Review & How-To: Meguiar's D115 Rinsefree Express Wash and Wax

[Marc08EX]

Review & How-To: Meguiar's D115 Rinsefree Express Wash and Wax
Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax D-11501, rinseless car wash, rinseless wash and wax

Description: (Taken from AG's website)

Wash and wax all exterior surfaces – without rinsing!

Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax is a specially formulated rinse-free car wash that enables you to wash and wax your vehicle without rinsing, rubbing, or buffing. A special blend of biodegradable detergents safely removes dirt without scratching delicate painted surfaces. Formulated with built-in wax protection, Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax imparts high-gloss protection after each wash.

Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax is a professional detailer’s dream come true. This hyper-concentrated wash and wax solution makes it possible to wash and wax a car, truck, SUV, van or boat without relying on a free-flowing source of water. Perfect for apartment complexes and mobile-detailing, Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax is the perfect solution for hose-free washing. What more could you ask for in a car wash?

Use on:
- Paint
- Glass
- Chrome
- Exterior trim
- Wheels
- Headlights
- Tail lights

If you’ve watched or read the news lately, you’re well aware that water is quickly becoming a more valued resource. It’s becoming more difficult for the car-crazy enthusiast to properly clean their vehicle with the enforcement of stringent water restrictions. Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax provides you with an environmentally friendly, legal way to wash your car in areas where a traditional car wash is illegal or inconvenient. The added gloss, slickness and protection created by the built-in wax is an added bonus!

Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax is a high-lubricity formula. This helps prevent dirt and grit from scratching the surface as you wash. Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax is so slick that dirt and grime will effortlessly be removing, leaving a sparkling clean finish behind. What’s more, Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax doesn’t streak or smear, even in direct sunlight!

Imagine this: keeping your vehicle clean, shiny and protected is as simple as washing it once or twice every couple weeks. Stop dreaming and open your eyes to Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax, one of the most innovative detailing products you’ll ever lay your hands on! After each wash your vehicle will be clean, shiny and well protected against UV rays and environmental contaminants.

How it works:
Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax is incredibly easy to use. Simply add a couple ounces to a 5 gallon wash bucket, soak a wash mitt or microfiber towel, and wash the vehicle one section at a time. After you wash a section, dry it using a Cobra Waffle Weave Guzzler or a Meguiars Water Magnet Drying Towel. To use as a waterless, dilute 1:4 with water and spray a liberal amount directly onto the surface and wipe clean with a Gold Plush Jr. Microfiber Towel. Continue this method section by section until the entire vehicle is clean.

Price:

$79.99 for 128oz (Concentrate)

Introduction:

I have always been a traditional wash kind of guy. Not only do I enjoy bringing out two buckets, dragging out the hose and washing my car this way, but I also feel that this is the safest way to do it. Advancement in detailing technology presented us with different alternatives to the traditional wash. One of them is the waterless wash. When this first came out, I was scared to use a product like this. I mean how in the world will a spray on product have enough lubricity to remove dirt/dust safely and not scratch up the paint, right?

About a year and a half ago, I moved to an apartment where in access to a traditional wash was non-existent. I had to pack up my traditional wash supplies and go to a car wash to do this. This got old pretty quick. Sometime ago, I went to one Thursday Night Open Garage in Meguiar's where the great Michael Stoops himself personally showed me how to properly do a waterless wash and how safe it is. From that point on, the rest is history.

Since then, I've always used the Meguiar's Ultimate Wash and Wax Anywhere. It works extremely well but the price point was just too high. I've always been reading about raves for the Ultima waterless wash. AG had a BOGO one day and I had an order cooking up at the time so I decided to take the plunge and try it out. Here's my review on that product:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/60643-review-how-ultima-waterless-wash-plus.html

How-To Do A Waterless Car Wash:

I am going to write this article from scratch and as if I'm teaching a guy completely new to waterless washing.

