Are You Washing Your Corvette Safely?

Dec 29, 2021

10590

Photo Credits: Zymöl

Sponsored Post By Chuck Bennett
Founder & CEO of Zymöl

We are the most auto-mobile people on the planet so washing our cars is the simplest, and most effective way to protect our investment and, if we are smart, we won’t damage our car!

“The most damage done to a loved automobile is improper washing by its owner!”

Unless you do the job right you risk harming the finish of your fine car. Here are the real directions on how to “wash your car…safely.”

The Tools:

Soap: This is where you need to be smart. There are many different products that claim to be ‘car wash’ but most are strong detergents and not soaps.

Sponges: Not kitchen or an heir-loom sponge but a big new closed cell sponge is best.

Bucket: At minimum a 5-gallon bucket providing a stable drop zone (I’ll show you later)

MicroWipe or Cotton Towels: New MicroWipes or very old Towels washed without fabric softener.

The definition of ‘soap’ is: a substance used with water for washing and cleaning, made of a compound of natural oils or fats.

Soaps = Good
Detergents = Bad

Detergents are often sodium salts of long chain alkyl hydrogen sulfate or a long chain of benzene sulphonic acid. Not exactly what you want on your beautiful paint.

Then there are detergents with Silicones in an emulsion advertised as “Wash & Wax”.

In order to get Silicone to adhere to your paint during the wash cycle a Silicone of micro-size beads or Centistokes is used to not only adhere to your paint but to enter the surface.

And of course, there is the favorite grab-and-go product, Dish Detergent…..which is designed to remove Fats and Oils. Guess what the best Waxes and Glazes are made from? Yep, that’s right, fats and oils.

Pro Tip: Add 2 tablespoons of Salad Oil to your wash bucket when adding your Soap. The Oil breaks into millions of bead-lets that cling to contaminants letting you slide them off the car not drag them off the car.

The Sponge

A closed Cell Sponge is exactly that. The cells are closed and resist sand and silt.

A Sea sponge was once a living creature at the bottom of the ocean that was used by many animals to rest on or in and to provide a soft birthing location for shellfish. Sea sponges inherently trap sand, shells, and salt which when used on your paint will leave scriptures that archaeologists in 2,000 years from now will try to decode.

And, a synthetic or wool wash mitt traps the dirt, sand, and grit from the last time you used it and competes very well with the Sea sponge’s paint scripture.

The Bucket: Not a hand-me-down from the hall closet or a kitchen pot but a real 5-gallon bucket.

The Drop Zone is an all-important area at the top of the bucket. It is the place where your Closed Cell Sponge floats while you squeeze it to remove any collected dirt or silt which will drop to the bottom of your bucket and not be brought back to your car.

MicroWipes and Towels:

Finding the right MicroWipe Towels is a challenge. Most are made for Polyester and Polymide which are coarse and scratchy. Use only intentionally soft weave MicroWipes or ones that are made from nylon and nytril.

Towels are another challenge since 99% of the towel manufacturers towel dye, not yarn dye. This leaves the new towels with excess dye which is removed by factory washing. Unfortunately, the towel manufacturing marketing departments have an issue with a towel that feels washed out so production bathes the towels in a product call Sizing which is a Polyester-Silicone rinse that fluffs up the towel making it feel new but unable to absorb water. And it deposits the silicone on your car’s finish.

Have you ever tried to dry off from a shower only to feel the towel didn’t work and your skin is itchy?

Find Production Washed Towels or raid the linen closet for old towels. Wash them in hot water, then a hot water rinse and NO fabric softener which is again silicone.

Water: Lots of luke-warm, clean, filtered if possible from a hose without a sprayer. Do not use any pressure. Gently Cascade water over your car.

OK we have our tools now for the Rules:

Always, always, always remove any jewelry, watches, chains, belt buckles, and never wear jeans with riveted pockets or seams. Wear a loose shirt that covers front snaps and any zippers.

Never wash the car in direct sunlight as the UV can dry areas faster than you can wash them.

Always, always, always wash your car starting at the top and work down.

Rinse with clean water before washing. Dilute acid rain, road salt, and other foreign materials that may be clinging to the car.

Don’t wash the car after it’s baked in the sun all day. The cool wash water will cause the car’s metal or fiberglass to contract faster than the paint, resulting in tiny cracks, fissures, and crazing of the paint surface.

Don’t wash your car outside in freezing weather as the paint will expand faster than the metal or fiberglass and there is a very real possibility of cracking your windshield due to the abrupt temperature change.

Don’t scrub the surface. Gentle treatment with the right Soap will get the dirt off just as fast, without scratches or abrasions.

Avoid commercial automated car washes. Do not use high-pressure air and water systems. These will take the paint off with the dirt.

Don’t dry the car by open-air driving. Soap and hard water residue will leave stains.

Push the water off with a clean wet Microwipe then dry MicroWipe or Cotton Towel dry.

Always remove brake dust. (This will be the subject of future articles.)

Wash your car often. Protect your investment, do it frequently to maintain the car’s luster.

The finish on your car is the result of a long process of engineering the right products, preparing the surface, applying the best base coat, then applying several paint color coats and a clear-coat or tinted color coat.

Car Paint is a very expensive manufacturing process designed to keep your car looking new even when it isn’t. Respect the factory by protecting their work.

The technique (as important as the right materials and tools)

Rinse then Rinse again.

Whenever you wash any part of your car whether it’s the roof or a fender, rinse the entire car.

Two Hand Washing:

Your Hand is more important than the Sponge.

Once your Closed Cell Sponge is full of fresh soap and water, squeeze it out over the surface you intend to wash and using your bare hand gently rub the surface looking for insect tar, small stones, tree sap, anything that can damage your paint. Remember the Sponge has your hand insulated by 3 inches off of the paint so you don’t know what is on the car unless you use your bare hand FIRST to remove it!

Remember you are working top-down. (Never start at a rocker panel and work up.)

Then load up the sponge again and gently rub the surface with more soap and water.

Then rinse….not the area you just washed but the entire car.

Split the car into manageable sections. Start with ½ of the roof then move to ½ the windshield, the side lite then ½ the rear window.

Wash ½ the hood and the connecting fender.