[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

I have a couple of pieces of natural chamois. And doing this would be committing suicide for your paint work. Mainly because chamois absorbs almost everything it comes into contact with - if you drop it, you need to wash it in detergent before you can be remotely safe to using it again. If you wash a dirty car with it, it'll be as good as a sandpaper.

Well, atleast that's how genuine chamois works. Chamois tends to absorb water and fine dust into it's pores instantaneously. But anything slightly large will stay on the surface and scrape on the paint. My advice? Don't. Use a fluffy, preferably white, terrycotton towel with two buckets of water. Wet the towel in one, wipe softly, rinse thoroughly in the second bucket and wet it again in the first bucket and continue.

And yes, you need to make the chamois slightly wet to use it as a drying element. You can use it as a polishing material dry. Not as good as a clay bar, but it works.

Thanks a lot Immortalz. I also suspected it & hence the question. Am not going to try it till I clarify all my doubts here

But then which all applications can I use Chamois for? I mean when I get my car washed thro' 2 buckets water & cotton cloth, I'll wipe the car with that cotton cloth, right? and the car will be almost dry if I wipe it with slightly wet cotton cloth (another piece, not the one with which it was washed). Then when can I use Chamois? Should I soak the 1st cotton cloth with water & clean the dusty car first without removing excess water on car? But by the time I wash entire car, the unwiped excess water on earlier parts of the body would get dry. so, should I wash & clean a particular area (e.g. a fender) first with cotton cloth soaked in water & then imdtly remove water by chamois?

[neotraveller]

Even I had my doubts hence the question here. Let's use chamois as a drying agent and not as a cleaning aid. TBHPians know better than some random car-decor-shop guy.

@vahan,
I believe we should clean the car with wet cloth first.
Then dry it using the chamois. If you had used a dry towel, it would become wet soon. But chamois can be reused again and again.
Doing it section by section is better, else, the car would air dry leaving smears.

[ImmortalZ]

I only use the chamois when I am doing a full wash. Mid-week wipes, I don't break out the chamois. I use Meguiar's TechWax 2.0 every two months or so. In between these waxes, I use a quik detailer which keeps the thing glitzy until the next time I have to go Honda A.S.S - who manage to kill my paint finish with disturbing ease.

[crazydiablo]

I have to agree with every word ImmortalZ has said. I would not touch a car with a dry cloth whatever the case maybe. This is especially on a black car where scratches are easy to make.

[johnda]

so you guys are saying use the chamios to dry the car after washing, and that gonna keep things safe!? well that's what I do yet, I see the circular scratches left by fine dust in cleaning cloth.. How can I get rid of that?

[Roy.S]

Well, right now my car looks like an agricultural research project with mud and grime from about 300 km of driving. It has been this way for about 4 days now because of my stubborn refusal to do a bucket wash. Tomorrow, if I find the time, I'm going to take it for a pressure wash. If not I'll live with it for another day.
Most people would just pour 2 buckets of water on it and wipe off. This is what causes swirls. I have seen my MASS guy try to wipe off dirt instead of dislodging it with a pressure hose.
Even if your car has a couple of days of dirt on it, a damp cloth wipe will probably make micro scratches on the paint.
Should you, then, water down & shampoo your car everyday? Probably not. Once a week is good enough.
So whats the solution?
I don't know. I have learned to live with a dirty car.

[Raccoon]

I don't see much harm in doing a bucket wash? In the absence of a hose, its the next best thing to do. Its any day better than wiping dirt/dust with a cloth or whatever.

[neotraveller]

Using a hose/buckets-full of water everyday would damage paint for the car (as explained in few posts above). Also we won't have time to wipe the fully-wet car.
So I think best solution is to wipe car with wet cloth.

It's safe to do the hose/bucket/shampoo wash in weekends when we have ample time.

[HappyWheels]

I applied the RainGuard liquid to the car windshield over the weekend and keep expecting some rain to fall to find the effect.

Alas, 3 days and no rain! Just a slight drizzle yesterday to make the car "spotty"!!!

Even keeping my car spot clean is not helping with the rain!

