XSSIVE
New member
I've become a waterless wash addict and use it constantly. My garage queen goes for a drive on a nice day, comes home gets waterlessed and covered back up in the garage. Even my daily hasn't seen a hose in 6 months. So since I've been using so much of it I decided to test a few out to find my personal favorite. For quite a while I was using Chemical Guys Ecosmart RU with no real complaints but was curious if there was better out there.
So for the comparison I tried.
Adam's waterless wash
Detailers Pro (DP) waterless wash concentrate
Chemical Guys Ecosmart RU
Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ (UWW+) concentrate
Pinnacle waterless wash concentrate
Meguiar's D115 Detailer Rinse Free Express Wash and Wax concentrate
First I might as well break down cost for the versions of the products I'm using. Some have other options like ready to use or concentrate. To keep things less confusing I'll just cover the exact ones I used and the optional container sizes of that ready to use or concentrate.
Adam's = $9.95 for 16oz, $39.95 for 1 gallon (ready to use)
DP = $19.99 for 32oz, $34.99 for 1 gallon (concentrate)
CG Ecosmart RU = $9.99 16oz, $24.99 1 gallon (ready to use)
UWW+ = $19.99 16oz, $99.99 1 gallon (concentrate)
Pinnacle = $19.99 16oz, $49.99 64oz, $69.99 1 gallon (concentrate)
D115 = $19.99 32oz, $59.99 1 gallon
As seen in the picture all products were used in the same style Chemical Guys spray bottle with the same style spray head aside from the Adam's so in that area the playing field was mostly even since the grey, white and orange sprayers (same style different color) are quite good at putting out a nice even mist.
My testing has been done over several months on my garage queen car a 2013 White VW Golf R which its main layer of product is Pinnacle Souveran paste and my 2007 Silver Dodge Nitro R/T which was just treated to some Sonax Polymer net shield making it a perfect platform for slickness testing since Net Shield has zero slickness on its own.
So here we go...
Adam's waterless wash leaves a lot to be desired when compared to the other four products in my testing. It costs the most and it does the least. It has no added wax or polymer to add gloss, slickness or a bit of protection behind after it's used. Adam's says, "It also has no gloss enhancers, so it leaves your paint clean but not glossy. Follow the Adam's Waterless Car Wash with Adam's Detail Spray to enhance the gloss!". So you essentially need to do the same job twice of spraying a product on and wiping it off if you want to add some gloss, slickness and shine after waterless washing by following it with a detail spray. It feels perfectly safe to use giving good lubrication as you gently wipe over the panel helping the towel glide and feel as if it's safely lifting off the dirt and not grinding it into the paint. I do however advise NOT using the waffle weave towel they say to use with it. A thicker more plush long fiber microfiber towel in the 600-700gsm range is a far safer choice for waterless washing since it will trap the dirt and dust in the long soft fibers where the waffle has no where to put the dirt and just drags it across the paint. The paint after use is just as they say it will be, clean with no added gloss which is perfectly fine since it did its job, but at the same time a bit of a letdown that it couldn't do some shine or slickness enhancing like all the competitors products do. The scent is a pleasant green apple.
Detailers Pro waterless wash is a step above Adam's in that it is "formulated to clean well while it protects the paint with slicker shine-enhancing polymers" so it does leave some slickness and shine behind after doing the dirty work. However while in use it actually feels the least slick of them all, a bit like slightly slick water. It's much more watery feeling than any of the others. Meaning at its proper dilution ratio it seems like the ratio is too light and could use more concentrate added to the water to increase the safe lifting, cleaning and easy gliding towel feel while in use along with it being light on slickness left behind. It doesn't feel unsafe to use but it certainly doesn't feel as safe as any of the others I tested. You don't get the reassure gliding feel of the towel and the releasing of the dirt from the paint feel others give you. It feels more like you're mopping up a lot of water with a bit of slickness to it. The shine and slickness left behind places it one step above Adam's since there is some but below all the others since it's nothing all that impressive in either category. The scent is actually nothing all that good either, smells a bit like crayons actually.
