[Raccoon]

Don't know about effect on MF clothes, but amongst the detergents I'v used in the Indian market I find Ariel (for top loaders) the best. It cleans the best and does not seem to leave clothes too rough/hard. Its a tad pricy; but its the best available in India, IMHO.

Have used SA8 for several months, but discovered that it doesn't clean quite that well. You can see the effects on whites after sometime. Its probably safer on clothes than other stuff, but I wasn't too impressed with its cleaning/stain removing prowess. However, clothes feel the best after being washed in it, compared to anything else. As for cleaning, yes, its better than the cheaper stuff like Rin, etc.

Had tried Ezee liquid detergent too (not the one for delicates). It was even worse at cleaning than SA8.

One concern about SA8 - Amway claims it contains softner too! So not sure how safe it on MF cloth. But I'm guessing that they don't add the same softner that you get in seperate softner bottles. I don't think detergents will be able to do their work if you add such softners along with the detergent. I suspect stuff like SA8, rather than containing a softner, may not have the property to harden clothes in the first place. I'm guessing it must containing synthetic surfactants like SLS/SLES and maybe some enzymes and perfume at best. Its most likely pretty cheap to make (SLS/SLES is very cheap) and they would be making a bumper profit as its even more expensive than Ariel for WMs. Most of their products are overpriced anyway. Guess they have to feed the chain. Amway may be just using this non-fabric-hardening property and advertising it as "containing" softner. I may be completely wrong on that part though.

As for as I know, cheaper powders have higher amounts of soda. More expensive ones like Ariel should have less of it.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Well, this is an interesting semi-domestic strand to this thread. Most of my cloths are really cheap, like London-99p-shop stuff. Some are better-quality, department-store cloths. They have all taken whatever has been thrown at them, washing-wise.

Softener is largely, I think, a con. More than anything, with brands like Comfort, they are selling is a smell! It aims, though, to bulk out woollens and stuff and make them more fluffy. I poured a dutiful capfull into every London wash I did for years. Only when I came here, and it was not then readily available, did I realise that I did not miss it at all. It will now never go back on my shopping list!

If cloth, or clothes, has a hard feel after washing, it is usually (in my experience) lack of sufficient rinsing. Soap/detergent is still there, and that is what you are feeling: a kind of stiffness in the cloth.

Of course, microfibre should not feel like that --- but it does have a feel which is hard to describe. Can one say a cloth feels sharp? Probably all you guys who have rubbed a new cloth between your fingers knkow what I mean. It seems to dig in --- because that is what it is doing.

Microfibre... whether it is for cleaning the specs, the kitchen surface, the car, or polishing up the electronics in the house, I love the stuff! Maybe, one day, they will come up with nanocloth?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by icecoolsam

Is it ok to let the car take all the abuse and then wash it just once a week even if it rains daily ?

Please let me know some innovative ways if there are any which can save some time spent on keeping the car in good shape for next couple of months .

I think I would be forced to hire a car cleaner unless there is some shorter way out.

That's one concern even I'm worried about. Even I too clean my car with Jopasu & quick detail it everyday and wash it once in 2 weeks. in Mumbai during rains it just wont be possible.

During rains it would get a lot dirty and muddy in just one day. Either you wash it everyday which I think is just not possible even by me or else let the car take the abuse and wash it twice in a week. Or hire a car cleaner who wont take a week to swirl & scratch the paint and with dirt deposited, it becomes all the more necessary to wash it with car shampoo only. ONR wont work good considering the amount of dirt.

Tough times ahead for all car lovers & self cleaners.

[Relativity]

I had the same apprehension with ONR initially but give it a chance. I have massive amount of dust due to construction near my house as well as office so my Oceanic Blue Punto is covered in a thick layer of dust every morning. Jopasu does an amazing job of removing it and now I only use ONR once a week. I haven't shampooed it in 2 weeks and earlier I was using shampoo at least every 3rd day.
This morning it rained so couldn't use the Jopasu and tried a different trick. Wherever there was water, I wiped it off with a Sonax Chamois. It just absorbed all the water instantly. Pretty good product for the wet days. The only thing I did wrong was that I should have at least poured some water to wash away the dust first.

[TopSpeeder]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

That's one concern even I'm worried about. Even I too clean my car with Jopasu & quick detail it everyday and wash it once in 2 weeks. in Mumbai during rains it just wont be possible.

During rains it would get a lot dirty and muddy in just one day. Either you wash it everyday which I think is just not possible even by me or else let the car take the abuse and wash it twice in a week. Or hire a car cleaner who wont take a week to swirl & scratch the paint and with dirt deposited, it becomes all the more necessary to wash it with car shampoo only. ONR wont work good considering the amount of dirt.