Here's a picture of the product description and instructions:

Right off the bat, I already love one feature of this product. And this is the cap of the gallon container. Here's a picture of it:

I don't know about you but I absolutely hate dispensing product from a gallon jug to a small measuring cup ESPECIALLY if the gallon jug is close to full. It's just darn near impossible not to make a spill. This cap found in the D115 makes life so much easier! I made different dilutions (as you'll see later) and I didn't spill a drop of product. This feature is just a simple feature yet AMAZING in my book. I can't thank Meguiar's enough for doing this.

Here's a picture of me dispensing D115 from a gallon jug to a measuring cup:

Here's a picture that shows the color of D115. It's like a mix of blue and green.

The product description recommends a dilution of 4:1 but it also says that the user can dilute it up to 20:1 in applications of direct sunlight. So I said, I wanted to test out three different dilution ratios. I also bought a new low pressure hand pump sprayer for this test. Here's a picture of the test subjects:

So this is my mixtures for each dilution ratio:
2oz of D115 with 8oz of mineral water for the 4:1 ratio.
1oz of D115 with 8oz of mineral water for the 8:1 ratio.
0.5oz of D115 with 10oz of mineral water for the 20:1 ratio.

One observation I made was that the solutions bubbled up when I shake them. Although the bubbles are short lived. This is not surprising given how this product is probably a relative of the Meguiar's D114 Rinsefree Express wash. Here's a picture I tried to capture of the product bubbling up:

What's a review without comparing them to other products right? I wanted to test out D115 against the RTU version, Meguiar's Ultimate Wash and Wax anywhere and the cost-effectiveness champion, the Ultima Waterless Wash.

Now time to show you how to properly use a waterless wash. I normally use a waterless wash on a dusty vehicle only. I'm ok with heavy dust. But I've never even dared use it on a vehicle that has driven through rain. But I wanted to test thsi product out so I didn't wash the vehicle for a month and a half or two (I was already thinking of this review back then). The car has driven through 2 rain storms and been rained on while parked a couple of times. Here are some before pictures of the test vehicle:

I apologize that the pictures are sometimes over exposed. The sun was just too intense here in the desert. This review was done at about 6:30 in the morning where the sun was rising. The ambient temps were in the mid 80s to low 90s I would say.

I first start off by misting the waterless wash solution on the panel I'm working on. It is important to point out that you should work on small sections at a time. You can even break down an entire panel if you want to. No one's rushing you. Take your time because technique is EXTREMELY important here.

This is about how much product I typically apply when doing a waterless wash:

I learned a great technique explained by the great MOL admin himself, Michael Stoops on how to properly do waterless washing. I was in the TNOG session in this article so I got to see it first hand. Here's the article for your reference:
Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere - Tips & Tricks

As I mentioned above, technique is very important here. You will need lots of microfiber towels. Don't feel bad if you have to use more than you have to. It's easier to wash your dirty microfiber towels than to polish out swirls and scratches created by a dirty towel.

Therefore I'm going to dub this technique the:
"Michael Stoops Waterless Wash Method" or MSWWM for short.

So what you do is you fold your microfiber towel into a manageable size. I folded my Meguiar's Supreme Shine microfiber towel 3x as shown below:

What you do is you keep the microfiber towel flat on the surface and perform the first swipe on the panel you're working on as shown below:

How long you swipe will highly depend on how soiled the surface is. It's really a judgement call and totally up to you. If you want to be safer then you can stop halfway.

After your first swipe, you will see a line of dirt in your microfiber towel as shown below:

What you do next is tilt the microfiber towel to expose a clean part of that same fold. That way, you're not rubbing around the dirt taken from the first swipe on the paint surface. This is what I mean. This is a shot of me doing the second swipe of that same panel with the microfiber towel titled:

Here's a picture showing the 2nd line of dirt from the 2nd swipe. As you can see, the dirt was embedded on a different section than the first swipe. The dirt from the first swipe never made contact to the paint.

Now you keep on repeating this until you've soiled that side of the microfiber towel. Here's a shot showing the third swipe:

Consequently, here's a shot showing the 3rd line of dirt:

As you can see, majority of this specific side of the towel is already soiled. What you do next is flip the towel and expose a clean side and keep on repeating as you work your way through the car.

