Whats the proper method for dust removal

[Strokedhog]

Ok the car has been washed, clayed, and a three step polishing system done according to the videos. I have achieved awsome results with the Adams products. My black paint sparkles better than the day I picked the car up. The majority of the swirls and scratches from 18 months and 5000 miles of driving are gone.
MY QUESTION IS WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO REMOVE LIGHT DUST FROM SITTING IN THE GARAGE OR AFTER A BRIEF DRIVE??????????

[Inferno_Orange]

Junkman covers the proper use of the California Duster in this video starting around 7:28 in the first link. You might want to check out the entire video!




Cheers! .

[AZ2SSRS]

Originally Posted by Inferno_Orange

Junkman covers the proper use of the California Duster in this video starting around 7:28 in the first link. You might want to check out the entire video!




Cheers! .

I use the California Duster on light dust as well with good results.

[Junkman2008]

Originally Posted by Inferno_Orange

... You might want to check out the entire video!

Not might, you definitely need to watch the entire series. Every minute of it is important!

[Todd@properautocare.com]

Originally Posted by Strokedhog

Ok the car has been washed, clayed, and a three step polishing system done according to the videos. I have achieved awsome results with the Adams products. My black paint sparkles better than the day I picked the car up. The majority of the swirls and scratches from 18 months and 5000 miles of driving are gone.
MY QUESTION IS WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO REMOVE LIGHT DUST FROM SITTING IN THE GARAGE OR AFTER A BRIEF DRIVE??????????

The absolute BEST way to remove any light dust or road prime is to wash the car using a high lubricity soap. However this isn't always convient. Remember that road dust is ground up concrete and is fairly abrasive!

If you don't have the time for something like a complete wash, then consider something like Optimum No-Rinse. Optimum No-Rinse is an amazing (most professional detailers would say revolutionary) product. You mix a couple ounces into a 5 gallon wash bucket and then wash a panel at a time.

Wipe the panel down using a flood of solution then instead of rinsing off you simply dry with a towel. The product uses advanced polymers (the same as in most sealants) to encapsulate the dirt and remove it with out scratching. As a side benefit, washing with ONR will leave behind some protection and make the paint feel slicker/look better.

A step down from ONR would be to use a quick detail spray and a plush microfiber towel. Meguiar's Ultimate Quick Detailer (or the professional version: M135 Synthetic Spray Detailer) do a great job and are easy to use. Personally I don't like using a QD after driving the car though (the ground up concrete thing).

[scythezo6]

Cali duster with proper form. I wouldnt use detail spray after that since the duster never picks up every last bit of dust. A light wash is really the safest way to go. Foam her up, wash her, rinse and use a leaf blower to dry it.

[Strokedhog]

Thanks guys.

[Junkman2008]

Originally Posted by scythezo6

Cali duster with proper form. I wouldnt use detail spray after that since the duster never picks up every last bit of dust. A light wash is really the safest way to go. Foam her up, wash her, rinse and use a leaf blower to dry it.

Used correctly, a CA Duster in good condition will remove enough dust to make following it with a quality microfiber towel a non-issue. Just as I demonstrated and proved in my video with a close up inspection of the results.

[CamaroDreams07]

Originally Posted by Todd@properautocare.com

The absolute BEST way to remove any light dust or road prime is to wash the car using a high lubricity soap. However this isn't always convient. Remember that road dust is ground up concrete and is fairly abrasive!

If you don't have the time for something like a complete wash, then consider something like Optimum No-Rinse. Optimum No-Rinse is an amazing (most professional detailers would say revolutionary) product. You mix a couple ounces into a 5 gallon wash bucket and then wash a panel at a time.

Wipe the panel down using a flood of solution then instead of rinsing off you simply dry with a towel. The product uses advanced polymers (the same as in most sealants) to encapsulate the dirt and remove it with out scratching. As a side benefit, washing with ONR will leave behind some protection and make the paint feel slicker/look better.

A step down from ONR would be to use a quick detail spray and a plush microfiber towel. Meguiar's Ultimate Quick Detailer (or the professional version: M135 Synthetic Spray Detailer) do a great job and are easy to use. Personally I don't like using a QD after driving the car though (the ground up concrete thing).

Man I don't know about ONR without using a Cal Duster to knock the dust off first. Just me, but I'm not sold on that. And the bolded part is just scratch city. Rubbing detail spray on a dusty car? I hope that's a typo on your part and you forgot to include dusting it off first.

