What is your procedure for car washing?
#17
Drifting
lol I just use a sponge and dishwashing soap.
is dishwashing soap okay? I don't even wax my car but I use the once a year car polish every summer. would the dishwashing soap get that out. says it resits up to 50 car washes / chemicals.
is dishwashing soap okay? I don't even wax my car but I use the once a year car polish every summer. would the dishwashing soap get that out. says it resits up to 50 car washes / chemicals.
#18
Thinking outside da' bun...
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
nothings ever going to trump doing it by hand. i really cant think of anyone in my circle who uses one to be quite honest. the other thing i dont like about orbitals is they polish in a circular motion which is not ideal for most polishing. you always polish 'with the wind' over the car or in the same direction as a scratch. ive never had a circular scratch, except ones left by other orbitals on other past cars.
i refuse to use an orbital on the best of my two pcars because Im not dangling an 8lb mechanical device with metal pieces on it over my car. you wouldnt polish a car with a watch or wedding band on, why do it with machinery just waiting for that one small slip or drop or lapse of judgment to ruin your afternoon. just not worth the risk/reward as far as Im concerned. if theres something to trip over or drop or slip out of my hand, you can bet eventually it will happen. At least for me.
if a car has so-so paint, then an orbital might make sense i guess. its only going to look so good so you can spend an hour on it or a week. i might use it on my 951 next weekend and see how it does. if i still hate it, its history. diff'rent strokes, diff'rent folks.
i refuse to use an orbital on the best of my two pcars because Im not dangling an 8lb mechanical device with metal pieces on it over my car. you wouldnt polish a car with a watch or wedding band on, why do it with machinery just waiting for that one small slip or drop or lapse of judgment to ruin your afternoon. just not worth the risk/reward as far as Im concerned. if theres something to trip over or drop or slip out of my hand, you can bet eventually it will happen. At least for me.
if a car has so-so paint, then an orbital might make sense i guess. its only going to look so good so you can spend an hour on it or a week. i might use it on my 951 next weekend and see how it does. if i still hate it, its history. diff'rent strokes, diff'rent folks.
#19
Rennlist Member
[QUOTE=UDPride;5536724]"nothings ever going to trump doing it by hand. i really cant think of anyone in my circle who uses one to be quite honest. the other thing i dont like about orbitals is they polish in a circular motion which is not ideal for most polishing. you always polish 'with the wind' over the car or in the same direction as a scratch. ive never had a circular scratch, except ones left by other orbitals on other past cars."
I hate to break the bad news to you, but EVERY car that ever wins a concours or show event, has been machine polished, bar none....unless it's never driven. You can remove some isolated scuffs by hand, but you can't get consistent coverage the way you can with a power buffer. And forget about doing any significant scratches by hand. You need to generate some heat in order to reduce heavier scuffs/scratches. My friend was a big "purist" in polishing/waxing by hand. Things looked good at the "ten-foot" rule and in the shade, but look at it in the sun and you'd see the swirling and uneveness. Looked like the finish was attacked by a thousand spider webs. A random orbital polisher, such as a Porter Cable 9336 will remove all of that. It all depends on what you want though. I detailed an 88 Mustang for a girl, who's paint was in horrible condition. She went on to win best of show. She told me her neighbor owns some Porsches and walked me over to their house. Garage full of 911s, 930T, 912, and 67? Jaguar. He and his sons were tuning a track 911.
All of these cars looked like they had been cleaned with steel wool. My obsessive compulsive disorder kicked in, and I began mentally going over what technique I could used to bring these finishes back to life. I boldly blurted out, "hey, I can buff these things out to look brand new." The old man looked at me and said, "Nah, that's ok....we drive these...we don't 'show' them."
www.autopia.org
--Lizard
I hate to break the bad news to you, but EVERY car that ever wins a concours or show event, has been machine polished, bar none....unless it's never driven. You can remove some isolated scuffs by hand, but you can't get consistent coverage the way you can with a power buffer. And forget about doing any significant scratches by hand. You need to generate some heat in order to reduce heavier scuffs/scratches. My friend was a big "purist" in polishing/waxing by hand. Things looked good at the "ten-foot" rule and in the shade, but look at it in the sun and you'd see the swirling and uneveness. Looked like the finish was attacked by a thousand spider webs. A random orbital polisher, such as a Porter Cable 9336 will remove all of that. It all depends on what you want though. I detailed an 88 Mustang for a girl, who's paint was in horrible condition. She went on to win best of show. She told me her neighbor owns some Porsches and walked me over to their house. Garage full of 911s, 930T, 912, and 67? Jaguar. He and his sons were tuning a track 911.
All of these cars looked like they had been cleaned with steel wool. My obsessive compulsive disorder kicked in, and I began mentally going over what technique I could used to bring these finishes back to life. I boldly blurted out, "hey, I can buff these things out to look brand new." The old man looked at me and said, "Nah, that's ok....we drive these...we don't 'show' them."
www.autopia.org
--Lizard
#20
Rennlist Member
No. Only if you want to strip the wax off. I don't know of too many waxes that will hold up to dishwashing liquid, except for Collinite. Even then, it won't be long before you won't have any paint protection. If you want a good wash/wax combo, try Kit Wash With Carnauba. Just be sure to rinse it well, and don't let it dry on the finish or it will streak.