Rinseless Washes - 2022

Just a heads up. Tried ONR V6 today on 2 of my vehicles. Used the ADS Villain sponge. Have been using the same sponge since it was released so I have done probably 30 washes with Hero and N914. After 2 washes with ONR it what appears to be permanently discolored by dirt. Onr worked great but the sponge is discolored. I understand that it will not effect the usability of it, it just bugs me! I have it soaking in Hero tonight to see if it cleans it up.
 
I guess nothing ever changes with ONR vis-à-vis the media staining. I have found that OPC will help take it out, at least on microfiber.

Over the years there has been some discussion (argument?) about it over on the Optimum forum, with the explanation that ONR breaks down the dirt so well that microscopic particles penetrate and get lodged in the media, but they are so small that it doesn't make the media unsafe, and hey it's no big deal.

To which a lot of us tried to explain, yes it's a big deal, if the media doesn't come clean when you rinse it, you can't tell how much dirt is coming off the panel, or when you are "done" washing that panel, etc.

PS IME Labocosmetica Idrosave is just as bad a stainer, maybe worse, than ONR.

PPS This is why some rinseless sponges are BLACK
 
I have to say, I've never noticed ONR or any rinse-less staining towels or the Ultra Black Sponge.
 
I have to say, I've never noticed ONR or any rinse-less staining towels or the Ultra Black Sponge.
I wonder if that's a soft vs. hard water thing, I have soft(ened) water, I wonder if you use hard water, whether the purported softening action of ONR also attaches the dirt, and it falls out of solution. It does seem odd that myself and others observe pronounced staining, while others observe none at all.
 
I wonder if that's a soft vs. hard water thing, I have soft(ened) water, I wonder if you use hard water, whether the purported softening action of ONR also attaches the dirt, and it falls out of solution. It does seem odd that myself and others observe pronounced staining, while others observe none at all.

My tap water is below 90 TDS, so in the grand scheme of things, relatively soft.
 
Speaking of sponges, McKees changed their "Golden Sponge" from one solid piece of foam to two separate pieces laminated together and from the little I can find on the interwebs the new sponge is a bit stiffer, plus it has a "glue line" (maybe a bad thing, maybe not 🤷‍♂️)

I have heard anecdotally that the original Golden Sponge was made for McKees by Lake Country and if that is the case I wonder if the blue Lake Country sponge is the same thing, minus the color difference

Anyone out there with any actual experience with the Lake Country sponge?
 
Speaking of sponges, McKees changed their "Golden Sponge" from one solid piece of foam to two separate pieces laminated together and from the little I can find on the interwebs the new sponge is a bit stiffer, plus it has a "glue line" (maybe a bad thing, maybe not 🤷‍♂️)

I have heard anecdotally that the original Golden Sponge was made for McKees by Lake Country and if that is the case I wonder if the blue Lake Country sponge is the same thing, minus the color difference

Anyone out there with any actual experience with the Lake Country sponge?
Lake Country as updated their Blue Sponge. It's probably just as good as anything out there. My big gold sponge is still holding up fine.
 
So this morning cleaned it with APS and a interior scrub brush and it appears to be clean. Tossed it in the washer with some other towels and
will advise. So the water softness/ harness got me to look into our city water 30-50 TDS so pretty soft.
 
Just a heads up. Tried ONR V6 today on 2 of my vehicles. Used the ADS Villain sponge. Have been using the same sponge since it was released so I have done probably 30 washes with Hero and N914. After 2 washes with ONR it what appears to be permanently discolored by dirt. Onr worked great but the sponge is discolored. I understand that it will not effect the usability of it, it just bugs me! I have it soaking in Hero tonight to see if it cleans it up.

I have used V6 many times with no issues staining any sponge unless you had some type of oily substance on the surface. Use some APC and rinse it out and it will clean up.

Idrosave and Gyeon are sponge stainers though.

