Household cleaning products are cheaper than automotive cleaners . Is the liquid suitable for washing dishes in the car?
What home remedies can you use to wash your car and achieve good results without harming the paintwork? Sometimes the idea to wash a car comes to mind spontaneously, and for some reason this is especially important at a time when you are in the country or far out of town - you cannot get to car washes.
In such conditions, of course, you can wash the car on your own, but here's the problem: there is, as always, no professional auto chemistry at hand, and simply pouring water over the mud is unlikely to help cleanse the body of stubborn road dirt. Perhaps the tools that are at hand in any home will do?
What if you use regular hair shampoo or dishwashing liquid instead of car shampoo, or maybe regular liquid soap? What options for hypothetical home chemistry are best avoided and why?
Yes, home remedies are usually cheaper than professional auto chemicals. But similar, however, does not mean the same! Know that you can really do a lot of damage to the paintwork of the car, using "what came to hand."
Problems of the most popular home remedies for car washing
Dishwashing liquids: These foam like car shampoos and do very well with greasy dirt. Unfortunately, the cleaning effect is usually disappointing: these kitchen solvents cannot cope with bitumen stains and other difficult purely road stains left on the varnish.
Attention! Some liquids may contain vinegar impurities that accelerate corrosion.
Floor and tile fluids: Although hand washes should not be chemically aggressive, other household cleaners can be more hazardous to paintwork . They often contain strong acids that corrode metal elements. Products containing bleach also discolor varnish and plastic parts.
Cleaning lotions: The abrasive particles found in bathroom cleaners are much sharper and coarser than those found in car body polishes. Using them on a car can damage paint and plastic.
Dishwashing sponges: also another element that looks harmless at first glance, but can seriously damage the varnish!
Firstly, these sponges are usually made of an extremely rough material, and secondly, their small pores quickly fill with dirt and in the future will only scratch the body, and not clean the car.
Home cleaning products are cheaper than professional automotive cleaners.
Attention! In new cars, the headlights are made of makrolon - a plastic that may not survive contact with rough cleaning agents!
Do not use to wash the car body!
Aggressive products for the kitchen and bathroom (lotions, descaling agents, bleaches) are strictly prohibited to be used for washing the bodywork. Moreover, they shouldn't even be stored next to the car, because even one small drop is enough to destroy the varnish or paint. If the agent spills on the body, quickly remove the residues and rinse with more and more water.
Car care products are usually more delicate than household chemicals.
As mentioned above, do not use dish scouring pads. We also recommend that you be careful with your washcloths. They, just like sponges, can cause severe damage to the body coating.
Can be used, but with care!
From household cleaning agents in a car, you can use soap (but with a neutral level of acidity), hair shampoos without much risk (similarly - a low ph level is important).
You can also use (but carefully): window cleaners (as long as they are vinegar-free), upholstery stain removers, napkins, and even some household detergents (but not varnish!).
At the same time, it will not be superfluous to check whether the product does damage to varnish and paint, whether it leaves traces on them, does not destroy it, and so on. To do this, first test the "collective farm" remedy on a small, inconspicuous area. If within half an hour no cloudiness or other imperfections appear, you can try to wash the car with it.
For some applications, a handwashing liquid (alcohol-based hand sanitizers or other alcohol-containing products, including pure alcohol) is also suitable. They are useful, for example, for cleaning discs or plastics contaminated with grease, bitumen and other complex contaminants.
For fabrics, it is better to choose lint-free soft fabrics, preferably made from microfibers.
Nothing replaces car shampoo
But all of these abovementioned washing products are, not only hypothetically or clearly dangerous, but also ineffective compared to professional car care products. Therefore, their use is either not at all encouraged, or they can be used, but not on an ongoing basis - they are ineffective and are only a short-term replacement in a situation where there are no other options.
Sometimes the idea to wash the car comes to mind spontaneously, but the necessary auto chemicals are not at hand!
If you live outside the city and often wash your car on your own, we advise you to purchase a normal car shampoo and wash it using normal car chemicals. So the paintwork will remain, and the result will be fast and high quality!
In every home you can find hair shampoo, dishwashing liquid and dishcloth ... But should you use them?
