dealing w/ morning dew

R

randyt

New member
it's my first time w/o a covered garage for my car.

What's the best way to deal w/ morning dew?



the car is usually clean. i QD it after coming home from work.

When i get up, the hood and roof are covered w/ dew.

Can i just wipe it off w/ a MF towel?

or should i just drive to work and let the wind take care of it?

Do i need to spray QD on the dew and then wipe off?

i'm thinking if the car is clean, i can safely wipe off the dew w/ a MF? or is there a chance of scratching/swirling by doing that?



Thanks.
 
If it's really early in the morning; as in: it's still dark out, then wiping it off probably won't do much. I think it'll normally just come back due to the moisture in the air. If it's later and you risk the dew drying, I guess you could just dry it w/a towel or water blade.



If you leave it, you could come out and QD it on your lunch break :D
 
Since i have become almost fanatical about keeping my vehicle clean i always take the time to water blade then waffle weave towel dry the vehicle. if you do this every day it will become habit and will only really take a few minutes.
 
so as long as the surface is clean, it won't do much harm to dry the moisture off in the morning, before heading to work?

that's my main concern. i spend so much time keeping it nice and clean and as swirl free as possible, that i'd hate to be putting in swirls by wiping off the dew every morning.



I told me wife we need to move to a place with a covered garage.

haha.
 
cwcad said:
Since i have become almost fanatical about keeping my vehicle clean i always take the time to water blade then waffle weave towel dry the vehicle. if you do this every day it will become habit and will only really take a few minutes.
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Not the best option. Consider vehicle traffic kicking up dust, landing on the surface, bugs, bird droppings. Your better off drying (ww) in the a.m.

The best option would be to blast it with the water hose, then dry, i know its time consuming, but your going out on a limb doing all of this in the a.m. before your work routine. Thats a little more than Im willing to do at 6 a.m.! I'll go ahead, let the dew have it, then QD when i get home in the pm.



Great question though, hope this stays alive a while!
 
randyt said:
so as long as the surface is clean, it won't do much harm to dry the moisture off in the morning, before heading to work?

..i'd hate to be putting in swirls by wiping off the dew every morning.
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That "...is clean.." is the crux of the matter. IMO sometime there's gonna be something abrasive that doesn't get caught up in the MF/whatever when you dry/QD it and you'll mar the finish. It's a tradeoff that you'll have to decide on for yourself.



If it were mine I would *not* touch it and, well, I really would do whatever's necessary to move to a place with a garage. But then I sorta let the vehicles play a huge role in where we live :o FWIW, when I have a car that I'm leaving outside, I just leave the dew/etc. alone and accept that it's gonna be imperfect because of it. Better that than the imperfections I call marring.
 
hey, if i had a choice i would have a garage. yet, that is not an option. do i want to have the cleanest car that i can have all the time (yes)? well i have to do the work. if the dew stays on the vehicle then there are streaks that would not be there if i took the time to water blade them off and dry them. i use light pressure and the bulk is gone. follow that with the drying towels and the vehicle is clean when you leave. when i arrive home i use the duster and quick detail spray to put it to bed .
 
I've wondered, too, if dew counts the same as rain as far as the curing of sealants. Will dew prevent the cross-linking necessary. I know to be sure there are a few dry days coming before applying sealant, but do I have to worry about the dew?
 
ZJ JIM 96 said:
I've wondered, too, if dew counts the same as rain as far as the curing of sealants. Will dew prevent the cross-linking necessary. I know to be sure there are a few dry days coming before applying sealant, but do I have to worry about the dew?
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Water is water. :nixweiss
 
randyt said:
i'm thinking if the car is clean, i can safely wipe off the dew w/ a MF? or is there a chance of scratching/swirling by doing that?
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Soon as you drive it around the block it is no longer clean .. Like Accumulator said .. your risking.



I'll only QD at a car show and only if I drove a few miles to it. Also right after as wash. If the show is more than a few miles I get there and find a coin op and use the rinse only to cleanthe car of dust.. then I dry ..



Buy a black car .. it will answer all your questions.
 
Corey Bit Spank said:
Water is water. :nixweiss
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That's what I was afraid of. I was just hoping against hope that it was okay. I want to add 2 more layers of Klasse, but I can't overnight in the garage 'til we sell the other car that I just detailed the hell out of!
 
I would go the conservative route as well, which basically means not wiping off the morning dew. There will be some type of dust/dirt/contamination from driving the car the previous day, and you will be risking marring/swirl marks by wiping it dry.
 
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