By Frank LingYour trusty car looks worse for wear and your guilt level has finally reached a peak; you are compelled to give it a good, thorough car wash.
But buying those special car wash kits and soaps don’t appeal to you because soap is soap. If dish washing and laundry detergents can get dishes and clothes squeaky clean, the next step in logic is that they’ll be just as good or better for washing your car.
This makes perfect sense until you understand what’s at stake here. Your car will definitely be cleaner, but there is a downside to using household detergents. Find out what it is.
How soap works
All soaps and detergents work by getting dirt out of fabrics, hard and soft surfaces, and a host of other items and objects. What isn’t clear is how this is accomplished. The answer is in one word: saponification.
Saponification is a fancy science word that describes the interaction of soap molecules with dirt and oil. One end of the soap molecule chain attracts oil and dirt, while the other end attracts water. The split personality of these molecules means they can attach to oil and dirt at one end, while the other end is attracted to water.
The end result is that you can wash all the dirt and grime off.
Not all soaps are created equal
There’s no doubt that household detergents and soaps do a great job of cleaning clothes and dishes. So they should do well for car washes too, right?
Yes and no.
They will remove all the dirt and grime on your car, but household detergents may strip off that nice wax job that took you all afternoon to apply. Your car may come out clean, but it may have less wax protecting the surface.
Specially formulated car wash soap doesn’t cost that much and it will assure you a good car cleaning without the downsides of using detergent soaps.
Source:
MSN Autos