Stripping wax with dish soap and vinegar

E

edonthenet

New member
Does this sound right? :nixweiss

The local auto store recommends this for prewashing before claying. He says that mixing about 2 cups of white vinegar with enough Dawn dish soap to suds up a bucket of water works fine.

The car is 1 month old but was waxed with tree pollen stuck to the hood.
 
I think either would work fine for stripping wax. Dish soap would trip it as well as a wash with Vinegar since it is acidic (5% mix of Acetic Acid).



But you really do not need to strip wax for claying. I"ll wash, clay, polish, and wax without doing any dish soap wash or anything else to strip the old coat of wax.
 
Well, he recommended stripping the wax as a good base for claying. Kind of a prep/pre-super cleaning to bring out all the evils.

There is also some water spots on the paint which stick out like a sore thumb (to me). The color is a dark cherry metallic on a Pontiac Grand Prix and to be honest, it is quite intimidating. It seems a very touchy color.

It's also the bosses car (wifey) so I really need to do a good job on this.
 
edonthenet said:
Well, he recommended stripping the wax as a good base for claying. Kind of a prep/pre-super cleaning to bring out all the evils.

There is also some water spots on the paint which stick out like a sore thumb (to me). The color is a dark cherry metallic on a Pontiac Grand Prix and to be honest, it is quite intimidating. It seems a very touchy color.

It's also the bosses car (wifey) so I really need to do a good job on this.
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Well, if you're planning on polishing, then that will get the water spots out. Clay most probably will not. I've heard of people having a good success getting rid of water spots by diluting down vinegar though. I know several people with boats who do a 50/50 wash of water/vinegar to get rid of water spots. I know some of the other Acid systems out there for paint use diluted hydrochloric (muriatic) acid and Oxalic acid so I doubt vinegar would hurt the paint.
 
Dish soap is somewhat overkill, but I have used it on occasion because it gets VERY sudsy and it helps to clean everything from wheels to glass to wheel wells.
 
I would wash with a normal (paint) shampoo, clay and then polish and not worry about the dishwashing liquid or vinegar.



If you are keen to rid the paint of all applied products there are various systems ie Autoint etc. In the first instance I would still go for the basic wash-clay-polish routine
 
I'd rather use a product *made* to strip the wax, but rubbing alohcol (straight or mixed with water) works well too. In my experience, dish soap (e.g., Dawn) doesn't really strip wax very well. Doesn't dent products like #16 or Collinite, even when used in strong mixes. Vinegar won't hurt anything and might work on the water spots, but IMO it's not the best way to remove wax.



Only problem with just polishing through the wax is that you might get a messy residue. Not a huge problem, but sometimes (e.g., using PI-III MG to cut through KSG) the residue can be very hard to buff off. A quick spray with a rubbing alcohol/water mix and a wipe with a MF will at least remove *most* of whatever LSP is on there, and it only takes a moment.



I don't get the "claying will remove wax" thing...I've clayed for well over a decade (since detailing clay came out), do it almost every time I wash, and it sure doesn't strip my LSP :nixweiss Having experimented with claying through LSPs, I just can't imagine that people clay this way on a regular basis. Whenever I tried intentionally claying through my LSP, I had to be so aggressive about it that I was claying incorrectly and risking marring.
 
Accumulator, You're knowledge and contributions here are second to none. Thank You :xyxthumbs



Accumulator said:
I'd rather use a product *made* to strip the wax, but rubbing alohcol (straight or mixed with water) works well too. In my experience, dish soap (e.g., Dawn) doesn't really strip wax very well. Doesn't dent products like #16 or Collinite, even when used in strong mixes. Vinegar won't hurt anything and might work on the water spots, but IMO it's not the best way to remove wax.



Only problem with just polishing through the wax is that you might get a messy residue. Not a huge problem, but sometimes (e.g., using PI-III MG to cut through KSG) the residue can be very hard to buff off. A quick spray with a rubbing alcohol/water mix and a wipe with a MF will at least remove *most* of whatever LSP is on there, and it only takes a moment.



I don't get the "claying will remove wax" thing...I've clayed for well over a decade (since detailing clay came out), do it almost every time I wash, and it sure doesn't strip my LSP :nixweiss Having experimented with claying through LSPs, I just can't imagine that people clay this way on a regular basis. Whenever I tried intentionally claying through my LSP, I had to be so aggressive about it that I was claying incorrectly and risking marring.
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sQuashed said:
Accumulator, You're knowledge and contributions here are second to none...
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Thanks, but I can think of plenty of Autopians who know and contribute a *lot* more than I do. There are just a few areas where my experiences have taught me some things.
 
tabinha said:
Did you say you clay everytime you wash?
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Yeah, sounds sorta goofy huh? At least it might've before the new Sonus green clay came out. I wash so gently that some contaminants remain stuck to/in my LSP. Gentle claying removes this stuff without marring the paint or compromising my LSP. I do go through a lot of clay, but I consider it a renewable resource. The combination of gentle washes and clay results in not having to redo my LSP (as required after bug/tar removers) let alone repolish the vehicle (as can happen when the finish gets marred in washing, aggressive claying, etc.).
 
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