After you're done with washing the panel you're working on, you'll use a 2nd dry microfiber towel to buff off the excess product away.

Here's a picture showing a half/half shot of the panel I worked on:

Here's another set of pictures of me showing the Michael Stoops Waterless Wash Method:

Dirty Passenger Side Rear Quarter Panel:

Spraying the waterless wash:

Amount of product used:

Start with a clean microfiber towel:

First swipe:

Dirt from the first swipe:

Second swipe:

Dirt from the second swipe:

Third swipe:

 

[Marc08EX]

Here's the panel after performing a waterless wash. Shiny ain't it?

Here's the very filthy passenger side rear door. It's full of gunk picked up from driving in the rain. On this panel, I used the Ultima Waterless Wash.

Product being sprayed:

Towel after multiple swipes:

The same panel after:

Here's an awesome 50/50 shot on the difference a waterless wash makes:

Here's the dirty passenger side front door

Meguiar's UWWA being sprayed:

Amount of product in the surface:

Start with a clean side of the towel:

Perform the swiping technique employed as described above:

Multiple lines of dirt when performed correctly:

That same panel afterwards:

Here's another 50/50 shot showing that panel compared to the dirty and filthy adjacent panel:

Here's a set of pictures of me using the all new Meguiar's D115 Rinsefree Express Wash and Wax:

Start with a dirty panel:

Product being applied using a low pressure hand pump sprayer. This panel had the 4:1 dilution ratio.

D115 sitting on the surface:

Again, let's reiterate the process. Do the first swipe:

Now tilt the microfiber to expose a clean portion of the same side while doing the second swipe:

Continue doing this until that side of the microfiber towel is completely soiled. It should look like this:

Here's the panel after cleaning it with 4:1 D115:

Here's the dirty driver side rear quarter panel:

This panel received the 20:1 D115 ratio. Here's the panel after cleaning it.

Once I finished wiping the hood and the sides of the car, I stopped there. I had 5 panels where I used different products. I also left the tail gate dirty. The main reason for this is because I wanted to do an experiment. I wanted to get the opinion of my co-workers and see if they see a difference between each test panel and if they feel any difference in slickness as well. The main reason I wanted to do this is because I wanted to get unbiased opinions. I think I might be biased in some way.

Here are some of my minions feeling up my car's paint:

I had 7 test subjects. And here's a picture of their answer sheet. I had them rank each test panel based on looks and slickness from 1 to 5. 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. I also said that you can put equal ranking if you don't notice a difference between panels.

After the experiment was completed, of course the test panels were full of hand prints and that's no good for the paint especially since it's black baking under the hot Arizona sun. So what I did was to finish up the entire car when I got home. I mixed all the remaining solutions together into the pump sprayer. I calculated that it should come out to 12.8:1 dilution ratio. That's an approximate number of course because I used some product from each solution.

Here's the tail gate's before and after shots using this new dilution ratio:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

 

[Marc08EX]

Photoshoot and Gloss Pictures:

***Disclaimer: I know I didn't clean the lower plastic portions of the vehicle. This is because I just wanted to review this product on the paint only. I know that it will work with the plastic as well. It has since been cleaned.

Cost Analysis:

Assuming a MSRP of $79.99 for a 128oz container of the D115.

- At the 4:1 ratio, 1 gallon of concentrate will make 5 gallons of solution. So that comes out to $0.125/oz.
- At the 8:1 ratio, 1 gallon of concentrate will make 9 gallons of solution. So that comes out to $.0.0694/oz.
- At the 10:1 ratio, 1 gallon of concentrate will make 11 gallons of solution. So that comes out to $0.0568/oz.
- At the 20:1 ratio, 1 gallon of concentrate will make 21 gallons of solution. So that comes out to $0.0298/oz.

For the Meguiar's Ultimate Wash and Wax Anywhere, the price is $0.625/oz.

For the Ultima Waterless Wash 16oz concentrate, the price is $0.0291/oz.

Experiment Results:

Again, here's the result sheets:

I asked several of my co-workers to give me their honest opinions. The test subjects ranged from car guys who are meticulous about their ride/paint to guys who think cars are just a mode of transportation from point A to point B. So I had a wide variation in my audience type.

