[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

If you are using it to wipe everyday where its not really dusty, it would be ideal.

Places where its a bit more dirty (all major cities), the duster picks up sand and scratches up the surface. When my friend`s duster (the car) was only washed once a week , the paint was fine, once Jopasu came in , the everyday dusting became a practice and paint is now full of scratches making the vehicle look old.

Agree, Jopasu duster does create fine scratches which over a time will lead to fading. Car with lighter/solid colors you might not see as easily, on a darker shade the scratches can be seen. Many of these can be removed with a machine buff. I typically follow below:

1. Water wash with shampoo once a week-typically on a Sunday. This is followed by a coat of polish.
2. Cleaning using Jopasu duster on a Wednesday.
3. Light rubbing compound application on alternate weeks. This helps remove any minor scratches.
4. Pressure water (including under body) wash once a month.

[Samba]

An excellent topic which is very important at this moment. Where people are not getting water to drink, we just cant waste water to clean our cars.

I do the following to save water.

1) During rain, unless it's necessary to take out both the cars, i keep one car in garage (the cleaner one). So one car gets dirty, that means i need to clean just one car. That saves water.

2) During monsoon, i just wipe the upper portion of the car with a wet cloth and keep the lower portion dirty. If dusty, i use the Jopasu Duster to wipe the dust. When the rain stops or the weather shows sunny for the next few days, i get the car cleaned. Many a times i just take 2 mugs of water and wipe off the dirt from the lower portion of the body.

3) By rule i do not allow my car washing guy or myself whoever is in-charge, to waste more than 15L of water.
I give 2-4 L of water to pour on the car body, just to make the car body wet.
Another 2 L water, where he can mix the shampoo in a bucket and apply it on the car by a cloth.
Finally another 5-8 L water to clean the shampoo from the car body. Then wipe the car with a dry microfiber cloth.
So at the end it varies between 12-15 L of water depending on the dirt/mud.
This type of washing is also done once a month or even lesser!
During winter, only dusting is more than enough.

4) Only when the underbelly gets dirty/muddy, i give the car to the service center, where they put the car on a ramp and cleans the underbelly.

If using less water leads to small swirl marks or micro scratches, am ready to live with it, rather than wasting water to avoid these.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by Samba

If using less water leads to small swirl marks or micro scratches, am ready to live with it, rather than wasting water to avoid these.

Are the micro scratches and swirl marks really a legitimate issue? I mean, I find them similar to logic holes in sci-fi fantasy movies. If the movie was enjoyable on the whole, there's no reason to put the plot under a microscope and examine logic holes. Similarly if these micro damages/imperfections to the paint are not visible to the naked eye 99% of the time, then makes no sense to deliberately seek them out using flash lights at different angles!

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

Are the micro scratches and swirl marks really a legitimate issue?

Blasphemy for our detailing brethren, but I always found the paranoia mildly amusing.

Any form of contact will leave some sort of marks over a period of time, so unless someone invents hovering cleaning mechanisms (and even then one can't avoid other avenues of contact), maintaining a factory-finish paintjob is a myth. Most cars have their factory paint-job tortured by open-to-the-elements storage and careless cleaning before a customer even sees the car for the first time. Dealer stockyard cleaners don't use Jopasu dusters, microfiber towels and expensive cleaning products. A rag and a hose/bucket it usually is.

That doesn't mean I go around in a filthy car, but I won't be investing in a dark room and black lights anytime soon. If I need special equipment and yoga lessons to see a scratch, I can live with it.

P.S. Just got back from a rainy highway drive. Took me THREE 500 ml portions of 1:100 diluted proklear and 1.5 hours, and the car looks as good as new inside out. There isn't enough grime or caked mud to justify an under-body wash, so I've put it off for later.

[SamitMukherjee]

At a time when the entire world is facing water scarcity, this is an important topic.
I follow the following steps-
1. My car goes for a complete foam wash inside out once a month.
2. I avoid washing the engine bay. I have this fear of jet spray damaging electrical connections. Instead I use a duster to dust it.
3. Here in Durgapur, when it rains, it rains heavily. I take advantage of this. I intentionally park my car in open and my car gets her shower.
Although I follow point 3, when it is really required.

[Kosfactor]

For those who are in the fence about less-water wash , here is something to encourage you to switch. This is all you need, no hoses, nothing. Keep 3 to 4 microfiber towels for different parts like running boards and wheels, interiors, one for buffing after the wipe.



I switched when the body shop guy warned me , I was asking him why the paint is looking dull after just one year. The neighborhood car cleaning guy used to generously water wash the car every two days.

I used formula 1 Polish to restore the paint to an acceptable level and then use only Proklear for many years now. If at all the undercarriage is caked with mud, I just wash the undercarriage only with water.

So how long does that bottle last? Its 499 INR, got delivered today. The last bottle was delivered on March 19th 2019. I clean two vehicles inside out with this once a week.

[Pointerpins]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

Are the micro scratches and swirl marks really a legitimate issue? I mean, I find them similar to logic holes in sci-fi fantasy movies. If the movie was enjoyable on the whole, there's no reason to put the plot under a microscope and examine logic holes. Similarly if these micro damages/imperfections to the paint are not visible to the naked eye 99% of the time, then makes no sense to deliberately seek them out using flash lights at different angles!

Exactly my point .Swirl free car is a myth or a true for a few weeks soon after detailing. If the car looks clean and shiny what more an you ask for !!
No need to go micro and macro swirl hunting and rectifying .Well said

[zaks]

Agree to this, I came to realize this after my first car. The finishing on the car these days are really good and frequent washing and that too with different chemicals can easily harm the coating and finish and make them dull over time.

