How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
This is an article I wrote back in 2013... Apparently, it never made it here so I`m just posting it up here in Autopia..
Do you live in an apartment complex or a condominium without a garage? Do you live in an area where the city enforces water restrictions? I don`t even have to ask if you like to keep your car clean. You`re here for that main reason. But your current living situation makes it hard for you to wash your car with free flowing water, a premium car shampoo and the two bucket method often.
Detailing science and technology have advanced in ways we wouldn`t imagine. There are now various methods to wash your car properly that will fit you living situation. They are:
1. Rinseless Washing - this method still uses a bucket and water. It`s preferable that you use a premium wash mitt such as Meguiar`s Microfiber Wash Mitt and the grit guard to ensure a safer wash technique. The main difference between this and the traditional washing is that the solution doesn`t produce any suds allowing the user to wipe the paint clean right after washing.
2. Waterless Washing - this method uses a spray bottle with a pre-mixed solution that will safely and effectively clean your paint. You spray the product onto the paint, wipe the solution then buff it off.
3. Quick Detailing - this employs the same product delivery and technique as the waterless washing but with one main difference. This is only used for light dust.
If you`re reading this article, I`m assuming that you still haven`t taken the plunge on using these washing alternatives yet. I know what you`re thinking. "It`s not safe." "It will scratch my paint." "It won`t clean my paint effectively." Etc. I was like that and thought the same way. But when you`re forced to live in a situation without a garage and no access to free flowing water and hose then you`re forced to think otherwise. You can`t let your car stay dirty for a month or more right?
The products that are available for each method are:
The amount of water will depend on you. Most people use 3 gallons when they do rinseless washing but I prefer using 4 gallons to add some kind of buffer. Meguiar`s instructs users to add 1oz of solution per 2 gallons of water for normal cleaning or 1oz of solution per 1 gallon of water for extremely dirty cases.
Now, your washing solution has be prepared so it`s time to wash your car. Bring out the bucket along with multiple Meguiar`s Supreme Shine Microfiber Towels out to your car.
I want to mention that it`s important to always keep your wash media clean when using rinseless wash. Also, it`s best to work on a small section or a panel at a time.
To start washing, you need to get your wash media drenched in the rinseless solution and start cleaning the car. Don`t go like a madman and start wiping the entire hood or the entire car in random directions. You need to be very cautious, careful and meticulous about your technique. In the following set of pictures, I`m washing the passenger half of the hood. What I do is tilt the wash media at every stroke exposing a clean part of it. This is shown below:
When done correctly, you`ll have multiple dirt lines in the wash media. One obtained from every stroke. After you`ve clean the entire work area, I like to flip the wash media and run it over the entire section one again to make sure it`s clean. I don`t tend to be as cautious in this step because the area should have already been cleaned from the initial pass. You`re just trying to pick up dirt that`s floating around or may have been missed. Hopefully there aren`t any.
After you`ve done cleaning this area, get your clean Supreme Shine Towel and use it to dry that area.
Now this step is very important to do in order to lessen the chances of scratching your paint finish. After you wash every work area or panel, you need to clean your wash media. What I like to do is to rub the wash media against the grit guard. Here`s a picture of what the wash media looks like after washing half of the hood:
Now you don`t want that dirt to be rubbing against the paint as you move on to the next section right? So after cleaning the wash media against the grit guard, this is how it looks like:
If you have the time and inclination to bring up your paint to a higher level, then you need to use this amazing product! You can wax your entire vehicle in minutes. Simply spray a small amount of product per panel, spread the product using a microfiber towel and buff off any remaining residue with another microfiber towel. Here`s what it looks like:
The procedure for this method is exactly the same as waterless washing with the exception of the amount of dirt this product can handle. This product can only handle very light dust. You use this product when you want to remove light dust after your car`s been driven in a day or two, after your car`s been sitting in a show for a couple of days, and to remove light finger prints and bird bombs.
06-12-2016, 02:21 PM
Marc08EX
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
As a person who was absolutely terrified on using these alternative methods, I want to say that these products work and they work extremely well. The most important thing is that it doesn’t scratch the paint more than your traditional washing method provided you use the right technique and common sense. If you haven’t tried these AMAZING products yet, you need to give them a shot. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.
Here are some before/after shots using the RFEW and UQW:
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Awesome writeup
Thanks for sharing
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
06-12-2016, 07:56 PM
Ronkh
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Great write up. People need to understand rinseless wash. Hope this makes people understand better.
06-13-2016, 04:20 AM
Pats300zx
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Great write up !!!!!!
06-13-2016, 04:57 AM
mjlinane
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Well done!
06-13-2016, 07:27 AM
PA DETAILER
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Awesome write up! I still prefer a traditional wash, but this info is valuable to thoes that can`t do a traditional.
06-13-2016, 08:03 AM
Marc08EX
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Thanks for the compliments guys!!! I appreciate it.
06-13-2016, 08:51 AM
KBsToy
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
I have been on the fence with this but after your excellent article and current sale + auto-connect, time to try it out. My water bill could take a break :)
06-13-2016, 08:52 AM
KBsToy
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronkh
Great write up. People need to understand rinseless wash. Hope this makes people understand better.
Made this senior autopian wake up and smell the water :)
06-13-2016, 08:56 AM
ViperGuy21
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Awesome write up! Truly a great how-to article!
06-13-2016, 10:37 AM
Zelfiris
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Thanks for sharing. Its a great write up.
When I look at the photo of the 4 Meguiar`s products, I feel like I own too many detailing products. In reality, a few products can deliver great results as well.
06-13-2016, 07:53 PM
Marc08EX
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Thanks again for the compliments guys!!! Comments like these are what keep me doing write-ups.
06-14-2016, 12:14 PM
4u2nvinmtl
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
I`ll be sure to email links to this post to friends who always ask me about how to RW and WW.
Excellent write-up!
08-01-2016, 07:31 PM
MobileDetailMN
Re: How To Keep Your Car Looking Its Best Using Alternative Ways To Traditional Washing
Excellent write up! Like others have said, I prefer the traditional methods but if you have to do something quickly in a pinch this is an excellent tutorial to follow. Step-by-step instructions like this would be dynamite for a newbie to follow as well. Again, great job!