I'm just curious whether any of you wash your cars with cold water versus hot. Will hot to warm water with a good car wash solution take more wax off the car than the same product in cold water?

 

My bucket-o-car-wash-solution is always warm but the rinse is always cold since I don't have hot water on the outside. (I have always wanted one of those cool outside showers...at least when I was younger. Could only use it a few months out of the year though!).
Since I always wax the car after I wash it I don't worry about taking off any wax while washing. I figure if I'm taking the time to wash it I might as well take the time to wax it.

 

~ yes hot water will strip the wax quicker than cold.

many articles state, "Avoid hot water because it will only soften the wax".

 

Ditto. The king of detailing has spoken.

 

Lately I have been doing the same thing. I wash with warm, rinse thoroughly with cold and then dry with a chamois. Then I've been applying either a new coat of wax or a "finisher" polish. I must say it looks great.

There was a time many years ago when I washed my cars only with cold water -- no soap at all. I think a good car soap does help remove surface contaminants that plain water would not remove.

Your comment and Andrew's makes sense....thanks.

 

I rather doubt that using hot water is going to do any real harm to any wax applied to the vehicle. Even a white car will reach a surface temp of 120F or more on a hot, sunny day and dark colored cars can easily reach surface temps of 150F or more. Surely nobody is hand washing a car with water THAT hot?! I also don't think there's much to gain from washing with hot water either.

I'll check with our chemists at work this week and see what their take on this is.

 

One would think at those temperatures you mention, even warm water would "cool" the surface and help stabilize any wax. Also, when I wash with a sheepskin mitt, the amount of warm water actually applied to the car's surface is relatively small compared to the amount of cold pre-wash and rinse that I apply.

 

Please don't think I'm suggesting that you wash a car when the surface temps are that high - you absolutely should not do so. Always work on a cool surface, whether that work is washing, claying, polishing, waxing, etc. And by "cool" I mean cool to the touch, and always work in the shade.

 

Cold water, two buckets (one for suds - one for rinse), Microfiber towels for drying. then I use a spray detailer for the shine...

 

I read an article many years ago about detailing your car, and a few of the things I remember was they said not to use a "Chamois" because that stripped the wax off your car quicker than anything.
I think they also said always use cool water too.
And a fluffy hand mit will help trap the dirt particles, and keep them away from the surface of the car where they could easily scratch the paint while scrubbing.
Always start at the top, that way the soap and water will run down the side and help loosen the dirt before you get to it, and always use soapy water because it works like a lubricant as your "mit" slides over the surface, keeping it from causing fine scratches.

 

Don't know about a chamois stripping wax, but since there's no place for any little particle of dirt or debris to go, you'll end up dragging it across the paint with a chamois. Waffle weave microfiber towels are definitely the way to go for drying.

A good microfiber or natural sheepskin wash mitt is your best choice, by far.

We had a guy come down to our Thursday Night Open Garage last year who had been washing his car with nothing but plain water and a small piece of towel, thinking he was doing the right thing. After 17 years of this his paint was literally scoured to the point we couldn't save it even with a heavy compound. Oddly enough, the people we talk to the most who think they're doing "the best thing" by washing with plain water are the guys with the super expensive show cars - Packards, Rolls Royces, Auburns, etc. I certainly understand not wanting to use traditional wash methods on these cars since water can collect in places and promote rust (remember these older cars don't drain as well as modern cars do), but not using a proper car wash soap to add lubricity is just plain silly.

 

Years ago, when "car" soap was just being introduced, I would wash with dish soap and warm to hot water as that is what came out of the tap. The rinse was always whatever came out of the hose. Fast forward to today and having a car worth the worry/consideration (and small enough), I wash with an off the shelf wash and use whatever comes out of the hose; since it isn't secondary water like we had in Utah, I don't feel it a problem.

The bottom line is I always wash, wax, and detail in the shade regardless of whatever the directions say on the containers about being able to use in the sun. I use micro fiber towels to dry it off and when I wax or detail, I use a chamois. Currently I use TW ICE and I’ve been experimenting with spraying detailer and then applying wax (similiar to the spit shine I did with my military shoes....their directions say take it off with the spay, but I don’t see a difference either way other than I think it is best to wax it, buff it, and then use the spray to add that extra gloss. Somewhere down the link I may try some of the other products like Maquires to see if I notice any difference myself; others say it is the best, but I need to see it for myself.

Good luck whatever you do.

 

Mike in orange...have you spoke with your chemist yet? I "think" wax protection is sacrificed when using hot water. When we had an ice storm in the winter and my Crossfire was covered in an inch thick of ice, I threw a few buckets of extremely hot water onto the car to make the ice melt. After a few days I noticed a significant decrease in the beading of my wax.

 

Extremely hot water probably will compromise the wax as it simply isn't designed for such a scenario. Worse still is that sudden freeze/thaw cycle you put it through! It's quite possible that the freezing alone compromised it. We are talking about a microscopically thin layer here so it really doesn't take much to kill it, honestly. Consider that a detergent as mild as Dawn dishwashing soap will strip wax and you see what I mean.

People get the impression that a coat of wax is this impervious layer of protection that wards off everything. But anything that is strong enough to damage paint is going to get through that wax pretty quickly - bird droppings, acid rain, egg, etc. It may buy you a little time, and it may slow down some contaminants from bonding to the paint, dirt from getting embedded, etc, but it's not a Star Trek like force field. Don't get me wrong Golfdude, I'm not saying this is your thought process, I'm just speaking in general.

 

Well, here goes. The best way to get vaseline, do gel, wax etc. out of your hair is cold water and soap. If you use hot water it softens and smears but won't come out easily. So, this has nothing to do with wax and hot water, or does it? I would think hot water would soften the wax making it uneven or perhaps streaky.

Forget I said anything.

Hallucinating again.

Les