I need to wash my car!

[michaelH]

Rayaans: it follows that after two years of waterless cleaning  my Lexus must be covered in scratches. Except that is isn't. 

[rayaans]

3 hours ago, michaelH said:

Rayaans: it follows that after two years of waterless cleaning  my Lexus must be covered in scratches. Except that is isn't. 

Except you aren't looking hard enough. Don't you have a silver car? It's difficult to see scratches on silver even with a high powered light.  

Get some fine black powder and spread it over the car. It'll show up all the scratches you claim "aren't there"

[Verbout]

2 hours ago, rayaans said:

Except you aren't looking hard enough. Don't you have a silver car? It's difficult to see scratches on silver even with a high powered light.  

Get some fine black powder and spread it over the car. It'll show up all the scratches you claim "aren't there"

Would you mind if I didn't?

[Rabbers]

 

3 hours ago, rayaans said:

Except you aren't looking hard enough. Don't you have a silver car? It's difficult to see scratches on silver even with a high powered light.  

Get some fine black powder and spread it over the car. It'll show up all the scratches you claim "aren't there"

I suppose spreading talcum powder on a black car would be equally edifying, especially if you've just washed it.

[rayaans]

7 hours ago, Rabbers said:

 

I suppose spreading talcum powder on a black car would be equally edifying, especially if you've just washed it.

No not talcum powder. There's special black powder you can get for light cars. Detailers use it so they don't miss any scratches 

On black cars it's not an issue as it can be seen under light 

[Rabbers]

 

8 hours ago, rayaans said:

No not talcum powder. There's special black powder you can get for light cars. Detailers use it so they don't miss any scratches 

On black cars it's not an issue as it can be seen under light 

This is all profoundly fascinating.   My knowledge of the uses (and abuses) of powder on car bodies had hitherto been limited to a neighbour's

attempt to discourage cats from sleeping on the hood of his Jag by sprinkling "sneezing powder" on it.   Much to his disappointment, the result

was to add copious globs of cat-snot to the paw-prints.

[RichyRich]

So what's the verdict on waterless wash sprays?  I've used it a couple of times and had a close look and can't see any scratches.   I must admit I picked tge Sonic Titanium partly because I thought it would hide alot of dirt and marks over say the Azure blue so it's plausible light scratches aren't visible to the naked eye! But that's good enough I'd say....  I HOPE

 

[Rabbers]

Richard, it seems to me that such wisdom as might be gleaned from this thread is to the effect that if you are unconcerned about potential

scratches, be these real or imagined or invisible except under strong light or, depending on the colour of your paintwork, made more visible  

by the spreading of a special black powder, then you should go ahead and use a waterless wash.   If, on the other hand, it is not too difficult

or inconvenient for you to add a capful of product to a bucketful of water, pass it over the car and simply dry it off without rinsing, then a rinse

-free wash could be a better alternative insofar as the risk of scratching is reduced by the lubricatory action of the water itself.

[RichyRich]

The whole point of the waterless approach is "waterless"  is it not?  The Meguiars waterless wash & wax is not a new product to market and so far have no reason to doubt it works well without scratching the paintwork.   I have used car washes,  hand washes over the years and always have seen some sort of scratch swirl over time so this may well be the solution.   

Who can say their car has no scratches and will go to the lengths of throwing special black powder on it to show there are or aren't scratches? 

I will probably use a bucket of soapy water when it's particularly dirty but for the dryer months I will persevere with the waterless approach :) 

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, RichyRich said:

The whole point of the waterless approach is "waterless"  is it not?  The Meguiars waterless wash & wax is not a new product to market and so far have no reason to doubt it works well without scratching the paintwork.   I have used car washes,  hand washes over the years and always have seen some sort of scratch swirl over time so this may well be the solution.   

Who can say their car has no scratches and will go to the lengths of throwing special black powder on it to show there are or aren't scratches? 

I will probably use a bucket of soapy water when it's particularly dirty but for the dryer months I will persevere with the waterless approach :) 

The thing is, Lexus paint is super soft as it is, almost to the point that a finger nail will scratch it. 

The bit under the handles look OK but only because I polish it regularly,  my sons Polo on the other hand barely has any!

The concept is pretty good in theory and theoretically will not leave scratches.  In practice its different. You should only use waterless washes on light dirt, with very light pressure and in one straight wipe and a clean side used for each stroke. 

This rarely happens in real life. Instead you get waterless wash guys who claim to do a whole car including wheels in an hour. Doing I properly will probably take longer than conventional washing

[RichyRich]

3 hours ago, rayaans said:

The thing is, Lexus paint is super soft as it is, almost to the point that a finger nail will scratch it. 

The bit under the handles look OK but only because I polish it regularly,  my sons Polo on the other hand barely has any!

The concept is pretty good in theory and theoretically will not leave scratches.  In practice its different. You should only use waterless washes on light dirt, with very light pressure and in one straight wipe and a clean side used for each stroke. 

This rarely happens in real life. Instead you get waterless wash guys who claim to do a whole car including wheels in an hour. Doing I properly will probably take longer than conventional washing

Ok I get your point about the soft paint but that's intented to help the paint heal itself against light scratches I suppose.

I agree waterless may only have it's use when there is light dirt but my experience so far is that it does seem to work on my IS, and with as good as a finish as if I spent hours with a few buckets and a hose.   Am interested in trying claying though (if that's the correct term).. 

Ok it's 4am and my 2 year old is hopefully going to stay asleep so off to bed! 