Majority of them can't distinguish which panel looks better than the others. The people that put different rankings in the looks department made a point that it was very hard to do so. So I will conclude that they all produce very similar, if not the same looks.

Now this is where the results get interesting... The results from the slickness test. Three people couldn't tell a difference in the slickness between all panels.

One person ranked the slickness to be:
1. UWWA
2. D115 4:1
3. D115 20:1
4. D115 8:1 and UWW+

Here's the ranking of another person:
1. UWWA / UWW+
2. D115 4:1 and D115 8:1
3. D115 20:1

Another person's ranking:
1. UWWA / D115 4:1
2. D115 8:1 / UWW+
3. D115 20:1

Another ranking:
1. UWW+
2. UWWA / D115 4:1
3. D115 8:1 / D115 20:1

Opinions and Observations:

This product works extremely well as a watereless wash. I think it safely removes the dirt/grime in the paint surface and it leaves it looking shiny and freshly waxed. Of course, proper lubrication, good technique and common sense are all needed. This product can be diluted at different ratios which is a great feature. You can dial down the cost and performance of the product without sacrificing the performance and results.

I think that the D115 at the 4:1 ratio closely resembles the Meguiar's Ultimate Wash and Wax Anywhere. Maybe the UWWA has a slightly higher wax concentration than the D115 at 4:1 but I'm not sure.

The Meguiar's UWWA was evaporating very quickly in the hot climate. The D115 at 4:1 closely resembles this characteristic. In the product instructions, Meguiar's said the user can dilute the product up to 20:1 in hot climates. I did notice that the product was not evaporating as quickly when you increase the amount of water in your ratio.

This product is very hydrophobic when you spray it on the surface. It seems to want to run off right away. I think it just shows how great the wax protection is built into the product.

I think that at the 12.8:1 ratio, the product worked just as well. I feel that I will be using this product at around 10:1 ratio and I feel it should work great! From the data gathered in my experiment, the leaner product ratio doesn't seem to sacrifice the looks.

The smell of this product was fantastic - as with any other Meguiar's product. I think it's very important for a detailing product to have a great scent because it makes it a pleasure for the user to work with.

I think this product used for rinseless washing is just an absurd idea. The ratio remains the same for rinseless. 4:1 to 20:1. It's just not cost effective when you compare it to the dilution ratio of a similar product like D114 at 256:1. If it was me, I'd rather use D114 to do rinseless washing and use a stand along spray wax after like D156 or UQW.

Conclusion:

Meguiar's first came out with an amazing waterless wash product but the price point was just too high. This has led a lot of users (I think) to look for more economical alternatives. A lot of people have begged for Meguiar's to come out with a bulk version of the UWWA product and finally, they delivered with a BANG! With this new waterless wash concentrate, I think Meguiar's is back in the waterless wash game. Meguiar's was able to compete with the competition's price point without sacrificing the performance and results of the UWWA product. You really can't go wrong with any of the concentrates listed in this review. But you need to give this product a shot, I promise you it won't disappoint. Meguiar's always delivers AMAZING products and this is another testament to that. I know that this will be my go-to waterless wash product from now on.

THANK YOU Meguiar's for listening to our request.

 

[Wors]

Terrific review. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

Wow, what a fantastic review! I especially liked how you included your coworkers to get unbiased feedback.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

I'm thinking this would be a great review if the pictures were showing up for me. Am I the only one?

 

[silverfox]

I have to go with the new Pinnacle Waterless wash with Carnuba...I have tried them all including the infamous Ultima product as well as the Megs Wash and Wax Anywhere.

Pinnacle in my opinion is the new king of WW products.

Nice review...great job!

 

[Jeff120]

Amazing review, thanks for the hard work!

 

[c8n]

Great review and thank you sir!
Being using the MSWWM during my rinseless wash ever since reading your D114 review.

 

[SlowWRX]

how does this compare to new ONR with wax?

 

[dad07]

Wow Marc!

What a awsome review and how to.
Being a traditional wash person myself I guess it is time to think outside the bucket.

