ONR Rinseless / Waterless wash (first impressions)

[4u2nvinmtl]

Hey 4u2nvinmtl,

Are you spraying the panels before wiping? Are you drying each section after you done wiping?

For me, I find a lot of time saving from:
- not taking out the hose
- using one bucket instead of two
- not taking out my metro sidekick, so time saving on the drying process (also no after drips)

On the other hand, I spend more time:
- filling my spray bottle with ONR solution
- cleaning 3-5 dirty towels after the process (8 sides to use, usually 3 to clean the paint, one for wheels and one towel to dry)

No, I didn`t spray the car, as it was basically clean. I had washed it on Thursday night drove it once and parked it inside until Sundays ONR test. I still had to pull out the hose to wash the wheels and detail the engine bay. I definitely saved time on the drying but not much again as I had to get a step ladder to reach the roof for my ONR test (typically I just use a brush, I know it`s not the right way, but no one sees the roof).

[4u2nvinmtl]

As I recently posted in another thread....

I`ve been doing rinseless washes off and on with ONR since about 2007 with great success. I say `off and on` because sometimes I foam, pressure wash, 2 bucket wash... In the dead of winter here in upstate NY, I just do the touchless or coin-op pressure wash. I don`t do a rinseless wash by itself if there`s road splash/grit on the paint - this would get hosed or pressure washed (rinsed) off first.

My ONR wash is a bit different. I use a concentrated ONR (about 2 oz. with water in a quart sprayer). My bucket is filled with just warm, fresh rinse water and I use an inexpensive waffle weave towel. I spray a panel liberally, then wipe with my wet ww towel, followed by a dry wipe with an MF towel. I fold the ww towel and rinse as needed. This works great for me and I have never had any signs of marring - the ONR concentration is slick enough and the ww towel captures the grime that slides off with ease. I usually follow with a spray wax like Duragloss Aquawax as a topper.
Bear in mind that although it may not matter, the above is on a finish with a good LSP so in combination with the ONR concentration, the dirt `n grime that did stick, comes off pretty easy. This might not be the case on a neglected beater.

So there it is...a no rinse wash that`s close to a detail spray `n wipe. Now the conventional no rinse method can work, I just like the performance and feel of the concentrated spray method. But like many detail procedures, you have to find your own way because there are many ways to achieve the desired result.

Thanks for the idea. I`ll defiantly try it again as a spray `n wipe and try it with two bucket hybrid wash using a wash pad so my towels don`t get so dirty.

[4u2nvinmtl]

So I took a few pictures of the towels so everyone could see what I`m talking about. Below are pictures of 4 (of 10) of the wash towels I used with ONR. I think the black blotch`s are from break dust or dressings that were wiped up with the ONR wash. These towels were not new by any means and there were a few small stains from past used but not those big blotch`s. I have another towel somewhere that I used flat and you can clearly see one square (1/4) is stained like the towels below (didn`t want to unfold them all just to find that one towel)






Don`t get me wrong I like ONR but I felt like I just retired 10 towels... It`s honestly not a big deal I just thought it was worth mentioning. It`s time to start using my new towels anyway

[Ronkh]

[MiVor]

With my method, you just use one ww towel for each ONR wash (and one mf towel) - yes the ww will stain, but I wash and use them over and over again for years.
(<rhetorical> if you were doing a 2 bucket wet wash, would you use 10 separate wash mitts?)

[jmsc]

4u2:

Those are dirty mf towel stain pics from using ONR. That was my experience also from ONR. Called Optimum TS 2-months ago and was told staining was normal, dirt washes out but stain may remain. No harm. No foul.


1. just curious but whose mfg`s white mf`s are you using?

2. so I switched to Meg #114 RW and do not get staining no matter how clean or dirty my cars are. You may want to trial #114 and see what you experience.

3. I prefer the cleaning and drying aspect of ONR over #114. But, #114 leaves very little or nothing behind, ONR leaves a polymer.

4. because of staining issue and the machine washing of 5-10 towels, I switched from mf back to the original (now 2pack soft yellow) INTEX ProLine sponges from Lowe`s. When the sponges get stained appreciably, I just throw them out.

[4u2nvinmtl]

4u2nv:

Those are dirty mf towel stain pics from using ONR. That was my experience also from ONR. Called Optimum TS 2-months ago and was told staining was normal, dirt washes out but stain may remain. No, harm. No foul.


1. just curious but whose mfg`s white mf`s are you using?

2. so I switched to Meg #114 RW and do not get staining no matter how clean or dirty my cars are. You may want to trial #114 and see what you experience.

3. I prefer the cleaning and drying aspect of ONR over #114. But, #114 leaves very little or nothing behind, ONR leaves a polymer.

4. because of staining issue and the machine washing of 5-10 towels, I switched from mf back to the original (now 2pack soft yellow) INTEX ProLine sponges from Lowe`s. When the sponges get stained appreciably, I just throw them out.

Yeah, I assumed the dirt came out but I wasn`t sure (thanks for the confirmation). I just assumed it was the dressing coming off and staining the towels.

