Pre Treating Panels Prior to Washing

dschribs

New member
When I don`t get a chance to do my regular weekly wash on our cars - there always seems to be some tougher spots that don`t come completely clean w just a normal wash. The majority of the time it`s the rocker panels and fenders behind the wheels. I`m thinking maybe pre-treating/pre-soaking these panels prior to washing might help clean them up a bit before my actual wash.

Do you guys do any pre-cleaning of the dirtier panels prior to washing?

What`s would the most effective/product technique be for areas such as this?

A power washer would probably be ideal but I don`t have one.





 
I use poorboys bug squash cut 3:1 (water:bug squash). Spray and let dwell for a little bit after the initial rinse, then just wash. Cuts through most everything (obviously great for bugs)
 
Noting that I seldom let Bug Juice/etc. dwell for too long lest it compromise my LSP...

When bugs are really bad I use the 1Z version, but that`s pretty unusual.

I`ve tried letting foamgun output dwell for a while, and it *might* help a bit..just some softening of the dirt/etc. and maybe a little help getting it to quit adhering to the panels. But it`s no huge benefit, but is probably worth doing *IF* the [contamination] on the panels is (presumed to be) the sort of stuff that it`ll act on; if it`s tar/etc. or even something that`s just really tenacious, then I don`t discern much benefit. Looking at those pix, that might be the kind of stuff that I`d remove with Sonus SFX clay after doing two or three wash steps (and then I`d wash those areas another time or two).

There used to be a Pre-Soak Solution called PhaseI made just for this, but it never did much of anything for me.

What does work for me? That pressure washer that dschribs doesn`t have and doesn`t appear interested in obtaining. I`m still using the bottom-of-line AR one that I got for Christmas a while back, and while it`s exhibiting some brief periods of, uhm...hiccups...it`s still working so far. IF it dies tomorrow I got my wife`s money`s worth out of it a dozen times over so I`ll just buy another one.
 
Wash right after a rain. All that stuff will be nice and soft, and chances are it won`t rain again for a while.
 
I`m a bit of a rebel in this regard in that I pre-treat with highly diluted APC in most situations. Note that I`m not trying to get maximum life out of my LSP as I reapply on a regular basis, but for my purposes it seems to hold up fine.

I`m using Poorboy`s APC at the moment with success. Bug Squash might be a good choice too but I`m a bit concerned about regular use of it on trim. Also the APC is far more economical as I mix and spray out of a 3 gal garden sprayer.
 
I used HDs Bug "juice" today. Not sure of the official name. Worked... Ok. Poorboys Bug Squash came via Fed Ex today. Looking forward to using it on my next wash.

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