After rain wipe down

[Werne1nm]

Hey, I just washed and h2o g&g my car this morning. Well, at work it got rained on and drove it home in the rain. What should I use to wipe it down? Or should I wait till the morning in the garage to see how much dirt it picked up.

 

Thanks!

[Audog]

I just did same thing to wife's car, use detail spray and single soft towels, came out fine.

[Chris@Adams]

After driving you may have picked up some grit from the road so what I do is either do a two bucket wash or if it's not that dirty I will sprayed off at the car wash then while still wet spray down each panel with  WW and dry with Great White drying towel.

[Werne1nm]

To be a safe I'll just to a quick two bucket wash tomorrow morning and use detail spray instead of the g&g that I used today.

[Odds and Ends]

At an absolute minimum, it needs a true Rinseless Wash, but I would get the buckets out!

 

If the car just sat in the rain but you didn't drive it, you could probably get away with "wiping it down" wth either DS or RCW as waterless, but here's what I do.

 

If I can get to the car while it's still wet, i.e., just after it stops raining, I will foam it, rinse it, and then dry with DS.

 

Chris is correct, that you pick up crap from the road, other vehicles and road spray.

[Audog]

Just to clarify, wife's car was just in drive during rain, not driven and detail spray dry was all that was needed, if it had been driven, I agree with others that a true wash of some sort is needed.

[Bill-V8V]

I'm relegated to rinseless washing for the foreseeable future, complete outside watering ban in effect as of yesterday. This will give you an idea how dry it's been

 

I think he was safe 

 

[kesmit]

If you're truly paranoid, use a two bucket wash.  Slightly less paranoid, use rinse-less.  I just bought a 2016 Mazda 6 in February and I use waterless wash on it a couple of times a week, even after driving in the rain.  It really boils down more to technique than anything.  With good quality microfibers and good technique (rolling the towels away from the leading edge as you wipe), you can water-less wash without marring the paint.  The paint on my Mazda (which is known to be quite soft) has no marring on it yet (knock on wood).

[SCMedic]

Out of curiosity, why the Rinseless and not the Waterless Wash?  Rinseless has higher lubricity and less likelihood to cause damage while picking up the material??

[Ricky Bobby]

A true Rinseless wash is safer than a spray and wipe waterless wash which is safer than trying to clean high levels of surface dust and dirt with Detail Spray.

 

Many of us recommend Rinseless washing because you can clean the whole car safely in 20 mins. If it's just light dust and dirt from a drive than Waterless is fine.

[pirahnah3]

I would agree that a spray down and then either rinseless, or waterless would be a fair option for you. If your in a pinch and cannot use water for it due to local rules then I would plan to use a few towels for it to make sure you dont have contaminates getting into the paint.