When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

[LastStep]

Say you recently waxed the car
Now you get caught in the rain
You get home, and pull your wet car into your garage.

Do you use a MF towel to dry off the car?
Does that wipe away the layer of wax?
Just let the car air dry?
Wipe off the windows?

[BillyJack]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I never just wipe a car off.
Depending on whether it was parked or driven in the rain and how dirty it got, I'll use either a Spray Detailer, Waterless Wash or Rinseless Wash.

Bill

[Jarhead0754]

Consumer line ultimate wash n wax after drying with a water magnet, 1st dry with the water magnet, then either the uww or UQD with a mf. But either way the way won't b removed. But I usually just dry with the wm then apply uqw with a mf just to boost.

[Low83]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I never just wipe a car off.
Depending on whether it was parked or driven in the rain and how dirty it got, I'll use either a Spray Detailer, Waterless Wash or Rinseless Wash.

Bill

If driven in the rain i'll hose it off to get all the dirt off first then dry, if parked i'll use a damp MF towel and wipe her down dry.

[Eldorado2k]

You never want to just dry rainwater off your car.. Remember there's a bunch of grit that sloshed down with that rain.. As it's been mentioned, good idea to rinse off with hose, then spray some quik detailer or waterless/rinseless wash and go to town.

[ORANGERT]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I use a rinseless wash. As the guys have said never just dry rain water off your car as you will scratch the paint. Especially after driving in the rain.

[davey g-force]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I never just wipe a car off.
Depending on whether it was parked or driven in the rain and how dirty it got, I'll use either a Spray Detailer, Waterless Wash or Rinseless Wash.

Bill

^^ This exactly!

[Jarhead0754]

Sorry I failed to mention that. I had meant those steps after a quick rinse.

[BillE]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I never just wipe a car off.
Depending on whether it was parked or driven in the rain and how dirty it got, I'll use either a Spray Detailer, Waterless Wash or Rinseless Wash.

Bill

^^ This exactly!

Make that 3 of us.

Bill

[Michael Stoops]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I never just wipe a car off.
Depending on whether it was parked or driven in the rain and how dirty it got, I'll use either a Spray Detailer, Waterless Wash or Rinseless Wash.

Bill

^^ This exactly!

Make that 3 of us.

Bill

Driving a car in the rain does not mean it just gets wet - it gets dirty, as Ric mentioned. And it can get really dirty, depending on how long you drove in the rain, how long it's been since it last rained (accumulated dirt and oil on the roads being released by the rain), how much traffic was throwing even more crud onto your car, etc. "Dirty" is a relative term, and as BillyJack points out, there are various cleaning processes that can address the relative dirtiness of the car.

Here in SoCal it doesn't rain much, even when we aren't in the middle of a major drought like we are right now. If I get caught in a bit of rain on the way home I can usually get away with just a nice once over with Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere/D115 and call it good. If it really rains hard and the car is driven further, I'll often let it self dry and then wash it with a D114, which is a rinseless, rather than waterless, wash. Or I'll pull out the hose and bucket, but that's pretty rare for me these days. Between our severe drought and the amazing abilities of D114/D115, I hardly use any water anymore to wash our cars at home.

But you should never just dry off a car that is wet because it was driven in the rain. That's just a bad idea.

[goldenlight]

Re: When you get caught in the rain...do you towel dry when you get home?

I wash it on my next day off :-)

[Jarhead0754]

Yeah out here in Chicago burbs just sitting here overnight gets alot of dust so when it does rain and stops ill rinse it off then quick wax and or detailer. But not a full wash when I say rinse I just mean water down with the hose.