Waterless Wash Experiment

[HAMBO]

Hi everyone,

I don't use waterless washes very much, but I use them for my older car (67 Camaro) since, per Mike P's best practices, I try to avoid spraying the older car with a lot water so as to reduce the chance of any rusting. The car is garaged, covered and doesn't get very dirty.

Even using lots of MF towels in the process, I'm always a bit worried about introducing small scratches into the paint when waterless washing, since the dust / dirt is still sitting there on the paint when going over it with a towel. I was wondering whether there's a way to somehow get most of the dirt off the paint first before wiping, but without using water...

SO, I had an idea: spray a panel with waterless wash, let is sit and encapsulate the dust / dirt, the use a handheld blower to blow the liquid-encapsulated dirt off the paint. After that, spray the panel again for some lubrication, and then finally wipe it with an MF towel. I gave it a shot (though on my daily driver, since the classic wasn't out at the time). Seemed to actually push quite a bit of the dust off the paint (or at least down to the lower, less visible panels), so I wonder whether this might make the process safer? Would probably take a long time to clean a whole car this way, but for things like classics that don't like water and only get a bit dusty, it might be worth it for added safety. Here's a little iPhone video of the test spot.

Curious whether anyone has tried something similar (or some other way to help remove dust from the surface in a waterless wash prior wiping)?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHPpBrjnXE8

Thanks!

HAMBO

[mc2hill]

Why not do a rinseless wash instead? Washing a "clean" car should take about 15 minutes, and can be done with 2 buckets & a wash mitt or 1 bucket with several soaked towels. It puts more water on the surface than a waterless wash, but not enough to cause pooling issues, and is less expensive too.
You could even pre-treat with the rinseless wash solution in a pump-up spray bottle, if there were areas that were less clean.

I have done this in airplane hangers and garages, with less water on the floor than pulling a car in from driving in the rain.

I have used this method to clean everything from a 1912 race car to 60's/70's muscle cars. And have done nothing but rinseless washes our 3 year old new-from-the-dealer Accord, and no swirls yet.