Different ONR Method

D

Durddy

New member
I am curious if anyone does a complete ONR wash without drying each area right after? I have not tried it yet, but it seems like it might be as fast or faster to use your sponge or whatever you choose in larger sections and let it dry naturally. Then come back with some QD to hit some areas that may have some spots still. Like I said, I have not tried this yet, but curious to see if anyone else has. :2thumbs:
 
Thats how I do it and as long as the paint surface is cool it works quite well. And is quicker. Plus to me its safer cause you dont have to worry about your drying towel accidentally slipping onto a dirty part pulling dirt onto and marring your clean finish. Just make sure you use your tbm and rinse often.
 
As stated, it probably depends on how cool and dry the paint surface is to begin with. humidity and climate probably play a role in this too. All of the dirt is suspended in the ONR solution on top of the car. As it dries, that dirt has to go somewhere, and the only place for it to go is back on to your paint.



Obviously, if you're working in a mild climate, you can wash a significant portion of the car before the solution begins to dry at all. On the other hand, if you're working in the Arizona desert in August, you should probably work in smaller sections.



Another thing you could do, is wash the entire car with ONR. Then instead of following it up with a QD, you could spritz some more ONR during your drying pass. Use either a spray bottle, or a pesticide sprayer to dampen the area a bit, and pick up any leftover dirt and residue.
 
I usually do several panels before I dry as well. My routine is usually something like this (each line is a separate wash step, drying in between):



hood, roof, top of trunk

one side of the car

back of trunk and back bumper

other side of car

front bumper



I almost always wash in my garage, so sun and wind aren't working to evaporate the wash solution, and I can get away with doing more surface area in a single pass.



Another thing I do that may be a bit different: I use two towels to dry, one that has been soaked in ONR wash solution and wrung about as dry as I can get it, and another towel that's just dry. I use the damp towel for the first pass, then finish with the completely dry towel. I find that my microfiber towels absorb water more quickly when already damp (the damp towel picks up the bulk of the liquid rapidly instead of pushing it around), and the dry towel gets any residue that's left on the surface. I also figure if I managed to miss a spot when I washed the panel, or any wash solution has started to dry, the damp towel provides some small insurance against marring.



Tort

(two buckets, two towels ;) )
 
I wash in the shade. its usually broken down the middle. after ONR i then dry, if some spots dry i and spray ONR QD as i dry. then i walk to the other side and do the same for the drivers side. i do the front/rear bumpers last.
 
Thats Fresh said:
I wash in the shade. its usually broken down the middle. after ONR i then dry, if some spots dry i and spray ONR QD as i dry. then i walk to the other side and do the same for the drivers side. i do the front/rear bumpers last.
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That's the key thing for not drying each panel afterward.



I've done both methods, and in the shade, neither really holds an advantage. If I sense it drying too quickly, I'll either change my method or spritz the already finished (but not dried) panels again.



In the sun, I'll use much more product than I would in the shade, but it's not that big of a deal.
 
I have to try Torts method.. Do you use a WW MF or just normal MFs?? I also like to do more than one panel at a time, I think I waste time by switching tools all the time and like many said to risk drying a section of a panel that has not been cleaned yet.
 
Mark77 said:
I have to try Torts method.. Do you use a WW MF or just normal MFs?? I also like to do more than one panel at a time, I think I waste time by switching tools all the time and like many said to risk drying a section of a panel that has not been cleaned yet.
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For drying, I use regular microfiber hand towels that have quite a bit of nap to them. For my wash media, I use microfiber "buffing" towels that Autopia Car Care used to carry, but they've since been discontinued. I never cared for those towels much for wax/sealant removal (what it was originally designed for), but like it quite a bit for ONR washing. I think the product most similar that's out there currently are towels from DFTowel.



FWIW, I like using a towel to wash because I can keep flipping to a clean side as I do multiple panels, and since I have a few of those towels in my stash, I can use two or three rather than worry about rinsing all the dirt out of my wash media before heading to the next section of the car.



