I've received a couple of PMs regarding this and I thought about making a thread about this.

Of course, this is assuming that the car has no covered storage, otherwise, maintenance wouldn't be that difficult.

I'll start off with the "detailing" side of things that you can do and mix it up with some common-sense things that you can do as well to help the process.

Understand that these are not fool-proof solutions but are merely "lesser of evils" solutions that has worked well for me for over a decade... Works for any exterior hard surfaces.

If you have additional ideas, feel free to add.

Assumptions:

Typical Manila weather of being sunny and warm in the morning, heavy downpour in afternoons and hot weather again until nightfall.

First things first.

Wash often

It's quite basic, this applies to EVERYTHING that gets dirty, doesn't it? I wonder why people don't treat their expensive cars the same way.

You wash yourself more often if you sweat or get dirty more often, right? Why are people not cleaning the car if it's raining often?

The justification of "bah, it'll get dirty again" is rather silly and short-sighted.

Will you stop taking care of yourself since you'll die anyway?

Cleaning the car often prevents contaminants, dirt, and residues from permeating the paint causing damage that requires drastic restoration.

Also, if you clean the car, always use a good car shampoo. Washing the car without any form of lubricating surfactant will just scratch your paint since there's no buffer between the dirt you are scrubbing and the soft paint.

Again, logic comes into play here. Have you ever washed your dirty hands without soap? Doesn't work very well, does it?

Get your car protected by a wax or sealant.

It really doesn't matter whether you use the most expensive stuff or off-the-shelf cheapo stuff, as long as you have a protective, sacrificial layer on top of the paint.

Better brands and products will protect better and last longer while cheap stuff won't. But at the end of the day, even the worse of waxes can last at least 2-5 days of torture.

In general, polymers and acrylics are much less affected by heat and moisture.

Protect Flat Surfaces More

Water pools on flat surfaces more than vertical surfaces, nothing new here. The hood, roof, trunk (if available) will pool water blobs more than the doors, fenders and quarterpanels.

These flat surfaces also will absorb more direct heat when the sun is out therefore contributing to rapid water evaporation, causing water to spot and acid etches to form.

So as much as you can, wax the flat panels more often than the vertical if all you're after is surface protection.

Nobody ever said that you NEED to wax the whole car every session.

The hood receives double heat source (engine and sun) so expect wax to wear off sooner on this surface.

Neutralize acidity immediately

If you have just arrived home and it just rained, you'd need to neutralize the acidity of rain water as soon as possible by hosing down the car if you don't plan to wash the car.

NOTE: If you live in a place where water is especially hard and leaves a lot of residue, this is counter-productive, wash the car with shampoo and dry it.[/b]

Displace Moisture

As mentioned above, flat surfaces has the tendency to pool liquids and slow evaporation allows the acids and contaminants to slowly damage the paint.

Large water droplets also act as a magnifying glass when the sun hits it causing the paint to burn quicker on that spot (hence the etch).

Reduce this phenomenon by simply leaving the hood and trunk open for several minutes (assuming you have a somewhat covered parking or if it has stopped raining) to allow water to drip off and the heat from the engine bay to escape.  This also prevents sunlight from hitting the panels directly.

(This also helps prevent animals from seeking warmth and shelter in your engine bay hehe)

I personally do this after I wash my car as well (before when I still had means to wash my car, ngayon wala na akong garage and hose kasi), after washing the car, I open all doors and trunk to let water drip off by itself and I end up having less water to dry off.

If you have a smooth paint (if you've seen my old Corolla, you'll get the drift), utilize the hose-drying technique, you'll end up with less than a cup of water or so to dry off from the body panels hehe.

Clean the wheels often

Brake dust + water + days of non-cleaning = corrosion of wheels.

Enough said.

I'll add if I think of anything else.

Hope this is helpful for y'all

- Dave

1 more tip to add...

bring your cars to big bert's  


btw theveed, what happened to pinasdetailing?  I couldn't logon anymore.

