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You use dish soap as often as you clay, once maybe twice a year. It won't kill the paint.
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You don't use dishsoap on a car at all. *I* think that's seriously stupid and it's more than my humble opinion. There are facts. See the bolded section below for my reiteration and the second for the proper procedure some folks are advocating the use of dishsoap for. Claying is fine twice a year. I reccomend and ideally detail my car as specified below twice a year. Once in spring to clean it up for summer. Once in the fall to protect it for winter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MOKAN
DUDE! Please listen to me. There's a lot of BAD advice in this thread. DO NOT use dish soap on your 2011 Camaro! THAT will dull your paint. You know how dish soap is obviously designed to cut grease from dishes, pots and pans? That same effect will not only strip your wax, but also strip the natural and necessary oil from your car's paint. You know how part of maintaining a car's paint is polishing? Polishing is basically oil. It is "paint conditioner". It's best the paint is always fully nourished with oil. The polishing process is what makes the paint shiny and have depth. Dish soap reverses the polishing process. Again, don't use dishsoap.
Meguiar's car care products are top notch. Some of the best. Everything you need can be found at the below link as well as at Walmart or any auto parts store. AVOID Turtle Wax's products - some of their stuff will inflict scratches and swirls into your car. My had has a 56 Corvette, 40 Chevy Coupe, and a few other nice cars and he uses Meguiar's products. I've also used Meguiar's on my Mercedes.
First, I would HAND wash your car with a good wash mitt and good car wash. Make sure you get the lips of the fenders and all the cracks and crevices really good. Look closely at the paint as you're going along washing it, make sure you scrub off any specks of tar or stuck-on junk. If it's bad enough, you may need to buy and use a tar remover with a rag in the specific areas tar is on the car. Here's the car wash I use. It washes well, leaves the car slick, and leaves a layer of supplemental wax. I like it because it really works and keeps the paint protected and makes the real wax job last longer if you hand wash it with this stuff every time:
You need to dry the car with a good chamois, following the directions that come with it and wringing it frequently. I use the real thing, but whatever you think works for you.
Step 2 - Clay Bar (since you want to):
I would use the product I'll link below. Meguiar "Smooth Surface Clay Kit". It comes with everything you need and instructions. The idea here is to spray the car with the quik detailer and form the clay into a bar and glide it across the paint to pick up any contamination and oxidation. The clay should glide very smoothly over most of the car. It will only grab where it is actually removing contamination:
The product in the link below, used by hand with a FOAM pad only, will not only remove the wax, but also polish the paint and further remove any contamination, oxidation, and even very light swirls or scratches. It has very mild cleaning micro-abrasive power and is made to be used with a machine, so I feel it's especially safe to use twice a year or so. Use it lightly, not vigorously. It'll do it's job:
If you have a dark colored car and want to ensure it has a maximum shine, you can follow the above process with a "pure polish", which is just polishing oil - no cleaning or abrasive power. It will ensure quite a shine, but eventually this stuff becomes a lot of work!:
I use caranuba (natural) wax, but you could use the Ultimate Wax, which is synthetic. A lot of people believe the synthetic lasts longer. Wax goes a long way, you don't need to think of coat, but it should be even all over the car. Let it glaze, work to polish it off! Then go back over it to get what you missed. Personally, I do two coats of wax, which you have to wait at least 12 hours for the second for the first to fully bond or whatever otherwise it's pointless. So I usually try to do the first at night and do the next the next morning. You don't wanna drive your car and then wax it again. Do it while it's clean as you don't wanna get dust and stuff on the paint and wax over it!
The only other thing I can say is make sure you get everything buffed off with a terry cloth before going to the next step. When you're all done, you can go over the car with a clean rag for one last buffing so you don't end up seeing wax in spots when you get the car out in the sun.
Good luck! And don't use dish soap on a nice car like that!
So I've had my 2011 Camaro SS for about 10 months, and I've yet to wax it. I've noticed the paint isn't looking as shiny as it did when I bought it. Plus I did the "plastic baggy test" and the surface of my car is very bumpy to the touch. So I figure its time to do a clay and wax job. I've never done either and I've seen stories on the net about how claybars can be quite abrasive on your paint. Can anyone give an amateur any pointers so I don't destroy my paint? BTW I think I'm going with Meguiars products, but if there is something any better I'm open to suggestions.
I am going to be the first one to say this, but a 2011 Camaro SS is a nice car that is quite expensive, and if I could afford a car like that, I would take it to a professional detailer who knows what they are doing. There is no reason to be even consider "claying or using dish soap" on this this car. Spend the money and do it right.
I am going to be the first one to say this, but a 2011 Camaro SS is a nice car that is quite expensive, and if I could afford a car like that, I would take it to a professional detailer who knows what they are doing. There is no reason to be even consider "claying or using dish soap" on this this car. Spend the money and do it right.
Aren't you female? You may not understand what it means to clean your own car - that's how you know you're doing it right and it saves money. Using dish soap on a car's paint is stupid, but consumer-grade clay is completely safe and smart to do before rewaxing a car. You don't want to just wax over oxidation and contamination - that's what claying removes. It's really not that hard to detail your own car and once you learn, it's a skill that stays with you. The problem comes when you get stupid people telling you to use dish soap, but then I think only a stupid person wouldn't be skeptical about that advice.
Aren't you female? You may not understand what it means to clean your own car - that's how you know you're doing it right and it saves money. Using dish soap on a car's paint is stupid, but consumer-grade clay is completely safe and smart to do before rewaxing a car. You don't want to just wax over oxidation and contamination - that's what claying removes. It's really not that hard to detail your own car and once you learn, it's a skill that stays with you. The problem comes when you get stupid people telling you to use dish soap, but then I think only a stupid person wouldn't be skeptical about that advice.
