I finally was able to wash my car at home and avoid any type of car wash. I did the car and undercarriage. To maintain, I wanted to just be able to waterless wash it if that's possible being it is back to being frigid out.
What product do you guys in cold weather states use ?

 

I don't avoid the car wash in winter. The weather is too cold and unpredictable, and work is crazy lately. I use a new conveyor belt style car wash near my house. I avoid the older car washes with tracks, because a TSX wagon I had got scratched in one.

I use Chemical Guys EcoSmart Waterless Wash and Wax to touch up my SUV and finish spots the car wash misses in winter.

 

I never go waterless, the water helps wash off dirt and debris. Otherwise it would be microswirl city. There's no reason to avoid the car wash when it's cold. Just dry around the gas cap cover really well.

 

I went about 6 months using only waterless and it did not scratch my car at all. That being said, safe waterless washes require the proper technique, a bunch of clean, absorbent, microfiber towels and patience.

A basic breakdown of how I used it w/out causing any extra scratches, swirls, etc. And several times, the car was very dirty (i.e. after rain, etc)

Products:

• ONR
• Sponge
• Pump Sprayer
• High pile microfiber towels
• distilled or CR water (important, I think), for diluting the ONR
• two buckets

Process

1. using double recommended strength ONR, spray down entire vehicle with a big pump sprayer - use a lot and saturate all the surface contaminants
2. fill one bucket with tap water, and the 2nd with distilled or CR water + ONR to recommended dilution
3. carefully soak sponge, gently wipe in a rotating motion, so as not to rub dirt on dirt. I probably only did a 2' square section at a time to prevent scratching. rinse sponge in tap water bucket and then re-soak in ONR bucket and continue washing
4. using about one 16x16" microfiber towel per 2-3' square area at a time, dry the surface in single wipes, again, rolling the towel as you wipe to prevent wiping any suspended dirt on the paint
5. do the entire car, then the wheels via the same process
6. I used a BigBoi dryer to blow out any excess water, however the distilled or CR water should prevent most drip marks if that is not available to you
7. After the wash, I would take an ONR saturated microfiber and wipe out all the door jams and trunk area since dust and debris builds up in there and doesnt really get rinsed when using waterless

Note: I recently tried P&S Absolute waterless wash and decided I prefer the ONR feel better. Also, ONR has been reformulated recently and is supposed to be even easier on paint - though I haven't tried yet as I havent used ONR for a few years now, but it was shocking how it would clean the car w/out scratching.

 

To be clear here guys, and I should have said this in the beginning. My RDX is garaged and generally not used for commuting.
I plan on washing the car with my pressure washer whenever it is warmer (which is rare in inter, but it happens), but for the in between times (NOT as a substitute for watered washing)
, I just want to keep it looking good. I wanted a waterless wash I can just use in the garage. It seems like ONR is a great option without water ?

 

I use ONR plus a Big Red Sponge - what I'm doing is considered rinse less washing since I use a bucket. Waterless is more challenging and unless you really, really need to avoid any water then I'd just do rinse less as it doesn't leave that much water on the ground (unless you have a garage which is below freezing). If waterless is your only option then ONR can do it - just dilute it less.

 

I use a bucket of warm water and micro fiber cloths. Soak one in water, wipe the panel down and dry with a clean micro-fiber towel. Keep rinsing the soaked cloth to remove the dirt (and use several to avoid build up) and a handful of clean, soft micro-fibers to dry. I do a panel by panel wash - never had an issue. Helps if you have a good ceramic coating on - my go to is Nextgen.

 

https://www.griotsgarage.com/spray-on-car-wash/

 

Optimum No-Rinse (ONR) is the most recommended no-rinse wash by detailers. Works great. In the winter, I stuck to only washing the body and wheels with ONR. Be extra careful with the spots where there's sand from winter road treatments so that you don't drag it all over your paint. Thankfully on the RDX, that stuff usually accumulates on the black plastic trim, so I just used a separate sponge for the "dirty work."

 

Thank you. I wasn't thinking when I posted the title --I guess when I think of "waterless wash" what I really mean is rinse-less. It seems ONR is a great choice....I have some that is like 7 years old in my garage. I wonder if it is still good.
MOD-if you could change title of thread to "rinseless" that would be great.

 

Meguiars waterless wash and wax.

 

When I've heard this issue brought (old bottle of ONR) on Reddit the general consensus is that it'll work fine if it was stored properly (cool dark place)

 

done

 

I have been using this for about 3 years now. (https://www.chemicalguys.com/product...46294727328049)
Bought the gallon concentrate and mix it 1:16 with water. You will have some minor swirl, but try spray it generously, use good quality microfiber cloths, and change the cloth often.

I am in SoCal and a little dusty, so I also have the duster (https://www.chemicalguys.com/product...e41af4d2&_ss=r) and I use it daily.
The trick of using the duster is shaking the dust it collected often and if you see that it is less effective, run a clean hand through the duster a few times to get it "recharged" so the static the duster has can continue to collect the dust.
The combination of the waterless wash and the duster would keep the car's exterior fairly clean for 2~3 weeks, depending on your taste of cleanness.