What do I do for the dew?

[Guest washemup]

Pollen season here in NC finally lightened up, and now we are having a heat wave (don't laugh too hard those of you in Florida or Arizona) with temps in high 90's.

Dew is now forming more at night, when I leave in the morning for work the hood, top, trunk, front and rear glass are covered in it. It sits outside in the sun in the parking lot at work, and I always end up with water spots in a few places after it dries.

I was able to take a pic and capture how it looks with this cheap camera in my laptop. (Was shocked it actually showed up!)
In the bottom right corner.

These are not "etched" and will come off easily using a 2 bucket wash. I'm sure a rinseless wash would remove them as well, though I'm scared to death of scratching the paint in this area.

This area for me is one of the most susceptible area's of the car to accumulate dirt, and also the easiest to scratch. I wish a had a garage to alleviate this issue but I don't.

 

What's the safest way to remove the dew before I drive it to work?

 

 

Edited June 17, 2015 by washemup

[TheBurninator]

Waterless wash would be my first choice in your situation, although keeping a bucket of rinseless ready to go every morning would be ideal. Not having a garage to keep the bucket at ready in kinda kills that idea.

[GXPaycheck]

A bucket of Rinless is a great idea. As long as the paint is clean, you won't need many towels.

[HydroBlueJK]

do you really see yourself waking up early to wash your car everyday before work?

 

IMHO having a perfect car that sits outside all the time just isnt realistic (i have 3 cars and no garage)

 

i just wash each car once a week and deal with it lol

[Chris@Adams]

I vote for WW & WW MF towels too...

[Guest washemup]

do you really see yourself waking up early to wash your car everyday before work?

 

IMHO having a perfect car that sits outside all the time just isnt realistic (i have 3 cars and no garage)

 

i just wash each car once a week and deal with it lol

 

 

I'm not trying to wash the entire car, I'm trying to remove the dew, which is on the hood, top, and trunk, as well as front and rear glass.

 

I think I stated this in the original post.

 

The idea isn't to keep the car "perfect", it's to keep water spots from baking in the sun all day long on the surface. If you want to let them bake, go ahead, I don't. Just want a safe way to remove it, thanks to the others who offered suggestions.

[Beemer]

I would keep a bucket of Rinseless Wash ready and a couple of clean towels for a quick morning wipedown.  I do something like this after a drive to remove road dust and bugs.

 

I think it's very doable.  Take you maybe 5-10 minutes to wipe the dewey parts.  Well worth the time to combat the water spots.

[Junior]

Yep you could really use a combination of methods. Waterless or diluted rinseless with a WW MF towel or if it is more grimy go with a pretreat and do Rinseless Wash in those areas. Once you move further out from the last time you did a traditional two bucket, the more you need to think about a pretreat and rinseless. I do basically the same thing with my cars because like you stated I do not want to let the water spots bake in. It is a battle, but I think its worth fighting on a week to week basis. Checking for rain patterns drives most of my Rinseless Wash timing. This time of year can really suck in that regard.

[HydroBlueJK]

I'm not trying to wash the entire car, I'm trying to remove the dew, which is on the hood, top, and trunk, as well as front and rear glass.

 

I think I stated this in the original post.

 

The idea isn't to keep the car "perfect", it's to keep water spots from baking in the sun all day long on the surface. If you want to let them bake, go ahead, I don't. Just want a safe way to remove it, thanks to the others who offered suggestions.

Wasn't being rude just asking if you could honestly see yourself doing that--that's all

 

What do you do if you drive to work in a storm and it gets sunny all day and bakes the dirty rain water on your car?

 

As long as you have some type of protection on it you will be ok, for a car that sits outside all day i would recommend liquid paint sealant

I coated my wrangler about a month after I got it and it has made life much easier, I haven't washed it in about two weeks (it's been raining everyday) and it really helps things stay clean, Adams will be offering one in the near future

 

Again didn't want be to rude just realistic

[Guest washemup]

Wasn't being rude just asking if you could honestly see yourself doing that--that's all

 

What do you do if you drive to work in a storm and it gets sunny all day and bakes the dirty rain water on your car?

 

As long as you have some type of protection on it you will be ok, for a car that sits outside all day i would recommend liquid paint sealant

I coated my wrangler about a month after I got it and it has made life much easier, I haven't washed it in about two weeks (it's been raining everyday) and it really helps things stay clean, Adams will be offering one in the near future

 

Again didn't want be to rude just realistic

 

 

Sorry if I came across rude. I'm OCD when it comes to keeping my car clean and minimizing scratches. I wanted one of these Camaro 2SS when they first came out in late 2009. 40k was way out of my reach, so last Nov I found this 2012 @ 2k below KBB at a price I could afford. The only real thing wrong with it was the paint was swirled to death. I spent around 30 hours polishing it after I bought it. The area in the pic where the dew flung off and dried is very soft. I had to use a no cut pad with a very light cut finishing polish in this area to get it to finish down with no marring.

 

Again I realize I cannot keep it "perfect" but my goal is to keep it as best as I possibly can. If you think I'm nuts about the dew, my car gets a 2 bucket wash at least every 3-4 days. No it's no that dirty, but I am very confident with this wash method of minimizing any marring, and since it's not really that dirty the rinse followed by foam gun is getting most of it off before my mitt ever touches it. The Adams shampoo makes my mitt glide with ease so no pressure is ever needed to clean the surface with the mitt.

 

I have sealant on it, the HGG, but the water spots if left day after day to bake in the sun will wear on the sealant. If the sealant becomes degraded enough in an area and it's on the bare paint, etching is likely.

 

My goal, and it's being accomplished so far, is to never have to use compound on it again, only light finishing polish once every 6 months or so. All of the Adams products I use have definitely helped me accomplish keeping the clearcoat as best as I possibly can for an ungaraged daily driver. I'm using a method similar to what Beemer suggested, and the dew is removed in around 10 minutes by just dragging and lifting wrung out 1100 gsm towels soaked in rinseless, with no pressure across the areas with dew. Blot dry any rinseless residue left. No water spots, no dew, no marring from removal.

[AZGTO]

what's dew?

Edited June 19, 2015 by AZGTO

[Beemer]

what's dew?

 

Short for Mountain Dew.  Soft drink.  Lots of caffeine.