Waterless wash or just water

ERS

ERS

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I have a black '06 Shelby Mustang. I drive mostly on weekends as a pleasure car. Garage kept. Of course it is not immune to attracting every piece of dust known to mankind. I'm exaggerating but I think most know what I mean when it comes to black.

My question after a weekend drive, no rain involved, being black, is it best to go with a waterless wash and some AG microfibers or should I just get the hose, rinse it off and dry with my leaf blower. My objective is to avoid inducing any swirls or scratches. Sometimes the dust after a drive makes me reluctant to waterless wash. But was wondering what other black car owners do.

We all know, when it's clean, all be it for 30 min lol, nothing looks better than black.

Open to ideas. Thanks.

Ernie
 
I've had black cars in the past and while I understand what your saying about WW I wouldn't sweat it too much. I mean yes, a simple snow foam/dwell/rinse/blow dry has ZERO touching involved but with proper techniques and QUALITY plush, edgeless mf towels used during a WW, you'll be fine IMO. Pre-treating each panel and not being afraid to use too much product is a great idea

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Drying the vehicle with a blower of some sort will not remove every bit of water. You will still need to touch the surface with a towel of some type. A quality plush microfiber with a detail spray will leave the surface completely clean and dry. A proper technique will not leave swirls behind.
 
I would also like to add, not to be disrespectful but it's a car and the act of driving it anywhere can throw ANYTHING at it, just sayin'

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Klasse Act said:
I would also like to add, not to be disrespectful but it's a car and the act of driving it anywhere can throw ANYTHING at it, just sayin'

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Click to expand...

Especially the guy in front of you that turns his windshield washer fluid on at 70 mph.
 
Sounds like an awesome ride!

The problem with just hosing off the car with water is that, IMO, it will not get the paint clean enough. I have seen videos on youtube of guys using pressure washers to hose off their cars. Even with the high pressure, there is still plenty of road grime and dirt left on the car's paint. In order to adequately clean the paint, you need to make contact with the paint.

Of course, the goal is to clean without inducing scratches or swirls. If you use a rinseless or waterless wash solution that gives you lots of lubricity, soft microfiber towels, and, very importantly, the right technique for both washing and drying, you will have clean paint with very minimal swirls or scratches.
 
•Although water is the universal solvent,
-I’ve never found it to provide, in and of
itself, the best of lubriciousness for removal
of contaminates—no matter their size or type.


•Another thought:
-Often the LSP, and how long it’s been
since last applied, will determine my
choice of cleaning/drying steps.


•Or:
-I’ll just wait ‘til the vehicle is dirty
enough to give it the full Monty.


Bob
 
I have a black truck, garage kept, driven moderately in So Cal weather.

Here's what I do... And while my method will make many of you here cringe, it works for me and my truck always looks good and is essentially swirl-free. 100% swirl-free on a driven black vehicle is impossible over the long haul, but periodic light polishing's will refresh the finish to near perfection.

My first step (and here's where the cringing begins) is to remove any loose dust/contamination with a California Car Duster. I then follow with Meguiar's D115 "Rinse-Free Express Wash and Wax" diluted 4:1 (4 parts water to 1 part product) and used like you would use a quik detailer. Mist it on - wipe it off.

This process works good enough for me that I can't even remember the last time I used a hose and did a conventional wash. I do conventional washes occasionally, but generally only when I want to hose off the undercarraige, wheel wells, jambs and the like.

In my opinion, cleaning the loose dust from the vehicle with the California Car Duster before touching the finish in any other way is the safest way to minimize swirling, short of a full, gentle, conventional washing.

I also have two black Harley's that I maintain the same way.
 
I have a black 16 mustang..... I feel your pain. Rinsing and blow drying never cut it. Not a fan of Waterless washes unless it’s Frothe.

I would recommend RINSELESS wash. Basically it’s a bucket full of waterless wash. Dip about 5-10 MF towels into bucket of solution and wipe car down. It’s quick an simple and haven’t had much marring issues.

I use a pump sprayer and pre spray car before doing.

Wolfgang Uber or Uber Sio2 rinseless washes would be a good choice.


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Used a Waterless wash for the first time last week. I decided to use that to clay instead of the rinseless solution I normally use, When came time to dry the panel, a lot of residue was left behind. I had to re-wash with a rinseless to get rid of it... No a big fan so far. Next time il will rinse with rinseless before drying to see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't, I will stop using it.
 
Coatingsarecrack said:
I have a black 16 mustang..... I feel your pain. Rinsing and blow drying never cut it. Not a fan of Waterless washes unless it’s Frothe.

