Dawn Dish Soap Users Chime In!

David Fermani

David Fermani

Forza Auto Salon
Ok, it`s not the end all, be all for stripping LSPs, but it`s still a great product to use when you don`t want to leave anything behind on the surface (pre-detail) or as a way to clean the surface before you ceramic coat (along with an alcohol wipe after). Heck, even good for coating maintenance.

Who`s still loves using it?
 
I’ve heard experiences that seemed to indicate that Dawn can leave behind a film which makes the appearance of a clean surface where water stands.

I don’t remember who tested this or when, but I haven’t used it since that time. I stick to coating prep wash soap now for pre-detail. I used Dawn prior to that.
 
Waxmode / Loach has a video on the newer version of Dawn and give his views on it . I tried it on neighbors car which seemed to work pretty good on wax removal.
 
I remember that video. Beading before the wash, flat as a pancake after the wash, beading restored after an IPA wipe.

I’m pretty sure there are rinse agents in dish soap that make water sheet off. I could be mistaken. But that old test does kinda confirm that something is indeed left behind. Maybe different versions/brands don’t do this?
 
ShaneB said:
I remember that video. Beading before the wash, flat as a pancake after the wash, beading restored after an IPA wipe.

I’m pretty sure there are rinse agents in dish soap that make water sheet off. I could be mistaken. But that old test does kinda confirm that something is indeed left behind. Maybe different versions/brands don’t do this?
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Just watched the video where he uses the new Dawn Power Wash.....looks to be Dawn in a concentrated form shot through a foaming sprayer. I have some here in the kitchen, and it does have some pretty potent cleaning abilities. In his test, it does appear to significantly diminish the Zymol Carbon Wax.
 
briarpatch said:
Just watched the video where he uses the new Dawn Power Wash.....looks to be Dawn in a concentrated form shot through a foaming sprayer..
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That sounds like their Power Dissolver, which I stocked up on prior to its being discontinued.

I never found it all that great for stripping my LSPs, but it used to be a cheap alternative to my rather pricey shampoos for vehicles that didn`t matter (which I now no longer bother washing).

The minimal lubricity/encapsulation preclude my using such stuff on anything that *does* matter, for fear of marring same.
 
Rsurfer said:
I still love Dawn, but for dishes.
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Same here, it`s what we`ve used since forever. While some say it`ll degrade plastics, I have some plastic items that`ve been washed with Dawn for *decades* with no ill effects. Not that all "plastics" are the same, but still....

We end up using it as hand soap too, more than anything else perhaps, if only because it`s always RIGHT THERE when we`re at the kitchen sink. Doesn`t dry out our skin, but I suppose that`ll be another of those subjective things where YMMV.
 
I used Dawn on my 2019 SE Camry before I used coating....I wanted to get all the old wax off I was using....Dawn worked fine...my car look`s great...I got a lot of flack from people on Autogeek....
 
I can tell you are a beginner. Let me help you ☺
Unless you have some sort of deathwish you must use a dedicated car wash soap. Keep using Dawn and you will dry out your seals and ruin your finish.

Another pro tip: Armor All will crack your dash.

Your welcome!
 
Heard that about dawn. Used it in my younger days and don’t remember it messing up my finish or drying up my seals.


Also he said he used it for a prep wash before coating. Not on his maintenance washes.

Maybe it works great but through great marketing now we have to buy prep wash soaps instead of using the cheap dawn or other dish soaps we have on hand?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
bad penny said:
I can tell you are a beginner. Let me help you ☺
Unless you have some sort of deathwish you must use a dedicated car wash soap. Keep using Dawn and you will dry out your seals and ruin your finish.

Another pro tip: Armor All will crack your dash.

Your welcome!
Click to expand...

Any proof?? Pictures of your own Loach-worthy scientific test and results to verify and corroborate your "analysis" will be necessary to defend, what I consider, misinformation.

The drying out of seals part? Yes, that may be true, but that could also happen if someone were to use detailing degreaser on seals EVERY time they washed a vehicle. I do know that using too much Dawn soap when doing a lot of dishes (Captain Obvious "more is needed for deep-cleaning" mentality) WILL dry out your hands like other degreasers (Optimum Power Wash or Super Clean, the Purple Stuff), so maybe I shouldn`t dis your paint-drying analysis.

As far as the Armour-All drying out dashes, that MAY have been true several years ago (35+) when Armour-All first came out, but they have since changed their formulations. If it continued to be a problem, you would think that there would be legal litigation about it. The fact that this product continues to be sold OTC and is probably the #1 OTC rubber and vinyl protectant product purchased by neophyte car-care consumers seems to negates your analysis. No, I do not use it anymore because it discolored light-colored vinyl in my experience, but that, too, was when it first came out.
 
Lonnie --
Look at post # 9, and then # 10 ---
Bad Penny was just being sarcastic... See his :)
Dan F
 
Original ArmorAll used dimethal silicone fluid for it`s resin, over 25 tears ago they moved to the same PDMS resin all others use for their resin. Many variations of PDMS resins chemical. Some are even in automotive paints, termed siloxanes.
Lot of old wives tales still circulating, much as with such as Dawn dish soap.
 
bad penny said:
I can tell you are a beginner. Let me help you ☺
Unless you have some sort of deathwish you must use a dedicated car wash soap. Keep using Dawn and you will dry out your seals and ruin your finish.

Another pro tip: Armor All will crack your dash.

Your welcome!
Click to expand...

Just FWIW, I`ve had utterly different experiences with regard to those products doing damage.

-Dawn never hurt *anything* for me (or the guys at my dealership who used it on nasty inventory for the first step)

-Armor All never hurt anhyting either, not even the old V1.0 stuff. Plenty of people here (including the MIA ScottWax) still use it for some things


No, I don`t use those products these days, but if they damaged things for you then your experiences were completely different from those of anybody I`ve ever known.

NO, I`m not challenging what you posted, different experiences just show how YMMV.
 
Ron Ketcham- Wonder if I just went through tires faster in the `70s (before the AA could affect `em)...and why AA didn`t damage my dashboards back then...not that it matters since they changed it, but still....
 
My father bought a scad of AA some time ago and I’m still using it up on his tires and wells. It doesn’t hurt a thing it just doesn’t last long at all.
 
been a member since 2016...I only used it one time....now I use uber sio2 coating wash....The top gun on autogeek also has used it at times...I figured if it was ok for him to use it...why not me...
 
Tires back then used different ingrediants and rubber, were bias belted, 25,000 miles was average life. They literally beat themselves to death while being driven. Today 60,000 or more miles is not uncommon. The dimethal silicone fluid used in the first ArmorAll, is very migratory and would leech important chemicals such as plastizers , anti-oxidant waxes, etc from the rubber or plastics. Contributed to premature degradation.
 
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