I have always washed my cars with soap at home but since its winter I use the high presure sprayer at the car wash and I never use soap , So last night at about 11 I had my other car out, (97 eclipse) it has not been washed since I bought my Z about a month and a half ago, It is a green car but there was so much salt caked on the car I thought it would be a nightmare to clean, So I went and sprayed it off last night, This morning I go out side to take a look at it and the thing looks awsome, I didnt even towel dry it, all I did was spray it down, So whats the point on useing soap? this worked just fine

 

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The title of the thread is "Why wash the car with soap?"

so i replied...It is not as rough on your paint...plus you can agitate the surface with a sponge or mit of whatever you use.(Which will get more dirt off than high pressure water) I feel like my car gets cleaner when i do it by hand, you can tell by the chamois when you dry it off....there isn't any dirt on it. (except when i get the door jambs...then it gets a little dirty.)


EDIT: All my changes are in red.

 

[QUOTE=kwiker]It is not a rough on your paint...plus you can agitate the surface with a sponge or mit of whatever you use.

Well my Z is black and it does have some swirls in it, but Thats what I want to stay away from ,it ruining the paint by useing sponges

 

Depending on the soap used it helps to lift the dirt off the paint so there is less chance of scratching the surface.

You must have really soft water, if you didn't dry your car and didn't have any waterspots.

 

always wash your car at night..

 

[QUOTE=dave079]I guess i didn't make my point very clear...i was saying that by using a mitt you can agitate the surface and get more dirt off, dust is the only thing that high pressure water is going to get off...surely not all the crap on his car if he hasn't washed it in a week, much less a month and a half.

I use two buckets that both have grates at the bottom to allow the dirt to fall down underneath so i don't get it back in my mitt, one for soap and one for rinsing the mitt, a genuine wool wash mitt, a good car shampoo (i'm using Jeff Werkstatt on my Z right now, but i like Pinnacle and Sonus also) I wash it from the top down in sections rinsing the mitt and car after every section (more frequently towards the bottom of the car), and then i have a small "leaf blower" that i use to get water out of the cracks and kinda get the majority of the water off the car before i use a waffle weave micro fiber to dry the rest. I usually follow this up with a quick detailer to get any water spots that might be on the car since usually it is very sunny and hot and some of it dries up before i can get it in the garage to finish drying it off.

When i got my Z i spent 18 hours on just the paint, there are no swirl marks or marring of any kind on any of my cars. I hope you just misunderstood what i was trying to tell the OP because i am probably the last person in this thread that needs to learn the basics.

I'll edit my original post so that everyone can understand it better.



EDIT: something is wrong with the quoting function i think.

 

^^^^hahaha, yeah, i figured that it was a mistake when i quoted you and it did something else, i guess the forum is on the fritz.

 

My concern with using a high-pressure sprayer is that the jet of water is hitting the dirt and driving it into the paint for an instant. That seems like there is more potential there for damaging your paint than by properly washing with a mitt and soap. Top detailers only use a high pressure washer for the engine, undercarriage, wheel wells, etc. Never on the painted surfaces.

The main reason for using a mitt is because of its ability to hold a lot of soapy water. You're using it to float the dirt away from the surface. You should be rinsing it each time you wash a small section.

I use two 5 gallon buckets, one with soapy water, then other with clean water. I wash a section (1/2 the roof for example), then rinse and wring dry the mitt before getting it soapy again. I repeat for each section I do. The soapy water stays clean so you're not re-applying it to the car.

 

I go to soapless car wash all the time.