Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your car is dirty and you don’t have car shampoo? In such situations, car owners usually find themselves looking for alternatives.
That is soaps that are similar to car wash shampoos. The most common choices include dishwash soap and all-purpose cleaners.
Though these alternatives will get the job done, some may have adverse effects on your car paint. There are reasons why car wash shampoos are specially formulated. Any other type of soap may get dirt and grime off your car but it may damage the paint.
Today, we are going to look at one of the most popular cleaners on the market – LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner. This isn’t a new name in most households.
Awesome Cleaner is a highly rated cleaning product and it is quite affordable. No wonder it is very common in most homes.
Awesome Cleaner can be used on nearly all surfaces. It does a marvelous job of getting rid of dirt and stubborn stains. However, can you use awesome cleaner on car paint? That’s what we are going to discuss in this article.
Is Awesome Cleaner Safe on Car Paint?
When you go through the list of ingredients on Awesome Cleaner, you will be bombarded with lots of complex terms such as Ethoxylated Alcohol, butoxyethanol, and Ether.
This is what most cleaning product manufacturers do. They put up fancy terms on the label so that the user doesn’t put more of their focus on the ingredients. However, I am going to dissect it for you.
Awesome Cleaner is acid and ammonia-free. This is a very important detail that you need to note because nearly all cleaners have ammonia.
The fact that Awesome Cleaner doesn’t contain bleach or acid, may make it seem like a safe product to use on car paint. However, you need to look closely at the ingredients used.
This cleaning product contains ethoxylated alcohol which are synthetic chemicals that help in the removal of dirt and contaminants from surfaces.
Alcohol, irrespective of its form, does have negative effects on car paint. Alcohol at pure strength will eat through the wax, the car’s clear coat, and then paint.
If you have ever used Awesome Cleaner on car paint then you can testify that your car had a dull finish afterward. You even had to wax it afterward. The reason why that happened is because of the alcohol in Awesome Cleaner.
Even though it is a strong cleanser that will remove grime and dirt from your car’s surface, it may cause more harm than good.
So, if you have no cleaner in your home other than Awesome Cleaner, don’t use it on your car.
You are better off washing your car with only water than using a cleaner that will damage the paint.
What Can Awesome Cleaner Remove from Your Car Paint?
If you look at some of the uses of Awesome Cleaner, you will see that it can remove oil stains, coffee spills, fresh paint, food stains, tree sap, bloodstains, and grease amongst others.
This is true, the ingredients found in Awesome Cleaner are very strong and will remove all types of stains that they come into contact with.
However, when used on car paint, these aren’t the only things that will be removed from the surface. The first victim of Awesome Cleaner on your car paint will be wax.
Awesome Cleaner strips away wax in a matter of minutes. It penetrates through wax and dissolves it right away.
Once your wax has been removed, the next victim is the car’s clear coat. Your car’s clear coat is the first line of defense for any vehicle’s paint job.
The clear coat keeps contaminants off your car’s paint. It is a clear barrier that ensures your paint job looks great. This barrier is strong against elements such as stains and mud or dirt. However, it is no match for Awesome Cleaner.
If you wash your car with awesome cleaner, it penetrates through the clear coat and strips it off your car’s surface. This action leaves your car paint naked and vulnerable to the other elements.
Your car paint isn’t as strong as the clear coat. If left to fend for itself then it will degrade in a couple of months. Scratches and dirt will take a huge toll on it and once your paint job gets damaged, you can forget about your car’s high resale value.
Other than Awesome Cleaner, What Options Do I Have?
By now, you are aware that Awesome Cleaner isn’t the best cleaning product to use on your car paint. So, what other options do you have when you run out of car wash shampoo? There are lots of better and safer alternatives available in your house.
If your car is not that dirty, some water will be enough to remove any surface-level dirt. This may require a considerable amount of scrubbing but it is a safer option compared to using Awesome Cleaner.
There are other cleaning products out there that you can use, they include; Dish soap is the number one go-to option when cleaning car paint.
Most dish soaps feature a formula similar to that of car wash shampoo and will get rid of stubborn stains in your car.
You can also use laundry detergent and hand soap if they are available. The best alternative to Awesome Cleaner is hair shampoo. Most hair shampoos are formulated to be gentle on the scalp.
And this is what makes them such a better option. Hair shampoo won’t damage your car paint. It won’t remove wax and neither will it eat through your car’s clear coat.
So, should there come a time when you have no product to use in cleaning your car, look for some hair shampoo.
Are More Expensive Cleaners Safer?
If you are familiar with the Awesome Cleaner brand then you are aware that it is available at the dollar store. The cheapness factor has always been attributed to products that are not of high quality.
Regarding Awesome Cleaner, I have to disagree. Despite it being unsafe to use on car paint, it is very effective at cleaning stains on other surfaces. Later on, I am going to discuss some of the areas you can use Awesome Cleaner in your car.
As long as a cleaner contains harmful ingredients, whether it is expensive or cheap, it shouldn’t come into contact with your car paint.
It’s not the cost that determines the effects of a cleaner on your car paint but it is the ingredients found in the product.
Can I Use Awesome Cleaner on Other Parts of My Car?
Kindly note that the aim of this review is not to paint a bad picture of Awesome Cleaner. Instead, I am trying to educate car owners on the effects of using this product on car paint. Otherwise, it is an overall great cleaner.
If you have some stubborn stains on your car mats or carpets, Awesome Cleaner can clean these stains for you.
You should however avoid using it on leather seats or upholstery.
What Should I Do If I Have Already Been Using Awesome Cleaner on Car Paint?
Because of how thorough it is at removing stains, have you always been using Awesome Cleaner on car paint? Wondering what to do next after reading the effects above?
You need to start with a thorough examination of your paint job.
Has the Awesome Cleaner completely stripped your car’s clear coat? If that is the case, then you will need to seek professional paint correction services.
Driving around in a car with no clear coat is risky. Your paint job has no line of defense. As a result, it can easily be damaged and rust will set in faster than it actually should.
However, if you have been using Awesome Cleaner sparingly, then the damage will be minimal. This means that you can still apply some wax and restore your paint’s finish.
What If I Dilute Awesome Cleaner?
Have you benefited significantly from Awesome Cleaner’s superior cleaning abilities? Probably, you don’t want to stop using this product because of its effectiveness. And you may be wondering, can I dilute it so that I can lower the side effects?
When diluted, Awesome Cleaner loses some of its strength. Therefore, you can use it to clean stubborn stains and it won’t damage car paint.
The downside of doing this is that when diluted, Awesome Cleaner won’t be as strong and may not thoroughly clean spots.
Also, no matter how small those traces of alcohol are, they can still strip away the wax from your car. And if used regularly, the alcohol will eat through the clear coat.
Is Awesome Cleaner a Good Degreaser?
It is one of the best and that’s what makes it so popular. However, as you may already know, it isn’t ideal for use on car paint.
There are special degreasers that are made for car surfaces. Make sure that you check out your nearest auto shop for recommended car cleaners and degreasers.