Use Quick Detailer as a drying aid.

What is a Quick Detailer?

The first question that may come to mind is: when is a product a quick detailer? In the past, the name spray wax was mainly used. This is a liquid wax that you can simply spray on the paint allowing you to apply a quick protective layer and push the water off the car, and use the lubricant in the spray wax to remove minor contaminants from the paint with a microfibre cloth. However, the products have also evolved and traditional spray wax is no longer used very much. Nowadays there are products based on synthetic wax, ceramic components, graphene, etc. For this reason, the name quick detailer has been invoked since there is hardly any wax left in these products, but it does have the same effect. Only better and more user-friendly often.

To be a quick detailer, the product needs some features. Namely, it must be very easy to process. Normally, the greater the concentration of the protective component in the quick detailer such as the wax, ceramics and graphene, the more difficult the product will be to treat. It will leave streaks and stains, have a harder time sliding across the surface, have specific drying times, and so on. With a quick detailer we don't necessarily look at how long the product can protect, but how easy it is to handle. If we want a product that protects well, we use one spray coating, wax, coating, and so forth. So the quick detailer just has to be extremely simple.

For example, it should not have any disadvantages if we use a little too much product. We don't want to rub a panel 8x to remove the excess product and to ensure that there are no spots or streaks on the paint. We also don't want when we spray it on the paint to be very tacky and we have to struggle to slide our microfiber cloth over the paint. It must therefore be a product that can glide smoothly over the paint and that also contains some cleaning properties. If we only have a small contamination on the paint, we can simply use the quick detailer together with a microfiber cloth to remove it.

This is also one of the reasons why it must slide so well. If you are going to remove pollution with a microfiber cloth and your microfiber cloth sticks to the surface due to the quick detailer, the chance of scratches is of course much higher. Finally, there must also be some protection so that we can also leave a small protection after cleaning and help push off the water from a wet car through the protection that is in the quick detailer. It must of course also be safe for all surfaces. We almost always use the Sonax Ceramic Quick Detailer since we think it's a very good quick detailer that is very competitively priced.

Dry the car with a drying aid

If you have just washed your car with water, it will still be completely wet. If you do not have a water purification system that allows you to wash your car with pure water that no longer contains minerals and lime, this means that your car is basically full of minerals and lime when it is still wet. This can cause problems when it starts to dry up. When water starts to dry, the water evaporates and only the minerals remain on the paint. When these minerals have dried you will see all white spots on the paint. These white spots are all minerals that are in the water and that are now stuck on the paint. You usually can't just remove them with a microfiber cloth or with plain water, unless it hasn't completely dried yet.

To remove this you will have to use a cleaning product again, quite annoying when you have just washed your car. Some don't mind these white spots too much. However, it can get even worse when the paint starts to get warm or when the sun starts to shine on these areas. The minerals can start to burn into the paint, which often causes permanent damage to the paint. In some cases this damage can still be removed with a water stain remover, immediately polishing agent and an polishing pad or sometimes even by sanding with sandpaper! Sometimes the damage is simply too deep, so that it has burned into the color layer of the paint and only having the paint sprayed again is the solution.

How do we prevent the minerals from drying up? In the best case, as mentioned earlier, you have a water filter system so that there are no minerals left in your water. However, not everyone is interested in using such a system, of course. The next option is to get the water off the paint as quickly as possible when you're done washing. If your car is still wet after the wash, you can use a drying towel start drying the car.

As you absorb water, this drying towel will also fill up and sometimes start to leave streaks. You often have to go over a surface a few times before it is completely dry. If water remains, there is a chance that minerals will remain on the paint, leaving you with stains and stripes again.

We can make drying even easier by using a drying aid. A quick detailer is a product that can be used perfectly as a drying aid. Because there are water-repellent properties in the product, the water on the surface will be pushed off by the product and drying will be easier. Because it is also a protective and sliding product, your microfiber cloth will also slide better over the paint and the protection will ensure that the super small drops that remain cannot burn in. Because it often also leaves a protection of about 2 weeks, your car is often also protected until the next wash. This will also keep your car cleaner for longer and make it easier to wash. Of course your car will also have more shine and reflection.

How do we use a drying aid?

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to using a drying aid. In the end it always comes down to the same thing. Namely getting the product on the car and getting the water off. What we do ourselves is after we have washed the car and it is still completely wet. Spray about 1 to 4 sprays per panel of the quick detailer on the car. Then we take a microfiber cloth or drying cloth and make sure that it also contains a little product by spraying 1 or 2 sprays into the cloth.

Because we have already sprayed the quick detailer on the car, we can simply put the quick detailer back and we no longer need it. By also spraying into the microfibre cloth, the microfibre cloth is also primed with product so that we are sure that we have an even coverage of the quick detailer and that we have a good glide over the surface.

Then we simply wipe the surfaces to push the water off the paint and apply the quick detailer. You will notice that the water will run off the paint much more smoothly and that a warm glow will be left behind. You will also notice that the microfiber cloth or towel will start to become full of water and will leave streaks of water.

When this happens, it is best to wring the cloth out and then go over the surface again. After this, the water should be completely absorbed again without streaks. If there is still a very miniscule amount of water and a smear left over, this can't hurt. If you use a good product, it will simply dry without leaving any stains or smudges.

In any case, it's not bad that your microfiber cloth is a bit wet when you're going to dry your car. In fact, a microfiber cloth works best when it is slightly damp as opposed to when it is completely dry. Because you have already been over the panels that had quick detailer on them, you do not have to spray your microfiber cloth again. The product that you have gradually absorbed will therefore still be present in the microfiber cloth to a limited extent, so that it is no use priming the microfiber cloth again.

Ready!

Now that you have dried the entire car with a quick detailer as a drying aid, you will notice that there is much more shine and warmth in the paint. There are no more smudges or streaks and no dirty white spots. You will also notice that when it starts to rain again that the water runs off the paint and that you have a nice beading due to the protection you have applied. As a result, your car will stay clean longer and it will also be easier to clean when you wash your car again. Ultimately, this all saves time and you only benefit from it. You often don't have to use a lot of product at all. With a bottle of 750ml Sonax Ceramic Quick Detailer we can dry 4 to 5 cars, so it is certainly not too expensive. View our offer spray wax & quick detailers HERE.