Review: Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash

[Marc08EX]

Review: Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash
Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate

Description: (Taken from AG's website)

Wash without water and protect with Acrylic Polycharger all in one step!

Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate is an Acrylic Polycharger boosted formula that safely cleans all surfaces without the need for hoses or buckets! Formulated with specialized lubricating agents, Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate encapsulates dirt, bugs, and grime so it is safely and easily wiped from the surface. If you’re in need of a quick wash and protect, but find yourself without water or a hose, Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate is all you need!

Our cars don’t always need a full wash, complete with bucket, hose, wash mitt, drying towel, etc. Sometimes they just need a little waterless wash! Thanks to the ever evolving world of car care, waterless washes have become mainstream. And more than that? They’ve improved! Take Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate – it’s more than just a waterless wash. It’s also boosted with Polycharger Acylic Polymer that creates a hydrophobic slick shield that helps to reduce water spotting, and protect your paint better.

Thanks to the lubricant-rich formula, Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate fully encapsulates dirt and dust particles to gently lift them from the surface. This helps to prevent washing-induced swirls and scratches! You want to clean your paint quickly and easily, not create more work for yourself!

Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate is ultra-concentrated and only requires 1 oz. of product to 22 oz. of water! Talk about value! Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate also doubles as a high-end quick detailer for fast touch-ups between car shows.

When you’re looking for a sparkling clean finish, high shine, and ultra protective abilities, Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate is just what you need!


Price:
$19.99 for 16oz (concentrate)


Introduction:

I'm a big waterless wash junkie. I love using this when cleaning the car with a light layer of dust. I like not dragging the hose out and getting all the water into those nook and crannies that are so hard to clean. And with the proper technique, waterless washing can be safe as well. I really liked the original Ultima Waterless Wash so I decided to give this product a shot!


Review:

In this review, I'm not going to discuss how to properly use a waterless wash. I've already written 2 articles for that so instead, I'm just going to provide the links for those articles below and if you're interested, please check them out.

Product Review & How-To: Ultima Waterless Wash Plus
Review & How-To: Meguiar's D115 Rinsefree Express Wash and Wax

Now let's continue on to the Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash review.

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

Dilution directions state to put 1oz of concentrate to 22oz of water. I was using a 500ml Kwazar spray bottle for this test. I put 500ml of water which equates to 16.9oz. By using ratio and proportion, I needed approximately 0.77oz of concentrate. The beauty about the Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate container is that it has a built in 1oz measuring cup. It has a 1/2oz and a 1oz level. So I just placed the concentrate slightly above the 0.75oz level.

Open the cap of the measuring cup section and slowly pour the concentrate on the spray bottle:

Here are some before pictures of the test vehicle. As you can see, it's pretty filthy. We got some dust storms and rain in the past week or something. So the car is just filled with these muddy water spots:

Wheels are pretty filthy too:

I think that the dirt on the car is pretty gritty so I decided to go to a coin op car wash and blast the entire vehicle with high pressure water and knock as much grit as I can. That way, I'll have less chances of scratching my paint work.

I rinsed the entire car (including the wheels) but I didn't hit the trunk. I wanted to leave some sort of dirt on one section of the vehicle to test out the true cleaning ability of this waterless wash.

After rinsing the car, it's time to use the waterless wash to clean the entire vehicle. First, liberally spray the waterless wash a panel at a time.

This is how much waterless wash solution I have on the panel:

Start wiping the panel using a safe technique. I have a technique I use, which I discussed in my how-to articles linked at the top of this review.

After cleaning the panel, buff off any excess waterless wash solution left behind...

Here's the microfiber towel after cleaning the entire roof. It's awesome that I didn't get much dirt at all because of the high pressure rinse.

Like I mentioned above, I didn't rinse the trunk as much as I can in order to test the cleaning ability of this waterless wash. So do the exact same procedure...

First, liberally spray the waterless wash on the trunk.

Next, start wiping the panel using a safe technique.

After cleaning the panel, buff off any excess waterless wash solution left behind...

