BHPian traderjagadeesh recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Hi all, We are not talking about rubbing and compounding here, as it always needs a closed space. We don’t want to rub the loose dust that accumulates on the car with a DA or a rotary. We at least need to do it in the basement or the cellar parking. But we can surely wash, decontaminate, clay, and seal/coat the paint in an open space under the sun. That’s exactly what this thread is about. First, understand why we need a different approach when we have to do it in the sunlight. 1) The chemicals that we use dry faster on the surface, which will damage the paint, no matter how close they are to the neutral scale in pH. Car shampoos, iron or tar removers, alkaline chemicals like APC, and prewash, etc, aren’t meant to dry on the surface. That’s why it is clearly mentioned in the usage instructions to avoid using them in the sunlight. 2) Streaking while applying sealants/waxes/coatings. It just gives a few seconds to buff off after applying. So, it has to be very methodical and work in small sections when doing it under the sun. 3) Waterspots. Let’s admit that he majority of us use deionized water for our car care. Hard water, when it evaporates on the surface, leaves minerals that will etch into the paint and cause permanent damage which cannot be removed even with a polisher.The majority of car owners don’t have closed garages, so we need to find a way to work within these limitations. Rinseless is your cheat code to deal with the sun. That being said, there is no way one can do all this at 12 PM in the summer when the sun is blasting right from the top of the car and our heads. We still try to avoid the sun as much as we can. These are the tips to keep in mind. 1) Wash only when the sun is at the horizon so that at least one side of the car will be in the shade. We can complete that side, and then reverse the car to do the other side if it is too hot. So wash between 6-9 AM or after 5 PM, preferably under some shade. 2) Use RO water if you can while washing in the sun. I know even that is hard for a lot of people. But try if you can. At least add 4mL of a good polymer-based rinseless per liter of water, irrespective of what you gonna use that water for during the wash, if you have to do it in the sun with tap water. ONR is the one. But I don’t use that for my contact wash as surfactant-based hybrid rinseless cleans better than polymer-based. That’s why Koch Chemie RRW is my preferred choice for contact wash over ONR. ONR doesn’t soften the water directly, but it encapsulates the minerals in the water, and that blocks them from bonding with the paint temporarily. So even if it dries on the surface, you can just spray some rinseless solution on that spot and then dry with the drying towel. Avoid using surfactant-based or SiO2-infused rinseless in the rinsing water if you can. Won’t be an issue as far as I know, but it’s better to be safe. 3) If the vehicle is full of mud and you decide to pressure wash with water from the road side car wash(as you don’t have a pressure washer at home) without a contact wash, and then bring that back home to do the contact wash(I used to do that few years back), then rinse the vehicle at the car wash(either foam>rinse or just a rinse whatever makes sense to you) and don’t let him dry, spray the rinseless on the whole car with the wet surface, drive it back home (not a problem if it dries on the surface now), spray rinseless on the car again to do the contact wash in sections with immediate drying. This is a heck of a headache to coordinate and might seem like an OCD kind of thing for someone who doesn’t understand what we are doing. Trust me, I have done it before when I was new to this back in 2016-2018 Best thing is to buy a good quality cordless pressure washer even though we need to pay a bit of premium for what it offers, use a pre wash chemical in a hand pump foamer, foam the vehicle, rinse off with the cordless pressure washer with water that has ONR, do the contact wash section by section pre spraying rinseless and immediate drying after the contact wash of that particular section. I personally use Koch chemie Green star diluted to 1:10 in a pump sprayer to spray it all over the dirty vehicle, let is sit for 2 mins, then foam the whole vehicle with Koch chemie GSF to lift off the dried greenstar with a manual foamer, let it dwell for another 2mins, and then rinse the whole vehicle with the pressure washer to get rid of the grit before the contact wash. I don’t want to buy one more product for the touchless wash, that’s why I followed this Greenstar method. I like the Mafra Maniac foam gun prewash as a touchless pretreat in all the ones that I have used. But the method I mentioned above serves the purpose, and I don’t need that personally. I have Bosch electrical pressure washer for the last 7 years, recently bought Shinexpro hydroblast cordless (reviewed here), and I guess I will never touch the electrical one again no matter how dirty my vehicle is unless I want to have some fun with the foam, as the cordless one is serving the purpose for me even when I use an alkaline pretreat like I have mentioned above. But in summer, it’s not that common to make the vehicle so dirty that it needs an alkaline pre-treatment, unlike in the rainy season. We can just get away with Chemical>Rinse>Chemical>Contact wash>Dry in the summer with just a rinseless wash. 4) If you want to decon and clay (I do it once every month or two), do it immediately after the contact wash of the section, rinse off with the water that has ONR in it, then proceed with the sealant for that section if you are using a spray-on or wipe-off type. If you are using a spray-on rinse-off type, you can just decontaminate and rinse off the whole car, then spray the whole car with the sealant and rinse the whole car again. 5) Prefer a spray-on rinse-off type sealant for summer times like Geyon Wetcoat, Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic spray, or Koch chemie S0.03 rather than going for a spray-on wipe-off type sealant like Turtle wax Hybrid ceramic wax to avoid streaking because of fast drying. Of course, you can use them and work in small sections, use a rinseless damped cloth to wipe off the streaks, then buff off immediately. But I personally prefer the former method in summer, even though it just lasts 2-3 months, unlike the 6-month time period of spray-on wipe-offs, as I don’t want to work that hard in the summer. We can always reapply after a month, as it is just a rinse away. Don’t forget to use the water that has ONR here as well for rinsing off. Best practice is to seal the paint with a spray-on wipe-off type at the end of winter, and then manage the summer with a spray-on rinse-off type if you have to, then get back to spray-on wipe-off once the summer ends. Being somewhat creative with the approach is what makes detailing fun. I prefer Koch Chemie S0.03 as I am loyal to that brand for what and how it does. But you can use whatever you want. It might look like we are using a lot of water for rinsing, even in summer. But the washing frequency will be very long in summer. You can just get away with a once-a-month wash, and manage the rest of the maintenance with a waterless wash and the multiple microfiber method in summer, as we just have to deal with loose dust. But not at all an argument to emphasize that it’s the only way. So feel free to add whatever you know in the comment section so that others can learn if I have missed something. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