Chemical Guys Ecosmart RU was the second waterless wash I tried after being bummed out about Adam's lack of slickness and shine left behind after use. I decided to go with RU to make life easy and not have to bother with mixing concentrates and distilled water. Since I'm only dealing with two cars the cost factor wasn't an issue. Ecosmart takes things to the other extreme when compared to Adam's in that it has so much wax in it (listed as "the highest blend of carnauba wax and sealants" on the CG site) that it settles to the bottom requiring vigorous shaking before use and also requiring an extra bit of buffing after use to remove the wax left behind. It doesn't require spray wax levels of effort to buff off but enough to note it since it's just a bit more than the other four waterless products in the test. It feels very safe while in use like whatever polymers and waxes in there are helping lift dirt off the car and letting the towel glide. It feels like an actual product has been sprayed on the paint and not an over watered down slippery additive to mostly water. The extra effort to remove the wax left behind will of course make a waterless wash just a bit longer but were' talking a few minutes nothing earth shattering. It leaves quite a nice shine and amount of slickness behind thanks to that seemingly large amount of wax in it so the extra buffing effort isn't a total waste of effort. It smells very good like green apple but slightly different than the Adam's green apple it's more subtle and cleaner scent and a bit less sweet and overly fruity.
Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ seems to be everyone's go to favorite waterless thanks to its crazy good cost to product amount ratio and the fact that it works very well. UWW+ feels better to use than Adam's, DP and may be just a tiny bit less comforting in the fact that it's safely lifting things off the paint and letting the towel glide across the surface than Ecosmart but it's a tiny nearly irrelevant margin between them and only something you'd feel if you did one panel with one product and the next with the other (which I've done with all these products I should note, washed my truck with all 5 one day breaking it into sections for each product). On that note it does feel safe to use with no feeling of it being overly watery like DP does which is remarkable considering how little of it is needed to make up a bottle. It's polymers and poly charger boosting surely help with that. If I'm not mistaken it's 1/2oz into 22oz bottle as listed on the label makes it a 40:1 ratio which blows the others out of the water in that respect. Thus why it's cost to amount of product ratio makes it the king in the cost comparison. The slickness left behind is quite impressive as is the bit of gloss enhancement. Even on my silver truck I was able to notice reflections that were just a bit wetter and clearer looking than before when the panel just had Net Shield on it. Its scent reminds me of Mint Mylanta antacid. Not a bad scent but I can't help but think of Mylanta every time I use it haha.
Pinnacle was one I was very curious about trying to see how it would stack up to UWW+ and Ecosmart being that it's carnauba based with polymers "to help encapsulate dirt, dust pollen, road grime and other air-borne pollution and safely remove them..." yet it's not as crazy wax heavy as Ecosmart to the point where solids rest at the bottom needing extra shaking. It feels quite similar to UWW+ when using it. It gives a sense that it's safely removing the dirt and dust while again being just a tiny bit more watery feeling than Ecosmart in this area yet the towel still glides along smooth and doesn't feel like it's just mopping up plain water. The shine left behind is also quite similar to UWW+ with a nice added wet look and clarity not sure if it's all that much warmer than UWW+ being that it's carnauba based but it certainly added a wetness over the Net Shielded truck like UWW+ did too. The slickness may just edge out UWW+ by a tiny margin which you can just about feel if you do side by side panels and slide from one to the next. If you do a front fender with UWW+ and an opposing side rear quarter with Pinnacle and try to judge the slickness by the time you walk from front to back and around the car odds are you're going to think they're the same in this area. It's scent reminds me of the 80's when I was a little kid (born in 1981) and more people wore sun tan lotion than sun block haha it has a Hawaiian Tropic scent to it like most Pinnacle products do and is coconutty.
