DaveVY

The videos that the Adam's team put together are great! I found that brushing doesn't really have a long term effect in keeping the pads fibers fluffy. What has helped me the most is the process I use to dry the pads. After completing the process that is in the video posted above I do the following: 1) walk away from the clean cars at least 25 ft 2) fold the pad over and grip one end tightly 3) repeatedly fling it down towards the ground in a "golf-like" swing - keep doing this until you don't see any water coming out 4) reverse the fold on the pad and grip the other end 5) repeat the flinging process 6) unfold the pad and then lightly use your fingers to fluff up the still moist fibers 7) hold the pad by one corner in one hand, grab an adjacent corner with the other hand, and with just one hand moving, vigorously wiggle that one hand back and forth a couple inches - the entire pad will shake and the fibers will release more water and the fibers fluff Someday I may do a video of this. I have been using the same pads for well over 80 washes and still think they look pretty darn good.

That is a lot of washing! Currently I just spot-treat the towels with APC right after using them and then let them dry. Then once there are enough towels to make a decent sized load they are washed (one to three weeks). We wash them in a front loader on normal wash settings with a fragrance/dye free detergent. Then dry in the dryer (partially) then hang dry. Simple and effective. The towels are not perfect but think they are pretty good. Look forward to using the new Microfiber Revitalizer & Brightener as a spot-treat and maybe an occasional pre-soak.

Chris, thanks for your post. Based on your feedback I edited my orig post.

Wow.... Been holding out for new pads for the Flex...!!! and 4" pads... woot! Can't wait!

It did!! Unfortunately we didn't make effort to keep moving the pattern of where the water was going... much of it went into the street.

Thanks Mike!!

From what we saw in our testing on Sunday I think this may be solved by this fix also. Of course what Mike did in taking it apart is probably the best way to deal with this. At least one of the nozzles that we were testing had the issue you describe of not shutting off completely. Will let Mike chime in and see if his dis-assembly fix also resolved the issue of the leaking.

In the past there have been some posts about the fire hose nozzle and it turning off on its own. With the help of my Adam's dealer we have worked on this and finally found what we believe to be the issue and tried a resolution which really worked almost too well! As a little background: I have a nozzle that works fine! My neighbor bought one after seeing mine but his nozzle has the issue of changing patterns and even turning off on its own. The interesting thing is that we isolated the issue to the nozzle, pressure and volume are factors in how dramatic the issue is but the issue we determined to be in the nozzle. Using the same hose we can just switch nozzles and one is a problem and one is fine. Our dealer in Orlando, Mike, has been awesome in working with us in trying to resolve this. (Mike immediately offered to swap nozzles out or give different product or give 110% money back! - But my neighbor had nozzle envy and wanted a working nozzle, not one of the other options ). Mike drove over to Tampa today with three new nozzles (AWESOME service). All three new nozzles exhibited the same auto shutoff behavior as my neighbors nozzle. There were slight differences in how fast they shutoff but they all still shutoff on their own. So we now have 4 nozzles that exhibit this behavior (not including Mike's personal nozzle and the one that he bought for his Mom). At this point we were wondering if my nozzle that didn't turn off on its own was the "defective" nozzle. It must have been a funny sight for the neighbors... 4 grown guys out in the front yard for an hour trying different nozzles and shooting water across the yard all intently focused on the nozzles, looking, twisting, listening, even video taping nozzle behavior... :-D Solution: It seems to be an issue with some grease/lubricant in the nozzles. With my neighbor's nozzle we took it off, dumped out the water, shutoff the nozzle, filled it with 100% APC and shook it, then while capping each end with my hands rotated the nozzle back and forth to work the APC into the threads. Flushed it out and now it was too tight and dry feeling. So we put some 50% SVRT in it and repeated the process to rejuvenate any rubber seals inside. That helped some. Tried a couple other things inside but ended up with WD-40 seeming to work well to add an appropriate amount of lubrication where the nozzle wouldn't spin shut but would stay at the desired setting. EDIT: Based on feedback from Chris (LFairbanks) it seems WD-40 isn't the best solution. The best solution would be to take the nozzle apart as Mike did in the post below and be sure plumbers grease is applied to just the o-ring. So in the end, it was just over lubricated and needs a different lubricant. Mike went home and took his nozzle apart ... he said he will be adding to this thread to shed further light on this nozzle. In the end... my neighbor is very happy with a working fire hose nozzle!! If I were to try this again... I would use something less aggressive than 100% APC.

