Photography by J.G. Pasterjak
I’ll start by getting this tidbit out of the way for my fellow hardcores: No, having a clean and shiny car will not make you any faster on track.
And that’s kind of where I exist as a car owner. My street cars benefit from a reasonably priced subscription at a local drive-thru car wash chain that keeps them clean and presentable, and my track cars go to the track and occasionally get driven home on a trailer in the rain–the cleansing, cleansing rain.
I also live on a piece of property not served by a municipal water system, meaning any water I use to wash a car at home comes directly from the Florida aquifer and as such contains a multitude of metals and chemicals that, while fine for human or plant consumption, are not ideal for car washing.
But I also realize that magazine project cars means they have to look nice for photos and present a professional image. I get it. I’m not a monster. I just hate detailing cars and have lousy water to do it with, without going to a pay-and-spray or trying to take a lowered car with a roll bar and a race seat through the car wash tunnel like a weirdo.
A company called DIY Detail kinda outed me with an email: We love your content, but why does the BMW’s steering wheel look so gross in your latest video? They copied a few people on staff with that question, causing all eyes to point to me.
First, the BMW’s steering wheel is not dirty. What you’re seeing–rather prominently, I admit, in our wind buffeting video–is wear. The leather at the top of the BMW’s steering wheel is simply worn. Best I can guess, the previous owner was a true cruiser, one hand up at 12 and all that.
But it’s not dirt.
Still, DIY Detail insisted on sending over some detail supplies. Call it a perk of internet fame, I guess. And, after a year and a half of track work with few real hours dedicated to proper cleaning and detailing, the car wasn’t looking its best from the outside, either. I admit, it was time for spa day.
What I didn’t expect: Some of these products seemed to be tailor-made for me and my mineral-rich water and lack of motivation, particularly the brand’s Rinseless Wash, Iron Remover, Tree Sap Remover and Quick Beads.
Rinseless Wash is just what it sounds like. It can be used via a bucket or a foam gun, and the idea is that you don’t need to rinse the car as the soap supposedly dries with no residue left behind. I followed the instructions, foamed it down with a pressure washer-mounted foam gun, and then used straight strokes with a wash mitt to remove the dirt.
The result was that it worked as advertised, and even though I was washing in indirect sun, the emulsion evaporated fully with little to no visible streaking or cloudiness.
I did hose on another layer of Rinseless suds, though, to act as a carrier for the next treatment, DIY Detail’s Iron Remover. One of my biggest challenges when washing cars at home is that my water is particularly iron-rich–my brown sidewalks can certainly attest to that–and that can be tough on car finishes. DIY’s Iron Remover promises to neutralize ferrous material in the finish and allow it to be rinsed away with minimal or even zero scrubbing or wiping.
I coated the still-wet car with Iron Remover as per the instructions and it very quickly produced numerous purple streaks consistent with a phenol or acid compound chemically neutralizing the ferrous particles suspended in the paint and trapped in seams.
Particularly interesting was how the Iron Remover leeched into the tiny gaps around decals and neutralized the trapped iron in those small crevices, letting the purple remains ooze down the side. There was actually so much purple after the first treatment–did I mention how metallic my water is? I’m basically half robot from drinking the stuff–I wet the car again after rinsing and did another treatment.
Far less purple this time, showing that the amount of ferrous material had been seriously knocked down by the first treatment with zero scrubbing. (Remember, I’m not big on dedicating my entire day to car cleaning.)
Finally, I cut right to the chase and sprayed DIY’s Quick Beads on the still-wet car. Quick Beads is a ceramic coating that can be applied onto a wet car and simply wiped off. If you’re seeing a theme here with never having to dry your car between any of these steps, yeah, so am I, and I like it.
The Quick Beads didn’t quite work as the instructions detailed, but using it was still remarkably easy given the exceptional results. The instructions say to spray it on a wet surface, wait 30 seconds or so and then wipe it off. I used this approach a panel at a time, but the car still wanted a final buff to remove the remaining residue–which I think says as much about the Florida humidity as the product.
In any case, I sprayed the stuff everywhere: glass, paint, wheels. Just spritzed it on pretty much every surface except the tires, and even then, I was tempted. The finish it left behind after the second wipe felt pretty silky.
