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Washed the car today after a two week break where it was just too cold to venture into the garage to wash it - as such it was pretty dirty. Here's a brief snapshot of the rinseless Car wash method which is ideal in the Winter or for those who don't have access to a hose or may have certain water restrictions.
Fill a bucket with two gallons of water and add one ounce of Duragloss Rinseless Wash with Aquawax into the water. After mixing it up a bit I toss about 10 microfiber towels into the mix to let them soak it up.
Out into the garage. Since the car was pretty dirty (relatively speaking) I also put some solution into a spray bottle and sprayed it onto the car on the dirty sections to pre-soak it just a bit.
Next - take a towel out and fold it up into quarters:
Start wiping down the car - one section at a time.
After taking a swipe you'll notice the towel has grabbed a lot of dirt - you want to flip the towel over and use a clean side now. I washed the real dirty parts twice as the residue left from the first wipe-down had a trace of dirty water which is to be expected given the level of dirt on the car when I started.
After you clean a section use your drying towel and dry it off. I like to take a dry fluffy microfiber towel and do a quick buff too as sometimes you'll get a little streak left from the solution as it dries.
After you soil all 8 sections of a towel you drop it into a separate bucket and start again with a clean towel from the solution bucket.
That's it - takes me 45 minutes or so to do the whole car. If it was just light dirt and warmer out it could be done in less time.
The only thing I would be cautious of is to first try and gently remove any surface dust with one of those California Dusters or similar. If you start rubbing with the moist microfiber without first removing some of the surface stuff you will surely be leaving micro scratches in finish.
The only thing I would be cautious of is to first try and gently remove any surface dust with one of those California Dusters or similar. If you start rubbing with the moist microfiber without first removing some of the surface stuff you will surely be leaving micro scratches in finish.
You could dust the car prior to cleaning - it would certainly add an extra layer of cautious-ness to the procedure.
One note of clarification - you don't want to "rub" the surface - it's more a single wiping motion with hardly any pressure at all. Imagine if you have a little water on the kitchen counter and you take a dish towel and wipe it up - that's what you're doing.
That said - anytime something touches the surface of your car you have the chance of marring it. The rinseless wash solution is designed to minimize that chance (the mf towel sort of glides over the surface) when done properly from what I understand.
No-rinse car washes are a great alternative in the winter months and those apartment dwellers that may not have access to a hose. Even though the winter months are not that extreme down here it still gets too cold to wash the car outside.
Cheesey's tutorial is great. One thing I do is take the pre-soak one step further. I take this little garden sprayer... fill it with warm water and a cap-full of no-rinse (I use Optimum No Rinse), pump it up and spray the entire car with it. You can set it to mist and one filling is about all you need. Then I let it soak while I get the bucket ready.
I use Optimum No Rinse as well. I do the two bucket method, one bucket with solution and a grit guard, and one for rinsing, also with a grit guard, and I pre-spray to loosen up the dirt.
Thanks for posting this, CheeseyPoofs! Comes in handy around Cleveland. I also do mine in the garage; mine is unheated but insulated so it's usually 20 degrees warmer than outside in the winter.
Pre-treatment is a must when using a no rinse product and don't be bashful about using too much. Plenty of lubrication is critical to prevent marring. Acura paint is very soft and will easily mar if your process is not top notch. I should know since I was dumb enough to buy another black car back in 2007. I posted a how-to a while back but it is still relevant today. Click on the link below.
Rinseless washes are all about technique, and products used. I've done them on fairly dirty car after a pre-soak, but would not on a car that has alot of sand, and grit stuck to the paint.
My car is filthy right now after all the snow, and freezing rain in NY over the last few weeks, and in desperate need of a wash, but despite having some of the best microfibers, and other detailing supplies, I am leaving it be until I can pressure wash the grit off first.
If you are impatient, don't have the right equipment, or your car is gritty, I would not do a rinseless.
Look up the "gary dean" method on youtube; you'll find some good info.
Rinseless washes are all about technique, products used. I've done them on fairly dirty car after a pre-soak, but would not on a car that has alot of sand, and grit stuck to the paint.
My car is filthy right now after all the snow, and freezing rain in NY over the last few weeks, and in desperate need of a wash, but despite having some of the best microfibers, and other detailing supplies, I am leaving it be until I can pressure wash the grit off first.
If you are impatient, don't have the right equipment, or your car is gritty, I would.
Look up the "gary dean" method on youtube; you'll find some good info.
