Chevy HHR Network - Cleaning products that will repel dirt?

Chevy HHR Network (https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/)

- Maintenance and Upkeep (https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/maintenance-upkeep-50/)

- - Cleaning products that will repel dirt? (https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/maintenance-upkeep-50/cleaning-products-will-repel-dirt-46069/)

Cleaning products that will repel dirt?

Or at least not attract so much. I posted this on the Meguiars forums a few days ago (hence to noob tone), but no replies.

Quote:

I live in El Paso. I've had a 2011 Chevy HHR, paint color Black Granite Metallic, since February 2012. Normally it is parked in the street. I wash it at the brushless self-serve near my house, generally at night. The bays are well lit, so I can still see what I'm doing. I use a two bucket method, washing with products I bring, not with what comes out of their nozzle. I typically do a full wash and wax about every 2 months with quick (not really, 45 minutes) rinse and dry passes in between when needed.

Soap: NXT Car Wash. Even though this is discontinued, I deliberately sought it out because of the water softeners in it (water here is ridiculously, unfilterably hard)
Wax: NXT Tech Wax 2.0 liquid
Towels, etc: all my towels, mitts, are high quality. The microfiber towels are a 75%/25% polyester/polyamide blend. I have a chenille mitt and 100% cotton terrycloth towels

I wash, dry, and wax by hand, religiously following the same pattern of straight motions. The entire process takes 3 to 5 hours, 8 hours when I clayed it. When the car is clean, I'm very satisfied with the results.

Even when it's not windy, the air here is full of dirt. Not dust (animal dander, fabric fibers,etc), dirt... as in very fine particles of dried out soil.

The only time my car is actually clean is when I'm washing it. The dirt settles on stealthily, constantly. The car can look clean, but my duster will still pick up lots of it. Supposedly clean plus rain equals a leopardskin pattern of brown. After a windstorm, mine is the only car on my street that is visibly brown. Which is disheartening considering I'm the only person on my street that puts this amount of effort in.

I suspect the problem is the wax, which seems to break down in the sun and heat here. With fresh wax, after a rain I'm left with milky water runs down the sides of the car. Also, tiny flecks of wax develop all over the place (seemingly out of nowhere), which are highly visible on black paint. Water beading seems to deteriorate after about 3 weeks.

I've put off the big spring cleaning until I can get some advice here. Given my regimen and environmental factors (heat, sun, airborne dirt, hard water), what products should I switch to in order to make my car repel dirt instead of being a magnet for it?

Finally, I'm looking for interior cleaning products that are not silicone-based.

This is the kind of dirt I'm dealing with. I took this picture a few weeks ago after the last major dirtstorm. Normally it's not this obvious, but is still a constant annoyance.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/gallery/fil...1/9/filthy.jpg

Because of the shape of the car, there is a low pressure zone behind it when in motion(kind of like how drafting in NASCAR works). And that allows the dirt particles to attached to the back of the car.

If I'm not mistaken on the science part of it, the air(and dirt particulates) go over the top of the car when in motion, making slight contact, and become charged particles, similar to the "balloon sticking to the wall" effect. And then sure enough the particles don't have much resistance from the wind in the low pressure area behind the car, and get stuck(opposites charges attract).

I get more aggravated at the birds that redecorate my hood. than the dirt on the back at this point.

as for the interior, I use armor all wipes on the plastic/vinyl, and dollar store carpet cleaner on the floor(not sure on the content or if has silicone in it)

It's not an airflow issue. The entire car was like this when I took the picture, I just shot the back to show clean/filthy contrast. In fact, the car hadn't moved since I had dusted it the day before the dirtstorm. All that stuff was delivered by by wind, no unpaved roads involved even if I had driven it.

I would contact Griot's Garage and ask them for help. As far a I am concerned they are the experts at car care in all kinds of environment's. I have used their products for 15 years and never had been given bad advice. But after reading your post I think it is a uphill battle keeping a car clean in that kind of dirty air environment. I live in the central valley of California downtown farming USA and the I too have the problems you describe . My 2011 LT is white but if I do not wipe it down every other day it looks dirty as well. My neighbor has a black 2009 LS and he just gave up a year ago trying to keep it clean. He sold it and now has a light tan LT. I hope the guys at Griot's can help you. Here is a link
http://www.griotsgarage.com/category...information.do

Yep...a product called FOMBLIN, can't remember who made it and I don't believe it's available any longer. It was a "space age" product developed by NASA, I believe. Dust settles on the car and it just blows off at about 20-30 MPH. Although it polished up ok, I used it for other than paint finish because I wanted a better shine.

I used to use it on wheels and such. Brake dust would just blow right off.

I think there is still info on it, if you Google it.

I live 8 miles from Griot's headquarters, haven't ever come out of there empty handed, they have a product for everything you can think of and a bunch you haven't thought of yet.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...%26+wax+kit.do

I emailed Griot's last night, should have a reply sometime tomorrow.