Dawn wash necessary?

2

2002 Maxima SE

New member
I recently used my PC on my 2002 Maxima (waxed with PUPP twice a year). I had a hard time with the polish (SSR2) not coming off completely. Is this because I still had a good base of wax? Should I have washed the car in dawn or some other wax removal wash?



Last night I used SSR2.5 and PC on our 1993 Sable (pics to come) and it worked just like the autopia.org instructions showed. As I made multiple passes, I was left with a very light film on the car. With the max, I had a heavy polish film.
 
Yeah, a healthy layer of LSP can make for tenacious polish residues. To clean the LSP off, I'd just use a mix of rubbing alcohol and water, or even the alcohol straight. Dawn's wax-stripping abilities are vastly overstated and it won't do much of anything to remove a product like UPP.
 
I agree with that. Dawn is not all that good at stripping wax in my experience, and with polymer sealants, it will hardly do anything to the LSP.
 
No need to mix the IPA. Straight from the bottle is not only safe but also maximally effective in oil/wax/sealant removal.



Be careful around rubber/plastic trim. IPA at low concentration or straight will wipe and pull all "close to surface" moisturizers and gloss components from trim.



Dampen a soft MF towel and wipe carefully painted surface only.



A pre-polishing IPA wipedown is an excellent "real" paint condition indicator. It will not only remove old protectants but also fillers. This revelation maybe quite surprising after the paint's "make-up" has been removed. :hairpull
 
To strip any waxes I use a little P21s Total Auto Wash (citrus degreaser in the orange/white bottle) mixed with water and wash like I normally would. Seems to leave a nice "squeeky clean" finish to work with. Usually I clay after, then wash with normal carwash before polishing/lsp.
 
98GT said:
To strip any waxes I use a little P21s Total Auto Wash...
Click to expand...



Yeah, TAW is a handy product to have around, works well on the wheelwells/etc. of daily drivers and other dirty areas. Don't hear much about it these days, and I dunno how commonly available it is. I used to buy it in big jugs, still have a few.
 
I used Dawn to strip the wax on my car prior to starting a Zaino regiment. I found that it did a VERY poor job of stripping even the old NXT that was on the car.



-GT
 
I think it's also worth mentioning that sometimes, a given polish doesn't get along well with a given paint. For example, the first car I used Sonus 2.0 polishes on was a bit troublesome; the polish residues were tough to buff off. I've used the Sonus polishes on three cars since, and on those cars, residue wiped off with no trouble at all.



And trust me, that first car that was problematic . . . no sign of any LSP. Water didn't bead or sheet; it just stuck to the finish like glue.



FWIW,

Tort
 
So you soak the mf in non-diluted alcohol and just wipe like you would with QD? No pressure? Should I replace the MF when it gets dirty or will it not get dirty?
 
zimmerDN said:
So you soak the mf in non-diluted alcohol and just wipe like you would with QD? No pressure? Should I replace the MF when it gets dirty or will it not get dirty?
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That'll work, but most people probably spray it on the paint with a pump bottle. If the MF gets dirty/appears to be loading up with whatever, then get a new one. You'll just have to see how it goes. This really isn't a toughie, probably easier than it sounds.
 
Damping the MF or soft 100% cotton rag is the preferred method because of the ability to control the distribution of the IPA. You DO NOT want to get IPA on molding or rubber seals if at all possible.



One MF or cotton rag will do the whole clean (previously washed) vehicle without "loading" either.

Wash MF/cotton rag as usual after usage



As Accumulator stated, very simple procedure.
 
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