Tort



EDIT: Apparently, DFTowel has been having real problems filling orders. Although it's pretty much the same as the ACC "Concours Buffing Towel" (now discontinued) that I use, I'd be leery of ordering from DFT. Any quality microfiber with some decent nap should work as well.
 
I do a variation on TortoiseAWD's method in that I work in the same order but apply ONR with a sprayer when done w/ that area. Once completed I then blow to about 30% dry and use two towels (a damp WW and a plush mf) WW first and plush right behind it in a two handed operation. Drying is quick and easy for me.



On the subject of drying it's been mentioned using RO/DI water in the sprayer and a blow dry could be used as touchless drying. I haven't tried it yet but I did test the micromohs of our 5 gal bottled water and got a 9, compared to 178 of what came out of the faucet so I may one day buy 5 gals to try this.



Oh and speaking of alternative washing methods - mine is using two buckets, the first filled w/ 1 gal of ONR and a painters grid designed for 5 gal buckets and the second w/ 2 gals of ONR and a chenille wash mitt. I feel as if scraping the mitt on the grid before dunking in the second gives me little more margin error.
 
I'm not sure about the blow-dry step. It seems counterintuitive to how ONR works.



How do you know you're actually blowing all of the water off and not simply speeding up the evaporation process? If all of that ONR solution is holding dirt, and then the solution dries, where does the dirt go?



I think it might be ok if your paint is already super-slick (as in, just waxed) to begin with. But I still wouldn't take any chances. You're going to a towel for drying anyway, I wouldn't complicate things.
 
Since my car does not get that dirty I use a pump sprayer. Spray whole car with a heavy mist and wipe w/ a quality MF towel. Then I do the rims one at a time.
 
I tried Tort's drying method yesterday on my wife's car. Wow! The second drying towel (WW) was barely wet.

Between this and David F's suggestions for getting bugs off (soak MF cloths in ONR then put on 'buggy' areas for a few minutes) I can get a messy car done in a short amount time.



Thanks for all the information.
 
Not debating Tort's method at all, but just wanted to throw out that I believe it was Scotwax in one of his ONR videos that suggested you always wanted to leave a sufficient amount of ONR on the surface for the second towel so that you were not wiping a dry dowel across the surface.



I've seen many posts stating you NEVER want to wipe a dry towel across your paint.



Again, not trying to start a debate. Just suggesting BE CAREFUL.
 
eddie926 said:
I've seen many posts stating you NEVER want to wipe a dry towel across your paint.
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Hmm. Well, I've not had a problem with that as long as the towel is of good quality *and* the surface is completely clean. OTOH, I have a silver car that hides my screw-ups pretty well. ;)



Standard qualifiers apply to my method: YMMV, IME, IMO, no warranties expressed or implied, etc. Take suggestions from me with an appropriately-sized grain of salt:



p4341nrml.jpg




(pic hotter than the grill I'd cook that beef on)



Tort
 
Tort, as I said, I wasn't wanting to argue with your methods or say you're wrong, so please don't take that as a criticism. I haven't tried it that way, and it may work great. I've just seen enough warnings against "dry toweling" that I wanted to encourage to proceed with caution. :)
 
eddie926 said:
Tort, as I said, I wasn't wanting to argue with your methods or say you're wrong, so please don't take that as a criticism. I haven't tried it that way, and it may work great. I've just seen enough warnings against "dry toweling" that I wanted to encourage to proceed with caution. :)
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Really, I didn't take it that way at all . . . your warning is spot on: BE CAREFUL. As I said, my silver car hides a lot of sins; someone with a dark-colored car might be cursing my name if they try it my way. There are more than enough variables (towels, paint hardness, etc.) that what works for me may be pure evil for someone else.



Tort
 
I don't think anyone can avoid toweling on a dry surface, unless you're using a blower or dryer. It just comes with the territory.
 
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