Describe why a paint technician must wash a vehicle with both soap and water and with wax and grease remover.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Cleaning and chemical cleaning are done at several stages when repainting a vehicle in the collision repair industry. Soap and water cleaning (a type of solvent) is the first step performed on a vehicle, sometimes even before the vehicle is examined for a repair estimate.
Some contaminants are only soluble in water, or in soap (a wetting agent) and water. Other contaminants are only dissolved with a wax and grease remover (solvent). The two containers each started out with rock salt in them, a common deice used to clear roads. As the picture shows, the container with soap and water has
dissolved the salt, while the container with wax and grease remover has not dissolved the salt at all.
Vehicles which enter a repair shop should be soap and water washed before any work is started.
Following the soap and water wash, the vehicle should be chemically cleaned (with wax and grease remover). The best practice is to chemically clean the entire vehicle, but at a minimum, the technician should clean the panels, to be repaired. During the repair process, the vehicle may become contaminated as the technician performs the necessary work. For example, if workers without gloves on touch the vehicle, the oils and salt from the workers' hands will be deposited on the vehicle.