Personally I think if you just have DUST, nothing caked on, then you should just properly use a Cal duster, followed by a waterless wash/detail spray with a waffle weave towel. If you have caked on grime (puddle splashes, mud, etc.) you have to go with a full wash. Anything else will just grind that into the paint.

If you properly dust your car each time you finish driving it, it won't have time to get that bad since you're keeping it in the garage. Prevention is your friend between washes.

Side question for Todd: Just wondering, but if you are going straight from the ONR bucket to the car with the wash media, how does it have any time to "encapsulate" the dirt? It seems those first few swipes with the wash pad are going to be over a primarily dry car with dry debris. Obviously the solution then soaks downward with gravity to soak the lower portion of the panel, and maybe there I can buy into it "encapsulating" dirt, but I don't see that happening from the first stroke.

[2010 SSRS]

wash off the dust or leave it alone until your next wash.

[Iomcamaro]

Originally Posted by 2010 SSRS

wash off the dust or leave it alone until your next wash.

Easiest and safest way!

[Junkman2008]

CamaroDreams07, you're thinking. I like it when folks approach this logically because that's exactly the way I think and approach it too. If it sounds illogical, it probably is. Until someone proves to me otherwise, I'm sticking to logic.

[Todd@properautocare.com]

Originally Posted by 2010 SSRS

wash off the dust or leave it alone until your next wash.

Originally Posted by Iomcamaro

Easiest and safest way!

+1 Absolutely!

The safest way to remove dust and dirt is to encapsulate it and float it off the surface vs. dry mopping it with sticky yarn.

[Todd@properautocare.com]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

Man I don't know about ONR without using a Cal Duster to knock the dust off first. Just me, but I'm not sold on that. And the bolded part is just scratch city. Rubbing detail spray on a dusty car? I hope that's a typo on your part and you forgot to include dusting it off first.

Personally I think if you just have DUST, nothing caked on, then you should just properly use a Cal duster, followed by a waterless wash/detail spray with a waffle weave towel. If you have caked on grime (puddle splashes, mud, etc.) you have to go with a full wash. Anything else will just grind that into the paint.

If you properly dust your car each time you finish driving it, it won't have time to get that bad since you're keeping it in the garage. Prevention is your friend between washes.

Side question for Todd: Just wondering, but if you are going straight from the ONR bucket to the car with the wash media, how does it have any time to "encapsulate" the dirt? It seems those first few swipes with the wash pad are going to be over a primarily dry car with dry debris. Obviously the solution then soaks downward with gravity to soak the lower portion of the panel, and maybe there I can buy into it "encapsulating" dirt, but I don't see that happening from the first stroke.

I am well aware that many people love and use a California Duster and are quite happy with the results that it produces. Proper Auto Care has been selling California Duster's since the mid 1980s, so I am not knocking the product itself. I am also quite aware that based on people's expectations what one person thinks is great another may find substandard.

So what is good for the week end warrior who may polish a car per month in his garage may not cut it for the perfectionist. This is why there are so many products that are so loved by so many.

However we both want the same thing: To remove the dust from your car in the safest, most paint friendly manner possible. We don't want to create macroscopic defects (such as visible swirl marks) or microscopic scratching that hazes the surface and reduces the gloss of the paint over time. So we must ask what is safer : Using a chemical designed to lubricate both the surface and the dirt(detail spray/rinseless wash solution/car soap solution) vs. wiping with out any such lubricant (dry wiping)? Using a clean, freshly washed media (such as lambswool wash mitt or plush microfiber towel) or using dirty stands of yarn (the yarn of which is usually slight abrasive in an of itself, which is why we use microfiber)?

When it comes to dust (most of which is abrasive) the single best way to remove it is encapsulate the particle and float it off the surface so that it never is direct contact with the surface. This is why you are correct with the assumption that wiping anything dry is bad. There is too much focused friction and even the softest particle can cause micro-scratches.

Man I don't know about ONR without using a Cal Duster to knock the dust off first.

We must logically look at which what each product is and does in order to find which is logically least abrasive. Cali Duster's are yarn mops dipped in parrifin wax. The wax causes the dirt to attach to the fiber, which is how it (the dirt) is removed from the paint. Ironically as more dirt is picked up (over time) the duster becomes more efficent and effective at cleaning the surface. This is because the dirt and grime increases the surface area of yarn and the wax seeps through. It is the cleaning tool that becomes more effective at cleaning by becoming grittier. However there is really nothing that is providing any lubricity or encapsulate the particulate so you will 'drying wiping' the surface. Also washing the duster is impossible (not only because it is more effective at cleaning when it is dirtier but) because if you wash away the wax you are left with yarn, which isn't very effective.