Speaking of sponges, McKees changed their "Golden Sponge" from one solid piece of foam to two separate pieces laminated together and from the little I can find on the interwebs the new sponge is a bit stiffer, plus it has a "glue line" (maybe a bad thing, maybe not 🤷‍♂️)

I have heard anecdotally that the original Golden Sponge was made for McKees by Lake Country and if that is the case I wonder if the blue Lake Country sponge is the same thing, minus the color difference

Anyone out there with any actual experience with the Lake Country sponge?
The new gold sponge is not that great and the more I use it, the less I like it. The previous sponge was better. I have not asked Nick but I wonder if he also went to Buff & Shine like DIY Detail with their legacy v2 sponge.
 
I have used V6 many times with no issues staining any sponge unless you had some type of oily substance on the surface. Use some APC and rinse it out and it will clean up.

Idrosave and Gyeon are sponge stainers though.


The new gold sponge is not that great and the more I use it, the less I like it. The previous sponge was better. I have not asked Nick but I wonder if he also went to Buff & Shine like DIY Detail with their legacy v2 sponge.
I like the idea of the TRC Ultra Safe Sponge, I just don't like the idea of a dark gray or black sponge

I want to see what is coming off the car
 
I have used V6 many times with no issues staining any sponge unless you had some type of oily substance on the surface. Use some APC and rinse it out and it will clean up.
Guz, You might be 100% right! How about Adams VRT on the plastic rocker panels and fender flares! Yes APC got it pretty well back to normal. Im kinda liking ONR V6 !
 
Out of curiosity, I'd be interested to see what stained wash media looks like as it's something I've never really noticed it in the past.
 
It's the dirt from the car. As I noted, Optimum says it's the effectiveness of the ONR at breaking down the dirt particles so small that they penetrate deep into the media, where they are difficult to remove. They claim that because the particles are so small, they pose no risk to the paint. I tried to find a thread about this on the OPT forum, but when Chris Thomas (forum rep/moderator) left he deleted all his posts, destroying a lot of content there.

One time I had a piece of tar stuck in wash media like I have pictured, and pulled the glob off, then sprayed some OPC on that spot before laundering. After laundering, that spot that I sprayed looked nice and clean, without the gray staining, so I have been playing around with using OPC as a pre-wash, but I haven't gotten all the way there (to solving the problem) yet.

When the wash media is wet, that staining looks black, rather than the gray when it is dry. Even if the staining came out easily in the laundry, it still is a problem for me when trying to discern if I've gotten a panel clean, if the media turns black on the first pass and doesn't rinse out. I'll point out as I have in the past, that the media that I have pictured ("The Bone" is on the right) both use "non-split" microfiber, which makes them different (I guess) from a regular MF towel.
 
It's the dirt from the car. As I noted, Optimum says it's the effectiveness of the ONR at breaking down the dirt particles so small that they penetrate deep into the media, where they are difficult to remove. They claim that because the particles are so small, they pose no risk to the paint. I tried to find a thread about this on the OPT forum, but when Chris Thomas (forum rep/moderator) left he deleted all his posts, destroying a lot of content there.

One time I had a piece of tar stuck in wash media like I have pictured, and pulled the glob off, then sprayed some OPC on that spot before laundering. After laundering, that spot that I sprayed looked nice and clean, without the gray staining, so I have been playing around with using OPC as a pre-wash, but I haven't gotten all the way there (to solving the problem) yet.

When the wash media is wet, that staining looks black, rather than the gray when it is dry. Even if the staining came out easily in the laundry, it still is a problem for me when trying to discern if I've gotten a panel clean, if the media turns black on the first pass and doesn't rinse out. I'll point out as I have in the past, that the media that I have pictured ("The Bone" is on the right) both use "non-split" microfiber, which makes them different (I guess) from a regular MF towel.

Gotcha, appreciate the insight.

Reading comments about this staining, I was under the impression that it was the colorant in the product that was doing it. However, being that its actually the dirt permanently staining the media...................................well, now I know why I don't get this issue, my rinse-less wash threshold is set extremely low.
 
Does anyone ever machine wash their rinseless sponges?

Not the microfiber kind, just plain sponges like these?

I am thinking a gentle cycle in the front loader and of course no dryer

IMG_6573.jpeg
 
I always hand wash my rinseless sponges with Dawn or Palmolive dish soap. The sponge always comes out really clean. I use a similar procedure when washing foam polishing pads. Come to think of it, foam polishing pad cleaner would probably work really good to clean foam rinseless sponges.
 
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