"belive that Pat already stated this in another post." Thanks -- I see it. When I first read it quickly (previously) I though he might be joking ... but it makes sense. I'll likely use my trusty Ivory Liquid dishsoap.

Joy, joy ... finished the first wash ~8 p.m. last night, drove to work for the first time today with the XF, and a jerk blew fresh-cut-grass clippings all over it sometime during the morning. And many stuck. I wonder if it was intentional.

 

Exactly. Dawn will strip your car of polish/wax and then throw it away or wash dishes with it. After that use Maguiars Gold Car Shampoo. And listen to Mike, he's the real expert here.
Jim - see you Sunday I hope?
Pat

 

Saying soap is a lubricant does soap a huge disservice. Soap is a wonderful chemical that emulsifies oils and breaks down the surface tension of water among other things. If you put water onto a dried mud splatter it will bead up, put a water/soap solution onto a mud splatter and it will soak into the mud and soften it allowing it to be hosed off.
The major lubricant is the water due to its percentage of the volume not the soap, the soap is a very minimal lubricant.

 

And this is why we look at people like they're a bit nuts when they say they wash their cars with nothing but water. Yep, we hear that all the time at car shows. The comment is usually followed by something like "but I seem to be getting a lot of swirls in the paint - how do I get rid of those?"

In all fairness, though, what you said about soap is true for essentially just "soap". A good car wash shampoo will have much more in it than simply "soap", as do dishwashing detergents. The general consuming public will generically refer to a wide variety of products simply as "soap" when there's a lot more to it than that, hence the misconception that typical household dishwashing "soap" is just fine for washing the car. Sure, it will clean a dirty car very well - to well, in fact. It will strip the wax right off.

 

I think that what I said covers car wash shampoos as well, these shampoos may contain other elements but the essence of what I said is also true of these shampoos.
The statement is also true for hand soap, hair shampoo etc. as well. They may contain aromatics, aloe etc. but the main ingredient is still good old soap of some description.
I have no desire to make my own car wash shampoo, the following list shows some of the possible ingredients:
Beta-alanine, N-(2-carboxyethyl)-N-dodecyl monosodium salt
Cocoamide DEA
Trideceth – 7
Alcohols, C11- 15- secondary, ethoxylated ( I prefer good scotch straight)
EDTA tetrasodium salt
Carnauba wax
Carboxy vinyl polymer
Tall oil fatty acid
Dimethylamino ethanol
Sodium hydroxide
Dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid
Sodium tripolyphosphate
Potassium hydroxide
Ethanol

PS, do not forget to add water and stir.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing the point. But not all soaps are created equal, and it's amazing how many people, when it comes to car "soap", think it's nothing special. These same people would never even consider washing their hair with Tide, nor do the dishes with Suave Shampoo and Conditioner, nor do the laundry with a bar of Lava, yet they think nothing of washing the car with Dawn. Dawn dishwashing detergent will strip your wax right off the car, even if you applied it yesterday. A good quality car wash soap will not.

All I'm saying is "all "soaps" (as the general public generically defines them) are not created equal".

 

My first PT I washed with nothing but water. It was black and I thought I'd found the holy grail. I was an idiot. A good car shampoo will lift the dirt, soften it, provide some lubrication so you don't get those swirl marks that my car developed. Second PT ( it was also black but a GT) I used dish soap, not Dawn but Palmolive and the swirls stopped but it still had water marks even after I dried it right away. Then we tried the Zaino wash, Turtle wax wash, a bunch of them until we landed on Meguiars Gold. None of them can hold a candle to Meguiars Gold. My son has gone on to try Turtle wax Ice wash?, Pinnacle products and he always ends up stealing my Meguiars. The B E S T bar none.

 

Has anyone ever used RejeX Surface Polymer Treatment on their crossfire. Just wondering if the wax product is any good.

thanks for any advice.

 

I've never tried Rejex personally, nor have ever witnessed a vehicle treated with it (that I knew of, anyway) but I've heard plenty of good things about it. As always, the bottom line is if you find it easy to use and like the way it looks on your car, and the overall performance meets your demands, then it's good stuff.

 

just read a post on Autopia that Rejex polish "although easy to use stains trim pieces".