I would recommend RINSELESS wash. Basically it’s a bucket full of waterless wash. Dip about 5-10 MF towels into bucket of solution and wipe car down. It’s quick an simple and haven’t had much marring issues.

I use a pump sprayer and pre spray car before doing.

Wolfgang Uber or Uber Sio2 rinseless washes would be a good choice.


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Click to expand...

Have you tried other waterless in a foaming sprayer? Never tried it but I now remember that Larry suggest using frothe that way.
 
Calendyr said:
Have you tried other waterless in a foaming sprayer? Never tried it but I now remember that Larry suggest using frothe that way.
Click to expand...

Yeah only way I use frothecand love it. Most standard waterless or rinseless won’t foam. Their seem to be more that do on the market. 3D has one.... ADG has a soap that works in a bucket and as a Foaming waterless, Fusion i believe.

Theirs a thread on here or Autopia re cently about foaming waterless washes


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Calendyr said:
Used a Waterless wash for the first time last week. I decided to use that to clay instead of the rinseless solution I normally use, When came time to dry the panel, a lot of residue was left behind. I had to re-wash with a rinseless to get rid of it... No a big fan so far. Next time il will rinse with rinseless before drying to see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't, I will stop using it.
Click to expand...
Which WW did you use?

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2black1s said:
I have a black truck, garage kept, driven moderately in So Cal weather.

Here's what I do... And while my method will make many of you here cringe, it works for me and my truck always looks good and is essentially swirl-free. 100% swirl-free on a driven black vehicle is impossible over the long haul, but periodic light polishing's will refresh the finish to near perfection.

My first step (and here's where the cringing begins) is to remove any loose dust/contamination with a California Car Duster. I then follow with Meguiar's D115 "Rinse-Free Express Wash and Wax" diluted 4:1 (4 parts water to 1 part product) and used like you would use a quik detailer. Mist it on - wipe it off.

This process works good enough for me that I can't even remember the last time I used a hose and did a conventional wash. I do conventional washes occasionally, but generally only when I want to hose off the undercarraige, wheel wells, jambs and the like.

In my opinion, cleaning the loose dust from the vehicle with the California Car Duster before touching the finish in any other way is the safest way to minimize swirling, short of a full, gentle, conventional washing.

I also have two black Harley's that I maintain the same way.
Click to expand...

Lol, I won't lie, I'll still use my old California Duster on mine the next day if I washed and waxed it and basically put her in the garage shortly afterwards. That's about it anymore. I used to use it all the time many years ago before I started correcting the paint on my cars. You couldn't tell that it was putting scratches on the paint back in the day because nobody had corrected paint in the 80' & 90's lol. I remember going to a 500 World of Wheels one year in the late 90's and seeing a Chevelle that had this perfect paint job. I thought, "how can it look that good?". That's around the time I researched ways to make your paint look good. I'm pretty sure that's about the time I would see Mike Phillips on TV discussing car care.
 
Klasse Act said:
It's a little finicky as a WW, have you used it as a RW yet?

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No. I have used Optimum No-Rinse for about 8 years now. This summer I switched to McKee's 37 N-914. So far I can't really see a difference between the two when I use them (which is a very good thing).
I decided to switch because N-914 doesn't leave any protection behind which makes it more versatile. Especially because I do a lot of ceramic coatings so not having to worry about remove protection I just applied doing the wash is a good thing.

I don't know why I would want to use Echo as a rinseless though. It's a more expensive product.
 
Calendyr said:
No. I have used Optimum No-Rinse for about 8 years now. This summer I switched to McKee's 37 N-914. So far I can't really see a difference between the two when I use them (which is a very good thing).
I decided to switch because N-914 doesn't leave any protection behind which makes it more versatile. Especially because I do a lot of ceramic coatings so not having to worry about remove protection I just applied doing the wash is a good thing.

I don't know why I would want to use Echo as a rinseless though. It's a more expensive product.
Click to expand...
I assume you have some Echo left? If so, 2 oz of Echo to 4 gallons of water is how I use it for a RW. This product does have Gloss enhancers in it, so this alone could be a no go for you. Your also right about the price, Echo isn't cheap compared to N914, like you mentiined.

Your definitely someone who buys/tries and sticks with one product and since your so new into using N914 could I suggest Griot's Garage Brillant Shine rinseless wash Its the same price as N914 and available to buy here. This product does an AMAZING job at cleaning and leaves NOTHING behind

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If your car has a substantial amount of mud, dirt, sand, and dust, that has caked on or has accumulated over time, a car wash without water isn’t advisable. Because merely wiping them with a waterless wash would result in scratches on the paintwork.
 
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