Is rinseless wash really safe?

You just use a reset wash, like CarPro Reset, and you're back to good beading/sheeting.
No, unfortunately not. Reset is simply a high quality pH neutral soap, you can check the SDS. The damage strong alkaline and acidic products do is surface level to the side groups which allows contaminants and water to interact and increases the surface energy. I think you’re confusing this for when the coating does become “clogged” and requires a mild acid to remove the bonded salts.
 
Been using rinseless for years, since Meguiar's D-114 came out. Common sense is needed with all washing. Just like motor oil, there’s a lot of religion and dogma in the detailing world as well. Use what works for you empirically. Below is some video of my car, which gets a rinseless weekly. Only when I feel like playing in the water (like the vid) do I pull out the hose.

Rinseless does not hurt clearcoat
 
Been using rinseless for years, since Meguiar's D-114 came out. Common sense is needed with all washing. Just like motor oil, there’s a lot of religion and dogma in the detailing world as well. Use what works for you empirically. Below is some video of my car, which gets a rinseless weekly. Only when I feel like playing in the water (like the vid) do I pull out the hose.

Rinseless does not hurt clearcoat
Nice sliding angle on that Katiba stuff.
 
ONR is good stuff, has half a dozen other uses than just rinseless wash depending on how much you dilute it. Smells amazing too, like a bombpop.
 
It also comes down to technique and touch of the person. If you're sloppy or don't know what you're doing, you can get scratches from any product. I've watched many videos of guys just wiping things down with no concern for how they're even doing it. EC is one that comes to mind. Guy has terrible technique.

For a pre-wash to be effective, it has to be slightly higher or lower on the pH scale. Even Reset when used as a pre-wash won't clean well at all.

Also, for Primus 2.0 (pH 10.5) vs BH TL (pH 12), it takes 23mls to match the power of BH at 5mls. So keep that in mind.

 
Yep. Not only that - not all pH solutions are created equally. Although Bilt Hamber Touchless is higher on the pH scale, it is actually safe on LSP products and can be used often. We need to understand the formulation before we judge.
 
Yep. Not only that - not all pH solutions are created equally. Although Bilt Hamber Touchless is higher on the pH scale, it is actually safe on LSP products and can be used often. We need to understand the formulation before we judge.
It's definitely not "safe" on LSP depending on what LSP and what you consider safe. At least one channel uses Touchless in a chemical test and all the weaker products take a hit from Touchless. Touchless has two APG surfactants but there is something else in there to get 10.5 pH (new SDS). It's almost certainly some kind of sodium / potassium hydroxide or metasilicate combination that escapes the SDS due to concentrations of each.

I would not be afraid to use it, but I'm not gonna reach for it on car that has a wax of any kind or weak spray sealant. Even Koch Chemie GSF will degrade waxes and if you look at the SDS you can see it is pretty weak.
 
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It's definitely not "safe" on LSP depending on what LSP and what you consider safe. At least one channel uses Touchless in a chemical test and all the weaker products take a hit from Touchless. Touchless has two APG surfactants but there is something else in there to get 10.5 pH (new SDS). It's almost certainly some kind of sodium / potassium hydroxide or metasilicate combination that escapes the SDS due to concentrations of each.

I would not be afraid to use it, but I'm not gonna reach for it on car that has a wax of any kind or weak spray sealant. Even Koch Chemie GSF will degrade waxes and if you look at the SDS you can see it is pretty weak.
I am just basing it off from this video. He is a Chemist and had reached out to the creator of BH Touchless. They are claiming it is safe. Or at least it's safer compared to other high pH products out there. I am comfortable using Touchless once a month.
 
I am just basing it off from this video. He is a Chemist and had reached out to the creator of BH Touchless. They are claiming it is safe. Or at least it's safer compared to other high pH products out there. I am comfortable using Touchless once a month.
Pan is not a chemist. I'm not saying it is dangerous at all, but I highly doubt it is significantly safer than any other comparable product. One way you could tell is diluting it significantly and seeing how the pH drops. If there is not much excess alkalinity then it should trend toward neutral vs something with a ton of sodium hydroxide will hold its pH strongly even at 1:1000 dilution.

I'll watch the video though, perhaps it is safer than I think, but again it depends what LSP you're using.

So, he mentioned they use sodium/potassium metasilicate as I speculated, which is better than hydroxide, but it's still quite strong. Adam's Wheel and Tire cleaner uses a lot of sodium metasilicate. Of course it depends on how much. When I look at the SDS for Touchless it looks closest to CarPro Reset with a dash of alkaline wheel cleaner.
 
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Been rinseless washing for many years. No problems. N-914 is what I usually use with gold sponge. Works much better at 1:128.

Hybrid wash with foam cannon/rinse then rinseless contact seems to be the best.
 
I’m not a chemist and I’m not a pro detailer, but a garage enthusiast more or less. Rinsless definitely has a place. I really enjoy it for a wash on my garaged vehicle for example. It doesn’t usually get very dirty and this makes it ready for cruise night or local shows. I’ve also found it’s useful for glass and interior light cleaning.
 
I've been using the one bucket ONR rinse less wash method on my garaged red Hyundai Ioniq 6 for two years now with good results and no visible scratches or swirls. The key is a light touch and use high quality microfiber mitts and drying towels. I use The Rag Company mitt and Liquid8r/Gauntlet towels. Once or twice a year I use a foam gun with Chemical Guys CWS_1011 Maxi-Suds II Foaming Car Wash Soap and Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Wax for a deep cleaning.
 
I've been using Ultima waterless for almost a decade now. I think it's acceptable if you have a light color paint and don't lose sleep over swirl marks. The sealant in it leaves an incredible gloss and it only takes 10-15 min to "wash" a car.
 
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