Using dish soap occasionally with the intent of stripping off all products prior to detailing will in no way at all under any conditions ever do any damage whatsoever to the paint. It is a tried and true method of cleaning the paint.
Your blather about oiling the paint is silly, given that modern paint is covered by clearcoat. Repeatedly calling everyone who suggested using dish soap stupid doesn't make your point any more truthful. It just makes you look like an ass.
Our previous Car Care Myth article cleared up the misconceptions about waterless car washes. Now, while we are on the subject of car washing, let’s talk about dish soap as car wash. Let me begin by saying, hearing about this rarely gives me any joy, so I hope after this article there will be a new dawn of car wash understanding.
I generally learn about someone using dish soap as car wash shortly after a fielding a complaint about their last wax application only lasting a couple weeks before the shine and water beads were gone. Their soap selection was the cause of the shortened wax life. While the detergents in dish soap do a great job cleaning the car (and the leftover casserole left in your baking dish), they also remove much more than just the dirt from the surface. The detergents break down the wax, stripping it away and leaving your paint dull and unprotected.
Good car wash soap will not contain any detergents and will be rich in lubricants (which safely lubricate the dirt, allowing it to glide from the vehicles paint). A “feel test” you can use to test your car wash is to put a small amount of it between your finger and thumb and rub it back and forth. You will notice that better car washes will be much more slippery. Lesser ones may contain detergents to “help” clean the car (since the lubricants aren’t there), so make sure you check that before buying.Car Care Myth: Dish Soap Makes a Great Car Wash!*|*In My Garage
Having posted that there are times when you want to strip all the wax off, but first wash the car to remove ay dirt.
But for the average guy or for the average car wash do not use dish soap.
I suggest, wash it with dish soap, then go back and do a 2 bucket wash with dish soap. One bucket gets the dirty sponge, then you dip in the clean bucket.
Then I wash with a good car wash. I get a spray bottle fill it with a mixture of carwash and water, I spray areas and use the claybar.
Ideally in the shade with the spray mix listed above. The clay bar feels like a hockey puck on ice. You will see it "snag" on areas, that is where you need to keep going over, until it eventually feels like a hockey puck on ice.
Be careful as said before about dropping it. With the slick soap and floating it around like a hockey puck it can get away from you quickly.
I always thought the 2 bucket wash was one bucket for the wheels/lower body and the other bucket was for the sides/top of car.
Aren't you female? You may not understand what it means to clean your own car - that's how you know you're doing it right and it saves money. Using dish soap on a car's paint is stupid, but consumer-grade clay is completely safe and smart to do before rewaxing a car. You don't want to just wax over oxidation and contamination - that's what claying removes. It's really not that hard to detail your own car and once you learn, it's a skill that stays with you. The problem comes when you get stupid people telling you to use dish soap, but then I think only a stupid person wouldn't be skeptical about that advice.
No, I am male. We are all different, but what I originally stated is how I feel. I would not take a chance messing up the paint when I could easily take it to someone who knows what they are doing.
Using dish soap occasionally with the intent of stripping off all products prior to detailing will in no way at all under any conditions ever do any damage whatsoever to the paint. It is a tried and true method of cleaning the paint.
Your blather about oiling the paint is silly, given that modern paint is covered by clearcoat. Repeatedly calling everyone who suggested using dish soap stupid doesn't make your point any more truthful. It just makes you look like an ass.
Most modern paintjobs do have a clearcoat, correct. But it needs to be protected and nourished, not stripped of it's natural oils so that it loses its shine and breaks down quicker. Why would you use dishsoap when their are paint cleaning products available? Maybe those of you suggesting dishsoap simply have never had a nice car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by las vegas drunk
No, I am male. We are all different, but what I originally stated is how I feel. I would not take a chance messing up the paint when I could easily take it to someone who knows what they are doing.
I wouldn't use a rotary buffer myself, which absolutely can cause damage if you don't know what you're doing. But my instructions are for working by hand and if you take the time to learn, you'll be just fine. It's not that hard. Even a DA polisher, which basically just provides the elbow grease for you, is safe for somebody who understands what they're doing, follows instructions, and has some common sense. I respect your stand on having a detailer do it for you though. There are certainly more complex things I won't do myself. I guess we're all at different levels.
But yeah, don't use dish soap on your car's paint. That's stupid.
Personally, I don't even like using high-pressure carwash wands regularly and generally only do so for wheel wells and the undercarriage, like after salty road conditions. And I would never use an automated carwash. I guess I just have high standards. Being that the OP has a newer Camaro, I bet he wants the best for his car too.
Make sure your car is parked in shade for a while and the car surface is cool, wash it rinse it properly and ensure its completely dry Rub the clay bar front and back not up and down on the car's surface. Work on the paint from the top to the bottom. Start with the roof, hood and trunk, and work down the car to the bottom so that there wont be any stains as well as there is evenness to the job. make sure that your clay bar is free from dirt and without any scratches.
^^^ doesn't need to be dry, actually you will be spraying water with some soap in it to lube the clay bar. you can go up, down from to back and any other direction just avoid going in circles.
Your car/truck should already be clean so you can start any were you wish.
front quarter panel and work your way around.
Top to bottom is good for washing, and we have all ready done that.
as your clay bar gets dirty, meed it, if you drop it cut that stuff off of the bar or get a fresh chunk to avoid scratches
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