Last but CERTAINLY not least the (IMO) game changer, Meguiar's hit it out of the park with D115 and it will be my new go to waterless wash product once I blow through the absurd amount of other products I have (unless someone wants to trade some D115 for some Ecosmart, DP, UWW+ and Pinnacle haha) . At first I wasn't going to bother trying it but read a favorable review and figured I'd give it a shot. I used it at 4:1 ratio where they say it can be diluted up to 20:1 depending on the conditions you're working in. My cars are almost always waterless washed in the garage and the paint is cool so the full 4:1 is what I used. It has the most confidence inspiring feeling when in use that it's actually loosening, lifting and encapsulating the dirt and dust not just wetting it for you to mop up. The towel glides over it real easy and all the dirt, dust and product is removed from the panel in less wipes and follow up buffing with a dedicated dry towel than the other products. While it is a wash and wax it's level of wax isn't like Ecosmart where it settles to the bottom but it seems like quite a bit more than Pinnacle for example. The shine left behind will just edge out all its competitors but in this area you'll have to do two panels side by side and really look hard, tilt your head and scrutinize with the eye of a truly neurotic nit picking detailer (so, most of you who have actually read this absurdly long comparison haha) to notice any slight edge it has over UWW+ and Pinnacle but I think it does have a little bit of an edge here. Like how I mentioned with the slickness test between UWW+ and Pinnacle if you did different sides of the car with this and UWW+ odds are you wouldn't see a difference in shine by time you walked to the other side and you'd spend 15 minutes walking around the car in circles swearing you thought something looked different haha. Slickness, well let's put it this way, I'm a slick paint junkie and it's one of my favorite things about detailing and such a rewarding feeling. So how did D115 do compared to the others? The first time I sprayed it on my hood, wiped it off, buffed over with a dry towel (how I always waterless wash having a second dry towel) then ran the back of my fingers over it I honestly said "holy s#it" out loud, it out slicks them all. You're not going to hesitate and question if it's slicker like can happen between UWW+ and Pinnacle it's unforgettably slicker. The safer feeling while in use and the slickness left behind were enough to get me to call it my new favorite. The scent is also the best of the bunch too as a bonus, sort of a lightly clean and fruity scent leaning mostly towards blueberry I think.
So if you can't tell by now my photo at the start is of them in the order I like them in from right to left, best to least best (none are so bad that they really deserve being called worst). I will however say that Pinnacle and UWW+ are pretty much a tie in terms of in use and after use look and feel so you could flip the order between them and I wouldn't argue. UWW+ of course stomps on everyone in terms of cost so if that's a factor it's still a great one to stick with. Adam's unfortunately is the flop of the bunch with the highest price and no bonus of slickness or shine like every other waterless product out there adds but it does clean the car safely and well so it does what it says it will no questioning that. DP was a bit lackluster when compared to the other shine and slickness adders in the group and also not overly confidence inspiring while in use, very watery not enough slip and lift feeling. Ecosmart is a nice middle of the road and while the extra wax requiring a bit of extra buffing may be a nuisance to some it may be more confidence inspiring to another person that there really was wax in the product and not just some BS from a company. Guess it depends on how you look at it. D115 is my personal favorite and to me wins in every category other than cost (can't top UWW+ there) it feel safe and slick while in use, removes easy with no extra buffing or mopping up of loads of left behind water, leaves a nice bit of shine and feels real slick all while smelling great. Even the clean looking milky blue color of the product is nice if you really want to nitpick unimportant details haha.
Unfortunately since I've been doing this testing over a decent timeframe I haven't always remembered to take pics and to be real honest my cars are never dirty enough for a photograph to show a change that would just barely be noticeable in person. They're both high polished and any products used on top only adds tiny amounts of wetness, gloss, reflection clarity or anything like that. I shoot for slickness as a good judging point to help differentiate between things like waterless wash and quick detail sprays since when dealing with two highly polish light color vehicles added depth and shine is tough to notice in person and impossible to capture in a photo. I do have a few quick phone pics of my truck after various washes were used if I noticed something reflecting well or anything like that.