Good advice! One thing to note - I've got a white car which hides tiny scratches quite well - and I've got the gear to buff out any of the random scratches that one inevitably gets on a daily driver just by taking it out on the road - so I'm not overly concerned.
If I had a black showcar I may feel differently about doing it I suppose.
For one thing it just seems to be too be a little to good to be true that this wouldn't scratch the paint worse than using a hose.
But beyond that, what about the wheel wells? The undercarriage? Over here in the northeast the dirt and salt really do a number on the parts of the car you can't see. Sure your car will look nice on the exterior but I only feel good if those areas get a heavy rinse every few weeks.
I hand wash year around but the winter is the only time I take it to the carwash. There is only one place near me that is a true "touchless" car wash that uses water jets equivalent to a power wash. Just $6 and a couple dollars more for the "undercarriage wash". Yes the car IS touched by hand-drying at the end. Yea, there risk with that as well but IMO it's better than any other process where you have a grimy car and something has a chance to rub it in.
The other risk is wondering what kind of cleaning solution they REALLY are using. It's not like the carwash guys will tell you the truth. I hear some of them use stuff that is formulated to be better for their machines/process (harsh soaps, anti-sud, anti-freeze, who knows?) but bad for your paint. I dunno but in the spring when I get back into handwashes the paint goes through my extensive polish/wax process.
So I've been looking for an alternative. This is interesting, but I still have my reservations.
I bought some quality rinse-less cash wash and used the 2 bucket method in my garage being very careful and still got a ton of swirls from it, never again.
For one thing it just seems to be too be a little to good to be true that this wouldn't scratch the paint worse than using a hose.
But beyond that, what about the wheel wells? The undercarriage? Over here in the northeast the dirt and salt really do a number on the parts of the car you can't see. Sure your car will look nice on the exterior but I only feel good if those areas get a heavy rinse every few weeks.
I hand wash year around but the winter is the only time I take it to the carwash. There is only one place near me that is a true "touchless" car wash that uses water jets equivalent to a power wash. Just $6 and a couple dollars more for the "undercarriage wash". Yes the car IS touched by hand-drying at the end. Yea, there risk with that as well but IMO it's better than any other process where you have a grimy car and something has a chance to rub it in.
The other risk is wondering what kind of cleaning solution they REALLY are using. It's not like the carwash guys will tell you the truth. I hear some of them use stuff that is formulated to be better for their machines/process (harsh soaps, anti-sud, anti-freeze, who knows?) but bad for your paint. I dunno but in the spring when I get back into handwashes the paint goes through my extensive polish/wax process.
So I've been looking for an alternative. This is interesting, but I still have my reservations.
Nothing can guarantee that it won't scratch the paint, especially on modern cars with soft paint. Even when you hose the car off you are not removing all the dirt. After all, the vast majority of owners don't use NR car wash and do a fine job scratching their paint.
If the car is really dirty then it may not be the best method. But with NR you can clean it more often even in winter and reduce the build up of road crud on the car.
I find that if you use a sprayer to pre-soak the car it helps to loosen whatever dirt is on the car. Then using micro fiber towels soaked in the NR bucket, you can wash from the top down, folding the towel over as you go, and use a clean part of the towel each time. I don't use the 2-bucket method with NR but it would probably be better for a dirtier car. The NR forumla is basically a no foaming soap. A surfactant. It is encapsulating the dirt and allowing it to come off the car. It even feels a little slick.
I always use separate MF mitts for the parts of the car along the lower parts of the doors, the lower front grill, and the wheels get their own mitt. That all gets washed last.
It is actually a nice product and I'm not worried about scratches more (or less) than a traditional hose wash. Maybe the biggest difference is that when I can wash the car outside in nice weather I can use my leaf blower to dry the car instead of MF towels.
I bought some quality rinse-less cash wash and used the 2 bucket method in my garage being very careful and still got a ton of swirls from it, never again.
Sorry to hear about that - however if you got any swirls at all it was due to improper technique - you should never use a circular motion. You don't *press* down or scrub or wipe back and forth etc.
You lightly wipe off a section moving directly from point a to point b - flipping your towel to a clean un-used part after every wipe. Sure the possibility to mar the surface exists but if done properly you should be okay - unless the car is covered with grime and crud in which case you probably don't want to be doing a rinseless wash in the first place.
02-08-2015, 11:30 AM
I posted a how-to a while back but it is still relevant today. Click on the link below.
