Who all thinks Dawn removes wax from the car

**imported_Grouse** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½11:02 AM

I washed, clayed, and waxed (natty`s blue) a red audi a few weeks ago. Just over 3 weeks. It had been hosed off a few times and washed a few times.

I started out with normal car wash and nadda, nothing wax was still there. The paint was in bad shape so i knew it was just the wax.

So i mixed up dawn in my foam gun and soaked the car for 5 min. Rewashed with sheepskin. and nothing.

As you can see the beading is still wonderfull.

So i am curious what to use to remove old wax.

PS the curvature of the car distorts my shape, normally i am twice this fat!

**Sherman8r44** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½11:05 AM

These days I don`t really trust anything other than polish to remove old wax. Dawn doesn`t usually do much for me either, although it does make the beading and slickness decrease a bit.

**MBurnickas** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½11:06 AM

I think I would leave that there wax on that there car if it`s that good! What wax is it Natty`s, wow?

**froll** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½11:06 AM

Nice legs!

**imported_Grouse** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½11:11 AM

LOL yeah "i`m not fat just undertall" obscureity level 200 for that quote.

You can see the rest of the car in the click and brag area.

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?p=754140

the reason why was to adress the heavy swirling and hazing the car had. the wash pictures were from the morning when it was overcast. So you can not see the horrors that the car was hiding.

**Z K** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½11:14 AM

If you use a paintwork cleanser or something like AIO it should remove what`s left, right? I guess it depends on what you`re going to use.

I`d just leave it and apply whatever you were going to apply if you`re not polishing.

**01bluecls** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½12:24 PM

Well keep in mind that a freshly polished surface can bead water as well. I detailed a civic in horrible conditon that never been waxed in its life. The initial wash there was ZERO beading what so ever, then after compounding and polishing I had to rewash to remove the polishing dust, there was tons of beading. So even after polishing I bet the car will still bead a few weeks later because of the high surface tension of polished paint. Dawn (i use it myself every once in while just helps break it down a little...i dont think it removes it completely. Even IPA wont fully remove bonded wax in one swipe.

**Pennypacker** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½12:27 PM

Wouldn`t an IPA wipedown take pretty much any product off, including wax, and leave you with just the bare paint to work on? That`s what I always thought anyway.

**chml17l** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½12:42 PM

Straight IPA, P21S Total Auto Wash, or a paint-safe solvent (Prepsol, Megs. Body Solvent). Allow all products to dwell for at least 45 seconds. You may need to respray, wipe and repeat.

Or any paint cleaner/light polish.

**imported_Grouse** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½01:27 PM

Originally Posted by 01bluecls

Well keep in mind that a freshly polished surface can bead water as well. I detailed a civic in horrible conditon that never been waxed in its life. The initial wash there was ZERO beading what so ever, then after compounding and polishing I had to rewash to remove the polishing dust, there was tons of beading. So even after polishing I bet the car will still bead a few weeks later because of the high surface tension of polished paint. Dawn (i use it myself every once in while just helps break it down a little...i dont think it removes it completely. Even IPA wont fully remove bonded wax in one swipe.

Yeah after all of my polishing i had to wash the car, beaded water wonderfully, In this case though I think i will have to use 1pa/water mix.

**imported_Grouse** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½01:28 PM

Originally Posted by Pennypacker

Wouldn`t an IPA wipedown take pretty much any product off, including wax, and leave you with just the bare paint to work on? That`s what I always thought anyway.

thanks I`ll keep that in mind. I use ipa/wa mix to check my polish work... so maybe i`ll use it to strip off old wax before polish.

**Accumulator** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½01:33 PM

Grouse- Thanks for helping put the old Dawn-removes-wax rumor to rest!

If you don`t want to try IPA/TAW/Solvents there`s always Remove All from TOL. It might be a little more paint-friendly than the solvents (for the rare cases where that matters), good for cleaning pads, too.

BTW, that P21S TAW is handy stuff to have around anyhow.

**imported_Grouse** · 07-17-2006,ï¿½01:37 PM

Yeah i need to purchase some p21s, I`ll take a look at the Remove all from TOL. That first pass with my cut pad caked up something fierce. Really annoying. So i am looking for a solution. My contention with the ipa is after spraying it here, ans spraying it on a 3-4 step polish. the stuff gets to your knoggin and you start seeing lil garden gnomes ready for war against the evil back yard squirels.