How dirty is too dirty for ONR

Bill1975

New member
I finally started using ONR regularly and love it. However I still do a traditional wash via the two bucket method sometimes if I think the car is too dirty. But, how dirty is too dirty?

In the past I have used it with no pre-soak if the car has been washed within about a week and there was only light surface dust. Otherwise I have started using a presoak.

Currently, my car looks just like the pictures. It stays outside in a carport but has not been washed in three weeks. Is it safe to pre-soak the car then wash? Or does it need to be hit with a pressure washer first?

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No rinse means after not before. If its too dirty for onr its too dirty for a regular car wash. My truck goes to rock quarries from time to time and i rinse it off with the hose and wash it with onr, and for the most part it is marr free.
 
Never used ONR, but have used D114 and Uber.

Are you referring to pre-soak with ONR? Or with water? If you are referring to ONR pre-soak I would always pre-soak.

Looks like moderate pollen/dust on your car. I`d rinseless that, but would prefer a 2 bucket traditional for anything more than light dust or dirt.
 
When I say pre-soak yes I mean a pre-soak with a QD solution of onr.

Otherwise I was thinking of hitting it with a power washer air hose and then a pre-soak with onr.
 
You can pre soak with ONR or if you are not comfortable, rinse off the dirt with a hose and then proceed to an ONR wash.
 
I myself don`t use a rinseless (only) unless it`s just *VERY* light "garage dust". Sooner or later I get marring if I use it on anything truly dirty whereas I can keep vehicles basically marring-free indefinitely with my regular wash regimen.

How much do you care about wash-induced marring? If somebody polishes every now and then anyhow I guess it wouldn`t make any huge difference.
 
Yeah, I won`t do ONR if the surface is looking completely toxic (think winter conditions with salt, snow, sand, etc.). I`ll do as mentioned above: rinse with hose and then move to ONR
 
Some light marring I can live with. By "light" I mean it`s only visible close up with strong lighting. I just purchased this car in May, so I suspect some of the light marring I have noticed was already there. From what I can tell I have not made things any worse from washing. Traditionally I have had a detailer polish my car out once a year or so but I may just buy a polisher and keep up on myself.
 
Bill1975- Despite my "oh, you gotta be sooo extreme about things for good results" mindset, if what you`re doing works for you then there`s no reason to change it.

If you don`t mind letting a Pro do it, then the only potential downside I see to that is no knowing how much clear he`s taking off. And even that might not matter (at least to you) if you replace the vehicle every few years.
 
Well my last car I had for about 11 years and I don`t think he really got into the clear coat that much. Most of the polishing he did was with a DA polisher. I don`t think he really had to use a rotary that much
 
I mostly use ONR now for panel prep during a detail just before a polish to rid it of any light dusting and dirt if I am working outside.
It shouldn`t be used if the level of dirt is more than a quicker detailer can`t handle lets say you can see grains of grit and sand on the panel.
 
I think this has been said before but not certain. If you look at your paint and question whether or not it is safe to ONR/rinseless/waterless, it is probably safest to go with 2 bucket traditional.

Those who are rinseless pros or use it almost exclusively probably have much more confidence in their method/technique. I`m new to rinseless and treat it like the worlds best quick detailer.
 
ONR is safer then a 2 bucket wash. If the paint is gross spray it off first, no where is it preached that ONR removes a hose down prior to being washed.

FWIW garry dean`s stuff is tweaked to work better on salt now. He has a vid somewhere.
 
I wound up playing it safe and did a two bucket wash. I added a bit of ONR to the wash bucket. Not sure if it helped or did anything though.

I think going forward I will hit it with a hose or power washer first if in doubt, otherwise a light presoak might be sufficient.

I have done a few ONR washes on a totally dry car with a small amount on dust. I did get some light marring once, but I suspect it was because I had a separate rinse bucket of just water that may have diluted the wash solution.
 
One of the things I like about waterless and rinseless is not getting water down between the panels, under the mirrors and spoiler, and not feeling rushed to dry the entire car. if I`m going to get the hose out, I stay with the hose (and buckets, etc).

Speaking of pre-rinsing, my ONR method always included misting with ONR first. My thought is that the dirt will be in suspension before I touch the paint with the ONR-soaked mitt or towel. I also like to use distilled water, but I don`t always do it because it adds $2 to the process. But IME, distilled water + ONR makes for a long, leisurely drying experience.
 
One of the things I like about waterless and rinseless is not getting water down between the panels, under the mirrors and spoiler, and not feeling rushed to dry the entire car. if I`m going to get the hose out, I stay with the hose (and buckets, etc).

Speaking of pre-rinsing, my ONR method always included misting with ONR first. My thought is that the dirt will be in suspension before I touch the paint with the ONR-soaked mitt or towel. I also like to use distilled water, but I don`t always do it because it adds $2 to the process. But IME, distilled water + ONR makes for a long, leisurely drying experience.
That $2 could save you 2 hours of frustration later

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One of the things I like about waterless and rinseless is not getting water down between the panels, under the mirrors and spoiler...

How do you clean those areas then? I spend a *LOT* of time doing the nearly inaccessible areas and most of mine seem to turn out best if I use an approach that involves long-bristle BHBs and lots of long-handled swabs (to get down into the tight spots), and then a lot of flushing. Could just be something that varies with the vehicles I supposed...

Bill1975 said:
I like that it makes it easier for me to clean door jambs and under the hood..

Yeah, *as long as* those areas aren`t so dirty that the Rinseless Approach might cause marring, or are areas where a lot of flushing can be beneficial. I`ve been experimenting with BHBs for this and it`s working out better than I`d expected. I almost always do the first passes with conventional shampoo mix, but that`s because I`ll sometimes let things get a bit dirty between washes too (as in, more than many Autopians).

I find my Tornador Black, loaded with IUDJ mix, works great for the final passes in areas like those, that`s primarily all I end up using it for. Still end up using a Drying Towel, but not as much given the Tornador`s ability to blow things mostly dry.
 
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