OK. Whether to wash your car with Dawn or not is always a hotly debated issue. So instead of jacking someone else's thread with the debate, I thought it might be nice to start up a new thread where we can discuss the issue. Let's try to keep it civil though.

First, I would like to say that it seems everyone on both sides of the debate agrees that Dawn is not a replacement for car wash soap and should not be used on a regular basis. So, since we're all in agreement on that issue let's not even mention it.

Now . . . LET'S GET IT ON!!!

OK. I'm 100% against the use of Dawn. Here are my reasons . . .

1. Dawn can dry out or discolor plastic/rubber and cause pre-mature degradation of these items

2. It's unnecessary to use Dawn as a wax stripper as claying or polishing will remove any wax/sealant on your car. Both these alternatives are much safer for your car than Dawn.

3. Detailing should always be done using the least invasive method to preserve as much paint on the car's surface as possible. Dawn does not provide anywhere near the lubricity that a dedicated car wash soap provides. Therefore, you could instill deeper marring during the wash process which will require deeper polishing to remove.

4. It's debatable the effictiveness of Dawn as an LSP remover. Many people have experimented with washing with Dawn and had little to no effect on their LSP.

The makers of Dawn themselves recommend against the use of their product on an automobile. If Dawn was not potentially harmful to your car why would the manufacturer recommend against it's use? By doing so they're selling less product and selling products is what companies do.

Zaino is the only car care company recommending the use of Dawn as a wax stripper (at least that I personally know of). This is also the company that for years recomended the use of cotton towels instead of microfiber. It was pretty universally agreed before Zaino became popular that dish washing liquid was a no-no. I'm not saying anything negative about their products just their recommendations on Dawn and towels. So, don't get me wrong on that issue. I'm not starting this thread to pick on Zaino though only to point out what I feel is the origin of the resurgence of dishwashing liquid use.

This is basically my position on the issue and I'd love to hear someone else's view.

 

Did you get this topic from Autopia? hehe.

I will admit, I used to do the dawn wash before I applied wax but after reading that thread on autopia, I will not do it anymore. Mainly because what it can do the the plastic and rubber on the vehicle.

 

no disagreement here, but i do understand that some guys do disagree-
primarily cause dawn is easy and readily available

the effect of the drying on rubber and vinyls on the car are not worth the ease of use imo... and i am aware that it is an opinion.

 

What will Dawn do to a soft top?


As I posted in the other thread, Why would you use a dish soap on your car? There are many products out there that can remove wax that are less harmful to the paint.

 

Dawn will dry out and/or discolor rubber/plastic/vinyl. This includes the S2K soft top which of course is vinyl. Drying out the vinyl of the soft top will make it less flexible and therefore more prone to cracking/tearing.

Even if you don't agree with me about Dawn, please people keep the Dawn away from your soft top!!!
I think Wanabe hit the nail on the head when he said people use Dawn because it's easy and it's cheap. IMO they either don't know or don't care about the degree of damage they're doing to the car.

Personally, when I detail a car I feel like I have taken the hypocratic oath which says "do no harm." So, I do my best to use the least agressive methods possible which will get the job done. If that means I have to spend a little more time or money then so be it. IMO it's the most neglected cars which benefit the most from this attitude because they often have the least paint left on them.

 

Personally I think this topic is way overblown. Dawn isn't the anti-christ. Dawn may do damage when used 2 twice a week for a a year... or two? I have much tupperware that's 10-15 years old. It's only washed in the sink by hand with dish washing liquid. Guess what, it's still pliable with no cracking or drying out. Isn't that PVC? The answer is yes.

Here's who it hurts the most; if you never wax your car, never protect your top, never protect your trim or clean your tires AND you wash with Dawn all the time, you may do some damage. No one here qualifies for that do they? The average Joe that washes the car in the driveway 6 times a year with Dawn probably isn't going to see anymore damage then the neglect he already is inflicting with dirt and acid rain constantly on his car.

The other side of this is that I don't think Dawn does a decent job of stripping Carnauba and it certainly doesn't remove synthetics. I use to use it but I don't have any use for it anymore.

One last question, Why can 32oz. of dishwashing soap be sold for $1.89 when the most car washes are 3-4 times that?

 

I always used sunlight before the dawn wave. My only thought on a very dirty grimey car that dish soap is good, as long as you follow through with the whole protection package.

I miss the lemony fresh scent.

 

I would wager it's partially due to economies of scale. There is WAY more dishwashing soap produced and sold world wide than car wash soap. This seems to be a pretty likely factor as the larger brands like Mother's & Meguiar's sell their soaps for significantly less than the "boutique" brands. It's also true that dishwashing soap and car wash soap do not share the same formulas. So, perhaps the chemicals which compose car wash soap are more expensive. Who knows? It's still a pretty affordable product IMO especially when you can go to Costco and get 1 gallon of Gold Class wash which is a decent wash for $8.

Also, the whole dishwashing issue is definitely a hot button issue that rears its head on occasion. Personally, I feel even if you ignore that fact that it damages plastic/rubber (not instantly ) that there are other downsides which I mentioned earlier. I think it's the same thing as seeing a guy washing his car with an SOS sponge and wanting to tell him not to do it.

 

All I'm saying is that a company's main goal is to look out for itself... (very next is the customer since taking care of the customer is a major part of looking out for itself) So, inregards to making an official statement to use their product on a car... it is a no brainer to say "don't use the product"... just on the fact that it only takes one numb nut to use too much and cause damage and sue them =). especially when they make plenty of dough selling it for what it was meant for.... getting those greasy dishes clean =).

This is also where I believe lies their strength... getting things clean when other normally accepted means fail....

good example... I had a good amount of oil on a t-shirt I wanted to get out... regular laundry soap and bleach didn't touch the stuff at all. I pre-treated the stains with dawn... and bam... grease stains are gone =).

Again, I say I will never use dawn on my s2000, but if a sufficiently dirty car comes my way and regular car soap doesn't do the job, then I'm not going to stock some "special" car cleaner when dawn will get the job done. Also, I'm not saying wash your whole car with dawn, since it does infact do an excellent job of removing grease, which is not so good for your seals etc., but for car paint that has way too much stuff on there that would kill your arm from claying... I say whip out the dawn.

 

ROFL I've seened that =).

I was like - "you know they have special sponges and mitts for cars right?"
him - "yeah but this is what I have in the house."
me - "I'm guessing that's dishwashing soap in that bucket then?"
him - "no I heard dishwashing soap was bad, so I'm using ivory liquid soap."

WTF