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by neotraveller

Using a hose/buckets-full of water everyday would damage paint for the car (as explained in few posts above). Also we won't have time to wipe the fully-wet car.
So I think best solution is to wipe car with wet cloth.

It's safe to do the hose/bucket/shampoo wash in weekends when we have ample time.

No way I'm gonna use a wet cloth to wipe my vehicles. I prefer the bucket thingy with a sponge... and let the water (with shampoo) wash off or at least loosen most of the dust. But its damn messy and takes some time... so someone else does it, every alternate day. I do the bikes myself though... about once in 7 - 15 days. Takes about 15 mins approx. I don't even really dry them after that. I use F1 Wash and Wax... and I hardly don't really find any streaks after everything dries on its own.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by neotraveller

Using a hose/buckets-full of water everyday would damage paint for the car (as explained in few posts above). Also we won't have time to wipe the fully-wet car.
So I think best solution is to wipe car with wet cloth.

It's safe to do the hose/bucket/shampoo wash in weekends when we have ample time.

My 2 cars and a bike gets a daily bucket wash and and then wiped with a soft cloth and there is no damage to the paint yet ( you can check my profile/gallery page).

Infact, the shine has increased.

Summary, bucket wash cannot damage your car paint anymore than a hose would do.

[Roy.S]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

I don't see much harm in doing a bucket wash? In the absence of a hose, its the next best thing to do. Its any day better than wiping dirt/dust with a cloth or whatever.

Actually, when I said bucket wash I meant the type your apartment watchman might do. That is: take a full bucket of water and a cloth. Soak and wipe. Rinse cloth in bucket. Repeat process. Or, if he is in a good mood, empty bucket over car and wipe off with cloth.
If you are going to take a mug and splash, it should be ok. But I do not think it is very good for the car to have 2 buckets of water poured on it every day. Also, it is an irresponsible thing to do considering the water shortages in most of our cities.
So, this leaves us with only one option: the Sunday wash and wipe. Unfortunately, by mid week the car starts to look dirty and by Saturday it looks positively disreputable.
BTW, I finally got around to getting a pressure wash done today!
@mobike008, you must live in a fairly dust free area. As for me, the corporation dug up our approach road a few months back and 're-laid' it with the best quality mud. Fortunately, I'm moving out shortly.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

No way I'm gonna use a wet cloth to wipe my vehicles. I prefer the bucket thingy with a sponge... and let the water (with shampoo) wash off or at least loosen most of the dust. But its damn messy and takes some time... so someone else does it, every alternate day. I do the bikes myself though... about once in 7 - 15 days. Takes about 15 mins approx. I don't even really dry them after that. I use F1 Wash and Wax... and I hardly don't really find any streaks after everything dries on its own.

While I agree with most of the things ( I also have someone washing/ cleaning the car), the only issue is if I get it washed every alternate day, the car will be extremely dusty as it remains parked in open always. A dusty car means higher probability of scratches. Isn't it?

If washing every alternate day does not take paint shine away, will daily wash affect the shine?

If not, then I'm game for it.

But if it is - then no option but to get it clean with wet cloth daily with a complete wash on Sunday.

Gurus - where art thou?

[akshay_b]

Just my 2 cents,
What i do- I use a pipe and do a pressure spray to the entire car, This loosens, Moistens the dust/mud particle there by the mud particles are almost harmless, And then a bucket of water+ sponge, with only a light pressure wipe the car's body(of course dipping the sponge in the water often) water spray again to remove the dirt-filled water drops.

To dry- I use 2 big pieces of cotton cloth which absorbs the water completely.

No swirl marks at all, Except a few when my dad's driver wiped the car with a dry cloth

My car's almost a year old and many people have asked me if I've got some kind of special coating done. My neighbor once asked me if i get the car serviced every week because it always looks its come out professionally washed.

[crazydiablo]

Lucky are those gusy with a water hose at their disposal. Well buckets will do the trick as well but its a lot of work. I use one entire bucket for rinsing the car, then quarter bucket with car shampoo. The a bucket and a quarter for rinsing the car again. Around 2.5 buckets is a lot of water but yeah I am little obsessive.

There is an article about washing your car with 2 buckets of water. Search for it if you guys are interested.