Heh, is it a bad idea to wash your car with dishsoap??

 

Its not bad in that it won't hurt your paint, but dish soap also removes any protectants like wax or polish. Its a good first step to starting over with your paint treatment. Keep in mind that after you wash with dish soap, your clear coat will be exposed. Any think like bird crap, acid rain, or other industrial fall out will have direct access to destroying your paint.

Be warned. Just treat your paint and wax it after you dry your car.

 

STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP RIGHT THERE!!!

Don't use dish soap!

Granted, as pointed out above, it's *maybe* fine for a one time "get rid of all your
old wax and buildup" wash, but even then, it strips all the natural oils from your
clearcoat and paint and can lead to leaving your paint VERY exposed to the elements.

Go through these videos to get an idea as to how to properly care for a car.
You DON"T have to use THEIR products, but the methods used are very sound.

http://www.adamspolishes.com/videos

I can say though, from the couple of Adam's Polishes I've used, I'm very happy with
the results, and I intend to get a kit for my dad and his tC.

Things to stay away from are NuFinish, Turtle Wax, or any other cleaner or wax that
brags about using Silicon or Teflon.

Try to stick with name brands like Zymol, Meguires, Adams, Shining Monkey.
Though I have heard the high end Turtle Wax stuff is supposed to be pretty good,
I've not seen it in any stores.

I hope this helps out some. I'm going to be doing a writeup sometime soon, showing
the basics of washing (a box), but those Adams videos are far better then anything
I can do!

 

Moved....

 

Whoops. I already washed my car yesterday. My brother comes home and was like, "What the F*** are you doing?". Today I freaked out cuz a bird targeted my car and decided to poop on it so i decided to just wax my car. Stupid bird! Gosh!
I'm new to this car thing, I don't know how to take care of it yet. Luckily, I have all you guys to look out for me. Thanks!

 

Whoops. I already washed my car yesterday. My brother comes home and was like, "What the F*** are you doing?". Today I freaked out cuz a bird targeted my car and decided to poop on it so i decided to just wax my car. Stupid bird! Gosh!
I'm new to this car thing, I don't know how to take care of it yet. Luckily, I have all you guys to look out for me. Thanks!

 

Oh yea, and I took pix of my car too. Check them out. I worked my butt off waxing it. Wax on... wax off... argh! my back hurts.

 

dude, slow down with the posts

don't let the edit button go to waste, get your money's worth from this site!

 

As said earlier, it won't hurt to do it every once in awhile. I do it in the spring, to strip all buildup and winter gunk off. I then would go through clay bar, wax process. As a general rule I hand wash using Meguires car wash.

 

I see how it is. Apparently there's a limit to how many posts I could make? I just won't use this site anymore if that's what you like.

 

The clearcoat on this car sucks man. I had a bird dookie on my hatch and it dried up and hardened in the hot sun. It was on there for maybe five hours and it left a spot on the car after I washed it off. Horrible. Black car + bad clearcoat job = very frustrated car owner.