Is Dawn Dish Soap The Only Thing That Will Remove Wax???
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From: Jefferson City, MO
Is Dawn Dish Soap The Only Thing That Will Remove Wax??? Just curious if other similar products like Palmolive will strip wax, or if Dawn is the only one?
Not sure about other dish soaps, but I know the ORIGINAL, BLUE dawn is the only dish soap I use to strip wax, if I even use it. Usually if I'm going to do a strip wash I'll add 3 oz of All Purpose Cleaner to my foam gun and my wash bucket. Dawn is really harsh on the exterior plastics.
Also, you can strip panel by panel with isopropyl alcohol.
Also, you can strip panel by panel with isopropyl alcohol.
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From: Jefferson City, MO
Just asking because all I see at home is Palmolive dish soap. I googled it and from what I've seen, the Palmolive will strip the wax just as Dawn will. The plan is to wash and clay-bar the car tonight and then do the paint correction tomorrow so the car will be ready by Saturday.
I use dawn to strip the wax and use my Porter 7424 to polish the car. In between stages I have a 50/50 mix of water/isopropyl alcohol to remove the compounds completely before I use the next compound.
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From: Jefferson City, MO
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to dig for some Dawn, but if I can't find any, I'll just use the Palmolive. Either way, wash and clay and the onto the Adams 2 stage paint correction, then Adam's Brilliant Glaze and finish it off with Adam's Americana Wax. I'll get some good pics.
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I use dawn to strip the wax before all my paint corrections. Contrary to negative comments on it, used as intended, I've not incurred the slightest evidence of damage, wear or otherwise on anything Ive used it on, including my own cars. Dawn is preffered as its one of the milder dish soaps and its poverty cheap at the dollar store. FWIW I use the the original dawn, not the new concentrated stuff.
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Verdad Gallardo I use dawn to strip the wax before all my paint corrections. Contrary to negative comments on it, used as intended, I've not incurred the slightest evidence of damage, wear or otherwise on anything Ive used it on, including my own cars. Dawn is preffered as its one of the milder dish soaps and its poverty cheap at the dollar store. FWIW I use the the original dawn, not the new concentrated stuff.
Why are you trying to strip the wax off your car? If your going to polish the car out anyways I would just wash the car with whatever you normally wash it. Then from there I'm sure a clay bar or even compound/polish will take care of any wax that was previously on the surface. That's just me I don't personally see any reason to strip old wax off.
As for the dawn soap being harsh, I believe this is based solely on anecdotal reports. I'm assuming people who don't know any better, (I was one of them), simply washed their car with whatever soap was around. If these people used a household product for an automotive need, it would be safe to assume this group probably didn't apply wax to protect their paint. Fom here, there was a correlation with using dawn soap and dried out clearcoats. However, correlation does not imply causation.
Why are you trying to strip the wax off your car? If your going to polish the car out anyways I would just wash the car with whatever you normally wash it. Then from there I'm sure a clay bar or even compound/polish will take care of any wax that was previously on the surface. That's just me I don't personally see any reason to strip old wax off.
FWIW, claying the car will remove the wax in itself. That being said, I would use dawn before claying it just to know all the previous wax was properly stripped.
Unless you are using dawn more than once a year to strip the wax, even if you use it on plastic, its not gonna hurt anything. Honestly, if you have a good quality wax you use like Zaino, you shouldn't need to strip it all down more than once every few years at the most. (That's my opinion, not a fact)
I use dawn on my F-bodies when I need to strip the wax and start over, and I've never had any issues. Both my cars have been in magazines, calenders and my Z made it in a Nitto advertisement, so whatever I'm doing it can't be that wrong.
Unless you are using dawn more than once a year to strip the wax, even if you use it on plastic, its not gonna hurt anything. Honestly, if you have a good quality wax you use like Zaino, you shouldn't need to strip it all down more than once every few years at the most. (That's my opinion, not a fact)
I use dawn on my F-bodies when I need to strip the wax and start over, and I've never had any issues. Both my cars have been in magazines, calenders and my Z made it in a Nitto advertisement, so whatever I'm doing it can't be that wrong.
Why are you trying to strip the wax off your car? If your going to polish the car out anyways I would just wash the car with whatever you normally wash it. Then from there I'm sure a clay bar or even compound/polish will take care of any wax that was previously on the surface. That's just me I don't personally see any reason to strip old wax off.
You want to strip any sealant or wax that is on the car before polishing so that the sealant and/or wax doesn't clog the pads up.
I guess some do it and others don't. I've read that some compounds have fillers and the finish may appear fine but upon an IPA wipe down, some swirling may reappear. But I've been out of the detailing game for awhile so I may be wrong. What sealant or wax do you like? I'm looking to try something else.
I've heard good things about Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant and Auto Finesse products. I know a guy that uses Pinnacle's Signature paste wax and he likes it. I haven't messed with anything like opti-guard or any of those hard coatings.
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Claying doesn't usually remove all wax, that's why most use dawn washes, IPA wipedowns, or car pro eraser so you can see what exactly u are working on. And for the absolute bond possible for your sealant/wax
It's not really necessary to remove the polish oils between polishes with IPA. Only time you really need to use IPA is to 1) strip wax before polishing and 2) remove polishing oils before laying a sealant or wax
Dawn is harsh on plastics. If you use it every wash, then it's extremely harsh on the paint. If you only use it once every 3 months before laying a sealant or wax then it's fine.
Dawn is harsh on plastics. If you use it every wash, then it's extremely harsh on the paint. If you only use it once every 3 months before laying a sealant or wax then it's fine.
You want to strip any protection you have on the paint before starting to polish, whether it's a light cut polish, or a compound.
As far as plastics go, theres alot of inferior protectants that contain silicone on the market that actually accelerate the wear, they dry out plastic and discolor it. Use something like dawn to wash the car and couple that with hard water that most people have in their outside hoses, it removes all the silicone protectant exposing the damage it has caused and also leaves behind mineral residue from the hard water.....A myth is born, "dawn ruined my car" . Dawn doesnt ruin a thing, it strips away all the cheap crap people slather all over thier cars and exposes the damage that cheap crap caused.
Last edited by LT4vert; Jun 22, 2013 at 11:15 AM.