Hi, everyone. Seeking your counsel.
The hood on my 2004 Acura TSX (Nighthawk Black Pearl, 84,000 miles) was replaced two weeks ago. (Bare-bones explanation: rust appeared in a seam on the underside of the original hood when the car was still under warranty; dealer’s body shop tried to repair and refinish the area of the seam, but the rust reappeared pretty quickly; another R&R attempt was ruled out in favor of hood replacement.) Anyway, it’s a new, OEM hood that was painted and installed by the dealer’s body shop. (Not that it matters, but the new hood has Autobahnd protective film on it, as its predecessor did.) So far, the paint job seems fine, but putting a critical eye on your car’s paint isn’t easy in the dead of winter (in New England and other snow zones, at least).
These winter conditions and the recent thread about how soon you can safely wax new paint prompt this message from me. I’m probably going to play it safe and wait at least until March to put anything – wax or sealant – on the hood, but now I’m wondering just how careful I have to be about washing the hood.
I don’t have a garage, so my winter washing routine is to go to the nearby car wash and use the hand-held wand to thoroughly rinse the car and get as much crud as I can off the wheels and out of the wheel wells, then drive home – a few miles – and give the car a two-bucket ONR wash.
Do you think that method might do any harm at all to the new paint on the hood? My primarily cause for worry is the water that comes out of the wand at the car wash. (By the way, I don’t pull the wand’s trigger to dramatically pressurize the spray; I’m not trying to blast the car clean. I also just have the wand on the RINSE setting. I wouldn’t doubt that there’s some residual soap in the water, though.)
By the time I get home and get set up to begin using the ONR, the water on the car has at least partially dried, and thanks to the dirt and salt the rinsing didn’t get off , and to whatever besides water was in the water that came from the wand, the paint still looks far from clean. Streaks everywhere.
The ONR gets most everything off the paint, of course, but I wonder if that “rinse” water from the wand poses any risk to the new paint. And I’m wondering if the new paint will be any more susceptible than the old to wash-mitt marring, at least for a while. (Needless to say, I’m planning to be ultra-gentle when applying mitt to hood.)
Thoughts? Recommendations?
(P.S. Spring can’t get here soon enough.)
The hood on my 2004 Acura TSX (Nighthawk Black Pearl, 84,000 miles) was replaced two weeks ago. (Bare-bones explanation: rust appeared in a seam on the underside of the original hood when the car was still under warranty; dealer’s body shop tried to repair and refinish the area of the seam, but the rust reappeared pretty quickly; another R&R attempt was ruled out in favor of hood replacement.) Anyway, it’s a new, OEM hood that was painted and installed by the dealer’s body shop. (Not that it matters, but the new hood has Autobahnd protective film on it, as its predecessor did.) So far, the paint job seems fine, but putting a critical eye on your car’s paint isn’t easy in the dead of winter (in New England and other snow zones, at least).
These winter conditions and the recent thread about how soon you can safely wax new paint prompt this message from me. I’m probably going to play it safe and wait at least until March to put anything – wax or sealant – on the hood, but now I’m wondering just how careful I have to be about washing the hood.
I don’t have a garage, so my winter washing routine is to go to the nearby car wash and use the hand-held wand to thoroughly rinse the car and get as much crud as I can off the wheels and out of the wheel wells, then drive home – a few miles – and give the car a two-bucket ONR wash.
Do you think that method might do any harm at all to the new paint on the hood? My primarily cause for worry is the water that comes out of the wand at the car wash. (By the way, I don’t pull the wand’s trigger to dramatically pressurize the spray; I’m not trying to blast the car clean. I also just have the wand on the RINSE setting. I wouldn’t doubt that there’s some residual soap in the water, though.)
By the time I get home and get set up to begin using the ONR, the water on the car has at least partially dried, and thanks to the dirt and salt the rinsing didn’t get off , and to whatever besides water was in the water that came from the wand, the paint still looks far from clean. Streaks everywhere.
The ONR gets most everything off the paint, of course, but I wonder if that “rinse” water from the wand poses any risk to the new paint. And I’m wondering if the new paint will be any more susceptible than the old to wash-mitt marring, at least for a while. (Needless to say, I’m planning to be ultra-gentle when applying mitt to hood.)
Thoughts? Recommendations?
(P.S. Spring can’t get here soon enough.)