Looks like another must have Megs product.

Thanks for the effort and the time it took you to put this togetherM

 

[Bunky]

Great review = love the poll! At least those that had an opinion seemed to tell some apart as one would expect!

 

[cleanmycorolla]

Excellent review.

 

[XSSIVE]

Thanks for the in depth review. I've become a big fan of waterless washing.

This means there's another waterless wash I "need" (haha) to try now. I'm currently testing CG Ecosmart RU, UWW+, Adam's, DP and Pinnacle to find my favorite.

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Wow, incredibly well done review Marc. You have clearly spent a lot of time putting this one together for AGO to read. I now have to kick my reviews up a notch because of this homerun of a review of yours.

I would like to know an honest opinion of this compared to UWW+. I am a big fan of Meguiar's UWWA but not its price point. But with this new gallon version I just may have to pick this up next. Thoughts?

 

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

This is awesome. I always enjoy reading your reviews because they are so thorough. Im deffinitely going to give this a try seeing how my car is rarely dirty.

 

[Marc08EX]

Thanks for the compliments everyone!!! :dblthumb2: I'm glad to hear that you guys enjoyed the review. This makes me want to do more.

how does this compare to new ONR with wax?

I don't know. I haven't used ONRWW as a waterless wash. And I don't plan on using D115 as a rinseless wash.

Being a traditional wash person myself I guess it is time to think outside the bucket.

Thanks for the compliments, Tim!!!

I totally understand it's hard to make the plunge. I know you're scared that you'll scratch the paint and do damage to your perfectly polished CC. Take all the time you need but trust me, you'll be amazed at how well WW works. Of course you need to have good towel management, good technique and ample amount of product. You can't just use one side of a towel to do the entire car. Or do random motions when cleaning the surface.

Wow, incredibly well done review Marc. You have clearly spent a lot of time putting this one together for AGO to read. I now have to kick my reviews up a notch because of this homerun of a review of yours.

I would like to know an honest opinion of this compared to UWW+. I am a big fan of Meguiar's UWWA but not its price point. But with this new gallon version I just may have to pick this up next. Thoughts?

Hahaha thanks a ton, Mike! But I'm sure your reviews are as good, if not better than mine!

Honestly, I think it's a toss up between Meguiar's UWWA, UWW+ and D115 @ 4:1. One can't go wrong with either of them. As expected, the slickness goes down as you increase the amount of water added to D115.

 

[XSSIVE]

Your review got me interested in this and now after comparing D115, UWW+, Pinnacle, DP, CG Ecosmart RU and Adam's waterless. I owe you a thank you for turning me onto this since it's my favorite of them all.

UWW+ still has the edge on price but I like D115 better in terms of everything else from how slick it feels while using it making it feel extra safe like it's really lifting the dust and dirt off and isn't just colored water with a little bit of slickness. The crazy slick feel left behind is great and that added bit of gloss too and even the scent is my favorite of them all (blueberryish). Since I have so much waterless concentrate from so many brands and they're all fine to use I'll go through them all but once I'm out D115 is it for me. I may write up an in depth comparison on all six I tried in the future but again two thumbs up for your super in depth review which got me to order it. :dblthumb2:

 

[Marc08EX]

Glad to hear that my review helped you out.

I totally agree with you too. UWW+ has the price edge but I will still pick this. I prefer the slickness this product gives.

What ratio are you using?

 

[XSSIVE]

I used it 4:1 since I was working on cool cars in the garage for testing.

Like you did I actually waterlessed my truck with all six different products so I could then feel the slickness left behind from panel to panel and see if there was any slight gloss difference which would be harder to feel and notice if I used one product one day and the other the next etc.

Ecosmart RU is pretty slick too but whats a slight negative compared to the others is that it's heavy on the wax (it settles to the bottom needed shaking that's how much there is) and requires extra buffing after the wetness is wiped. Not quite spray wax levels of buffing but enough to need just a bit more rubbing than all the others. I think all that extra wax might have a tiny protection edge but none of them are meant to be all that durable at protection after use so it's not something I actually factor in when looking for a waterless wash.