The proper way to wipe down a vehicle prior to paint

Don’t need to let anything soak.
Thanks, that's what I needed to know. I have been doing it as you described above.

The entire car means: (Air Cooled VW)
- Engine compartment and rear wheel drop-down area with bumper bracket mounts (Captive nuts and irregular sharp areas)
- Engine firewall full of sharp edges, tight recesses, and tar board spikes
- Frunk and spare wheel well with horn mount bracket, bumper, and jack mounts. Behind the dash and side drop-down pockets
- Front fender well with headlight buckets, blind area behind fresh air vents, irregular front nostril pockets, gas door recess, and several tight blind areas
- Front firewall and behind spare wheel area (tight and irregular)
- Inner side of rockers and under rocker body mount area
- Rear fender wells and under rear luggage tray (Irregular and full of tight blind pockets)
- Underside of engine compartment, rear valance, and bumper brackets
- Under rear seat area, mostly blind, tight, and arms length reach
- Rear luggage area and behind convertible bracing framework.
- Inner front firewall, dash, and under dash
- And finally, the 30 Min. Exterior.

Would it be acceptable to do the "Low Contact" areas in advance and the critical areas, such as exterior and wheel wells the day before painting?

If not, I may need to break up the painting into sections. I was hoping to be able to do the entire car at once.

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Emil
 
i use the cheapest white paper towels i can buy wholesale.
 

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You aren't saving any money by not doing so. You will actually save money using them believe it or not. Try a box of the Axalta maintenance wipes. Even when finished wiping down they can be reused for other tasks. They last and last. I get three or four different uses (after being used once for wiping something down) out of them before throwing them away. I have'nt bought any general purpose type towels in years. Plus because they are woven they never shred. If you don't want to try them, totally your prerogative but you are missing out IMO.
X2. I'm with you on woven. Woven have excellent wet strength in all directions under heavy hand pressure and in my opinion--the best absorbency using the fewest wipes. Shear is the culprit for paper towels falling apart when wet and failing to lift contaminants. The ones I use are similar--Wypall Low Lint Prep wipes; no. S-13737; 12" x17"--so I strong I can wash and reuse. I don't do that but get 3 or 4 other less important tasks before I burn them. My goal is to use the fewest things to catch fire when doing such things with potentially flammable materials getting strewed about with the time constraints that always seem to work against a person getting such tasks done.
 
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We use paper towels on the shop floor, and dedicated wipes in the booth. The cheap paper towels we used to use were Kirkland, but they stopped individually wrapping the rolls, so now we use Bounty. In the booth we use MDI 93139, although they are not as good as they used to be, I'm open to something different at this point.
 
Thanks, that's what I needed to know. I have been doing it as you described above.

The entire car means: (Air Cooled VW)
- Engine compartment and rear wheel drop-down area with bumper bracket mounts (Captive nuts and irregular sharp areas)
- Engine firewall full of sharp edges, tight recesses, and tar board spikes
- Frunk and spare wheel well with horn mount bracket, bumper, and jack mounts. Behind the dash and side drop-down pockets
- Front fender well with headlight buckets, blind area behind fresh air vents, irregular front nostril pockets, gas door recess, and several tight blind areas
- Front firewall and behind spare wheel area (tight and irregular)
- Inner side of rockers and under rocker body mount area
- Rear fender wells and under rear luggage tray (Irregular and full of tight blind pockets)
- Underside of engine compartment, rear valance, and bumper brackets
- Under rear seat area, mostly blind, tight, and arms length reach
- Rear luggage area and behind convertible bracing framework.
- Inner front firewall, dash, and under dash
- And finally, the 30 Min. Exterior.

Would it be acceptable to do the "Low Contact" areas in advance and the critical areas, such as exterior and wheel wells the day before painting?

If not, I may need to break up the painting into sections. I was hoping to be able to do the entire car at once.

-----
Emil
You’d be fine to do the less critical inside areas in the few days before painting. They aren’t likely to be touched. Then do the exterior surfaces that matter the day before, then spray the very next day.
 
You’d be fine to do the less critical inside areas in the few days before painting. They aren’t likely to be touched. Then do the exterior surfaces that matter the day before, then spray the very next day.
10-4m Thanks for the data.

-----
Emil
 
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