Washed my car for the first time

It came out nice. I washed with a car wash and put the ploy wax right on top of whatever was on the car. I feel like I used more product than when I used Zaino back in the day because it didn't look like much was getting on the car. My car's paint now feels very slick, I am hoping that dust will just blow off the surface.

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I dry with an absorber. It is basically a sheet of sponge that won't scratch and soaks the water up like, well, a sponge. Getting the car bone dry takes minutes. Have to ring it out often. I think it is one of the best car wash accessories there is.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Clean-To...EvxBKCyS1LmdN_SXUsA_Mn3_JSp_2xxYaAoa7EALw_wcB

Trust me, that Absorber crap will absolutely scratch and mar the paint. I used to use those 20 years ago, but after about 15 years ago now I never let anything touch the car's paint except microfiber, preferably with some sort of lubrication.

Y'all need to get on that P&S Beadmaker train. :)

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Any way to hide or at least distract from the piano black micro-scratches? e.g. Any special wax? Too late to cover...theyre already there.
 
Any way to *hide* or at least distract from the piano black micro-scratches? e.g. Any special wax? Too late to cover...they*re already there.

Not really, you have to correct them with compound and/or polish, usually with a tiny polisher like the Rupes iBrid Nano (which is $$$$).
 
Y'all need to get on that P&S Beadmaker train. :)

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I first tried Beadmaker following a previous recommendation on this forum.
It's a GREAT product that I now apply after every wash on any of my cars. (first)
 
Trust me, that Absorber crap will absolutely scratch and mar the paint. I used to use those 20 years ago, but after about 15 years ago now I never let anything touch the car's paint except microfiber, preferably with some sort of lubrication.

Y'all need to get on that P&S Beadmaker train. :)





The absorber will absolutely not scratch. You don't even have to rub it on the car, just put it on the car and lift off, then ring out the water. If you drop it on the ground and it has grit stuck to it, it will. A microfiber towel will also scratch if it has grit stuck to it.
 
lol yeah, and packaging claims cotton terry cloth towels and those Water Blade garbage products won't scratch either, and that's most definitely a lie.

Anything that touches paint has the potential to mar the surface. There's a reason why the car washing/detailing industry moved to exclusively microfiber in the last 15 years or so.
 
Bead maker is reasonably priced, I might get a bottle and give it a try.

First application requires a lot of product, like a half a bottle or more. But each time after, if used regularly like for a drying aid, it only takes a little bit. Most people recommend getting both the spray bottle and the gallon refill.
 
I let the natural (rain but no hail please) wash my CX-5 all the time. Never wash it by myself that's why I always buy silver color vehicle as it hides dirt the best and doesn't need to wash often ... ;)
 
yeah but that doesn't help all the dirt that sticks out like a sore thumb on the black cladding around the bottom and in the fender wells.
 
It came out nice. I washed with a car wash and put the ploy wax right on top of whatever was on the car. I feel like I used more product than when I used Zaino back in the day because it didn't look like much was getting on the car. My car's paint now feels very slick, I am hoping that dust will just blow off the surface.

Car.jpg

Car2.jpg

The Griot's Polywax is an excellent choice, it is remarkably good stuff.
A few other helpful Griot's products are the company's telescoping rod with microfiber wash pad attachment (excellent for washing the roof, wheels, really can do the entire vehicle).
Two or three times a year the Griot's synthetic clay (can be done using car wash soap as a lubricant), followed by Griot's Polywax, and in between washings Griot's Speedshine can be used to remove
dirt spots, bird droppings etc...
Do the above and your car paint will remain nice and slippery. For routinely removing the thin layer of dust which happens from the garage , pollen in the air etc... California Car Duster works great:

https://www.calcarduster.com/
 
The Griot's Polywax is an excellent choice, it is remarkably good stuff.
A few other helpful Griot's products are the company's telescoping rod with microfiber wash pad attachment (excellent for washing the roof, wheels, really can do the entire vehicle).
Two or three times a year the Griot's synthetic clay (can be done using car wash soap as a lubricant), followed by Griot's Polywax, and in between washings Griot's Speedshine can be used to remove
dirt spots, bird droppings etc...
Do the above and your car paint will remain nice and slippery. For routinely removing the thin layer of dust which happens from the garage , pollen in the air etc... California Car Duster works great:

https://www.calcarduster.com/

Please don't use the California Car Scratcher.. just rinse the car and use the Speedshine or whatever quick detailer you want as a drying aid while wiping down the car. Or wash the car and use a leaf blower to blow the water off. And please don't clean your car with the same brush you use for the wheels.
 
I bought into the BeadMaker hype a little while ago and picked up a gallon. It goes on easy, wipes clean, smells nice, leaves a nice gloss and doesn't break the bank. But for something called BeadMaker, I expected hydrophobicity to be at least a little better than what I had used in the past - it's not. It does leave the paint pretty slick, but dust and water still stick to the car pretty easily.. in fact I think other products similar to BeadMaker perform better when it comes to keeping dust off the car. My 0.02 cents.
 
Trust me, that Absorber crap will absolutely scratch and mar the paint. I used to use those 20 years ago, but after about 15 years ago now I never let anything touch the car's paint except microfiber, preferably with some sort of lubrication.

Y'all need to get on that P&S Beadmaker train. :)


The absorber will absolutely not scratch. You don't even have to rub it on the car, just put it on the car and lift off, then ring out the water. If you drop it on the ground and it has grit stuck to it, it will. A microfiber towel will also scratch if it has grit stuck to it.

Anytime you touch your paint with ANYTHING, you risk scratching the surface. The Absorber has a higher chance at scratching than a high quality microfiber. I minimize any contact with the paint, I rinse, foam, wash with a two bucket grit guard method, and blow dry the car. I then use beadmaker or griot's speed shine with microfiber towels as a final part of my maintenance wash sequence.

For a great educational series on how to detail a car, check out Obsessed Garage on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGRyY0QUPHBdl2EnPphB9WA).

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Anytime you touch your paint with ANYTHING, you risk scratching the surface. The Absorber has a higher chance at scratching than a high quality microfiber. I minimize any contact with the paint, I rinse, foam, wash with a two bucket grit guard method, and blow dry the car. I then use beadmaker or griot's speed shine with microfiber towels as a final part of my maintenance wash sequence.

For a great educational series on how to detail a car, check out Obsessed Garage on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGRyY0QUPHBdl2EnPphB9WA).

foam.jpg

20180916-150524-HDR.jpg

Wow nice. All the colors of the CX-5 look good, especially when it shines like a diamond.
 
Trust me, that Absorber crap will absolutely scratch and mar the paint. I used to use those 20 years ago, but after about 15 years ago now I never let anything touch the car's paint except microfiber, preferably with some sort of lubrication.

Y'all need to get on that P&S Beadmaker train. :)

F143774349.png



The Absorber will scratch paint if you use it like a microfiber. I use the absorber to blot the car dry. Works great and lightly blotting is not going to swirl the paint.

I agree though that if you use the absorber to rub the car dry, like you would with microfiber, it will definitely scratch and swirl.
 
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