Is it bad to clean my car every night?


Michael Flare said:
U guys keep telling me to POLISH AND DETAIL MY CAR. That wears down the car's paint and makes it fade earlier than usual. I don't care if my car is super shiny or not, I just want it's paint to last forever and not fade like how my car was before I got it painted. I NEVER want to see my car faded again.
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Polishing you car removes very little paint / clearcoat. Usually a car which has been resprayed would have much thicker paint than out the factory, normally about 300 microns. When polishing by hand you will be luck if you can remove 2 microns so extremely little. Obviously you don't have to polish the car every time you clean it. What I find works for me is to give it a good hand wash with 2 buckets making sure to rinse the mitt every panel and use fresh water for the next panel. After washing give it a layer of wax and it will be ok for another month or so. You do not need to polish your car every time you wax it. If you are that bothered about it removing paint.

I usually give is a hand wash every week with a spray detail / wax, then every 3 or 4 weeks give it a hard wax and if I feel like the car needs it I will polish it. Usually only do this every 3 months or so mainly because it is hard work! You are not damaging the car by doing this you are preventing damage and protecting it! By having wax on the car it is another layer ontop of the paint which anything harmful would have to eat through.

Hope this helps a little, I can go more in depth with my cleaning techniques if need be, that is the absolute basics without boring you all.
 
Trust me when I say getting bug bodies, bird ****, break carbon, ect. Off your car regularly is vital. That stuff will do far more harm to your paint than you cleaning it every night. Think I suffer from the same O.C.D as you do! But I suppose I have to be when it comes to detailing cars worth more than my house! :))
 
i wash my car when ever its dirty and ppl say to me your gana wash the paint away so i ask a very good spray painter and he said that is not true that there is lot of laquire on it but a mate of mine gave me a trick when ever there is dust on the car i put a chamy in to a bucket of water and wipe them of the instead of washing it.
 
Rascal69 said:
As alot of people have said your doing it wrong. Your causing swirls by doing what you do everynight as there isn't any lube in water.
Car washes are bad. Don't care what you say.
Detailing the car ie proper wash, clay, polish, glaze, seal and wax will make your finish better and last longer.
Takes me just short of 2 hours to wash my car.
I foam the car with my foam lance. Leave for a couple of mins and rinse off. Foam again and wash with 2 bucket method with mitt.
I use a separate bucket and mitt for wheels. They will never be used to wash the bodywork.
As people have said clay. Clay will remove stuff from the paint and remove tar which a wash won't.
I can go on and on...
Polishing the car will make the paint last longer than some1 that doesn't polish. Fact!
Like it or not your doing it all wrong for some1 who loved his car.
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I thought all polishes were abrasive products. So I thought all polishes scratch the car all over in very fine scratches that remove the noticable scratches so I thought polishes remove a little layer of clearcoat/paint.
 
Jaws said:
Polishing you car removes very little paint / clearcoat. Usually a car which has been resprayed would have much thicker paint than out the factory, normally about 300 microns. When polishing by hand you will be luck if you can remove 2 microns so extremely little. Obviously you don't have to polish the car every time you clean it. What I find works for me is to give it a good hand wash with 2 buckets making sure to rinse the mitt every panel and use fresh water for the next panel. After washing give it a layer of wax and it will be ok for another month or so. You do not need to polish your car every time you wax it. If you are that bothered about it removing paint.

I usually give is a hand wash every week with a spray detail / wax, then every 3 or 4 weeks give it a hard wax and if I feel like the car needs it I will polish it. Usually only do this every 3 months or so mainly because it is hard work! You are not damaging the car by doing this you are preventing damage and protecting it! By having wax on the car it is another layer ontop of the paint which anything harmful would have to eat through.

Hope this helps a little, I can go more in depth with my cleaning techniques if need be, that is the absolute basics without boring you all.
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DUDE! I LOVE THIS RESPONSE THE MOST! U gave me great detail and it totally makes sense cuz u were the ONLY person who would admit that POLISHING does remove a LAYER of clearcoat/paint. Thank u so much. So is it fine to do what I'm doing [never polish but wash every month and wax every 3 months cuz I don't want to remove layer of paint plus remove bugs and spots every night with water on car microfiber towel]?
 
I made my final decision. TOMORROW [september 1, 2010] is exactly a YEAR since I got my paint job. Coincidentally, it's also the 1st day of the month which I always do my washing every month and waxing every 3 months. So anyways, so far I have never polished my car before. I am thinking about polishing it once a year but I kind of don't want to cuz of the fact that polish removes a layer of paint and I never want that. There are noticable swirls on my hood from me washing the bugs and spots off with water every night but not a lot of them, just like 4 noticable spots. I know polish will remove that.
 
