Washing and Drying Technique

[Too Stroked]

I had lunch the other day with a friend of mine who does more detailing than I do and we got to talking about ? well, detailing. He brought up an interesting point about washing and drying that I wanted to share with you guys to see if it made sense and / or might be a better way to explain things. Here goes.

His theory went back to the way oil protects your engine. In your engine, you have lots of metal parts the move one against the other. Without lubrication (a thin film of oil), friction would increase causing wear, scratching, galling, heat, and all sorts of other bad stuff. So the purpose of the oil is to create a layer that separates the moving parts from one another, and thus reduces the resulting friction. OK, as a Mechanical Engineer, that one made sense to me.

Moving to washing and drying a car, he proposed that the same theory holds true. When you?re washing your vehicle, you need a thin film of water and detergent to act as the lubricating layer ? preventing damage to the paint. Obviously water mixed with a proper detergent has better lubricating qualities than water alone. Even with this lubricating layer, large particles such as dirt can still scratch the surface while they?re in suspension. (This is why you have an oil filter on your engine ? to remove particles before they do any more damage.) So he suggested that I think about oil, lubrication and suspended particles every time I wash and dry a vehicle. If you think about it, this should lead to hosing the vehicle very thoroughly first to get the big stuff off, letting the detergent soak in a bit to work before hitting it with a wash mitt, using plenty of soapy water with the wash mitt, and not apply too much pressure to the mitt.

As for drying, he proposed that it could be even more dangerous than washing because the end goal is actually to remove the lubricating layer of water all together. All things being equal, the drier the surface gets, the more damage one can do to it. He suggested the ?blow dry? method most of us use to get most of the water off, then ?blot drying? with a good, clean, soft microfiber towel to get the rest.

So, this is probably not new news, but maybe a helpful explanation ? which is what this site?s all about. Hope this helps someone, and feel free to chime in and correct any part of it!

[Les22]

All makes perfect sense to me. In fact I may print this and hand it to my neighbor next time he comes out of his garage and points his cane at me....and I have to shut off my back pack blower to hear him ask me..."what in the hell are ye doin now boy?" :rofl:

[DnD Auto Detailing]

Thats why I love the foam guns. Removes some lose dirt before you even touch the paint.

[Too Stroked]

DnD,

Yup, that's what I was thinking as soon as I heard him say it. I'll probably turn up the detergent concentration a few notches next time I use mine - in the spring!