Here's the microfiber towel after cleaning the trunk. As you can see, I picked up some dirt. I'm thinking some of the dirt got knocked off when I was high pressure rinsing the panels adjacent to the trunk.

Repeat the entire process throughout the entire car one panel at a time. Don't forget to include the wheels...

Here's the same process done on the hood:

Dirt after half the hood:

Here are some after shots showing how clean and SHINY the car is:

Opinions and Observations:

This product has a pleasant aroma - it smells like a very good. Can't pinpoint the exact scent.

The color of the product is white.

It definitely cleans the paint surface very well. It pulls the dirt safely and effectively. It also leaves the paint with an amazing shine. I'm guessing this is from the acrylic part of the product.

The product dilution is good but it isn't as great as the traditional Ultima Waterless Wash. The amount required on that is half of this acrylic version.

The product seems to harden when the surface is hot and allowed to dry. So just be careful not to use it when the panel is hot or under the sun. It's not the product's fault since they mentioned it in the directions to avoid contact with hot surfaces. But I didn't have a choice. I had to wash the car and it was 108F outside. I only had this hardening issue on the hood so I'm guessing the heat from the engine was a major contributor. I didn't have any issues on other panels. I think this hardening effect is the acrylic part working and I think it's a good thing!

This product can also be used as a rinseless wash.


Conclusion:

This is another good alternative to use when you like doing waterless wash to clean your vehicles. You really can't go wrong with Ultima because they made a great waterless wash. They just made a better one.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this review. Comments are appreciated.

 

[Angus]

"I had to wash the car and it was 108F outside." Nope. Nope. and Nope. My hat is off to you Marc. Dry heat or not - that's way too hot for me.

Great reivew though man! UWW will always be a favorite of mine. Thanks for showing us how this one stacks up in the real world.

PS: do you hands a favor and get a Kwazar Compression Sprayer for WW already!

 

[Pats300zx]

Great review Marc !!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[atgonzales]

Always a pleasure to read your reviews...nicely done

 

[fly07sti]

Nice job Marc. Like Angus said, 108 Nope! Thanks for doing this also.

 

[Klasse Act]

This is a great pic of the car!

 

[BadgerRivFan]

Cool car and thanks for the review Marc!

 

[derass]

Seems like a great product to use on a car that's been protected with the Klasse twins!

 

[lane5515]

Thanks for your write up. I began using this product a couple months ago for WW's too.

 

[SNP209]

Thank you for the review, sir!

I was a bit on the fence about purchasing this product so I purchased the UWW+ instead. Have you tested the performance as a rinseless wash yet?

 

[Marc08EX]

"I had to wash the car and it was 108F outside." Nope. Nope. and Nope. My hat is off to you Marc. Dry heat or not - that's way too hot for me.

Great reivew though man! UWW will always be a favorite of mine. Thanks for showing us how this one stacks up in the real world.

PS: do you hands a favor and get a Kwazar Compression Sprayer for WW already!

Thanks a lot Angus! Means a lot coming from you man!

Yeah it's very hard to detail when it's summer here. It's just so hot. We have 5 months where temps are above 100F so it's not like we can just wait it out LOL! I have to live with it unfortunately. I just detailed my Mom's new car over the weekend and it was brutal.

Thanks for the recommendation with the compression sprayer. I do have the PBMG Spray bottles (like the blackfire type) and that's what I use with D115. I use that bottle for the WW I use the most. I do regret not getting the 1L Kwazar bottles though. The 0.5L is just too small.

Great review Marc !!!! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much Pat!

Always a pleasure to read your reviews...nicely done

Thanks a lot atgonzales! I appreciate it.

Nice job Marc. Like Angus said, 108 Nope! Thanks for doing this also.

Thanks a lot buddy! Hey you guys felt that 108F too recently right? At least you only had it for a day hahaha!

This is a great pic of the car!

Thank you for the compliments Roger!

Cool car and thanks for the review Marc!

Thank toy so much BadgerRivFan!

Seems like a great product to use on a car that's been protected with the Klasse twins!

This, along with my other favorite WW is great to use on any surface. With or without LSP.

