Those who do the Garry Dean method, do YOU do this?

Klasse Act

Klasse Act

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2012
Messages
27,516
Reaction score
2,428
So I bought some good mf towels a while ago and wanted to try the GD method when the car got real dirty to learn the ways of doing it before the snow/salt comes which was the main reason for making the purchase. The concept makes sense for sure and I've done several GD washes in the past 2 monthes and wanted to pass along some things to the group who've been using the GD method for a while.

1. When folding the mf towel over into 4's, do you use both sides or just the plush side?

2. When doing a single pass w/ the mf towel and you get the line of dirt, do you roll the surface over so you don't rub the dirt back into the paint, this way you use as much as the square section as possible.

3. I mix up about a gallon of rinseless wash, drop the towels in there, wring them out and use it like that, along with my spray bottle w/ rinseless wash mixed in there, ofcoarse.

This is what I've been doing for a while now w/ great success but I only use about 5 mf towel usually, one time I used 6. I have seperate old mf towels to clean the tires/wheels and a mf glove to wipe down my plastic wheelwells. FWIW I've got a small car (Honda CR-Z) so it could explain why I don't use as many towels.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
I started using this method on my wife's CR-V for the past couple of months and follow a similar way of doing it.

1. I only keep the plush side for the paint. When the plush sides are too dirty, I use the other sides for windows, headlights, plastic trim areas or parts of the wheel well that aren't too bad.

2. Yes, I try to use as much of the towel as I can. I know I can always just grab another towel but part of me wants to be as efficient as possible. I know people say you can never have too many towels but my budget is tight, my wishlist long, and the 6 I have now for rinseless washes are plently. Besides, I have some gold plush jrs I can fall back on if I ever need an extra.

3. I use 2 gallons and only drop a towel in when I need to. No point in soaking 6 towels if I only end up using 5. I barely wring my towels out though, just enough so I don't leave a river of water behind me. I try to have as much solution on the towel and already on the car from my spray bottle as possible.

I finish up the same way with the leftover solution and older microfibers that are dedicated for wheels.
 
Only use the plush side. And if the car is very dirty, I would recommend a HP rinse at the coin-op before you do the RW just to remove the larger grit/debris like sand and leaves (or just a good hose rinse if it is warm enough). Road film will still be left behind which you can get with the RW.

6 towels sounds about right for the CR-Z. I use 8 for an Accord (just the body panels...not wheels, etc.).

I would say if you are getting a dirt line before you get to the bottom parts of panels, you might need to rinse the car first. Typically, I don't get much of a dirt line, if any, until I get to the lower door or rocker panels.

I don't wring out the towels either. You want lots of lubrication. For the damp dry towel, that one should be wrung out really well between panels.
 
Klasse Act said:
So I bought some good mf towels a while ago and wanted to try the GD method when the car got real dirty to learn the ways of doing it before the snow/salt comes which was the main reason for making the purchase. The concept makes sense for sure and I've done several GD washes in the past 2 monthes and wanted to pass along some things to the group who've been using the GD method for a while.

1. When folding the mf towel over into 4's, do you use both sides or just the plush side?

I use microfiber towels that are plush on both sides for rinseless and waterless washes.

2. When doing a single pass w/ the mf towel and you get the line of dirt, do you roll the surface over so you don't rub the dirt back into the paint, this way you use as much as the square section as possible.

Yes...been doing this for years.

3. I mix up about a gallon of rinseless wash, drop the towels in there, wring them out and use it like that, along with my spray bottle w/ rinseless wash mixed in there, ofcoarse.

Sounds just about like the same process(es) I use...
Works out great...Almost like an "hybrid-rinseless". :D
Click to expand...

Klasse Act said:
This is what I've been doing for a while now w/ great success but I only use about 5 mf towel usually, one time I used 6. I have seperate old mf towels to clean the tires/wheels and a mf glove to wipe down my plastic wheelwells. FWIW I've got a small car (Honda CR-Z) so it could explain why I don't use as many towels.
Click to expand...
-The number of microfiber towels per vehicle is dependent (in my case) upon the amount of contamination
the vehicles have accumulated since their last wash-sessions.

-I always use old bath/hand towels on wheel wells and tires...no microfiber towels.

NOTE:
I realize the near instant "perking up of the ears" that occurs at the mere mention
of a certain 'named rinseless wash method'.
However:
I liked it so much better when it was almost known, detailing-World-wide, by another ones name instead.
He might have snoozed a little regarding this matter, though.

Also:
Hope you go all Winter season long without ever introducing any swirls, scratches, and/or any other paint-blemishes.


Bob
 
I agree with the approach Bob just outlined. I use a bucket with about 2.5 gallons of distilled water and soak about 8 towels in it. I like using 600 gsm towels for this that are plush on both sides. They are available under different names, I think AG sells them as chinchillas, but I got mine from MFTech.

I tend to fold them in half on flat panels and don't use a lot of pressure when dragging towels across paint. I actually slightly roll them to make sure that initial contact line of towel moves and carries the dirt away rather than pushing it along as you swipe the towel.

I don't wring my towels out when using them either, squeeze them so that they slightly drip before a wipe.

Pre-treating panels with rinseless solution from a spray bottle (ONR at 1:16) and the towels slightly dripping does leave the surface with beads of water afterwards. I dunk another towel in the solution and fully wring it out then pick up the water beads. I really love a blue crazy pile German towel for this. Car is about 95% dry after this, and I follow with a drying towel. I use a dry me crazy, but any towel you prefer will work.

Wheels, I do with costco towels and waterless for touch ups in between regular hose and bucket cleaning, and I imagine the costco towels would work with rinseless if done last.
 
Klasse Act, so are you done with the Aqua Sponge? I just bought two to try it out! Anything to watch out for?

