Washing

What is traffic film

<p>A traffic film is the term used to describe the fine layer of contaminants that cover a vehicle that has been used&period; The very film layer of contaminants lie on top of the car as a grey-ish film&period; Washing alone might not always be enough to fully remove this film&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Where does traffic film come from<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>When a vehicle is used&comma; it is exposed to several types of contaminants&period; Some of these are just simple raindrops with impurities&comma; sand and dust&period; Others are more harsh&comma; like acid rain&comma; tree sap and iron fallout&period; Some of these contaminants touch the paint&comma; but simply slide over it or bounce off&period; Others get stuck or are delivered via a raindrop&period; When it rains&comma; the water on the roadsurface picks up all the dirt and other contaminants that lies on the ground&period; When the car in front of you drive over it&comma; it throws up the dirty water&comma; spraying your car with dirty rainwater&period; When the water slowly dries up&comma; it leaves behind all the dirt that is inside of it&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Traffic film does not only come from rainwater&comma; surface can also become covered in dirt and other contaminants in dry weather&comma; but the formation of traffic film is vastly increased during wet or highly moist moments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What is traffic film made of<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The traffic film is made from several types of contaminants&period; These can be liquids&comma; solid and some are even delivered via a gas &lpar;like the exhaust from other cars&rpar;&period; The term is a generic term to describe a collection of contaminants and dirt that can eventually cover a vehicle that has been used in traffic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>Dust<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Sand<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Dirt<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Iron fallout<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Rubber particles<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Soot<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Carbon deposits<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Random particles from dirt thrown out of cars<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Tree sap&sol;resin<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Biological matter &lpar;roadkill&comma; bird droppings etc&period;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Minerals<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Grease<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Fluids from the engine bay &lpar;coolant&comma; brake fluid&comma; transmission fluid etc&period;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Windscreen cleaner<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>These contaminants leave a grey finish over the surface that dulls the finish&comma; minimizes the gloss and takes away from that &&num;8220&semi;freshly detailed&&num;8221&semi; look&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How to remove a traffic film<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Traffic films contain several different types of dirt&period; Although detailing shampoos are aimed at removing as much dirt as possible&comma; it is not strong enough to remove 100&percnt; of the contaminants on your paintwork&period; Therefore&comma; it will always leave a certain amount of contaminants on your paintwork&period; This is not a problem&comma; your protective product is designed to keep these contaminants at bay and to prevent long term paintwork damage&period; A good protective product will make it easier to remove more of the dirt with less effort&period; But in time&comma; the contaminants will build up&period; A traffic film remover will help in the removal of the contaminants mentioned above&period; In wet seasons the difference between a vehicle before washing and after washing can be pretty substantial&period; A white car can look grey-ish before it is cleaned&period; Snowfoam is not always strong enough to fully remove traffic film&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Danger of traffic film<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The traffic film contains many different types of contaminants&period; Some of these can cause long term paint damage&period; The minerals can eventually cause mineral etching damage in the surface&comma; iron fallout can start a rusting process that is able to damage the paint surface&period; Brake fluid even has the potential to cause surface damage in very short time&period; Besides the contaminants in the traffic film&comma; the layer of dirt covering the vehicle is capable of trapping moisture&comma; causing a surface to be wet longer then needed&period; This can have an effect on the amount of rust that forms&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Undercarriages get covered in traffic film all the time&comma; but are rarely cleaned properly&period; This causes certain areas to stay wet longer&comma; increasing the chance of surface rust forming&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;

Vinnie van Rooij

Vinnie started the DetailingWiki Project in december 2015, and his quest is still going strong. Hoping to create a solid and informative center of information for anybody who is into detailing.

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Vinnie van Rooij

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