ONR uses polymers to encapsulate the dirt and lay down protection on the paint's surface at the same time. Even a damp ONR microfiber is going to be substantially less abrasive then dirty yarn being dragged across the paint. This is the exact reason why I would not use a Cali Duster first, because I want to remove the dust in the least abrasive manner possible. Even a damp cloth (just water) is going to offer greater lubricity than dirty yarn. Quick Detail Sprays work on the same premise as they provide the much needed lubricants to more safely remove dirt. This is also how car soaps work as well.

And the bolded part is just scratch city. Rubbing detail spray on a dusty car? I hope that's a typo on your part and you forgot to include dusting it off first.

Most quick detailer sprays feature high lubricity 'glossing' agents such as silicone, polymers, or waxes. These, like ONR, are designed to help encapsulate and remove particulate with out scratching. I would never recommend 'dusting' first because wiping the surface clean with no lubricant is going to be far more abrasive to the paint then at least using something that provides some level of protection against marring.

So while a quick detailer is not the ideal way to remove dust (which is why I ranked it third) it is less abrasive then using nothing at all and dry wiping the dust from the surface. While last in my list it still has many benefits that that make it superior to dry wiping the surface (particularly with a contaminated media such as yarn.)

Personally I think if you just have DUST, nothing caked on, then you should just properly use a Cal duster, followed by a waterless wash/detail spray with a waffle weave towel. If you have caked on grime (puddle splashes, mud, etc.) you have to go with a full wash. Anything else will just grind that into the paint.

Proper use of a cali duster would include light pressure and whisking the dust away (vs) grinding it into the paint. However this would also apply to proper use of using a quick detailer or ONR as well, with the added benefit of the lubricity each chemical provides. Ultimately it is friction (in the form of abrasion) that causes swirl marks which is why it is so logical to use chemicals that provide lubricity vs. dry wiping with yarn first. In detailing there are very few (almost zero) absolutes. There are so many variables in detailing that it makes definitive near impossible, to the point that in over 5-10k posts, in detailing seminars I have taught, I have NEVER made a definitive statement. However, like detailing, there are exceptions to the rule I'm about to break it twice) If you are able to clean your paint with a cali duster (using good technique) and not scratch the paint than, under no circumstance, will you have created marring using a plush microfiber and a high quick detail spray (using good technique). This is because, under no circumstance, is dry wiping the paint with dirty, gritty, and contaminated yarn superior to using a clean, fresh, plush microfiber and a scientifically engineered lubricant that lubricates both the dirt and paint.

If you properly dust your car each time you finish driving it, it won't have time to get that bad since you're keeping it in the garage. Prevention is your friend between washes.

I think this really depends on your expectations for the appearance of your car and is also dependent on other factors such as the color of your car, how trained your eye is to spot defects, and how soft/hard your paint is (how likely it is to mar.)

Road dust is finely ground concrete and it is abrasive. The safest way to remove it is going to be to float off and away the surface. I would recommend at least using a quick detail spray (again my least suggested method) although I really think that anytime you drive the car you should at the very least you a safe method like an ONR wash or a more traditional wash. Until then just let the car be dusty and don't risk marring the finish by dry wiping it with waxy yarn. Again, expectations are key. If you are happy with the results you are getting then by all means go ahead.

For example if you have a silver or gray car with a lot of metal flake then you will likely never see the faint marring produced by using a dry duster to wipe the surface. However if you have a solid black or dark color it may only take one time until your mind changes.

And as a side note, the harder the finish of your car, the less resistant it will be to scratching. Camaro's use a fairly hard paint system (almost as hard as a Corvette) IME, so if somebody has a light colored (silver/white/gray and or metal flake) Camaro they will have the benefit of never seeing the damage they are creating.

Side question for Todd: Just wondering, but if you are going straight from the ONR bucket to the car with the wash media, how does it have any time to "encapsulate" the dirt? It seems those first few swipes with the wash pad are going to be over a primarily dry car with dry debris. Obviously the solution then soaks downward with gravity to soak the lower portion of the panel, and maybe there I can buy into it "encapsulating" dirt, but I don't see that happening from the first stroke.

