Acid Rain Decon Philosopy--Do You Buy It?

S

Setec Astronomy

Well-known member
If you read the Auto Int. "white paper" on decon systems, they will tell you that acid rain residues infuse your paint matrix and continue to damage it, and the only way to neutralize it is to use the 3-step process.



My 15-yo car definitely has radical acid rain/bird crap pitting/etching. Whether this was because I never deconned it, or whether I just didn't care for it that well (especially those couple of years when we had drought restrictions and couldn't wash...this car has never been thru a tunnel wash) I don't know.



I have used the FK decon system, and find the one that should be neutralizing the acid rain residue, the Step 1, to be rather offensive to use, and am considering buying the Step A from AutoInt.



So my questions are, really, 1) does everyone buy the fact that once you have had acid rain slip past your LSP, that the only way to prevent it from continuing to damage your paint is to decon (as opposed to just washing, polishing, and reprotecting), and 2) Since I don't really have any IFO or rail dust problems, can I just use the A/1 step, without doing the B/2, and follow up with just a normal shampoo (or maybe I'll use the FK neutralizing shampoo). I just don't really see how follwing the alkaline step with the acid step is helping me with my acid rain residues any more than just using the alkaline step, if it is actually doing anything in the first place.
 
Why do you find step 1 from FK1 "offensive"?







I haven't used the decon system, but plan on giving it a shot.
 
Why not just call Ketch and pick his brain on the topic? In my experience you will get valuable feedback without a sales pitch.
 
I'm guessing the offensive part of the FK1 system is the smell. The FK1 1119 has a high kerosene content, and the smell lingers in your buckets for weeks, and if you used it in a garage it stays there for a couple of days as well.



If you've never done the complete decon. I recomend doing all three steps, otherwise the acid step only needs to be done when ferrous particles are present.



I use ABC all the time, and while I know some people that have had issues, I've never had any problems, but I'm only on my 4th gallon of the stuff, and have only been using it about 6-8 months, so we'll see if I continue to have success or not. In the meantime, I'll continue to use it.
 
I found the step 1 and 2 to be pretty nasty smelling. And I still had to spend hours claying my car after using the whole process, even doing the step 2 three times in a row, allowing it to set for 7 minutes each time before rinsing.



I didn't find the decon system to really accomplish anything on my car, other than to loosen up the contaminants to make for slightly easier claying.
 
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