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For those who are still on the fence about rinseless/waterless washing/....
The two-bucket wash method has been preached for a long time and it has been the defacto washing process among car enthusiasts for many, many years. But with the advent of new microencapsulating technology we've seen a big swing toward rinseless and waterless washing processes. But old habits die hard and these new methods can seem almost crazy at first and it often takes a while for a car owner to wrap their head around the process. After all, if we've had the two-bucket method hammered into our collective consciousness as the only way to safely get loose contaminants off the paint without scratching, how the heck do you accomplish that with less than a gallon of water? Or crazier yet, with less than half a spray bottle full of product? It just doesn't sound safe at all.
Change is hard. Altering your reality is even harder. Totally changing your methodology and belief system takes a whole new leap of faith! Yes, we're still talking car care here even if is staring to sound slightly existential.
Let's look first at how these products differ from traditional car wash shampoos as the chemistry here is really what makes these two processes work. And work both effectively and safely.
Traditional car shampoos provide both lubrication to the surface and surfactants that break the surface tension between the dirt and paint surface, allowing it to be removed more readily. Gloss enhancers/conditioners may be added, and in some cases a soluble or dispersed wax may be added as well.
When you move into the realm of rinseless/waterless products there are changes to the type of surfactants used. Specific types of pH neutral cleaning surfactants, ones that are better at dirt dispersal, are added and/or substituted for more traditional and simple surfactants. Other ingredients are included that enhance lubricity. Obviously we can't divulge too much about the actual formulations here but suffice to say that surfactants, detergents and cleaning agents all come in a variety of forms that act in different ways on different types of dirt and soiling. Some are better at releasing dirt from within the confines of a fabric weave (something we don't need to be concerned with when washing the exterior of a car, of course) while others are gentle enough for use on your skin and others still are powerful degreasers. They all fall into these three basic categories, but as with anything else in life they encompass a very broad spectrum of chemical makeup. It's sort of similar to how you can describe any automobile with the same basic small set of descriptors, yet nobody is going to confuse a Yugo with a Formula 1 race car. Both are powered by internal combustion engines and a multi gear ratio transmission directing power to a pair of drive wheels. Both ride on 4 rubber tires, and are controlled by a driver who utilizes a steering wheel to control direction of travel and a series of pedals to initiate or halt forward progress. So, yes, that Yugo and the F1 car are basically the same thing, really. And yet........
With traditional car wash soaps the formulations are designed in such a way that they make use of relatively large quantities of water to flood the surface and aid in cleaning. Water in and of itself is a pretty darn good cleaner but it's not great with lubricity and other characteristics we want when washing sensitive paint surfaces. The shampoo works great for adding these characteristics to the water, but of course your technique is critical when using this mix to wash a car. We all know about the two bucket wash method, using Grit Guards, quality microfiber wash mitts and drying towels, etc. Technique, even with two buckets, is still critically important.
Moving to a rinseless or waterless wash really puts an emphasis on technique and quality of towels used. Whether you're using a waterless wash like Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere or D115 Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax, or you're using a rinseless wash like D114 Rinse Free Express Wash, your choice of towels and how you move them over the paint is of the utmost importance. We've outlined the basics of this in this thread, and our Quik Tips Video on UWWA shows some techniques as well. We keep a bucket of D114 mixed up in our Training Garage, and I personally keep one mixed at home. The rinseless process varies from the waterless process primarily in that you're pulling a wet towel out of a bucket and wiping it across the paint surface rather than using a dry towel and wetting the paint surface with a spray bottle. Theoretically, you can use any of these products both ways. We won't get into the actual techniques in this post as they've been discussed in depth elsewhere on the forum. What we really aim to accomplish here is to put your mind at ease that, when done correctly, these process are totally safe for the paint. We know that a lot of people really struggle to wrap their head around this..... it really is a massive shift in thinking.
We've done plenty of demonstrations of these processes in our Saturday Classes, but unfortunately those demos are almost always on paint that is full of swirls so it doesn't really show how safe the process is.
And that's where my wife's car comes in!! We all know that non metallic black paint is the hardest color to.....well..... to live with. It's tough to get it looking almost defect free, tough to keep just looking clean and free from dust, and tough to maintain so that it remains at a very high level. In a very close second place is non metallic red as it, too, shows virtually everything. Haze from polishing, dust, swirls, fine scratches, streaking.... you name it, red will show it almost as readily as black. And my wife's car is painted in Chevrolet Victory Red; a fantastically deep and rich shade of non metallic red if ever there was such a thing. And for the past 15 months the only way this car has been washed is with either a waterless process using D115, or a rinseless process using D114. In those 15 months it's seen plenty of rain (yes, even here in SoCal), been driven on long haul freeway trips, left unwashed (intentionally) for as much as three weeks at a time, driven on a few dirt roads, etc. Basically, it's been used like a daily driver is typically used. And after 15 months of washing without ever pulling out the hose and bucket, this is how the paint looks on various panels in direct sunlight.