 

Shocking!!! A wax that stains trim?!?!? That's probably true, to one degree or another, with 95% of the wax products on the market. Why is everyone so concerned about staining trim and not about being careful when waxing the car?

 

Just did the wash with Dawn, to remove the wax so that I can work on spots underneath. But ... I don't see much of a change in the gloss, so maybe there wasn't much, if any, wax on the car?

Plan to go pick up a clay bar kit in the a.m. WM has them for something like $17.

 

When was the last time you waxed? There may not have been a lot of wax left. Besides, your real gloss comes not from the wax, but from the cleaning/polishing steps.

 

Thanks for the info. Haven't waxed it yet -- was busy detailing and selling the old car.

Bought the Maguier's (sp?) clay kit this a.m., $15+. Was planning to use it today, but spent all the time detailing the engine bay and under hood. Will post pics in the relevant thread.

 

The claying is going well (on lunch break). Some observations:

I got a fair amount of light grey material off the (white) hood and roof, but am getting almost nothing visible from the fenders, doors, and quarter panels. Is this typical?

The included quick detailer spray, used as a lubricant for the clay, smells familiar ... like a weak version of an institutional cleanser (e.g., school restrooms). Know what ingredient the chemical odor is from?

Use your dominant hand only for rubbing with the clay -- it's way too easy to drop the clay (a disaster) with the other. I mold a handle out of part of the clay to hold with my thumb which helps too.

How long is one 50g lump of clay supposed to be used? I'd be inclined to toss the first one after this initial job. Another is in the kit.

Are there mail-order/discount sources of extra clay bars, only?

 

It sounds like your car wasn't too badly contaminated to begin with, which is why you're only getting a bit of gunk showing up on/in the clay after working the horizontal surfaces and almost nothing on the vertical surfaces. Logically, fallout is going to be prominent on those horizontal surfaces because it's falling down, not sideways.

From what you describe, with regular kneading of the clay, you should be able to use that clay for many more cleanings. I've seen cases where one bar of clay was still "good" after claying half a dozen vehicles and others where one bar alone wasn't enough to do a single vehicle. It all depends on how heavy the bonded contaminants are.

Meguiar's is now selling a clay replacement pack - 3 bars of 50g each for about $19.

 

Been busy elsewise, but got to work on the XF for a couple of hours today. Targeting the scratches on the wing and the panel beneath it. Looks like someone tried to polish these by hand using something harsh, and while the car was dirty. So lots of very light scratches, some moderate, and a few fairly deep.

Picked up a tube of Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 at WM. The instructions are very sparse on it. Definitely shake it well and often! As written elsewhere by others, basically this is very fine grit wet sanding.

I still will likely spend another couple of hours on them, but the surfaces look much better. The very light scratches and some of the moderate are gone, and the bad ones are better. The Scratch X seems almost identical to the liquid Turtle Wax polish I used 30 years ago, which also gave good results after days of elbow grease. But I'll quit soon since I don't want to cut through what's left of the clearcoat.

 

Nine plus hours,

Three-quarters of a tin of Meguiar's Cleaner Wax paste,

Five microfiber towels,

Two sore arms/hands,

One mad significant-other ("why do you spend so much time with that toy?"),

And "wax on, wax off", with a thick Asian accent, repeating continuously in my head,

BUT ...


The first wax job is done. Looks good. Had washed it again with Dawn after the claying, and before this polish-job. Maybe someday all this detailing will be done, I can take pictures, and then put the XF back on the road. Until the weather gets too bad, that is.

 

For the price of a clay bar I replace once a year when I do my car in the spring. Gotta keep Mike and his friends in business!
I just don't like using a used claybar. No telling if my son has used it too and dropped it. When I have a new one I know what I'm using.
It sounds like you need to get a Porter Cable buffer so your arms don't get so sore. In 9 hours you can probably wax/polish your car 3 times with a PC (that's allowing time for the polish to dry).
Scratch X is awesome stuff, got a ton of scratches out of my wifes 04 Mercedes. The car looked new when I finished it.
Good luck with your detailing and your spouse, I can identify with that. I do her car too so she can't say I'm spending too much time on "my" car.

 

Ha ha - that's great, Pat. I've only had my coupe a couple of months and I've learned that already. So long as I even offer to do my wife's car I'm good for the day!