Re: Re[2]: Washing your car.

[John Greenstreet <jgreenst@motown.ge.com>]

> From quattro-owner@swiss.ans.net Fri Jan 27 01:06:00 1995
> Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 00:18:36 -0500 (EST)
> From: Robert Phillips <r3rfp@dax.cc.uakron.edu>
> To: quattro@swiss.ans.net
> Subject: Re: Re[2]: Washing your car.
> Reply-To: quattro@swiss.ans.net
> 
> On Thu, 26 Jan 1995, Dahl, Dave wrote:
> 
> > What is the advantage of AWW over other car wash concoctions (or dish soap, 
> > which I use when I'm out of other stuff)?  I would imagine that anything that 
> > says Autobahn on it is pricey compared to other "garden-variety" products, but 
> > if it does something special it may be worth it.
> 
> Dish soap strips off all of that wax that you labored so hard to wax 
> on...wax off...wax on...wax off...
> 
> Most, dare I say all, commercially prepared "car soap" does not strip 
> wax. I have found little difference between brands, only a subjective 
> "sudziness" difference.

Remember that none of the aforementioned products actually are soaps;
this is made from lye and lard and dates back at least a century.  All
modern car cleaners are detergents, and as such, their job is
dissolving fatty substances, one of which is wax.  They don't know the
difference between road grime and wax.

The products which purport to not remove wax merely have fatty substances
added to them, just as one should add vegetable oil to dishwashing
liquid.  Adding oil nullifies the effect of some of the detergent's
surfactants, which means it will remove less wax, but then it will also
remove less dirt and grime as well.

Interestingly, detergents are not inherently sudsy: sudsing agents are
added in varying quantity to control the amount of sudsing.  Cleaning
ability is independent of suds, but they do allow one to guage the
amount of detergent in a given quantity of water.

That explains why Robert noted that all these products seem to 
be the same except for the suds: they are.

IMHO, the best suds are drawn from a tap.

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John Greenstreet, Senior Engineer           (jgreenst@motown.ge.com)
Martin Marietta Government Electronic Systems    Moorestown NJ 08057
WPI Class of '75, Temple Class of '94

My new car history:
  1975    1978    1982       1986        1989      1992      1995
   VW ->  Audi -> Audi  -> Mercedes -> Mercedes -> Audi -> Mercedes
Scirocco Fox GTI  4000S    190E 2.3    190E 2.6    100CS     S320

POSSLQ's* new car history:
         1978       1981       1985      1988        1990     1993
       Triumph ->  Toyota ->  Toyota  ->  VW    ->   Audi  -> Audi
       Spitfire    Tercel     Corolla   Jetta GL      80      90S

*POSSLQ = Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
Note: All Audis and Mercedes above were sold to friends or family.
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