I shower everyday...no harm with that...

just don't take steel-wool to it and you should be fine.
 
murphy2 said:
i wash my car when ever its dirty and ppl say to me your gana wash the paint away so i ask a very good spray painter and he said that is not true that there is lot of laquire on it but a mate of mine gave me a trick when ever there is dust on the car i put a chamy in to a bucket of water and wipe them of the instead of washing it.
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What ever you do, don't do this. ^^ If there's any form of microscopic dirt, grit or dust on the surface, DON'T use a chamois leather to try and get it off. In fact try and avoid using one all together. You will only be kneading the contaminants INTO the paint and forcing them to bond even more rather than getting it all off. (This can cause swirls and barr the paint). The best thing to remove micro-contaminants after foaming/ "sudding" the car is a well lubricated clay bar which must be continuously kneaded in your hand, keeping the surface of the bar as clean as possible. Also; remove the applied products with micro-fibre towels, NOT any chamois leather.

P.S: Instead of using water to remove contaminants such as bird **** or bugs at the end of the day; use a cleansing detailer. Dodo Juice's "Red Mist" is quality stuff, as it works well with pre-layered wax/ polishes without removing them.
 
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washing your car everyday!!? Daaaam! I havent washed mine in about 3 weeks and covered many miles recently on motorway and it FILTHY!! The car looks Matt! lol... Full of bugs all over it!

Im going to wash and hover today though. But gota say you are committed man, Or OCD one of the two. Or both :lol:
 
Is the bug reoving detailed abrasive like polish that it removes a layer of my paint?
 
mate you really DON'T have to worry about hand polishing. if your that bothered get a paint depth gauge and see for yourself.
 
Omg! Is meguiar's quik detailer the perfect thing for me in my situation to remove bugs, dirty water , and spots every night? Cuz it says this product is clear coat safe and will not remove my wax! So is this the thing I should be using?
 
Michael Flare said:
Omg! Is meguiar's quik detailer the perfect thing for me in my situation to remove bugs, dirty water , and spots every night? Cuz it says this product is clear coat safe and will not remove my wax! So is this the thing I should be using?
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That's what I was saying before. Detailing fluids target contaminants, but are very friendly towards previous wax jobs, paint/ clear-coat, ect. If you are going to clean these off every night; use detailing fluids, not cold water.

To answer your question; yes, Meguiar's quick detailer is very good stuff and would be ideal. If you have any spare time, have a gander on Ebay for Dodo Juice products. They're really handy.
 
Bug removal can be made easier with a thin coat of cooking spray or silicon applied after a wash.
 
Type-R-Ste said:
That's what I was saying before. Detailing fluids target contaminants, but are very friendly towards previous wax jobs, paint/ clear-coat, ect. If you are going to clean these off every night; use detailing fluids, not cold water.

To answer your question; yes, Meguiar's quick detailer is very good stuff and would be ideal. If you have any spare time, have a gander on Ebay for Dodo Juice products. They're really handy.
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Thank u so much! Best answer by far. Case closed, I know exactly what to do now. Thanks!
 
I just finished polishing, waxing, cleaning the windows, and vacuuming my car. It took about 5-6 hours total. Word's cannot explain how beautiful my car looks right now. I am utmost happy right now thanks to the help from u guys. I'm so glad I polished it. There were stained that would not come off with water but one sweep with basic polish and it was off like it never existed. I'll post a video up about it again. I've waxed many times so I posted a tutorial. However, it was my first time polishing in my life.
 
Michael Flare said:
I just finished polishing, waxing, cleaning the windows, and vacuuming my car. It took about 5-6 hours total. Word's cannot explain how beautiful my car looks right now. I am utmost happy right now thanks to the help from u guys. I'm so glad I polished it. There were stained that would not come off with water but one sweep with basic polish and it was off like it never existed. I'll post a video up about it again. I've waxed many times so I posted a tutorial. However, it was my first time polishing in my life.
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It is vital to polish else it will go a yelllow cream colour. You need to create a good base to put the wax onto. Don't worry about removing any paint as it is such a small amount. I am glad it went well! Meguiars last touch might be a good idea if you want to get bugs off. If I am feeling lazy it is quite useful to just spray on after washing to give the car another layer of protection without the hassle of hand waxing, however it does not last very long.
 
First of all credit to you for the love you show for your car and effort you put into keeping it clean.If you don`t mind let me point out a few things. What i noticed is you applied polishing compound by hand. That`s wrong and could prove to be harmful if you used a thick grade compound. Only use a machine to apply polishing mesh! Instructions tell you to moisten the applicator because using a machine, it gets hot and the compound turns into tiny stones, not necessary by hand. Also you can reuse your applicator just by giving it a nice wash with water and it`ll be good as new. 5:06-5:08 can clearly see swirl marks on the hood where the light reflects. Try to actually look on your panel from angle so you can see swirls and dull spots.

ps you should something about the gaps fender to hood. too big.
 
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