Don25 said:
By the way, somebody had posted about washing a car too often is a leading cause of swirls....could someone elaborate what causes the swirls, even if you use a strictly back and forth motion??
It's not the frequency in-and-of itself, although the more often you wash the more potential opportunities for marring. Every time you wash you risk marring, but the risk also increases as the vehicle gets dirtier.
I'd wash when it needs it, whatever "when it needs it" means to you.
Wash-induced marring comes from pressing something hard (e.g., dirt) against the paint and the moving that hard stuff while it's under pressure.
It's not the direction, it's abrasive dirt cutting into the paint just like a knife would cut a piece of wood. Straight scratches are just a bit less noticeable than circular ones because of the more limited viewing angle (there's one viewing angle that'll make a scratch look its worst and with a circular scratch you get all 360 degrees of viewing angle so you're gonna get that one "worst angle" no matter what).
Lots of ways to lessen the chance/severity of marring. A good start is to *never* move the wash media in long, sweeping motions and *never* apply any significant pressure to said media. Use short, interrupted "jiggling" motions instead and just barely whisk the mitt/etc. across the panel with minimal pressure. If using a mitt, fill it with wash solution and let the solution seep out to provide some extra lubrication and flushing. Never keep moving a dirty mitt across the paint, rinse it out.
I dunno...I simply *must* use a foamgun (and the right techniques) to wash without marring, but that's just me. [insert usual dislodge-and-flush foamgun lecture here..]
Give some thought to this; what the causes are, what types of marring are more obvious than others, how to minimize both the frequency and severity of it. It's not quite as simple as one might think and it might not be something everybody figures out with only an hour or two of consideration.