Finally, I hit a few spots affected by my other nemesis aside from awful water: tree sap. DIY’s appropriately named Tree Sap Remover worked as promised, and also did a great job at removing track debris like rubber streaks and smooshed bugs. And it didn’t leave behind a petroleum residue like a lot of other sap and tar removers do.
Look, I’m not angling to be a car detailing supply pitch guy. I want to go fast and leave a good-looking corpse, and so far, I’m 1 for 2 on my way to that goal. Leave the hardcore detail work to our friends over at Classic Motorsports.
[How to quickly detail a car in only an hour]
But I also get that cruddy cars look bad in our magazines and videos, and even when you hate cleaning stuff and you have grody water, you need to find a way to keep your stuff nice. In total, I spent right around an hour washing, de-ironing and ceramic coating the entire exterior of our BMW 435i, and I like that kind of ROI.
The finish has been exceptionally hydrophobic as well, which, in theory, will keep the car cleaner longer as dirt just kinda slides off. On the glass, the ceramic coating left some excellent rain-repellant qualities as well.
How much for all of this? The Iron Remover is the most expensive product I used, at $22.49 for a 16-ounce bottle, and I used about 5 ounces to go over the car twice. All of the other products I used cost $20 or less for the same 16-ounce size–so on par with the usual brands.
So, with less $75 in products and barely an hour of my time, I conquered my god-awful groundwater and my hatred of detailing and have a shiny, photoworthy car to show for it.
But trust me, the steering wheel wasn’t dirty.
Thanks for the article! Being in Alabama we also have super hard water. I was going to go with a deionizer filter system until I realized I would be sitting almost $1000, and I drive a twenty something year old Miata. If I were to go that route, might as well become a mobile auto detailer...
Any tips on cleaning/maintaining cloth convertible tops?
We have a few convertible owners on staff who I'm sure will chime in this afternoon (most of us are at the shop tody working on our Mustang project).
But, yeah, I feel you with the hard ground water. It's particularly anoying during pollen season here, because occasionally you just need to hose the thick layer of pollen off of a car so you can see and so you don't end up sneezing and crying every time you touch a door handle. But just hosing a car off means you're going to end up with huge cloudy spots all over the car. Better than pollen? Maybe? But a whole other level of annoyance because now you have to deal with the mineral-rich water spots. I like having a one-step method to deal with a dirty car.
Any magical tricks for dealing with said hard water spots? My best luck so far has been to claybar then single stage polish
Clay bar works like magic if done correctly. Just watch that nothing gets on the paint before putting some sort of protective coating on it. A friend did a complete strip wash and clay bar to his truck and while leaving it for a few hours, a bird did its business on the hood and actually etched the paint. He called me over once he tried to remove it and the "crap" wouldn't come out. A small but noticeable stain in the clear. After waxing the whole car he ended up taking it somewhere to have it wet sanded and buffed by someone who knows what they're doing.
On another note, a neighbor bought Adam's Iron Remover at my suggestion and sprayed it on his white Colorado. He got it on some of the black trim on the upper doors between the windows and it left some nasty marks. I believe the area is just some sort of matte vinyl wrap and not actually painted and the product likely dried in the sun causing the damage. Just mentioning it because I've seen someone have an issue. I only use it on painted surfaces and keep away from plastic trim.
With as much as I don't enjoy washing my car–especially this time of year in Florida–I really ought to invest in some decent cleaning/detailing stuff.
I guess the thing with dealing with water spots is it kind of depends on the contents of your water supply. My groundwater comes from Florida's limestone aquifer, so it's got a lot of calcium in it. If I get to it quick enough it seems to come off fine with dish detergent, but if it sits too long it needs to be clay barred, or I use a polish/wax combo.
So I guess the answer to "how do I deal with water spots" would be "whatever works for you" beecause it's going to depend on your water composition.
In reply to Stueck0514 :
My Miata top is vinyl, and I just use Griot’s rubber and vinyl cleaner/dressing.
Lots of good/quick/easy detail info here in this video we did for Classic Motorsports.
I’m also a fan of clay bars. I use the Griot’s synthetic clay pad. It’s not a cheap date, but it works. And if you drop it on the ground, you can rinse it off.
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