I find myself going to the Laser wash more often now since it's getting very cold and don't want to freeze my butt outside trying to clean it once a week... but anyway...what is that rainbow soap that sprays all over the truck? I mean it's thick, enough where you can't see out the windows what so ever when they wash sprays it on, and plus it smell like cherry or something?

is that rainbow soap crap good for the paint and wax??

anyone know what I'm talking about with that stuff?



P.S.. its not soup, its soap

 

A company called Stone Soap Company makes it... they advertise in Car Washing & Detailing Magazine -- it's a trade publication that I get.

 

If it wasn't obviously a substance all over that car I'd ask if it recently visited Pimp My Ride.

Oh and RP, your holding out on me. I didn't know there was a magazine! Where do I sign up?

- Chris

 

I think you'll find that virtually any "touchless" car wash soap pretty much removes everything - dirt, bugs, wax... the wax removal effect is somewhat masked by thw "spray wax" applied as a final step in some places.

 

To a certain extent, the 'spray wax' is nothing more than a surfactant that gives the 'beading' effect more so than the 'protected' effect. It probably offers 'some' protection but, generally speaking, it's probably less than a good thin coating of bird poo.

-RP-

 

especially true considering that almost all of those spray waxes are in concentrate form, and mixed with water either prior to, or during application ..

In a lot of full service car wash aplications, it is actually used as a "cheater wax" . something that is applied to the car prior to or in conjunction to final rinse, to make the car easier to dry off for the attendants.

 

I use one of them DIY pressure wash bays when it's too cold out to hook up my own gear. I normally pressure wash with the soap selection and then rinse with the wax selection. That gives the most bang for buck in the winter ($5 and 5 or so minutes gets it fairly clean).

I have a coat of NXT and a coat of Megs #26 over that so that should keep me well protected through the winter.

 

Newsflash......all car wash chemicals are cut with water during application in any tunnel.

There is no such thing as a "cheater wax" persay. The tri-foam application is a Lo-Ph cleaner and drying agent. It will remain on the car for about 7 days, so if it rains it will help to get the "acidic" rain off the car faster to keep it from etching your paint. And attendants have very little to dry, as most washes have 120HP worth of blowers to get the water off. What little is left is then wiped off by the attendant.

Now, is it worth it. Maybe if it rains alot where you are, and it makes a real good show the kids like (its not a cheap chemical either) but in the end, there is NO substitute for an applying wax that dries and then is wiped off. (hand wax, orbital wax)

 

don't know if you meant to come across as a less than nice reply, but it did to me .. (if not, no harm)

couple of things .. first off .. saying all chemicals are cut during application is wrong, unless you are referring to the fact they are all applied in a tunnel of spraying water .. some are cut in the barrel, and applied straight from the barrel via pump .. some are cut in the barrel, and then applied via siphon, which in effect, cuts them again, and some are metered and pulled form the barrel, and cut as they are applied. .. I was simply trying to show the main reason for their lack of durabilty, and the fact they they are not a suitable replacement for a quality, hand applied product.. is that they are a water based product.


Secondly . There is such a thing as cheater wax. Some products are actually labeled as such when sold, others simply marketed that way. but most large tunnels, along with several types of self serv drive in bays (touchless, rollovers, etc) use cheater waxes. There are several options available to the operator to assist in more efficient water removal by whatever blower system they are using, drying agents, cheater wax, etc ., and most final rinse arches can be configured to use any of those options.

I was not referring to the tri color foam as a cheater wax .. but rather stating that almost all tunnels use some sort of spray wax as a cheater wax, whether the consumer purchases an add in spray wax or not, the purpose of which is to aid in the drying of the car by allowing the blowers to remove water more effeciently prior to the attendant finishing the drying job.

 

And on the non-technical side, since most "touchless" car washes completely remove any wax you so lovingly applied - and none of them replace it with anything of substance - once you go through one, you've got to re-wax. Yes, that was a great technical discussion of what actually happens (which is kind of cool actually), but that's why I stay away from this kind of wash.

 

naaa no way. How in the world can just a touch less car wash take your wax off??

trust me, I'm a neat freak when it comes to my truck, I take it to the lazer wash at least once a week during the winter months, and take it back home to dry it off, and trust me, my wax is still on there, smooth as a babys butt yet.

thats like saying going through a bad rain storm on a highway takes ur wax off... no way, no how

 

OK genius...there are chemicals out there that dissolve wax. An example of this would be Simple Green, etc. The list is endless, so I won't even go on as to the various solvents of emulsions such as wax. (Any alcohol based substance will, too.)

And no, rain doesn't take off wax instantly, but rain isn't a barrage of harsh chemicals formulated to make filthy cars look somewhat decent to the untrained eye.

 

thats nice and all, but I don't wash my car with alcohol or with Simple Green.

I'm talking about lazer car washes. They no not take your wax off

 

I dont see a problem with washing a car [by hand] this time of year. oh thats right, it was 75 degrees the last 4 days...
-Patrick

 

OK, so let me toss this one up to the experts. The local "touchless" car wash used to have a booth (well before you entered the actual car wash) where they took your money and wrote the type of wash you paid for on your windshield with wax pencil. (I repeat - WAX pencil.) After you went through the wash, not only was your vehicle clean, but the wax pencil was gone. How'd they do that? By the way, my Zaino was gone too.

Second thought. I'd be very willing to bet that every car wash uses slightly different chemicals and / or concentrations of said chemicals. Ever wonder how you can get a filthy, dirty vehicle absolutely clean without any mechanical (sponge, brush, etc.) intervention? That would be "better living through chemicals." I'd also offer that said chemicals would have to be reasonably aggressive. ("Aggressive" not always being the same as "harmful" by the way.) So maybe some of us are getting our wax removed at certain car washes and some of the folks posting here who run "better" car washes would get our trucks clean and leave our wax intact?