Thursday, 10 May, 2012
"The car wash -- we sing about it. We fantasize of beautiful people soaping up our vehicles in it (always in the name of charity, of course). It's become as big a facet of our culture as the hamburger or the vote-in reality show. Either by our own hands, by the hands of others, or by the powers of machines, washing our cars is regular wet wonder of a ritual. Yet for as important and socially ingrained as car washes are, all that water and chemical content could actually damage the qualities of our vehicles. They waste gallons of water, often containing environmentally corrosive content -- the byproduct of cleaning materials. And believe it or not, washing your car may not be the most effective way at keeping it shiny.
Few people are alert to the potential hazards that a car wash can pose to their vehicles, let alone the environment. As they accumulate dirt and microscopic debris, a car wash's bristles can morph into high-speed scratching machines, scoring the paint on the car. Improper drying means -- such as sopping up the excess liquid with a beach towel -- can be even more abrasive. Any water not dried up by a towel can actually evaporate into the paint, leaving behind harmful mineral deposits. Only one single unfortunate experience with any of these threats could detriment the look and quality of a car.
Instead of a fixation with washing our cars, there should be an emphasis on thoroughly and regularly cleaning them to stave off dirt, debris, and aesthetic damage. Many may ask, "Aren't cleaning and washing a car the same process?" The answer to that is a surprisingly decisive "no." While washing a car will take off the exterior contaminators, cleaning (much more exhaustive) is what removes the tough, set-in stains, unsightly speckles, and also what are known as "bonded contaminants," such as muck from the road blown onto your car by the tires of cars ahead it during a drive. Washing your car until your hands wrinkle will still not remove these peskier properties that bond deeply with your car's surface.
"Waterless car washes" have gained headway as gentle yet effective means of car cleaning aimed at bonded contaminants, without actually wetting the car. The process uses a cocktail of dirt-stripping compounds, including wetting agents, lubricants, and surface protecting properties, lifting up the debris via emulsification. Waterless car washes obviously save enormous sums of water, but they also slash car cleaning time by an impressive margin: whereas a good car wash can take up to an hour, this cleaning technique can be as short as twenty minutes. Availability seems the only downside; few professional waterless car washes have been established in the country."
Excerpt taken from hertzcarsales.com and can be found in its entirety at https://www.hertzcarsales.com/blog/2012/may/10/want-a-super-clean-car-dont-wash-it.htm
