Dish soap? Uh-oh.

[trapspeed]

I'm sure some of you have done it before.

I looked around the garage and found out that my handy car wash wasn't sitting on the shelf. Wtf... Someone had used the rest up without telling me and I really had the urge to wash my car. I was lazy to go to Wal-Mart so I decided to grab some Palmolive Orange scented dish soap from under my kitchen sink.

I was amazed at how well the dishsoap made my car shine. Curious, I looked up some sites and found out that it is actually bad for your car.

Some facts I found...

Cliffnotes :

There are 7 reasons why using dishwashing detergent is dangerous to a car’s finish.

1. Dish detergents do not contain water softeners to prevent spotting, it would likely increases water spots.

2. Dish detergents are generally made with surfactants; this is good for cutting grease. These same surfactants will cut and strip waxes on a vehicle, the end result is a dull, unprotected finish, and the possibility of corrosion (rust) in undetected places.

3. Dish wash detergents often contact cosmetic chemicals to prevent hands from cracking while in the water, it is these same chemicals that make a vehicle difficult to dry and/or leave a poor gloss and smeary appearance.

4. Dish wash detergents may produce foam thicker and denser but will not rinse well as traditional car wash soaps. This leaves a smeared finish.

5. Other chemicals in dish wash detergents are added to remove food from plates are generally not the best to remove dirt and road film from your car.

6. Dish wash detergents do not contain special additives. These additives that are contained in car wash soaps are of high pH which help remove dirt and road film and to neutralize ant acid rain spots on the vehicle.

7. Some chloride (table salt) is commonly used to thicken dish washing detergents. Washing a car with this would be like using salt water. Results with dish wash detergent would e water spots and promote corrosion (rust).


How many of you have washed or wash your car on a daily basis with dish soap?

 

[paranoidTSi]

Never washed my DSM with dish soap since I've owned it (2yrs)...I've washed my Corolla like that but I don't do that anymore either.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

i can't believe you didn't know that.. that's first thing i learned when i started getting into cars

i only use dish soap to clean my car before a nice meguire's 3 stage waxing

 

[kyledykstra]

I've tried telling my grandma this, she's always washed her cars with dishsoap...

but then, her cars are always really shiny and look good too.. so I'm not sure exactly how much truth there is to it.

 

[9D9 MITSU RS]

I used dish soap once. Just b/c Zaino says to do it to strip off the other waxes.

 

[trapspeed]

Yea, it's good for stripping other waxes off but over a period of time it'll start doing the same to your paint.

 

[Chuckster]

Not that it's important, just a little trivia: #7 is inaccurate. Salt is used to reduce the viscocity of the detergent.

Same reason not to use shampoo on your car either.

 

[leet]

I've always used the fancy Meguiars' soap, due to worrying about other soaps stripping wax.

 

[rjdavis21]

i used it one time and it left this sticky greasy feeling on my car and made dirt stick to it it just wouldnt spray off...i use the blue stuff from autozone..

 

[1993eclipseGS]

I used.... shampoo once.. or twice..

 

[RamenPride]

I used dishwashing detergent all of the time on my old car. The paint looked great for the 7 years I had it (I got it new). Then again, it was garage kept and I always wax after I wash the car, so...

 

[Detail]

It truly hurts my feelings when I hear about people doing this. These people are usually the ones who got their cars cleaned by me and then then the first time they washed it, they ruin the wax job I had done.

I agree that it might be usefull if you plan to wax your car that day.

Just remember:
Squeaky clean is not a good thing when it comes to paint.

D

 

[cuttheduck]

I used dish soap once. Just b/c Zaino says to do it to strip off the other waxes.

x2