What`s the big appeal of rinseless wash?

L

LT4

New member
If you`re not water restricted and it`s not winter, why choose rinseless wash? What`s the benefit or attraction? I was reading Optimum`s forum discussion of their ONR. Some of the posters hosed off vehicle before using ONR. What`s one more use of the hose? Not disparaging anyone`s approach. Trying to comprehend. TIA
 
For me: If the vehicle isn`t trashed, its so much easier and faster to rinseless wash instead of a `full` on wash. We just knocked out 3 vehicle inside, in the AC so I wasn`t dying out in the sun!
 
I`ve timed myself doing both, it`s too close to call timewise. I prefer the hose though. Less chance of scratching, flush dirt out of cavities and you can wash wheel wells and wheels easily.

The only rinseless advantage for me is when it`s too cold to wash outside.
 
Its faster for starters but you can do ALOT with a rinseless besides washing the exterior. It`s a skill IMO that i`m still working on.

You can still use some foam, rinse etc before a rinseless for example. It just replaces the soap and so many other things too.

I use rinseless exclusively but still rinse the car and use pre-wash cleaning chemicals like an APC when needed.

Labocosmetica as a new rinseless APC now which i will pick up in a few weeks. Its very new to the market - the process/concept.

Excited to try in on bugs, grime etc before the neutral rinseless to neutralize the APC.
 
noorth said:
Its faster for starters but you can do ALOT with a rinseless besides washing the exterior. It`s a skill IMO that i`m still working on.

You can still use some foam, rinse etc before a rinseless for example. It just replaces the soap and so many other things too.
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I`m confused at how you can say you can foam and rinse and still be faster than a hose wash. I keep watching buttercups on YouTube using 85 towels or 13 buckets constantly re-dipping their wash media in rinseless.

I`m pressure washing my cars and then use one dip for the roof/hood/trunk. One dip for each side and one for front and back. That`s back in the bucket 5 times before wheels and those are one per side unless really dirty. Pulled out of the garage, washed and dried in under 40 minutes including setup time. A rinseless wash is similar time but no hose business.
 
It`s a hose wash with rinseless...Rinseless is a lot easier to dry and you don`t rinse it...

A pure rinseless with no hose should be way faster.

Rinseless is a skill like i said and i believe in general people misunderstand how many different ways you can use it. Just because i use a rinseless there`s no rule i can`t pre-treat and rinse first...open your mind.

btw i rarely foam it was just an example. Foam is super overated IMO. I use regular pump sprayer to get chemicals on the paint.

But anyway you slice it rinseless should be quicker compared to regular soap. You must be doing something wrong...

While your rinsing the soap/suds off i`m drying the car.

And since i don`t foam very often i don`t have to set up my pressure washer...which saves a TON of time and effort. I break it out every now and then. I`m not afraid of a few scratches i polish every year.

I can`t be bothered lol Rinseless is faster...
 
So you are down in the 20 minute range for setup, wash, including wheels and wheel wells? Impressive.
 
I was hesitant at first to even try rinse-less washing. But being in Ohio and wanting to try and keep my vehicles clean during the winter I finally took the chance years ago with ONR and found that after some practice and using my own additional steps and techniques I was comfortable with it. Over time I removed the extra safety steps I thought I needed and got down to more of a standard rinse-less wash.

In my current situation I don`t have the best hose and tool setup for doing a standard wash. I don`t have a hose end that allows me to do the "flooding" technique that would remove most the the water for me and make the drying process better. I still use a standard wash process for my wheels but because the drying process is more cumbersome; over time I have started doing more and more rinse-less washes.

I agree with others. If I wanted to I could fairly easily do some kind of rinse-less wash on the paint in 20-30min. But in doing this I would most likely ignore the wheels. They could be done but I prefer to rinse them off first and use regular washing techniques for them.
 
Rinseless washing (ONR) has been a lifesaver for me. Each month I wash about 30-40 cars in a car collection that I manage and it induces no marring and most of all no water into the sensitive cavities that shouldn’t be exposed to water due to its corrosive nature. I can do the entire collection in one full day. No way that would be possible with conventional washing, especially if you include all the moving back and forth of all the cars that would have to happen.
 