Some strange reason, it's gone, as in nawala lang... Kainis, all 4 years of info, gone...

Will be making a new one

Yan ang problem ko madalas. hard water dito sa planta in laguna. Kaya minsan na aalangan din ako mag car wash dito unless am left with no other choice.

Diba masama daw sa paint yung mag pa car wash palagi? Some say it will dull the paint. Kaya yung iba ang turo tubig lang daw muna. tapus once a week lang ang wash with car shampoo. Is this just a myth?

Quote from: ment on June 09, 2006, 04:16:32 PM
Yan ang problem ko madalas. hard water dito sa planta in laguna. Kaya minsan na aalangan din ako mag car wash dito unless am left with no other choice.

Diba masama daw sa paint yung mag pa car wash palagi? Some say it will dull the paint. Kaya yung iba ang turo tubig lang daw muna. tapus once a week lang ang wash with car shampoo. Is this just a myth?

If you're using the right shampoo it shouldn't have a dulling effect. Using water with nothing else will scratch the paint.

Quote from: theveed on June 08, 2006, 12:54:12 PMSo as much as you can, wax the flat panels more often than the vertical if all you're after is surface protection.

Nobody ever said that you NEED to wax the whole car every session.

thanks for this specific tip...i find it very helpful...

and btw(OT), it's sad to know that pinasdetailing doesn't exist anymore...so it's the reason why i'm not receiving any update from it, but anyway,lately i've received lots of spam from it, so it's good that you start from scratch again

more power to you theveed

Very good topic sir! Thanks for the information

Quote from: theveed on June 08, 2006, 02:29:01 PM
Some strange reason, it's gone, as in nawala lang... Kainis, all 4 years of info, gone...

Will be making a new one

ouch, so my worst fear is confirmed, wala na nga...

i always go there when i want to try something new or try out different product pag paubos na yung supplies ko.

on that subject, what's your recommendation sa glass cleaner.  paubos na yung turtlewax clearvue ko kasi.

thanks in advance.

Honestly, marginal lang differences nila if you use a good MF, so pick one that streaks least nalang.

Quote from: theveed on June 14, 2006, 11:16:13 AM
Honestly, marginal lang differences nila if you use a good MF, so pick one that streaks least nalang.

thanks!

pardon me for asking sir theveed, ano yung hose drying technique?

tnx pla sa mga tips mo. applicable masyado to sa akin ksi walang atip garage ko.

How often dapat ang underwashing pag rainy days? Diba masisira yung undercoat pag madalas magpa pressurized underwash?

good day,

was just wondering what other quicker alternative
there is to cleaning your car?

with these frequent rains some dirt almost always is present on the car, lalo na yung dust formations that dries up and hardens after it stops raining

am always quite pressed for time and washing the car is quite difficult to squeeze in the sched....

any products which could drastically cut cleaning time but is quite light on the budget?

thanks in advance

doogs 

Quote from: iandvo on June 30, 2006, 01:01:05 PM
pardon me for asking sir theveed, ano yung hose drying technique?

tnx pla sa mga tips mo. applicable masyado to sa akin ksi walang atip garage ko.

Please see the FAQ section of our site for the video po... www.bigberts.org

Quote from: single on August 26, 2006, 02:41:06 PM
suggestion lang po... dont have your car go through pressurized underwash all the time... tama ka... your undercoat might get hit hard... anyway, lagi naman tlgang madudumihan yang ilalim eh... IMHO lang ah...

about the dust formations, try to just spray clean water after you park sa garage so that you wont have too much problems about the dust formations and the watermarks that will take place after a long time of not cleaning your car.hehehe

hi,
thanks for the advise, i do hose down the car when i get home with clean water but in the morning, there still are some dust formation and watermarks, i think this would really be the case since i don't dry the water off for fear of scratching the paint.....

was hoping for a quick remedy for this dilemma, with
emphasis on the "not so much time" to clean the car situation
thanks again

doogs