I washed my car yesterday and dried it fully with a shammy. I then needed to make a 2 minute journey to the shops.

Am I ok to wax it today or will I have accumulated bits of dirt and what not that may scratch the paint?

 

A shammy is not recommended for drying, a microfibre towel is the preferred choice as it results in less swirl marks.

 

And you will have picked up dust, so you'll just create swirls if you wax on top of dirt!

 

Rub it down with a microfibre towel and some quick detailer. I did this when my waxing session lasted 3 days! VERY shiney now though!

 

Yep, you shouldn't wax having been for a drive, you'll wax over the dirt you've picked up and it'll become bonded to yout car and need claybarring to remove. You don't have to give it a full wash though, you could do exactly what itchy dick says and that imo is the best way (you can probably pick up some meguiars quik detailer at halfords, while you are there get the most plush microfiber towel they have).

Chamois cloths are bad because if there is any dust/grit settled on your car as you are drying it the chamois doesn't have a pile to draw in the grit so it basically drags it across the surface of the car and accelerates swirl marks appearing.

 

Thanks all - be off to get miself a microfibre towel then.

 

[QUOTE=cityrob,Aug 27 2007, 05:48 AM] I washed my car yesterday and dried it fully with a shammy.

 

[QUOTE=SimmoS2k,Aug 27 2007, 05:44 PM] It is also my opinion that micro fibre towels used incorrectly can

 

Paul, mate, come to IOM I'll show you my fluffy one and you'll never go back . Aquatouch FBZ from serious performance. Or some fancy one that Tango has.

A good MF just beats a decent synth chamois hands down every time chap , I promise.

 

I've got to agree with Simmo' here. As good as microfibre towels are, if you wash a car properly there's nothing wrong with a synthetic shammy.
I use the two bucket approach to wash then rinse then mop the bodywork with a shammy in the same way that Tango was doing last year at JAE (a good tchnique if not tediuosly slow) and I don't get any swirl or scratches.

I think people are way oversensitive about what everyone should be using and I think that as long as you take care with each step of the cleaning process it's not critical.
Furthermore, If you've just washed the car properly, then rinsed it off thoroughly and you have a clean synthetic chamoir. how likely is it that your're going to pick up grit?
Cheers,

James.