Tough times ahead for all car lovers & self cleaners.

Rainy days are already started in Bangalore, The magic with duster is not working.

As you mentioned the only solution I could see is wash the car every two days once. Also I don't think its advisable to use duster with rain dirt, we endup having swirls.

Completely agree that we have tough times ahead.

Originally Posted by Relativity

I had the same apprehension with ONR initially but give it a chance. I have massive amount of dust due to construction near my house as well as office so my Oceanic Blue Punto is covered in a thick layer of dust every morning. Jopasu does an amazing job of removing it and now I only use ONR once a week. I haven't shampooed it in 2 weeks and earlier I was using shampoo at least every 3rd day.
This morning it rained so couldn't use the Jopasu and tried a different trick. Wherever there was water, I wiped it off with a Sonax Chamois. It just absorbed all the water instantly. Pretty good product for the wet days. The only thing I did wrong was that I should have at least poured some water to wash away the dust first.

If you use chamois with rain water, you will surely get swirls/scratch.

[Mortis]

Anyone have any recent info on Auto Mall ? The carpolish.in website shows no products and their ebay page doesnt exist anymore. Have they shut down ?

[icecoolsam]

Originally Posted by Relativity

I had the same apprehension with ONR initially but give it a chance. I have massive amount of dust due to construction near my house as well as office so my Oceanic Blue Punto is covered in a thick layer of dust every morning. Jopasu does an amazing job of removing it and now I only use ONR once a week. I haven't shampooed it in 2 weeks and earlier I was using shampoo at least every 3rd day.
This morning it rained so couldn't use the Jopasu and tried a different trick. Wherever there was water, I wiped it off with a Sonax Chamois. It just absorbed all the water instantly. Pretty good product for the wet days. The only thing I did wrong was that I should have at least poured some water to wash away the dust first.

ONR and Jopasu combination works well with dry dust but I was talking about thick slush which gets deposited on the car surface while driving through muddy water during rainy days. I attempted ONR wash and was not at all happy. I could see mud rubbing over the paint surface leading to swirls and scratches. The easiest way would be the pressure wash but I don't have access to a tap and water pipe in my basement parking.

Full wash with a car shampoo every other day is just too much of hard work. The best I can do is complete shampoo wash once a week, it hurts the most when it starts raining immediately after car is washed .

Tough days ahead !!!

[Relativity]

I just picked up a Chamois at Shell thinking I can use it to wipe off the water after a shampoo wash. Can I use a Chamois with ONR at all?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by Relativity

I just picked up a Chamois at Shell thinking I can use it to wipe off the water after a shampoo wash. Can I use a Chamois with ONR at all?

The main purpose of chamois is to absorb water over a clean surface. You can use chamois to dry water of the car surface after washing it with car shampoo.

[bharatbs]

I have a ANHC which is in good paint condition, I am think of doing the following detailing steps:

1) SONAX Wash
2) TurtleWax Polishing compound where necessary
3) Meguiars gold class wax
4) Klasse Paint Sealant

Is this correct? Should I use the Wax before the Sealant?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by bharatbs

Is this correct? Should I use the Wax before the Sealant?

Every step is correct except you need to seal the paint first with a sealant and then apply wax. So the correct method would be.
1) SONAX Wash
2) TurtleWax Polishing compound where necessary
3) Klasse Paint Sealant
4) Meguiars gold class wax

Enjoy detailing your car and do upload before and after pics.

[hyper-VTEC]

I parked my car yesterday under a tree and there is this sap(?) very gooey and black fell in the driver door. It was initially only a big drop, but today morning it has trickled down and almost 6 inches long. It is not getting removed by shampoo, the more i try the more it is getting smeared :-(

Should i use diesel to patiently clean? Or any polish would do?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

Should i use diesel to patiently clean? Or any polish would do?

Diesel will easily remove it as I had recently removed tar spots using it, so tree sap wont be a problem. Before that you could try using a Quick Detailer like ONR or Meguiars which may work, if not diesel will surely do the job.

[Sandeepm777]

Hi,
I got a Meguiars DA Polishing machine G220 V2 from UK & decided to test it out.
Washed,Shampoo & Clayed using Meguiars.Thereafter using Meguiars Ultimate Compound buffed the whole car to get rid of the swirl marks followed by meguiars nxt generation tech wax 2 & buffed it out.The results were spectacular.
Attaching pictures clicked with Iphone 4S,not really doing justice but 2 days well spent.

Cheers.

[hyper-VTEC]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Diesel will easily remove it as I had recently removed tar spots using it, so tree sap wont be a problem. Before that you could try using a Quick Detailer like ONR or Meguiars which may work, if not diesel will surely do the job.

Meguiars Quick Detailer did the trick! Thanks.