D115 on the hood...
Pinnacle on the rear quarter...
My VW reflecting in the trucks fender, UWW+...
So for the comparison I tried.
Adam's waterless wash
Detailers Pro (DP) waterless wash concentrate
Chemical Guys Ecosmart RU
Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ (UWW+) concentrate
Pinnacle waterless wash concentrate
Meguiar's D115 Detailer Rinse Free Express Wash and Wax concentrate
First I might as well break down cost for the versions of the products I'm using. Some have other options like ready to use or concentrate. To keep things less confusing I'll just cover the exact ones I used and the optional container sizes of that ready to use or concentrate.
Adam's = $9.95 for 16oz, $39.95 for 1 gallon (ready to use)
DP = $19.99 for 32oz, $34.99 for 1 gallon (concentrate)
CG Ecosmart RU = $9.99 16oz, $24.99 1 gallon (ready to use)
UWW+ = $19.99 16oz, $99.99 1 gallon (concentrate)
Pinnacle = $19.99 16oz, $49.99 64oz, $69.99 1 gallon (concentrate)
D115 = $19.99 32oz, $59.99 1 gallon
As seen in the picture all products were used in the same style Chemical Guys spray bottle with the same style spray head aside from the Adam's so in that area the playing field was mostly even since the grey, white and orange sprayers (same style different color) are quite good at putting out a nice even mist.
My testing has been done over several months on my garage queen car a 2013 White VW Golf R which its main layer of product is Pinnacle Souveran paste and my 2007 Silver Dodge Nitro R/T which was just treated to some Sonax Polymer net shield making it a perfect platform for slickness testing since Net Shield has zero slickness on its own.
So here we go...
Adam's waterless wash leaves a lot to be desired when compared to the other four products in my testing. It costs the most and it does the least. It has no added wax or polymer to add gloss, slickness or a bit of protection behind after it's used. Adam's says, "It also has no gloss enhancers, so it leaves your paint clean but not glossy. Follow the Adam's Waterless Car Wash with Adam's Detail Spray to enhance the gloss!". So you essentially need to do the same job twice of spraying a product on and wiping it off if you want to add some gloss, slickness and shine after waterless washing by following it with a detail spray. It feels perfectly safe to use giving good lubrication as you gently wipe over the panel helping the towel glide and feel as if it's safely lifting off the dirt and not grinding it into the paint. I do however advise NOT using the waffle weave towel they say to use with it. A thicker more plush long fiber microfiber towel in the 600-700gsm range is a far safer choice for waterless washing since it will trap the dirt and dust in the long soft fibers where the waffle has no where to put the dirt and just drags it across the paint. The paint after use is just as they say it will be, clean with no added gloss which is perfectly fine since it did its job, but at the same time a bit of a letdown that it couldn't do some shine or slickness enhancing like all the competitors products do. The scent is a pleasant green apple.
Detailers Pro waterless wash is a step above Adam's in that it is "formulated to clean well while it protects the paint with slicker shine-enhancing polymers" so it does leave some slickness and shine behind after doing the dirty work. However while in use it actually feels the least slick of them all, a bit like slightly slick water. It's much more watery feeling than any of the others. Meaning at its proper dilution ratio it seems like the ratio is too light and could use more concentrate added to the water to increase the safe lifting, cleaning and easy gliding towel feel while in use along with it being light on slickness left behind. It doesn't feel unsafe to use but it certainly doesn't feel as safe as any of the others I tested. You don't get the reassure gliding feel of the towel and the releasing of the dirt from the paint feel others give you. It feels more like you're mopping up a lot of water with a bit of slickness to it. The shine and slickness left behind places it one step above Adam's since there is some but below all the others since it's nothing all that impressive in either category. The scent is actually nothing all that good either, smells a bit like crayons actually.
