01/01/2021
How do we perform a Scratch free wash?
Most surface scratches occur on a cars paintwork during the washing or drying stages, so we must take steps to ensure this risk is minimised.
Firstly the vehicle is pre washed with a citrus based cleaning agent and allowed to dwell on the surface to remove the worst of the surface contaminants, especially lower portions of the vehicle and wheels which are the dirtiest. The vehicle is then given a thorough rinse.
Next up a snow foam is applied to the vehicle, this second stage contactless process is left to dwell and cavitates on the surface lifting remaining dirt with it, followed by a repeat rinse.
...By this point the vehicle has been washed and rinsed twice and we physically haven’t made contact with it yet....
Next up is the contact wash stage. 3 large buckets are used, each with grit guards in creating a safety boundary from any grit which may sink to the bottom. Each bucket has its own task - wheels - rinse - wash.
The wheel bucket will have a selection of soft brushes for wheel well cleaning or detailing around wheel spokes, as well as a shampoo offering lubrication to prevent from scratching. Wheels are always cleaned and rinsed first as it reduces risk of rinsing contaminants onto clean bodywork.
The wash bucket contains a high quality long pile microfibre mitt, these are far less prone to scratching than sponges as the dirt is contained within the pile rather than the surface of the sponge (essentially turning it into sandpaper) a high quality shampoo is used for washing but also as a lubricating film between the wash mitt and paint further reducing chances of scratching. Once a section has been washed the mitt is dunked into the rinse bucket and cleaned before going back into the wash bucket to move onto the next section. Areas around badges, grilles, window rubbers etc are cleaned with a soft brush and treated with the same 2 bucket method.
Assuming the pre wash stages have been done sufficiently the rinse and wash buckets should still look pretty clean as we should already have removed most of the surface dirt. Washing with clean water also reduces water streaking especially on darker paint finishes.
If the vehicle is to be polished it is highly suggested to do a chemical and mechanical decontamination to remove embedded particles from the paint to reduce chance of them being picked up by the polishing pad - iron removers and clay bar/mitt are required for this.
Once the whole vehicle is washed it is then given a thorough final rinse before drying.
Contactless drying can be achieved with car dryers - much like a powerful hair dryer.
For contact drying, a high quality Korean microfibre towel is used, these are ultra absorbent so require no scrubbing, just lay on the panel and drag in a straight line.
When washing (or even hand polishing) a vehicle, straight lines are always preferred otherwise swirl marks can be caused and are harder to correct.
Once dry the vehicle can then go onto any future steps, glass cleaned, tyres dressed, a quick detail/wax or full polish and coating.
