Dish washing soap

[gauchoy2k]

OK a friend of mine asked me this stupid question the other day when i was detailing his car...Why don't i wash the car with Dawn or any type of dish washing soap since the soap with be removing old layers of wax. I didnt really have a answer for him other than his car is not a dish. Can someone explain this so i can give an educational answer next time.

[Setec Astronomy]

I guess people get this from the old practice of stripping wax from kitchen/office floors. There is no need to strip old wax prior to detailing, if you are doing any polishing, that will remove any wax that is on the surface. And it's not like the old wax has gone "bad". In the old days, floor wax would yellow and need to be stripped.

[JG_Detailing]

Here is a thread about washing your car with dish soap. You don't use dish soap for car washing.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8101&highlight=dish+soap

[Murr1525]

Its kind of funny, your skin makes a very good anaolgy to paint.

Dishwashing soap pulls the oil out of your skin, making dry and crack eventualy. Same thing will happen with your paint. As your paint loses its oils, it will eventualy dry and crack.

The other thing many people dont realize is that dish soap will also eventualy dry out and discolor plastic and rubber, such as on body cladding and gaskets.

As Setec mentioned, going over with clay and a cleaner will remove any old wax anyway, and in a much much safer fashion for your car.

As Mike has said, why take a step backward and then a step foraward by drying out your paint/rubber, and then re-moisturizing it with polsih/dressings. Why wouldnt you want to take 2 steps forward....

[Pete-FWA]

Re: Dish washing soap

Originally posted by gauchoy2k
I didnt really have a answer for him other than his car is not a dish.

That's a very good answer!

[LiquidBlack]

Also, it's good to note that Meguiar's car washes are really sudsy, so they are much higher in lubricity.