Smack dab in the middle of the hood, complete with palm tree reflections around the sun.
Top of the roof, with a small cloud and those palm trees.
The rear spoiler, a composite piece rather than the steel found on the main body panels.
Rear quarter panel, with palm trees still visible.
The whole car. That red hose, by the way, is an air hose from my compressor, not a garden/water hose. The car had just been washed in the garage using D114 Rinse Free Express Wash, and the process left enough water in some trim pieces that blowing it out was easiest, plus I had washed the wheels and I always use compressed air to dry wheels.
Very recently at a Saturday Class we got lucky and were able to demo D114 on a really dirty black car with paint that was known to be in great shape under all the dirt and road grime. The car had been brought to a TNOG session a few weeks prior and we buffed out the hood to give the owner a chance to find the best process to fully detail the car. He then took off on a 1200 mile road trip with the car, subjecting it to all the things one would expect a 1200 mile road trip to throw at you. It not only sat outside the whole time of the trip, it then sat outside for another week, just sort of baking in the SoCal sun - a week were temps routinely pushed triple digits every day. A recipe for rinseless washing disaster? Nope.
Here is the crusted on evidence of the road trip.
With some D114 mixed up in a bucket of water, we dropped some folded microfiber towels into the mix, readied a Water Magnet drying towel, and got to work.
Straight line wipes with the towel, never letting the dirty edge back in contact with the paint and never putting the dirty towel back in the bucket. On a really dirty surface it's a good idea to pre treat the surface by spraying some of the D114 mixture onto the paint first, then wiping with the towel.
When finished cleaning the hood, we threw a spot light on that black paint and looked for swirls. See 'em? Nope, because there aren't any.
So, if you're still on the fence about waterless or rinseless washing, or if you're just flat out terrified at the thought, relax. Take a deep breath, and give it a go. It's fast, it's easy, it's safe, it conserves water, it can be done inside your garage or under a car port. You can do it the parking lot of your apartment complex or even the hotel you're staying at on your next road trip. Just remember to use good technique and plenty of clean, high quality microfiber towels. They'll wash up great in the laundry and be ready for their next use.
The two-bucket wash method has been preached for a long time and it has been the defacto washing process among car enthusiasts for many, many years. But with the advent of new microencapsulating technology we've seen a big swing toward rinseless and waterless washing processes. But old habits die hard and these new methods can seem almost crazy at first and it often takes a while for a car owner to wrap their head around the process. After all, if we've had the two-bucket method hammered into our collective consciousness as the only way to safely get loose contaminants off the paint without scratching, how the heck do you accomplish that with less than a gallon of water? Or crazier yet, with less than half a spray bottle full of product? It just doesn't sound safe at all.
Change is hard. Altering your reality is even harder. Totally changing your methodology and belief system takes a whole new leap of faith! Yes, we're still talking car care here even if is staring to sound slightly existential.
Let's look first at how these products differ from traditional car wash shampoos as the chemistry here is really what makes these two processes work. And work both effectively and safely.
Traditional car shampoos provide both lubrication to the surface and surfactants that break the surface tension between the dirt and paint surface, allowing it to be removed more readily. Gloss enhancers/conditioners may be added, and in some cases a soluble or dispersed wax may be added as well.
When you move into the realm of rinseless/waterless products there are changes to the type of surfactants used. Specific types of pH neutral cleaning surfactants, ones that are better at dirt dispersal, are added and/or substituted for more traditional and simple surfactants. Other ingredients are included that enhance lubricity. Obviously we can't divulge too much about the actual formulations here but suffice to say that surfactants, detergents and cleaning agents all come in a variety of forms that act in different ways on different types of dirt and soiling. Some are better at releasing dirt from within the confines of a fabric weave (something we don't need to be concerned with when washing the exterior of a car, of course) while others are gentle enough for use on your skin and others still are powerful degreasers. They all fall into these three basic categories, but as with anything else in life they encompass a very broad spectrum of chemical makeup. It's sort of similar to how you can describe any automobile with the same basic small set of descriptors, yet nobody is going to confuse a Yugo with a Formula 1 race car. Both are powered by internal combustion engines and a multi gear ratio transmission directing power to a pair of drive wheels. Both ride on 4 rubber tires, and are controlled by a driver who utilizes a steering wheel to control direction of travel and a series of pedals to initiate or halt forward progress. So, yes, that Yugo and the F1 car are basically the same thing, really. And yet........
