

nice, im going to want pics.. did you get it from princess auto?

and 1900 for wax, yeah i told you it was possible, I never said it was a good idea.. like reallt who would psend that on wax?

[clem24]

LOL stop hijacking my thread and get your own!!! That wax sounds hardcore.

I've noticed with home pressure washers that there simply is not enough flow (i.e even the gas powered 2700psi ones). I found my car to be no cleaner washing with standard water pressure and pressure washer... If the water was warm, then that's another matter. But going to the wand wash, you can immediately feel the difference in water bandwidth. Which is why I don't think I'll ever buy a pressure washer. Can't justify the price (I think I can wash my car at the wand wash every week for about 3 years before I come to that cost.

Also, I've noticed not many car washes have the spotless wash anymore. I usually go to the one in Brentwood (24hrs), the one in Hunterhorn, and the Esso in Sandstone, and sometimes Esso on Edmonton Tr and 32nd NE.. In any case, my problem is getting rid of that grime layer that doesn't seem to come off... I think even with spotless, I'll still have that layer. I've been to that Taco Bell NE one once and thought it was great (under car wash and I think it might have had a dryer, but slightly out of the way).

Ones I found to be a rip:

- Crowchild and 5th Ave NW
- Centex on Centre
- The one in the strip mall across from the new T&T in Harvest Hills

And notice all the above ones are the annoying front/back layout, so 6 - 8 stalls, but only 4 entrances. YOu have to wait for the dumb ass in the back to finish even though there's an open one right in front...

[ZorroAMG]

10th and 10th downtown has spot free rinse.

1. Blast car with high pressure rise to remove large dirt particles, stuck leaves etc
2. Low pressure pre-soak, go slow and REALLLLLY cover the car
3. High Pressure soap, blasting off the dirt collected by the pre-soak
4. High pressure rinse to remove all soap
5. Spot free rinse
6. California Water blade
7. Microfibre or clean chamois.

Black car = spotless

Cost - $10

[clem24]

^^ See it's step 7... I have a water blade. Works great. But put the chamois up to it, and leaves very fine swirls. And blasting the car: I find it's the greasy film that can't be removed. That's where the mitt comes in, or the chamois on drying... If the chamois is dirty when you dry, then obviously the car wasn't cleaned.

[SpoonEK9@STRD]

water blade + black paint... = no no. If you want to keep your black looking show quality. With black you have to minimize any hand touching of the vehicle. Only use microfiber cloth to wipe up remaining droplets.

[Calgarydetail]

Originally posted by clem24
^^ See it's step 7... I have a water blade. Works great. But put the chamois up to it, and leaves very fine swirls. And blasting the car: I find it's the greasy film that can't be removed. That's where the mitt comes in, or the chamois on drying... If the chamois is dirty when you dry, then obviously the car wasn't cleaned.

have you looked into use a mf drying towel and the dob or patting method. You dont drag the cloth over the paint so it dosent casue left over dirt to drag around..ill see if i can find a how to or a video or something to explain it better

this explains it towards the second half of the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZCi0_55ZDo

[clem24]

Man you're gonna need a huge cloth like that one in the vid for blotting. Looks tough to do but doable.. I miss my silver car. That car never needed any drying at all...

[Calgarydetail]

Originally posted by clem24
Man you're gonna need a huge cloth like that one in the vid for blotting. Looks tough to do but doable.. I miss my silver car. That car never needed any drying at all...

its actullynot hard, just takes some time. and most 20X40 WW towels should work

[rc2002]

Zorro got it right with the order. Presoak is really important if you want to get rid of the grime. Let it sit for a while after you've used presoak to loosen up all the dirt and grime.

Then make sure you use the spotless rinse afterwards - that helps out big time with the water spots.

[clem24]

What's in that pre-soak? Just water or soap or something else? Hmm.. the washes I go to do not have any pre-soak settings (usually just soap, rinse, wax, foam brush, engine cleaner).

On another note, is the wax setting any useful? When I do my final rinse, I always choose the wax setting, but logic tells it's useless and might cause even more spots.