Car Wash Concentrates
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Car Wash Concentrates
A good quality car wash (Zaino Z-7™ Show Car Wash or Groit’s Car Wash) provides a slightly alkaline pH-7.5 and balanced blend of active biodegradable ingredients, to provide lubrication to prevent scratching, to lift and encapsulate dirt, road grime and oils.
Water quality
(pH value, mineral content, harness, etc) and other characteristics will affect how well a car wash concentrate works. As well as conditioners to maintain the shine without stripping the paint of essential oils (the way detergents do) and dispersing them in the rinsing process, warm water (not hot) will improve the cleaning abilities of wash concentrates.
Foaming
The amount of foaming produced has nothing to do with its cleaning efficiency (although it does provide a means of encapsulation as well as acting a cushion between the paint surfaces and cleaning tool) when laundry was done with soap flakes; suds level was an indicator of cleaning performance. Many people still equate a good rich level of suds with cleaning; however, this is no longer true. Today's quality car wash concentrates are formulated with anionic surfactants that have a very low suds level without affecting cleaning performance. One of the advantages of this formulation is that road dirt and grime are encapsulated in its structure (micelles), which makes for very easy and efficient rinsing.
Harsh detergents
Harsh detergents found in some car wash soaps contain sodium silicate or sodium hydroxide may etch the surface of the clear-coat leaving white residue or dulling the entire finish. Car wash concentrates that contain a high foaming (suds) agent can be corrosive, if sodium (salt) is used as an agent to create the foaming. The usual dilution is l oz per two gallons water (using a lesser dilution will leave a film on the paint surface) Avoid products that contain harsh detergents as they will emulsify and leach out any oils or waxes that provide protection and/or flexibility (See also Alkalinity, pH Values, Hard Water, Water Filtration)
Information resource
- “Automotive Detailing Inside & Out, A Knowledge Base for the Perfectionist"– by Jon Miller
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