Chamois / Shammy Leather

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Sun Nov 11, 2018 10:42 pm

Hmm, maybe I just need to let it dry naturally as I don't have a big hair-dryer!

BeeEmm · Post by **BeeEmm** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:11 am

Drying a car does seem to have problems. Thinking 'outside the box' if your car is left parked outside why not clean/wash it while it is raining, then you don't have to worry about drying it

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:21 am

BeeEmm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:11 am Drying a car does seem to have problems. Thinking 'outside the box' if your car is left parked outside why not clean/wash it while it is raining, then you don't have to worry about drying it

Well, because I'll get wet!

BeeEmm · Post by **BeeEmm** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:26 am

You could always cover yourself with Jeremy Corbyn's coat!

I always get wet when I wash my car in the dry

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:33 am

BeeEmm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:26 am You could cover yourself with Jeremy Corbyn's coat.

What!

Someone might see me - I'd rather burn his coat and leave washing my car for a dry day!

I'd never want anyone thinking I was anywhere near as wet as Corbyn!

BMWZ4MC · Post by **BMWZ4MC** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:13 am

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 11, 2018 10:42 pm Hmm, maybe I just need to let it dry naturally as I don't have a big hair-dryer!

Of course you don’t - hairdressers drive roadsters

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:49 am

BMWZ4MC wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:13 am Of course you don’t - hairdressers drive roadsters

Exactly - which is why I don't!

BMWZ4MC · Post by **BMWZ4MC** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:28 am

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:49 am
BMWZ4MC wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:13 am Of course you don’t - hairdressers drive roadsters
Exactly - which is why I don't!

Why the

emoji?

ihadablackdog · Post by **ihadablackdog** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:29 pm

What about those vessels that de-ionise water so it will dry with no spots? Always been tempted to try one.

ronk · Post by **ronk** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:52 pm

I seem to remember reading about a bloke who used a leaf blower?

Angelus666 · Post by **Angelus666** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:58 pm

ihadablackdog wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:29 pm What about those vessels that de-ionise water so it will dry with no spots? Always been tempted to try one.

I’ve toyed with getting one, about £100 for a basic one for that last rinse.

Tinker15 · Post by **Tinker15** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:07 pm

We have a dark coloured Jaguar XF which spends nearly 6 months of the year in France. The water is extremely hard and washing it is a nightmare as it’s almost impossible to do without getting water spots. Unless I can do it when it’s cloudy with no risk of the sun breaking through I go to a car wash. Fortunately there is a brushless drive through not too far away. The last cycle is a spray with deionised/ Demineralised water which certainly works. I looked into getting one of the units for producing deionised water but the filters don’t seem to last long and the reviews are poor.

Ewazix · Post by **Ewazix** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:14 pm

ronk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:52 pm I seem to remember reading about a bloke who used a leaf blower?

I have tried it and it dried without spots, but takes ages, is very noisy and I felt a bit of a twonk doing it TBH

derin100 · Post by **derin100** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:40 am

Tinker15 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:07 pm We have a dark coloured Jaguar XF which spends nearly 6 months of the year in France. The water is extremely hard and washing it is a nightmare as it’s almost impossible to do without getting water spots. Unless I can do it when it’s cloudy with no risk of the sun breaking through I go to a car wash. Fortunately there is a brushless drive through not too far away. The last cycle is a spray with deionised/ Demineralised water which certainly works. I looked into getting one of the units for producing deionised water but the filters don’t seem to last long and the reviews are poor.

Yes, we have this problem at our place in SW France too and as you say, if it's a hot sunny day (which is often) it's a nightmare whatever you use. Fortunately, the cars we leave out there aren't too precious or pretty!

You're Jaguar XF looks lovely, by the way!

derin100 · Post by **derin100** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 3:11 am

Silverzedtom wrote: ↑Sun Nov 11, 2018 10:24 am When a car is washed your going to add thousands of micro scratches whatever you use. I use a big drying towel on the outside and an old school Halfords leather on the glass and interior.

If I only had the leather for some reason I wouldn’t think twice about drying the car with it. If you use a proper polishing compound every now and then you’ll be removing the micro scratches that either material will leave behind.

To be honest, over the years, I've also come more and more towards this way of seeing it too.

Obviously, I still try to avoid being wilfully neglectful when drying a car but now accept that there is some degree of inevitably in what ever one does and that at some stage a more formal de-swirling will have to be undertaken again right from scratch (no pun intended).

The same goes for washing with me as well now. I try to take reasonable and sensible precautions but again I think there's a degree of inevitability about it. To the extent that even though I still do it because it makes me feel better and possibly it does help to get off/soften any large detritus, I've begun to question how effective snow-foaming really is. It always seems to leave a little of the really fine stuff behind and I'm sure some of this must cause some form of micro-abrasion to some extent when then washed off manually?

I use a micro-fibre mitt. I don't know any more if things have moved on and there are better alternatives that are recommended. However, it seems logical to me that whatever one uses contacts the paintwork and that by necessity there must be (however small) some particles of dirt between the paintwork and whatever 'instrument' one chooses to use which are then inevitably dragged across it. Obviously, one doesn't see it happening but surely it must be every time we wash unless one had some form of system whereby the dirt was literally sucked off the paintwork in a completely contactless manner?

On that basis, one thing that I now do is try to limited what I now think of as 'the pointless' and potentially damaging excessive type washing frequency that I used to do. You know the type where perhaps you're car is just a bit dusty, so doesn't look quite the 100% that you'd like it to look and so you'll give it yet another wash?

While I'm on the subject of 'doubts'....

Those "Detailing Bucket" things...with "Grit Guards" in them...like this sort of thing:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-CLEANING ... :rk:3:pf:0

Look! This advert even says: "Help to stop those horrible swirl marks with this safe wash kit"

Unless I'm really missing something... how?

Look at the size of the 'mesh' on those things. How does that stop any grit and small particulate dirt that could cause swirls or micro-marring?

Unless you're worried about digging right down into the bottom of your bucket with your mitt, picking up particles the size of pebbles on Brighton Beach with it and then scratching your car with them what use can that be?

I think there's a lot of 'snake oil selling' in the car detailing world...and Lord knows I've fallen victim to enough of it over the years.

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