These days I just give it a water wash once a week, it becomes dusty after one day and it makes no sense to keep doing this every day. I do shampoo wash+wax once a month, my car looks very clean even after 3 years. This saves water, car painting and time. I have stopped dusting also because this is unnecessary and actually causes small scratches from dust particles.

[Anirban001]

I have an 18 month old white Nexon. Its been standing out in the rain for a few weeks. I haven't been able to get it washed in a few months. But I have been wiping it down myself with ProKlear and then applying the Sonax detailer. Its been 3 weeks since I did that. Now i see green moss all over the roof and sides and some on the window sills. What am I doing wrong ?
How can I protect the car from damage in the rains? There is no covered parking at my place.

[WhiteSierra]

Originally Posted by Anirban001

Now i see green moss all over the roof and sides and some on the window sills. What am I doing wrong ?
How can I protect the car from damage in the rains? There is no covered parking at my place.

If the vehicle isn't used daily, please invest in a nice waterproof body cover.(original Tata Nexon body cover or autofurnish body cover you can get on Amazon) It will protect your car from rain water. The green moss is algae and is bad, health hazardous for occupants of the car. It is more likely caused by moisture and deposits of water droplets for a long time. Go to your neighbourhood car wash, get a nice shampoo pressure wash on the car, all the green moss will go away, after that try applying wax (preferably formula 1 or 3M wax) which acts as a sealant to paint.

[cupid101]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

I used formula 1 Polish to restore the paint to an acceptable level and then use only Proklear for many years now...

I have started using Proklear since a while and have been observing the paint getting rough after drying. Perhaps, it's not the paint but the layer of protective chemical (Proklear itself) on top of the paint. It's mildly hydrophobic. I just hope it doesn't ruin the paint job in the long run.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by cupid101

I have started using Proklear since a while and have been observing the paint getting rough after drying. Perhaps, it's not the paint but the layer of protective chemical (Proklear itself) on top of the paint. It's mildly hydrophobic. I just hope it doesn't ruin the paint job in the long run.

I have been using it for as long as its available with good result - there is a product that provides more shine, but you need to put in good amount of work to buff it off in the second step else it will attract a lot of dust. It is called Carlove, cheap as usual and removes dirt well.

I use Proklear on Windshield for the water beading effect, you can drive without windshield wipers in the rain, its that effective - of course needs to be buffed off very well or else in the night you will have trouble with vision.

I use Proklear on White as well as a greenish dark shade, it seems to work very well - to the extend that sometimes I do not even do the second wipe, just one wipe and leave it as is, less shine this way but sometimes you run out of time.

You can see the result here after perhaps 5 years of use (was using Shampoo + water spray earlier) . This vehicle has never been professionally detailed or even water washed more than maybe once a year.

Link

It may take sometime to figure out the correct way to do it without leaving any streaks, spray less and it dries too fast , spray too much and its too much work clear it, wets the cloth too much etc. My BIL who has his new Safari in the launch color is just starting out with this Proklear, I could see some streaks that were caused by too much product drying on the surface and not being buffed off.

[cupid101]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

It may take sometime to figure out the correct way to do it without leaving any streaks, spray less and it dries too fast , spray too much and its too much work clear it, wets the cloth too much etc. My BIL who has his new Safari in the launch color is just starting out with this Proklear, I could see some streaks that were caused by too much product drying on the surface and not being buffed off.

Yeah. I am trying to find the perfect ratio. I got better results when I cleaned my car yesterday. It has much more shine and less residue. I ended up using 3 microfiber towels one of these was just for buffing after application.

[Livnletcarsliv]

Car wash vs Car maintenance
People often confuse and misinterpret both.

Most of them here are NOT actually doing car maintenance. They only do car wash (which they consider as maintenance). However, I don't blame them. For them, their car is just a mode of transportation to go from point A to point B which is absolutely fine. They are Type A.

Type B - For enthusiasts/passionate people like me, it is very important to maintain the car in a spick and span condition. For us, a car is an emotion, it's a character, it's an attitude, it's the way of living, it's passion, it's like - I can live without a house, but I cannot live without a car.

Car wash doesn't address the following
1. The scratches, orange peel, water spots, etc.
2. Shine and water repellent factor
3. Paint protection
4. Glossiness
5. Color enhancement
6. Rusting
7. Parts protection
8. And of course longevity of the car itself
Please add if there is anything that I missed.

While car wash is just cleaning the car, car maintenance is more than just cleaning.

For eg - Type B people like me will never use a Jopasu duster. A Jopasu duster will definitely give you fine scratches and its continuous usage (daily, weekly thrice/twice, weekly once) will significantly add to clear coat damage - which again needs paint correction techniques based on the intensity of the scratches to get rid of those scratches. I prefer to use Jopasu duster only in case of emergencies or challenging times - I've used it only 2 times in the past 1.5 years.

Again the waterless/rinseless wash has the same rules, which is only recommended during an ad-hoc/impromptu situation.

However, the important part is that maintaining a car definitely demands a lot of time, patience, effort, skill, and finally more WATER. So it is obvious why the majority of the car users just clean the car and don't necessarily maintain the car.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by Livnletcarsliv

the important part is that maintaining a car definitely demands a lot of time, patience, effort, skill, and finally more WATER.

How do you clean your car daily during summers and in monsoon? Since we have a very dusty environment in India.