Streaking

[TR6speed]

I have been having an issue of streaking lately with both the waterless wash and the detail spray.  In all my years of using Adams it has never happened.  I am not applying either in direct sunlight or on a hot surface.  The car is alway garaged and only done in the garage.

Yesterday I used the Waterless Wash and had to use to of the blue waterless wash towels.  one to remove the spray and the second to buff the streaks.  I need to do the same think with the detail spray.

Any ideas?

[Feets31]

What was the temperature in the garage?  If it was 40 or lower that could have been the problem.  

[Ricky Bobby]

Bunch of questions:

 

-Are you talking about Detail Spray V2 or V1, Waterless Wash formula or the "diluted Rinseless to make Waterless" formula at 1:16 ratio?

-How old are the bottles of product and have they ever been frozen?

-What LSP is on the car now and what have you applied as an LSP in the past 2 months?

-When was the car last clayed?

-When was it last washed?

-What MF towels are you using and how long have you had them?

 

For what its worth, when using Waterless or my favorite the Rinseless diluted, I always go through a bunch of towels because I'm saturating the surface with product and getting the bulk of the grime off, then going over either with a fresh side of the towel or a second towel to buff to a high shine.

 

I don't use the Waffle Weave towels but I usually get best results with a medium nap (400-500 gsm) towel with a low pile with Detail Spray and Rinseless/Waterless.  The extra fluffy towels (600 gsm and higher) can leave streaks, but if the pile is a low to medium (think Adams All Purpose towel) you're ok.  If using Double Softs or Single Softs I only recommend them with a light amount of Detail Spray.

[Team Adam's]

As Jim mentioned one possible issue is the lower temps - just like high heat/direct sun causes products to prematurely flash off and leave streaks a lower temp or high humidity can cause products NOT to flash off fast enough, then they simply smear around the surface.

 

The other possability could be something else all together - when was the last time you stripped your car down completely and started with a fresh coat of wax and/or sealant? Sometimes when a car has a significant buildup of product - waxes, sealants, glaze, detail spray - it reaches the point of 'diminishing return' where more product just makes things not work well. If its been a long time since your last 'start over' it might be time to do a quick strip wash, clay, light polish (if needed) and start with a new base coat of protection.

[chas]

The Shine Doc will see you now.... lol

 

Already liking this, can't wait to the big Friday reveal.

[mdolandese]

If it's to cold in your garage will definitely streak, had the same issue.

[Ricky Bobby]

If it's too cold in the garage use less product to avoid streaks.

[Adam]

Jack, this is strange!  I'm thinking it's possibly towels?   Since you live in Florida, temperatures are not likely the issue.  Any changes to the way your towels have been washed?  As the Doc said, when was the last time the car was polished, such as with Paint Correcting, Revive, or Paint Finishing Polish?  Might be too much juice on it now!

[TR6speed]

Jack, this is strange!  I'm thinking it's possibly towels?   Since you live in Florida, temperatures are not likely the issue.  Any changes to the way your towels have been washed?  As the Doc said, when was the last time the car was polished, such as with Paint Correcting, Revive, or Paint Finishing Polish?  Might be too much juice on it now!

Could it be the age of the product?  I did not realize that it has been so long since I placed an order, but I did get both the waterless wash and detail spray almost 2 years ago.  I continued to use up what I had left befor going into the new batch, but again as you know my car does not see a lot of driving so there for the cleaning is not a daily or even a weekly event sometimes.

[Team Adam's]

Could it be the age of the product?  I did not realize that it has been so long since I placed an order, but I did get both the waterless wash and detail spray almost 2 years ago.  I continued to use up what I had left befor going into the new batch, but again as you know my car does not see a lot of driving so there for the cleaning is not a daily or even a weekly event sometimes.

 

Possible, but assuming the product was stored in the appropriate tempurature range and you don't see any issues visually with the color or some kind of separation its not likely the age.

 

Adam pointed out that you live in Florida - and while you don't see cold temps obviously, humidity can be a big factor in things like this. A product needs to 'flash off' or evaporate a little bit as part of its function, if the humidity has been higher than usual (which I assume is possible in Florida almost anytime of year) that could be a part of it.

 

Adam also made a great point about the towels - is there any chance your towels were machine dried and exposed to fabric softener? Nothing makes a towel more usesless than fabric softener. The chemicals used for it leave streaks and prevent the towel from absorbing the chemicals as it normally would, so prehaps try again with a new towel?

 

Lastly - sounds like your Corvette is very pampered. Back to the original advice I posted - might be time to strip it down and start with a fresh coat. You might just have too much layered up on the surface and you've reached that tipping point.

[Ricky Bobby]

Could it be the age of the product?  I did not realize that it has been so long since I placed an order, but I did get both the waterless wash and detail spray almost 2 years ago.  I continued to use up what I had left befor going into the new batch, but again as you know my car does not see a lot of driving so there for the cleaning is not a daily or even a weekly event sometimes.

 

As long as its shaken up, kept out of sunlight, and not exposed to temps over 95 or under 35 you should be fine.  I've had DS older than that and it still worked fine.

[TR6speed]

They gallon refills are kept in an enclosed cabinet as are the small spray bottles.  I have only had this issue in the past month and at this time of year the humidity in this area is not anything like the summer.  Both the DS and the WW have the same color and smell as when they were new.

As for the towels, I have always washed and dried them the same way.  A mild laundry detergent, no bleach or fabric softener.

[Ricky Bobby]

What kind of laundry detergent?  You say mild, are we talking Free and Clear mild or just mild?

 

If you're not using free and clear, or MF dedicated detergent, that is your issue, its clogging up the fibers of the towels,

[TR6speed]

I am using the All Free & Clear and I am having the streaking with both the detail spray as well as the Waterless Wash and I use the blue waffle weave with the waterless and either the double soft white towels or the older plush blue MF towels.

[Ricky Bobby]

Do a test spot with Revive, if you don't have any than use a 25% IPA/distilled water dilution and put a quick coat of whatever LSP you use.  Then sprtiz the test spot with Detail Spray/Waterless to see if it still streaks in that area.  If it doesn't, you know your paint has some LSP buildup and could use a strip.  All Free and Clear is fine from what I hear.  Maybe the towels could use a boiling, who knows but I guess the Shine Doc can help better than me

Edited December 4, 2014 by Ricky Bobby