With traditional car wash soaps the formulations are designed in such a way that they make use of relatively large quantities of water to flood the surface and aid in cleaning. Water in and of itself is a pretty darn good cleaner but it's not great with lubricity and other characteristics we want when washing sensitive paint surfaces. The shampoo works great for adding these characteristics to the water, but of course your technique is critical when using this mix to wash a car. We all know about the two bucket wash method, using Grit Guards, quality microfiber wash mitts and drying towels, etc. Technique, even with two buckets, is still critically important.
Moving to a rinseless or waterless wash really puts an emphasis on technique and quality of towels used. Whether you're using a waterless wash like Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere or D115 Rinse Free Express Wash & Wax, or you're using a rinseless wash like D114 Rinse Free Express Wash, your choice of towels and how you move them over the paint is of the utmost importance. We've outlined the basics of this in this thread, and our Quik Tips Video on UWWA shows some techniques as well. We keep a bucket of D114 mixed up in our Training Garage, and I personally keep one mixed at home. The rinseless process varies from the waterless process primarily in that you're pulling a wet towel out of a bucket and wiping it across the paint surface rather than using a dry towel and wetting the paint surface with a spray bottle. Theoretically, you can use any of these products both ways. We won't get into the actual techniques in this post as they've been discussed in depth elsewhere on the forum. What we really aim to accomplish here is to put your mind at ease that, when done correctly, these process are totally safe for the paint. We know that a lot of people really struggle to wrap their head around this..... it really is a massive shift in thinking.
We've done plenty of demonstrations of these processes in our Saturday Classes, but unfortunately those demos are almost always on paint that is full of swirls so it doesn't really show how safe the process is.
And that's where my wife's car comes in!! We all know that non metallic black paint is the hardest color to.....well..... to live with. It's tough to get it looking almost defect free, tough to keep just looking clean and free from dust, and tough to maintain so that it remains at a very high level. In a very close second place is non metallic red as it, too, shows virtually everything. Haze from polishing, dust, swirls, fine scratches, streaking.... you name it, red will show it almost as readily as black. And my wife's car is painted in Chevrolet Victory Red; a fantastically deep and rich shade of non metallic red if ever there was such a thing. And for the past 15 months the only way this car has been washed is with either a waterless process using D115, or a rinseless process using D114. In those 15 months it's seen plenty of rain (yes, even here in SoCal), been driven on long haul freeway trips, left unwashed (intentionally) for as much as three weeks at a time, driven on a few dirt roads, etc. Basically, it's been used like a daily driver is typically used. And after 15 months of washing without ever pulling out the hose and bucket, this is how the paint looks on various panels in direct sunlight.
Smack dab in the middle of the hood, complete with palm tree reflections around the sun.
Top of the roof, with a small cloud and those palm trees.
The rear spoiler, a composite piece rather than the steel found on the main body panels.
Rear quarter panel, with palm trees still visible.
The whole car. That red hose, by the way, is an air hose from my compressor, not a garden/water hose. The car had just been washed in the garage using D114 Rinse Free Express Wash, and the process left enough water in some trim pieces that blowing it out was easiest, plus I had washed the wheels and I always use compressed air to dry wheels.
Very recently at a Saturday Class we got lucky and were able to demo D114 on a really dirty black car with paint that was known to be in great shape under all the dirt and road grime. The car had been brought to a TNOG session a few weeks prior and we buffed out the hood to give the owner a chance to find the best process to fully detail the car. He then took off on a 1200 mile road trip with the car, subjecting it to all the things one would expect a 1200 mile road trip to throw at you. It not only sat outside the whole time of the trip, it then sat outside for another week, just sort of baking in the SoCal sun - a week were temps routinely pushed triple digits every day. A recipe for rinseless washing disaster? Nope.
Here is the crusted on evidence of the road trip.
With some D114 mixed up in a bucket of water, we dropped some folded microfiber towels into the mix, readied a Water Magnet drying towel, and got to work.
Straight line wipes with the towel, never letting the dirty edge back in contact with the paint and never putting the dirty towel back in the bucket. On a really dirty surface it's a good idea to pre treat the surface by spraying some of the D114 mixture onto the paint first, then wiping with the towel.
When finished cleaning the hood, we threw a spot light on that black paint and looked for swirls. See 'em? Nope, because there aren't any.
So, if you're still on the fence about waterless or rinseless washing, or if you're just flat out terrified at the thought, relax. Take a deep breath, and give it a go. It's fast, it's easy, it's safe, it conserves water, it can be done inside your garage or under a car port. You can do it the parking lot of your apartment complex or even the hotel you're staying at on your next road trip. Just remember to use good technique and plenty of clean, high quality microfiber towels. They'll wash up great in the laundry and be ready for their next use.
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