Great question. I will address this point by point if you don't mind.

Side question for Todd: Just wondering, but if you are going straight from the ONR bucket to the car with the wash media, how does it have any time to "encapsulate" the dirt?

First let's think about how regular soap works. Soap works by using surfactants that break the surface tension of water and make it slipperier: Basically soap makes water wetter. This allows soapy water to encapsulate the dirt nearly instantaneously and help remove it (from whatever surface) easier. This is true with every type of soap, from your hair shampoo to dish soap to car soap. Granted certain ingredients are added to agument the ability of the soap (shampoo should not strip the natural oils of your hair were as dish soap should be tough against grease and oil for example).

The same principle holds true with ONR. The polymers act to break the surface tension of the water and allow the solution to do a better job at safely removing the dirt. The polymers also do help 'cling' the the dirt particles and form a protective barrier on the paint to reduce the chances of the paint being marked.

The proper way to use ONR is to load the wash media with solution and then lightly ring the media out over the surface of the paint, flooding the surface with solution. If you have ever used ONR you will be amazed at the way the dirt and dust floods away from the surface prior to even touching it. In these brief couple of moments the water (armed with polymers and surfacents) completely encapsulate the dirt (just like with soapy water in car soap).

Then lightly wipe the surface with your wash media (you will also notice that the dirt will attach to the wash media similar to how it attaches to a Cali Duster, ironically, only with the huge added benefit of having a super lubricant on the surface.

As you wipe and flood the surface with solution you will effectively float the dirt completely off the car. After washing a section, you dry it (with out rinsing). If you have washed it properly you will notice that even as you wipe the solution from the surface that you will get no dirt transfer to your towel. Why? Because the majority of the dirt has floated away, and the remainder has attached itself to the wash media (again like a Cali Duster).

Then rinse the wash media out (in a second rinse bucket) and move to the next section. And this is the other benefit, with ONR not only are flooding the paint constantly with a super lubricated solution that immediately encapsulates dirt, but you are keeping the wash media clean. That is why this method of cleaning the dust from your car is far superior then dry mopping the surface with dirty yarn dipped in paraffin wax. It is so logical that it almost seems funny when you think about it.

It seems those first few swipes with the wash pad are going to be over a primarily dry car with dry debris.

It would seem that way but I would beg you to try some. It is simply not the case. You flood the surface with solution (just like you would with car soap) only you do not have to rinse prior to drying if you do it correctly, which saves time and water.

But lets assume this was somewhat true, and that your wash media was only wet with the super lubricated solution. If you used the same technique as you did with your duster (light pressure and gentle) which do you think is going be less aggressive?

Dirty yarn covered with parraffin wax moving across the surface or a super lubricated plush microfiber towel (or lambs wool mitt)? The logical answer is the latter, obviously.

As you stated earlier (and reiterated above) dry wiping the paint is a big no-no. It is the exact reason why so many professional detailers have sworn off using a cali duster and why many avid and anal enthusiasts have as well. Ultimately "knocking the dust off" is dry wiping the paint. There are simply better, more effective, and less abrasive methods of getting the job done. It would be nice if we could design and develop a Cali Duster that used some magical magentic mojo to cause the dust to be pulled right from the paint, but unfortunately (like wax paper) you have to drag the yarn across the dust and wait for it stick.

I would also add that technique plays a huge role in how well a product performs. It is common sense to on how to use a duster not to scratch paint and it is no different than how people have used them for the last 25 years because the premise is simple. When it comes to something like ONR or a car wash technique is just as important, although perhaps slightly more complicated. However give me a solution that has active ingredients to flood and remove the debris rather than dry mopping it with dirty yarn any day.

Obviously the solution then soaks downward with gravity to soak the lower portion of the panel, and maybe there I can buy into it "encapsulating" dirt, but I don't see that happening from the first stroke

I hope my answer above answered this concern for you. The encapsulation is instantaneous, they same as it is with car soap. As soon as the surface is flooded with the solution, the water solution (armed with polymers) encapsulates the dirt and provides much needed lubricity to remove the debris with out scratching and provides a protective barrier that dry wiping the surface cannot.

I too was a skeptic of ONR, as were many of the extremely high end detailers who now use it as a staple of there system. At then end of the day it works (and is in some ways superior to regular washing) which is why it is so highly regarded by those who use it. (Just google ONR reviews).