washing car in the rain

[Metallman56]

well i tried it last night and it worked a lot better then i thougt it would. its more of a poor mans car wash. . only a few spots, and the rear fogs didnt really get cleaned. but other then that it looks a lot better. heres my question, did i hurt my paint? the car was wet when i started, but it didnt get wet by any sort of presure. know what i mean?

[Slim]

Did you use a sponge and soap?

[Ajaxus]

im sure he did...otherwise he would have just let it sit there and it wouldn't really be called "washing"

and uh, i would say there's no harm in it, if there was then your car/paint would be harmed everytime the car got wet from rain. should be fine. especially since all of my water is ground water, basically rain water, that i use for my car. gotta love living on a farm and having a pump, heh

[coupe]

Nah its fine man as long as you used a good car soap and a good mit.

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by Slim

Did you use a sponge and soap?

yes i used megs tech soap. and i used a bunch of it. and yes a brand new sponge was used. it was raining my car was dirty i live at a apt so no hose, payday is friday, and i have always wanted to do it. all i had to do was go out there and soap it down. no drying, none of that good stuff. it took like 5 mins.

[Ajaxus]

whoa, apt? when? where?

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by coupe

Nah its fine man as long as you used a good car soap and a good mit.

is a $1 sponge from wal mart a bad thing to use?

[Ajaxus]

, yes and no imo. i switch between rags and sponges but ive read alot about the mit's out there that says great things about their ability to remove dirt. im thinking of picking one up sometime soon to give it a try.

[elim]

[Ajaxus]

having some smiley fun jason?

[coupe]

Originally Posted by Metallman56

is a $1 sponge from wal mart a bad thing to use?

I personaly dont use sponges, they tend to hold in dirt and debre alot worse than a microfiber wash mit (which is all i use now). They are also to rough and cause marring more so than anything else. As long as it is a sponge meant for car paint then there is really no harm in using one.

So you didnt rinse off your car? You let the rain do it?

[Ajaxus]

hey, check out the signup thread for detailing day, if it rains we're doing the same thing he did. and then we can dry and do the polishing and waxing in my parents 3-car garage.

and if there are some things we cant get clean in the rain for some reason, i can bring some hoses inside for minimal washing. thanks for the idea metallman!

[Metallman56]

i let the rain do it of cousre. i waited about 5 mins, then went out and backed my car in so both sides could get rinsed. i am telling you guys it worked really well. nothing left behind that a little bit of mothers show time couldnt take care of.

no problem aj.

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by elim

dont knock it until you've tried it.

[Metallman56]

oh and aj, we can still use the hoses outside. rain shouldnt stop that.

[Mendoza]

I use microfiber everything only way to go yo.

[Ajaxus]

i know we can jim, but if its overcast we might not see everything so we might have to run them inside to get whatever was missed before we to the polishing and/or waxing.

[nascarnate326]

I wouldnt wash my car in the rain. For water to fall it has to have somethignto cling onto (small dust particals) this makes the water fall down. On the way down it could potentially pick up more dust or who knows what else, esspicaly if you live in a area with dirt roads/ desert. Water from the ground as been filtered by the ground so its more "pure" However who knows what type of chemicals are in the under ground water supply. Dont know if there is much thuth to this, but its what i learned in my geography class. Well, what I learned the 2nd time i took it.

[Metallman56]

^^ thats the kind of stuff i was afraid of. but it seemed to do a good job.

[Panacea]

I would say it's not a good idea for the same reason Nate said. Rain water is dirty. It will work, but you're probably going to scratch your car up by doing it.