David Fermani said:
Rinseless washing (ONR) has been a lifesaver for me. Each month I wash about 30-40 cars in a car collection that I manage and it induces no marring and most of all no water into the sensitive cavities that shouldn’t be exposed to water due to its corrosive nature. I can do the entire collection in one full day. No way that would be possible with conventional washing, especially if you include all the moving back and forth of all the cars that would have to happen.
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This is where rinseless shines. For regular dirt and grime rinseless isn`t the best choice.
 
Given that for both wash methods, technique plays a major role (bucket, media, foam, pre-spray, paint soiling, etc), I think it is hard to compare the relative safeness of each wash method. I have watched some "pro" detailers on youtube and they sure wash aggressively to me. For example, I always do doors as upper and lower rather than one continuous wash.

A retort you see is that you are doing it wrong if you use "x" method to dismiss a particular process/method for those convinced their method is right.
 
David Fermani said:
Rinseless washing (ONR) has been a lifesaver for me. Each month I wash about 30-40 cars in a car collection that I manage and it induces no marring and most of all no water into the sensitive cavities that shouldn’t be exposed to water due to its corrosive nature. I can do the entire collection in one full day. No way that would be possible with conventional washing, especially if you include all the moving back and forth of all the cars that would have to happen.
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I get to wash older cars too (muscle cars back to the 1910`s) and most owners prefer you not use a hose, for the cavity reason David mentions.
Also way less water, typically 3.5 gallons, and if I wash both our cars the same day, I wash the wife`s car, replace the rinse water (1 gallon), and wash my truck with the same wash solution.
Living in Florida and driving on paved roads 99.9% of the time also helps.
And as Sizzle said, you can wash in a garage (or airplane hanger, etc.) to get out of the sun.
 
I started this thread. I`m a "tries everything" sort of fool, so I have tried rinseless wash (ONR). But I`ve only done it a few times. I have no skill or technique. Last car I rinseless washed is very dark colored. I had problems with the rinseless solution spotting on the car. I found myself feeling pressured to hurry drying panels because of the spotting. My experience that day left me with the notion that rinseless wash was as much trouble as a bucket wash while being more stress inducing. Hence this thread. Thanks to all who have replied. It`s clear to see that if I were washing 3 or 10 or 30 cars in a day how useful rinseless would be. The other obvious conclusion for me is I need more practice.
 
LT4 said:
Last car I rinseless washed is very dark colored. I had problems with the rinseless solution spotting on the car. I found myself feeling pressured to hurry drying panels because of the spotting. My experience that day left me with the notion that rinseless wash was as much trouble as a bucket wash while being more stress inducing.
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As with any washing, it`s best not to wash a dark colored car in direct sunlight (unless of course it`s very cool out), but rinseless washing should actually work better in this regard. A normal procedure would be to wash a panel at a time, and dry that panel. You`ll want to overlap slightly onto the adjacent panel, so you can dry the panel you are working on without getting your drying towel dirty. If you are getting dirt on your drying towel, it means you need to wash the panel more thoroughly (a second wash pass, etc.). Back to the spotting--if it is so hot that the solution is drying on the surface, shrink the size of your work area, for example, I will typically do half a hood, dry that half, then do the other half (same with the roof, etc.). But if you find the solution is drying too fast, do only 1/4 of the hood at a time.

Anyway, it`s a technique adjustment vs. conventional, and it should definitely be less stress-inducing as far as getting water spots.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
As Bunky noted, I think there are too many variables to make a blanket statement like that. Is the car coated? Are you doing a pre-spray? If so, with what? etc. etc. etc.
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My thought is that if you are going to go through the hassle of a pre-spray, you could just use a hose unless there are reasons against doing so such as an open cockpit type of car.
 
Where I live, (apt./condo )I don`t have water available unless I go to a pay and spray. I works well for me. I use several towels. I am using Duraglass rinseless at the moment.
 
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