Thanks for your write up. I began using this product a couple months ago for WW's too.

It's my pleasure lane5515. How did you like it?

Thank you for the review, sir!

I was a bit on the fence about purchasing this product so I purchased the UWW+ instead. Have you tested the performance as a rinseless wash yet?

You're welcome SNP209!

Unfortunately, I didn't test the rinseless wash part. I'm not a big fan of rinseless washing.

 

[jdgamble]

Thanks for the very detailed review. I read another link that you provided and it was very thorough as well. I just recently got ONR and have done a couple RWs, and I've been impressed. Can you use ONR the same way? It's not on the instructions, but it seems like it would do the same.

 

[Marc08EX]

Thanks for the very detailed review. I read another link that you provided and it was very thorough as well. I just recently got ONR and have done a couple RWs, and I've been impressed. Can you use ONR the same way? It's not on the instructions, but it seems like it would do the same.

It's my pleasure. So glad to hear that my write-ups are helping you.

ONR is a rinseless wash while the Ultima is a waterless wash. Rinseless and waterless are used differently. Without being too complicated, rinseless uses a small amount of water in a bucket while waterless is used by spraying the solution on the paint.

Some rinseless wash products can be used as waterless such as N-914, Meg's D114, etc. But I personally use rinseless products for rinseless washing and waterless wash products for waterless washes.

Here are some of my rinseless wash write-ups:
Review and How-To: Optimum No Rinse Wash & Wax
Review: McKee's 37 N-914 Rinseless Wash

Hope they help too.

 

[Bobby B.]

Great review! The Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate is an awesome product.

Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash Concentrate Bundle

 

[lane5515]

It's my pleasure lane5515. How did you like it?

I actually have been using Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ - I'm not sure what the difference is compared to the Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash.

I really like it for doing a true WW on a dusty or not very dirty car. If the car is too dirty for a WW I do a hybrid RW with ECH20 (spray the panel with WW mix first then wipe down with mf soaked in RW solution).

 

[silverfox]

I use it for both WW and RW. My cars never looked better or slicker. Gets better with every application. The acrylic component makes its very hydrophobic. I could see the difference immediately on how the windows and front windshield looked as though the car hand no glass. I knew right away the paint would look great too. It does.

 

[Marc08EX]

I actually have been using Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ - I'm not sure what the difference is compared to the Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash.

I really like it for doing a true WW on a dusty or not very dirty car. If the car is too dirty for a WW I do a hybrid RW with ECH20 (spray the panel with WW mix first then wipe down with mf soaked in RW solution).

When your car is too dirty, You should try blasting it with a pressure washer at a coin op car wash. Should make your WW routine a lot safer IMO.

I use it for both WW and RW. My cars never looked better or slicker. Gets better with every application. The acrylic component makes its very hydrophobic. I could see the difference immediately on how the windows and front windshield looked as though the car hand no glass. I knew right away the paint would look great too. It does.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Which do you like better? This, D115 or the Pinnacle WW with carnauba?

 

[silverfox]

All those are good choices. I have used them a lot. I like the ultima product best of that group at this point.

 

[Marc08EX]

All those are good choices. I have used them a lot. I like the ultima product best of that group at this point.

Wow!! Thanks for the feedback. I still liked D115 more but I'll use the Ultima Acrylic more and see.

 

[RippyD]

Have you tested the performance as a rinseless wash yet?

It's a great rinseless product. Works as well as most of the others for cleaning and leaves a deeper gloss than most on dark colors. Not sure I could capture the difference with a camera, but my dark blue Nissan just glows when I used this stuff. No other rinseless does this. It can be a little streaky. You need to be sure to buff it adequately.

I'm not sure what the difference is compared to the Ultima Acrylic Waterless Wash.

Ummm... the acrylic? (Couldn't help myself.) Guessing it's whatever additive they put in the acrylic version that is the difference.
I really like it for doing a true WW on a dusty or not very dirty car. If the car is too dirty for a WW I do a hybrid RW with ECH20 (spray the panel with WW mix first then wipe down with mf soaked in RW solution).