Optimum No Rinse Wash (and Wax)

[snork]

Just thought I'd share...

I've seen on several car forums (a couple here too) about people washing their car with Optimum No Rinse Wash. So I finally decided to order a bottle now that it's warming up here. Ordered from autogeeks.net, there's a new formula with ONR Wash & Wax that just came out so got that. It's 20 bucks for the 32 oz bottle which should be good for 32 washes.

Hands down one of the best/easiest car washes I've ever done. The polymer "soap" is actually amazing though it was weird to wash the car with no suds. I've never washed my car before with a total of about 5 gallons of water. I did a pre-wash rinse with the hose (1 gallon), 2 gallons for the ONR using only 1 oz of ONR fluid and another 2 gallons for a rinse bucket. After reading some ONR reviews around the net, I got an extra bucket for rinsing my microfiber towels. This is definitely a good idea since you're using so little water, the rinse bucket got dirty pretty quick but let the ONR wash bucket stay cleaner. All told, washed the car top-to-bottom including inside the engine bay in about 30 minutes including towel drying the car (no water spots)! For wash towels, I did the whole car with only 2 16x16 microfiber towels...one to wash and one to dry. You'll want a good thick towel to carry the grime away. My car wasn't particularly dirty but I also did my wife's car (which was filthy as usual) and it powered through that without issue.

About the "& wax" new formula. Well I never tried the original ONR obviously, but if I'm going to wash my car by hand I usually get a car wash soap that includes wax since it can't hurt to have more wax on the car. It's definitely no substitute for actually waxing your car, but I gave it the "bottle" test after I was done. By that I mean I put the plastic ONR bottle on my trunk (only slightly angled downward) and sure enough the bottle was slip/sliding off by gravity. So the ONR left a nice, slick, slightly waxy finish. The bottle and other people also note that you can dilute the ONR to different ratios and use it as an effective quick-detailer and clay-bar lube. I have no reason to doubt this...the ONR is quite "slick". The ONR was also really good at removing road grime and tar down along the base behind the wheels without having to use too much elbow grease...the polymer formula really does cut through dirt/tar.

I got the following products from Autogeeks.net...

ONR Wash & Wax
http://www.autogeek.net/no-rinse-wash-and-wax.html

6 pack of microfiber towels. These ones are some of the cheapest on the site with the best reviews and they are definitely better than the ones you'd buy at a local auto parts store or Wal-mart or Target.
http://www.autogeek.net/green-rolled-edge-towels-6.html

5 gallon bucket with grit guard. I already had 1 bucket and the grit guard by itself was $13 so I figured an extra rinse bucket would be helpful...it was!
http://www.autogeek.net/5gagrguwabu.html

I'm in no way affiliated with autogeeks, but if you do order from them I'd suggest doing a quick google search for "autogeeks coupons". They seem to always have 10% off or free shipping if over $50 spent.

 

[Philth]

It's good stuff. I use http://www.autogeek.net/ultima-waterless-wash-concentrate.html, but is a similar product. The method I've been doing is close to yours, but I pre-soak the panel with a pre-mixed solution of the Ultima WWP. I then mix 1/2 ounce of Ultima WWP with 1 1/2 gallons of water and soak 4 microfiber towels in it. I wring one towel out as much as I can, this is my "wipe" towel. I take another pre-soaked microfiber, the "wash" towel, then slightly wring it out. On the pre-soaked panel, i wipe in back and forth motions with the wash towel. Follow with the wipe towel. Then lastly go over with a completely dry microfiber towel.

Of course, if there is A LOT of caked on dirt, I'll do a traditional wash method, but the above method works for the majority of the time.

Oh BTW, I first used ONR, but I think I like the Ultima WWP a tad better.