Chemical Guys Ecosmart RU was the second waterless wash I tried after being bummed out about Adam's lack of slickness and shine left behind after use. I decided to go with RU to make life easy and not have to bother with mixing concentrates and distilled water. Since I'm only dealing with two cars the cost factor wasn't an issue. Ecosmart takes things to the other extreme when compared to Adam's in that it has so much wax in it (listed as "the highest blend of carnauba wax and sealants" on the CG site) that it settles to the bottom requiring vigorous shaking before use and also requiring an extra bit of buffing after use to remove the wax left behind. It doesn't require spray wax levels of effort to buff off but enough to note it since it's just a bit more than the other four waterless products in the test. It feels very safe while in use like whatever polymers and waxes in there are helping lift dirt off the car and letting the towel glide. It feels like an actual product has been sprayed on the paint and not an over watered down slippery additive to mostly water. The extra effort to remove the wax left behind will of course make a waterless wash just a bit longer but were' talking a few minutes nothing earth shattering. It leaves quite a nice shine and amount of slickness behind thanks to that seemingly large amount of wax in it so the extra buffing effort isn't a total waste of effort. It smells very good like green apple but slightly different than the Adam's green apple it's more subtle and cleaner scent and a bit less sweet and overly fruity.
Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ seems to be everyone's go to favorite waterless thanks to its crazy good cost to product amount ratio and the fact that it works very well. UWW+ feels better to use than Adam's, DP and may be just a tiny bit less comforting in the fact that it's safely lifting things off the paint and letting the towel glide across the surface than Ecosmart but it's a tiny nearly irrelevant margin between them and only something you'd feel if you did one panel with one product and the next with the other (which I've done with all these products I should note, washed my truck with all 5 one day breaking it into sections for each product). On that note it does feel safe to use with no feeling of it being overly watery like DP does which is remarkable considering how little of it is needed to make up a bottle. It's polymers and poly charger boosting surely help with that. If I'm not mistaken it's 1/2oz into 22oz bottle as listed on the label makes it a 40:1 ratio which blows the others out of the water in that respect. Thus why it's cost to amount of product ratio makes it the king in the cost comparison. The slickness left behind is quite impressive as is the bit of gloss enhancement. Even on my silver truck I was able to notice reflections that were just a bit wetter and clearer looking than before when the panel just had Net Shield on it. Its scent reminds me of Mint Mylanta antacid. Not a bad scent but I can't help but think of Mylanta every time I use it haha.
Pinnacle was one I was very curious about trying to see how it would stack up to UWW+ and Ecosmart being that it's carnauba based with polymers "to help encapsulate dirt, dust pollen, road grime and other air-borne pollution and safely remove them..." yet it's not as crazy wax heavy as Ecosmart to the point where solids rest at the bottom needing extra shaking. It feels quite similar to UWW+ when using it. It gives a sense that it's safely removing the dirt and dust while again being just a tiny bit more watery feeling than Ecosmart in this area yet the towel still glides along smooth and doesn't feel like it's just mopping up plain water. The shine left behind is also quite similar to UWW+ with a nice added wet look and clarity not sure if it's all that much warmer than UWW+ being that it's carnauba based but it certainly added a wetness over the Net Shielded truck like UWW+ did too. The slickness may just edge out UWW+ by a tiny margin which you can just about feel if you do side by side panels and slide from one to the next. If you do a front fender with UWW+ and an opposing side rear quarter with Pinnacle and try to judge the slickness by the time you walk from front to back and around the car odds are you're going to think they're the same in this area. It's scent reminds me of the 80's when I was a little kid (born in 1981) and more people wore sun tan lotion than sun block haha it has a Hawaiian Tropic scent to it like most Pinnacle products do and is coconutty.
