rinseless wash vs. touchless vs. swirl-o-matic

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Kid moved to an area where they don't allow runoff while washing cars. Not clear if that includes rinseless (our preferred method) or not.

Car manual is surprisingly detailed. They like plain water, pressure wand not too close to the paint, no harsh detergents, no swirl-o-matic. (well, they don't exactly say no swirl o matic. They just say it might mar paint.)

So: Is coin-op hose-off followed by a waterless wash a viable option?

If not, what? Touchless? What about the caution about no harsh chemicals? Do they really just mean "no Dawn soap?" Bite the bullet and go to the swirl-o-matic? What?
 
I always hose off the heavy [censored] as well as the undercarriage, and then do a hand wash in my garage using optimum no rinse and the two bucket method with grit guards.
 
Time to find a good local company to take care of the heavy stuff for you.

Waterless wash is still a viable option for anything light.
 
OK then. Waterless wash won't automatically wreck the paint if used with discretion. Any particular brand recommendations or does it matter?
SirTanon said:
Seems to me that using a coin-op spray down, followed by a waterless wash would be a very practical and effective option.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
OK then. Waterless wash won't automatically wreck the paint if used with discretion. Any particular brand recommendations or does it matter?
SirTanon said:
Seems to me that using a coin-op spray down, followed by a waterless wash would be a very practical and effective option.


I do this all this time during northern winters. Seems to work well - certainly better than typical car washes.
 
Originally Posted By: NormanBuntz
Time to cue Garak on this one.

Find a good facility and work gently and take your time; that's always my advice.
wink.gif


Generally speaking, it turns out to be a bit of a game of Russian roulette with what the local coin up is running for chemicals. One might run an appropriate soap, which will do the job without damaging finish, but costs plenty. The next one will have no qualms about running Dawn or Tide which are totally unsuitable. Even within the realm of appropriate chemicals, some are far better than others.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
OK then. Waterless wash won't automatically wreck the paint if used with discretion. Any particular brand recommendations or does it matter?


I have two that work very well for me - Pinnacle Liquid Crystal Waterless Wash; and Wolfgang Uber, which while technically a 'Rinseless Wash' product, also works quite effectively as a waterless wash. I've used both for a while now, and my paint is still in excellent shape. The Wolfgang Uber product is purely a wash, and leaves nothing on the paint as far as wax or protection, and the Pinnacle has carnauba in it, which helps the shine a bit, although I can't say how much actually it does in terms of 'protection'.

Another highly-respected product is Optimum No-Rinse

..and of course there are tons of other good ones, made by Meguiars, Griots, Chemical Guys, etc..
 
I use Mequiar's ultimate waterless wash and wax from WM for $8. I use it mostly on dusty play cars and it works great.
Instead of using so much product I spray on a minimal amount and lightly wipe with a really wet MF towel dipped in distilled, or RO water, followed by a drying wipe down.
 
Thanks for the thoughtful replies and brand recommendations from all of you. I finally got my google-fu together and discovered, somewhat amazingly, that Santa Monica tolerates rinseless washes. If they are OK with it then I expect the other beach communities would be too.

By the way, Toyota manual actually encourages use of plain water washing at the coin-op, with the wand not being too close to the finish. they apparently being of the same opinion as Garak.
 
Santa Monica made in clear that washing using hand held buckets was fine on their web site. Perhaps these rinseless washes are particularly benign or something.

Or maybe those guys just like their cars. Looked like every third car was claybarred, not just waxed. After awhile you can tell the difference.
 
Santa Monica made in clear that washing using hand held buckets was fine on their web site. Perhaps these rinseless washes are particularly benign or something.

Or maybe those guys just like their cars. Looked like every third car was claybarred, not just waxed. After awhile you can tell the difference.
 
I bought some Ultima wash concentrate on Autogeek. It can be used as a detailer, clay lube, rinseless wash and a waterless wash. I used to use it as a rinseless but you use up more concentrate using that method. So I tried the rinseless and stick with that. Only a half ounce of concentrate with 22 ounces of water. Comes out to less than a dollar per bottle of waterless wash. Not bad compared to $8/bottle of the Megs stuff at WM. Plus I think it's just as good as the Megs if not better.

Also use it after long hwy trips to clean off the front end of bugs etc. Also sporadic bird bombs! Comes in handy and something you can't easily do with the rinseless method.
 
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