1. The ones in the picture are Chemical Guys boardless towels, but I typically use The Rag Company Eagle Edgeless, or Zaino Borderless Blonde`s.

2. I definitely will try Meguiar`s D114 Rinse Free Express Wash (so far I like all of their products)

3. Yeah, I could do without the polymers in at least one of my riseless washes (also have UWWP and find it streaks a lot when drying)

4. I certainly need some car safe sponges, for my next ONR attempt (might try ONR again today with a new mitt and just use it as a wash pad)

Great tips/advice (including everyone else who commented), thank you!

[The Guz]

You will get faster the more you do it. Save those towels for wheels and tires. No sense in tossing them out. I only used ONR wash & wax and I thought it was ok. Didn`t notice any staining of my towels with it. I have since switched to D114 which works great. It leaves nothing behind (no polymers, wax. etc..). I prefer a rinseless that leaves nothing behind. I typically follow up with something like D156 if I have the need to apply some sort of wax. I notice no staining of my towels with D114.

[Billy Jack]

I do primarily rinseless washes on the family fleet and have come to prefer Meguiar`s microfiber mitt as a wash tool. According to Meguiar`s, it`s a blend of microfiber designed to release most of the dirt with a good shake in the wash bucket. I won`t say it`s perfect, but it`s better at releasing dirt than any microfiber towel I`ve tried. Also, before I dry a panel, I`ll mop up a lot of the water with an MF towel and only then finish with my WW. IMO, the first towel mops up most of the dirty water, making life easier for the final drying pass with a WW towel, or application of a drying aid such as DG Aquawax or Meg`s UQW. I also use a light colored mf, so I can see if I`ve missed a spot with my mitt. I`ll wring it out and use it on subsequent panels, since it`s not necessary that I get the panel bone-dry, since that`s the job of the final WW wipe.
When I`m done, I`ll have only a slightly dirty mitt and a damp, slightly dirty MF to clean. My WW towel can often be hung up to dry for the next use, since it`s usually slightly damp and very rarely dirty.
Not everyone may agree with my method, but it works for me on my fleet, including my black DD.

I will also agree that DG-soaked wash media seems to release dirt better than ONR. Meguiar`s D114 is the best in that respect, but I just prefer the wax content of DG Rinseless or ONRWW.

Bill

[4u2nvinmtl]

I do primarily rinseless washes on the family fleet and have come to prefer Meguiar`s microfiber mitt as a wash tool. According to Meguiar`s, it`s a blend of microfiber designed to release most of the dirt with a good shake in the wash bucket. I won`t say it`s perfect, but it`s better at releasing dirt than any microfiber towel I`ve tried. Also, before I dry a panel, I`ll mop up a lot of the water with an MF towel and only then finish with my WW. IMO, the first towel mops up most of the dirty water, making life easier for the final drying pass with a WW towel, or application of a drying aid such as DG Aquawax or Meg`s UQW. I also use a light colored mf, so I can see if I`ve missed a spot with my mitt. I`ll wring it out and use it on subsequent panels, since it`s not necessary that I get the panel bone-dry, since that`s the job of the final WW wipe.
When I`m done, I`ll have only a slightly dirty mitt and a damp, slightly dirty MF to clean. My WW towel can often be hung up to dry for the next use, since it`s usually slightly damp and very rarely dirty.
Not everyone may agree with my method, but it works for me on my fleet, including my black DD.
I will also agree that DG-soaked wash media seems to release dirt better than ONR. Meguiar`s D114 is the best in that respect, but I just prefer the wax content of DG Rinseless or ONRWW.

Bill

Looks like you covered all my issues with your technique, thanks Bill!

[SF Space Grey]

Why retire the towels or even relegate them to wheel duty? If the stains didn`t come out in the wash, I would think they certainly won`t come off on your paint if you use them again. I also agree with what others here have said about a dirty drying towel. I use ONR only and my drying towel never gets any dirt on it... ideally it should all be picked up by the wash media itself. I also use a chenille wash mitt with the 2 bucket method. Tried a few alternatives and this is my favorite. Holds plenty of solution, plenty of surface area to pick up dirt (noticed your towels weren`t super plush so that might have something to do with leaving dirt behind), releases grit really easily. The mitt gets stained but I don`t see why I should let that bother me.

You can probably tell I`m a big ONR fan. Of course I live in an apartment so not much of a choice.

[Accumulator]

Why retire the towels or even relegate them to wheel duty? If the stains didn`t come out in the wash, I would think they certainly won`t come off on your paint if you use them again....

I`m not afraid to used stained MFs on my paint, but only after I`ve inspected them under magnification to make sure that the stains aren`t something that could cause marring.

I also agree with what others here have said about a dirty drying towel. I use ONR only and my drying towel never gets any dirt on it... ideally it should all be picked up by the wash media itself...

Ideally, yes...but somehow my drying towels still end up getting a little dirty some times. And that`s after my nutty-extreme wash regimen too!