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 mostly used. This is a liquid wax that you can simply spray onto the paintwork that allows you to apply a quick coat of protection and push water off the car, and use the lubricant in the spray wax to remove small contaminants from the paintwork with a microfiber cloth. However, products have also evolved and traditional spray wax is no longer used very much. Nowadays, there are products based on synthetic wax, ceramic ingredients, graphene, and so on.... For this reason, the name quick detailer has been invoked since there is no to almost no wax in these products anymore, but it has the same effect. Just better and more user-friendly often.
To be a quick detailer, the product does need some characteristics. Namely it must be very easy to process. Normally, the greater the concentration of the protective component in the quick detailer such as wax, ceramic ingredients and graphene the more difficult the product will be to handle. It will leave streaks and marks, glide more difficult on the surface, have certain drying times and so on. With a quick detailer, we are not necessarily looking at how long the product can protect, but how easy it is to handle. If we want a product that protects well we do use a wax, sealant or a coating. The quick detailer is only meant to be really easy to use.
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 take off the excess product and make sure there are no spots or streaks on the paint. We also don't want that when we spray it on the paint that it is very sticky and we have to make an effort to get our microfiber cloth to glide over the paint. So it has to be a product that can glide smoothly over the paint and that also has some cleaning properties in it. If we only have a little dirt on the paintwork, we can simply use quick detailer and a microfiber cloth to remove it.
This is also one of the reasons why it has to glide so well. If you are going to remove dirt with a microfiber cloth and your microfiber cloth sticks to the surface because of the quick detailer then there is a much greater chance of scratching obviously. So finally, it also has to have some protection in it so that after cleaning we can also leave a little protection and help push the water off a wet car because of the protection that's in the quick detailer. Of course, it also has to be safe for all surfaces. We ourselves almost always use the Sonax Ceramic Quick Detailer since this is a great quick detailer and is priced well.
Car drying with a drying aid
So if you have just washed your car with water, it will still be completely wet. If you don't have a water treatment system that allows you to wash your car with pure water that is free of 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 up, the water evaporates and only the minerals remain on the paintwork. When these minerals have dried up you will see all white spots on the paint. These white spots are all the minerals that are in the water and are now solid on the paint. You usually can't just remove them with a microfiber cloth or plain water, unless it hasn't dried completely yet.
So to remove them 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 either. However, it can get worse when the paintwork starts to get hot or when the sun starts to shine on these spots. This is because the minerals can begin to burn into the paintwork, often causing permanent damage to the paint. This damage can in some cases still be removed with a water stain remover, with a polish and a polishing pad or sometimes even by sanding with sandpaper! Sometimes the damage is also simply too deep so that it has burned into the color layer of the paint and only having the paint repainted is the solution.
So how do we prevent the minerals from drying up? In the best case as mentioned before, you have a water filtration system that eliminates minerals 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 soon as possible when you have finished washing. If your car is still wet after washing you can use a drying towel to dry the car.
This drying cloth, as you absorb water, will also fill up and begin to leave streaks sometimes. Often you have to go over a surface several times before it is completely dry. When water is left on the surface, chances are that minerals will remain on the paintwork, leaving you with spots and streaks again.
We can make drying even easier by using a drying aid. A quick detailer is a product that can be perfectly used 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 gliding product, your microfiber cloth will also glide over the paint better and the protection will ensure that the super small droplets that remain cannot burn in. Because it often leaves a protection of about 2 weeks, your car is often protected until the next wash. This will also keep your car cleaner 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 personally do is after we wash 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 there is a little product in this as well by spraying 1 or 2 sprays into the cloth.
Because we have already sprayed the quick detailer on the car we can just put the quick detailer back away and not need it again. By also spraying into the microfiber cloth, the microfiber cloth is also primed with product so we are sure that we have proportional coverage of the quick detailer and that we have good glide over the surface.
Then simply wipe over the surfaces to push the water off the paint and apply the quick detailer. You will notice that the water will come off the paint much more smoothly and a warm glow will be left behind. You will also notice that the microfiber cloth or drying cloth will begin to be full of water and will leave streaks of water.
When this happens, it is best to wring out the cloth and then go over the surface again. After this, the water should be completely absorbed again without streaks. If a tiny bit of water and a smudge remains, no harm done. If you use a good product it will simply dry without leaving stains or smudges.
In any case, it is also not bad for your microfiber cloth to be a little wet when you go to dry your car. In fact, a microfiber cloth works best when it is slightly damp versus when it is completely dry. Because you've already been over the panels that had quick detailer on them, you don't have to spray your microfiber cloth again. The product that you have absorbed during the process will still have a limited presence in the microfiber cloth so there is no point in priming the microfiber cloth again.
Done!
Now that you have dried all of the car with 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 more 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 because of the protection that you have applied. As a result, your car will stay cleaner longer and will be easier to clean when you wash your car again. In the end all this saves time and you only have advantages. You often do not need to use much product at all. With a 750ml bottle of Sonax Ceramic Quick Detailer we can dry 4 to 5 cars so it's certainly not too expensive either. Check out our range of spray wax & quick detailers on our website.
Using Quick Detailer as a drying aid