Generally I separate all the colors, but have been known to wash the waterless wash towels with the great whites. I always wash the black towels separate. And I always wash the glass towels separate, usually end up washing the glass towels by hand in the sink. Had too much problem with the glass towels picking up lint (from either the washer or dryer) that would then get deposited on the windshield so I have reverted to usually washing those by hand.

This is one favorite from a few months back...

I only have 4 Great Whites so I have to wash towels every four car washes...this works out to washing once a week or every two weeks, depending on how many of our three cars I wash and if I do any cars for other people. (I find I only need one great white on a car or large SUV after first blowing it off to remove excess water). I always spot treat the towels with APC and then let them dry (so no mildew or mold grows) and they get washed in the next wash load - which could be as much as two weeks away. My towels may not be the pure white color anymore but they work great!

Congrats!!

Haven't washed my car in a couple weeks due to wind. The wind keeps blowing the heavy heavy pollen on the car. Not going to risk installing more swirls.

This will be helpful, I've never used tags. BTW, what is "VB"? It is in the title of the video

Chemically I am not sure how it is different... but it is quite a bit cheaper than SVRT and being in a spray bottle it applies very quickly and easily. And its grape smell is great too!!

Don't want to hijack this thread so I don't want to post photos here. I did respond to your thread a few days ago, "2001 Toyota 4Runner Owners?" And would be happy to talk 4Runners there!

I spray it on very very lightly and use a foam applicator to spread it around. I apply it in the driveway and never have drips that I have had to clean up from the driveway. For tighter or smooth areas I will spray the foam applicator directly and then wipe it on the surface. But like the OP said... it is addicting. And the addiction with the undercarriage spray doesn't end with the wheel wells - I haven't gone to the extent of doing the entire undercarriage...YET!~but have laid on the ground and done the skidplate and front axle area on the 4Runner... it just looks and smells soooo good!

Looks great! The Flex really grows on you after a bit... How much less time do you need to polish paint now with the Flex (vs the PC)? 1/3 less time? 1/2 less time? I have found it to be roughly 1/2 but still know I have room to improve.

Not a 2001 but do have a 2005 Limited. It cleans up really nice!

Great points and awesome post! Thanks Adam!

I use an iPad2 but I don't use Tapatalk. I just use the normal browser and have no problems. Never used Tapatalk and was under the impression the real reason for using it would be on smaller screens.

I have not voted on this poll... not a Nikon guy so I don't know the particulars of these units. You mentioned the lens shadow. Besides the shadow issue be sure to look at these flash units for how wide their pattern is so you don't end up with dark edges or sides when using the wide zoom.

Cool thread! I don't have great pic but here is something snapped with the ole iPhone... this car hasn't been washed in over a week... but still a nice reflection with the rain drops.

What I have used on oil based tar sitting on top of the clear is a gentle solvent such as isopropyl alcohol or kerosene. Sometimes WD-40 can also do a good job of loosening up substances like that. I lightly spray it, give it a couple minutes (being sure it stays moist) and then gently agitating it with a boars hair brush (like the lug nut brush). It might take a few passes for me to remove it using this process. In the ole' days of me not knowing any better I would take a rag and rub at the tar with kerosene to remove it... that awful rubbing/scrubbing process worked but that would create a haze from all the swirls I created. Since then I modified my technique to just gently agitate to remove the loosened material in layers and I no longer get swirls!!

From the pic it appears that those spots may be pitted areas in the clear that are filled with brake dust. Feeling them, do they feel like they are pitted areas in the clear coat?