Sent from my XT901 using AG Online
 
Barley said:
Klasse Act, so are you done with the Aqua Sponge? I just bought two to try it out! Anything to watch out for?

Sent from my XT901 using AG Online
Click to expand...

No way Barley, will always have the Aqua sponge, just wanted to practice w/ the GD method before winter, that's all. The Aqua sponge makes doing the rinseless wash a breeze. I've been using it since late winter of 2012 and NO swirls, ever! I know some will doubt me but its true.

When the car is caked w/ salt and sludge from winter I will certainly hit the quarter wash around the corner, spray it off real good and then go into the underground garage and do the rinseless.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
Good tip Loser (Beck fan?) The plush side would hold more dirt and crud compared to the flatter side of the mf for sure. The advice of using the flatter side for the windows is a good one, I just thought I'd try and get more out of each mf towel, that's all.

Bob, thanks for the well wishes during the winter cleaning season, I plan on using a lot of rinseless solution as a pre-wash, maybe use 64 ounces instead of the usual 25-30 ounces I've used up till now.

I'm a guy whom layers a lot of products and at any given time I've got a great base laid down and great protection above it, followed up my rinseless washes as soon as the road conditons justify it, wipe downs with my "FrankenDetailer" (infused w/ KSG) and some type of "fresh" top coat after a while, although w/ the additon of 2x's DPPC I'm going to try and cut back on layering a traditonal product like DG, DP or Collinite and using my "FrankenDetail" for this duty, although some AW isn't out of the question after a rinseless wash from time to time either.

Thank you for the input guys, I know there's many Garry Dean threads but didn't wanna sift through all of them to find out if my way of looking to do this jives with everyone elses.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 

Your methods and thinking sound very similar to mine. But I tend to leave my towels more "wet" than most people doing a rinseless wash. Also I usually go around with my sprayer and pre soak panels using UWWP. Just trying to be extra safe.

I always tend to roll my towels as I wipe trying to remove the dirt from the surface. That way my towel ends up with the entire face dirty, not just the leading edge.


 
I do exactly as you detailed, only use the plush side, and i pre-soak using rinseless solution at QD strength using a sprayer.
 
^YES.

Rolling the towel is also key. Using as much of the clean part of the towel will reduce the risk of marring.

It is an aspect that is overlooked when using rinseless washes.
 
Our MFs are 500GSM-ish 24"x16" ultra plush. Folded in half 3 times allows for 8 plush sides and 8 flatter sides. Each one of those sides can be also rolled to allow for 2-3 clean edge swipes. I feel drying towels damages the fibers so to keep the towels staying plush and soft we do not dry the MF's used for washing. I also feel they stay more lint-free this way. After the final spin cycle we store them in a waterproof bag. We cycle enough Mf's that they never dry out in the bags or get moldy.

We also use 2gal garden weed pump sprayers to spray our waterless on the whole vehicle as a pre-soak, then re-spray as necessary. Working from top down using plush side first with no scrubbing, just light swiping to remove the top layer of loose dirt. The last areas I hit are the body panels behind the wheel well area because those are usually more dirty. Save glass & plastic for last. After squeezing out, I then reverse the MF to the flatter side and re-wipe everything to collect leftover liquid and to cover tighter areas or stuck on debris.

hope this helps
 
I usually try to use as many clean sides of the towel as possible. If I fold to a clean side a couple of times and need more solution I will use my hand to scoop some solution out of the bucket onto the towel and continue on.
 
Good thread people! I will be using more rinseless washes this winter as part of my cleaning. I too go to the coin OP car wash and just use rinse. At 1 dollar for 56 secs using the rinse only still takes a few bucks. I have a floor drain in my shop so I use a hose to 're rinse the wheels and wells before using the rinseless method.

For those that say " you have a shop wash the whole car" . I don't do this because I don't want all the gravel, heavy dirt etc going down my drain and plugging it off. Plus I don't like all the humidity in my shop in the winter. Minus 32 degrees C up here today. :(
 
Troy, I will be leaving my mf towels more wet when the car is really, really caked w/ salt/sludge in the winter. We all pre-soak ofcoarse but since I'm/we're soaking in the rinseless solution why not be extra safe?

I would like to restate, I'm still going to be using my Aqua sponge and if your looking for something awesome to use while doing a rinseless, this is it! I've been asked that if the Aqua sponge is so great why use the GD method, good question and its because I wanted to give the GD method a try. I could pre-soak and then use the Aqua sponge, dunk in the rinse bucket and continue on and I have, just like trying this method too.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
I start by soaking two or three towels in my Rinseless wash solution. Spray down a section of the car, pull out a nice wet towel, dripple the water over the section to wash. Re dunk the towel and ring out some of the water, fold the towel in 4th's....wash away only using the plush side of the towel.
 
I use mitts instead of microfiber. I can use 6 to 8 depending on soiling. Unlike one of GD's video, I would not wipe from top to bottom of the door with one towel. I split the door in halves and do lower halves.
 
Great thread!

What ONR dilution ratio do you guys use for the pre-treatment spray?

And approximately how many passes do you get from one folded quarter of your towel (assuming the car is not too dirty)?
 
creaky said:
What ONR dilution ratio do you guys use for the pre-treatment spray?

And approximately how many passes do you get from one folded quarter of your towel (assuming the car is not too dirty)?
Click to expand...

I follow ONR's directions and use 1 ounce for 2 gallons of water. I then fill a 32oz sprayer with a funnel from that mixture. I tend to use the entire 32oz for a wash, pretreating and respraying any heavily soiled areas when I get to them.

For passes per towel quarter, I don't really keep track. I just keep an eye on the condition on the quarter I'm using, rolling as I go, and never using one quarter for more than one panel just in case there is something I can't see that could harm the paint.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top