[tayaste]

Try a clay mitt Rich, so much easier and quicker and the results I find are just as good as a standard clay bar for removing the fallout and contaminants 

[200h]

its personal preference clay mitt versus clay bar one shouldn't be better than the other.

i like clay bars as you can break them in half the reasoning behind this is if you drop a clay bar / mitt

you should throw it out as it may of collected grit off the floor so that would be the mitt in the bin

if you break the clay bar in half you still have the other half to carry on using but each to their own.

 

[tayaste]

Agreed, I've lost count the amount of times I've dropped a clay bar.

However, I've yet to drop a mitt, as they are wrapped around my hand.

But yes, both great and give great results 

[rayaans]

7 hours ago, RichyRich said:

Ok I get your point about the soft paint but that's intented to help the paint heal itself against light scratches I suppose.

I agree waterless may only have it's use when there is light dirt but my experience so far is that it does seem to work on my IS, and with as good as a finish as if I spent hours with a few buckets and a hose.   Am interested in trying claying though (if that's the correct term).. 

Ok it's 4am and my 2 year old is hopefully going to stay asleep so off to bed! 

The "self healing" paint doesn't self heal. In theory light scratches = swirls and therefore there should be no swirls on any Lexus IS yet if you look at a black one or a blue one its got loads?! Its just marketing. Some say to pour hot water on it, others say to leave it in direct sunlight, hasnt made any difference to be honest.

If it takes you longer than an hour to wash the IS with 2 buckets, a hose and a wash mitt, you're doing something wrong. It takes that long to do my RX.

With regard to the claying, I'd say use a clay bar first - it gives a visual indication. The clay mitt does NOT and therefore you might actually be rubbing on the paint a lot more than you should be doing.

Dont see why you'd need to clay a 2 month old car though, it only needs doing about once a year and you should polish after as it leaves scratches in the paint

[tayaste]

You will be surprised what contamination can be in the paint of a new car that's been transported from Japan .. 

[rayaans]

5 hours ago, tayaste said:

You will be surprised what contamination can be in the paint of a new car that's been transported from Japan .. 

I realise that, but it won't have enough to contemplate claying the car - especially since the PDI will have included removal of transport wax (along with all the other crap on the paint)

[51st8]

6 hours ago, rayaans said:

The "self healing" paint doesn't self heal. In theory light scratches = swirls and therefore there should be no swirls on any Lexus IS yet if you look at a black one or a blue one its got loads?! Its just marketing. Some say to pour hot water on it, others say to leave it in direct sunlight, hasnt made any difference to be honest.

If it takes you longer than an hour to wash the IS with 2 buckets, a hose and a wash mitt, you're doing something wrong. It takes that long to do my RX.

With regard to the claying, I'd say use a clay bar first - it gives a visual indication. The Clay mitt does NOT and therefore you might actually be rubbing on the paint a lot more than you should be doing.

Dont see why you'd need to clay a 2 month old car though, it only needs doing about once a year and you should polish after as it leaves scratches in the paint

Hi Rayaans,

Is it essential to polish after clay?

What wax to use on silver car? I have GS430 2006.

Thank you.

[rayaans]

2 hours ago, 51st8 said:

Hi Rayaans,

Is it essential to polish after clay?

What wax to use on silver car? I have GS430 2006.

Thank you.

Hi Chris,

its not absolutely essential but it'd be advisable. The reason being that the clay bar does leave very small scratches in the paint so a polish will just get rid of those - gives a better shine really.

[51st8]

Thank you.

In one of your posts you have recommended Soft99 Fusso wax. Is this correct?

[rayaans]

27 minutes ago, 51st8 said:

Thank you.

In one of your posts you have recommended Soft99 Fusso wax. Is this correct?

Yes Fusso is very good. More of a sealant. You can use Fusso without polishing after a clay bar as it has very good filling properties 

[51st8]

Rayaans,

Thank you for your reply.

I alteady got one since 6 months and I was about to use it on  my GS300 in Black colou bit unfortunately it was vanadlised and written off by insurer. i have purchased recently silver GS430 instead. 

I will see difference when I apply. On GS300 I have used carnabua wax which was good though. Dont want to apply Fusso before proper wash and clay the car.

 

Thank you.

Chris

[RichyRich]

On 06/08/2016 at 0:08 PM, rayaans said:

The "self healing" paint doesn't self heal. In theory light scratches = swirls and therefore there should be no swirls on any Lexus IS yet if you look at a black one or a blue one its got loads?! Its just marketing. Some say to pour hot water on it, others say to leave it in direct sunlight, hasnt made any difference to be honest.

If it takes you longer than an hour to wash the IS with 2 buckets, a hose and a wash mitt, you're doing something wrong. It takes that long to do my RX.

With regard to the claying, I'd say use a clay bar first - it gives a visual indication. The Clay mitt does NOT and therefore you might actually be rubbing on the paint a lot more than you should be doing.

Dont see why you'd need to clay a 2 month old car though, it only needs doing about once a year and you should polish after as it leaves scratches in the paint

I feel the waterless approach is still a good option especially in the dryer months when washing leaves so many water marks which I've found thr Maguiars washless stuff doesn't.   I think I understand the reasons to use a clay bar now so thanks for that.  

 

[rayaans]

3 hours ago, RichyRich said:

I feel the waterless approach is still a good option especially in the dryer months when washing leaves so many water marks which I've found thr Maguiars washless stuff doesn't.   I think I understand the reasons to use a clay bar now so thanks for that.  

 

Water marks? Do you leave the car to dry naturally?!

[RichyRich]

12 hours ago, rayaans said:

Water marks? Do you leave the car to dry naturally?!

With warmer weather the car dries quickly is my point.  ;)