Last but CERTAINLY not least the (IMO) game changer, Meguiar's hit it out of the park with D115 and it will be my new go to waterless wash product once I blow through the absurd amount of other products I have (unless someone wants to trade some D115 for some Ecosmart, DP, UWW+ and Pinnacle haha) . At first I wasn't going to bother trying it but read a favorable review and figured I'd give it a shot. I used it at 4:1 ratio where they say it can be diluted up to 20:1 depending on the conditions you're working in. My cars are almost always waterless washed in the garage and the paint is cool so the full 4:1 is what I used. It has the most confidence inspiring feeling when in use that it's actually loosening, lifting and encapsulating the dirt and dust not just wetting it for you to mop up. The towel glides over it real easy and all the dirt, dust and product is removed from the panel in less wipes and follow up buffing with a dedicated dry towel than the other products. While it is a wash and wax it's level of wax isn't like Ecosmart where it settles to the bottom but it seems like quite a bit more than Pinnacle for example. The shine left behind will just edge out all its competitors but in this area you'll have to do two panels side by side and really look hard, tilt your head and scrutinize with the eye of a truly neurotic nit picking detailer (so, most of you who have actually read this absurdly long comparison haha) to notice any slight edge it has over UWW+ and Pinnacle but I think it does have a little bit of an edge here. Like how I mentioned with the slickness test between UWW+ and Pinnacle if you did different sides of the car with this and UWW+ odds are you wouldn't see a difference in shine by time you walked to the other side and you'd spend 15 minutes walking around the car in circles swearing you thought something looked different haha. Slickness, well let's put it this way, I'm a slick paint junkie and it's one of my favorite things about detailing and such a rewarding feeling. So how did D115 do compared to the others? The first time I sprayed it on my hood, wiped it off, buffed over with a dry towel (how I always waterless wash having a second dry towel) then ran the back of my fingers over it I honestly said "holy s#it" out loud, it out slicks them all. You're not going to hesitate and question if it's slicker like can happen between UWW+ and Pinnacle it's unforgettably slicker. The safer feeling while in use and the slickness left behind were enough to get me to call it my new favorite. The scent is also the best of the bunch too as a bonus, sort of a lightly clean and fruity scent leaning mostly towards blueberry I think.
So if you can't tell by now my photo at the start is of them in the order I like them in from right to left, best to least best (none are so bad that they really deserve being called worst). I will however say that Pinnacle and UWW+ are pretty much a tie in terms of in use and after use look and feel so you could flip the order between them and I wouldn't argue. UWW+ of course stomps on everyone in terms of cost so if that's a factor it's still a great one to stick with. Adam's unfortunately is the flop of the bunch with the highest price and no bonus of slickness or shine like every other waterless product out there adds but it does clean the car safely and well so it does what it says it will no questioning that. DP was a bit lackluster when compared to the other shine and slickness adders in the group and also not overly confidence inspiring while in use, very watery not enough slip and lift feeling. Ecosmart is a nice middle of the road and while the extra wax requiring a bit of extra buffing may be a nuisance to some it may be more confidence inspiring to another person that there really was wax in the product and not just some BS from a company. Guess it depends on how you look at it. D115 is my personal favorite and to me wins in every category other than cost (can't top UWW+ there) it feel safe and slick while in use, removes easy with no extra buffing or mopping up of loads of left behind water, leaves a nice bit of shine and feels real slick all while smelling great. Even the clean looking milky blue color of the product is nice if you really want to nitpick unimportant details haha.
Unfortunately since I've been doing this testing over a decent timeframe I haven't always remembered to take pics and to be real honest my cars are never dirty enough for a photograph to show a change that would just barely be noticeable in person. They're both high polished and any products used on top only adds tiny amounts of wetness, gloss, reflection clarity or anything like that. I shoot for slickness as a good judging point to help differentiate between things like waterless wash and quick detail sprays since when dealing with two highly polish light color vehicles added depth and shine is tough to notice in person and impossible to capture in a photo. I do have a few quick phone pics of my truck after various washes were used if I noticed something reflecting well or anything like that.
D115 on the hood...
Pinnacle on the rear quarter...
My VW reflecting in the trucks fender, UWW+...
- very reasonable at 32.99 for a gallon too...but excellent review man so you like the megs stuff?? Wonder how it compares to their Utlimate W&W I have that now (milky white) it works great too.
