Waterless wash - worth it or just snake-oil?

[DodgyGeezer]

pretty much as it says in the title to be honest. I've seen people swear blind that waterless wash is a great idea, and truth be told the idea appeals, but I just can't see how it works (I am not a scientist, obvs, or a car detailer, even more obvs ) so I just thought I'd get a PH take on it. With that in mind - who has used it and:

- regretted it since it was like using brillo pads on their paint
- loved it since was like washing your car with unicorn tears
- pretty indifferent since the car needs to be clean before using it
- pretty indifferent since you still need to polish
- etc etc

[CarCrazyDad]

DodgyGeezer said:

pretty much as it says in the title to be honest. I've seen people swear blind that waterless wash is a great idea, and truth be told the idea appeals, but I just can't see how it works (I am not a scientist, obvs, or a car detailer, even more obvs ) so I just thought I'd get a PH take on it. With that in mind - who has used it and:

- regretted it since it was like using brillo pads on their paint
- loved it since was like washing your car with unicorn tears
- pretty indifferent since the car needs to be clean before using it
- pretty indifferent since you still need to polish
- etc etc

It's not good.

Works in some countries like California, where it never rains, the roads are clean and there's never any mud etc.

In the UK, certainly wouldn't want to use it. I had been using it in the past and never realised it was damaging my paint. My detailer said I shouldn't ever use it!

From what I understand it doesn't polish it just has masking oils and if you have dirt on your car it needs rinsing off properly and washing in a normal way.

[QJumper]

Probably not much choice if you want to wash your car in the next couple of weeks or so.

[JmatthewB]

I don’t like the idea of it. My car isn’t that dirty but it still covered in pollen, dust and other grit. I can’t see how it wouldn’t cause swirl marks if I start on sort of contact wash with power washing the crap off first.

[RoadToad84]

I picked up some for giving the car a once over before shows. It's pants. As you'd expect, it rubs any grit into the paint, and smears like no one's business. Applying with a little water helps, but it's still not great and also defeats the object.

[budgie smuggler]

I use rinseless (ONR and similar where you put a couple of capfuls into a bucket of water) rather than true waterless (e.g. Meguiars where you use it undiluted from a spray bottle) and it works fine, you just need to manage expectations a little.

From 2-3 foot away the car looks perfectly clean, however if you run your fingers over the paint, it is clearly not as smooth as it would be after a full works - 2 bucket wash with snowfoam, tar remover etc. But it's so much quicker - it takes me about 30 mins to do a full car rather than 2 hours+.

Swirls and deep scratches were always my major concern, I can't honestly say I've noticed it doing a lot of damage. I suppose it depends how hard your clearcoat is.

[Koolkat969]

I use Optimum No Rinse and haven't had problems with it.

Normally, i do a proper wash with separate buckets but use ONR in between as required.

It's all down to the wash technique and the best way I've found is to use it in between washes when there's some light dust on the car but don't want to do a full wash.

I've varied my technique after watching quite a few ONR videos on YouTube and i think I've got my technique down to a safe level as to not cause swirl marks or reduce as much as possible.

Though to fair, any kind of contact wash will always have potential to cause swirl marks, and not unless one goes absolutely touchless and I'm not sure there's one that exists to provide a full complete detail.

[300bhp/ton]

DodgyGeezer said:

pretty much as it says in the title to be honest. I've seen people swear blind that waterless wash is a great idea, and truth be told the idea appeals, but I just can't see how it works (I am not a scientist, obvs, or a car detailer, even more obvs ) so I just thought I'd get a PH take on it. With that in mind - who has used it and:

- regretted it since it was like using brillo pads on their paint
- loved it since was like washing your car with unicorn tears
- pretty indifferent since the car needs to be clean before using it
- pretty indifferent since you still need to polish
- etc etc

I would be willing to bet, almost everyone posting has the completely wrong idea about what this is and when to use it.

You can't wash a 'dirty' car without away of removing the dirt.

I have some 'dry clean' waterless wash. Think came in a pack from Mercedes Benz. I have used it once and was reasonably impressed. Car had been washed a few days prior. But some light rain/dew had left dusty marks. The car wasn't really that dirty..... which I think is key. The spray worked well combined with a microfiber drying towel. Just enough to very quickly go over the car and make it look much more shiny and clean.

I wouldn't dream of trying to use it on a heavily soiled or dirty car. I guess a bucket of water and a brush first to remove most of the dirt. Then go over the car with the dry clean product after might work in a pinch.

[fido]

I have used it in between washes i.e. to get the dust and pollen off in this current weather. Seems like a safer equivalent of wiping with a damp cloth which I see many folks doing. If you don't have a hose to run a PW then a battery PW and a few buckets followed by the waterless wash would also work.

[budgie smuggler]

JmatthewB said:

I don’t like the idea of it. My car isn’t that dirty but it still covered in pollen, dust and other grit. I can’t see how it wouldn’t cause swirl marks if I start on sort of contact wash with power washing the crap off first.

It makes you feel better but I find power washing doesn't really do very much tbh. Just do that without the following shampoo and let it dry and then look at/feel the paint. A good snowfoam like BH does make a difference.

I think how it doesn't cause swirl marks is just that it's extremely slippery. Many waterless/rinseless products also make extremely good clay bar lubes for that reason.

[SV_WDC]

Never done it myself but the guy on Ammo NYC did a video about it.

He does caveat this is a way to safely wash a car without a hose, but if you have access to one, it be better to use it.

I guess detailers probably have varying opinions on it. This guy is doing it on cars that see a lot of winter muck, but also being a professional detailer (works on a lot of Konisegg's & private collections), the cars he's doing it with are probably in excellent condition to begin with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxRPQLh_zA

[Dermot O'Logical]

I can't see how rubbing your dusty or dirty paintwork with anything resembling a liquid or other cleaning fluid and a cloth won't result in swirl marks at best, or scratches at worst.

I bought one of these a few years ago:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/worx-hydroshot-22bar-20...

With the drinks bottle adaptor, I can use two-litre bottles of water, and get rid of most, if not all, dusty deposits on the paint before rinsing with a watering can, and then using a two-bucket wash followed by another rinse with the watering can.

[CarCrazyDad]

300bhp/ton said:

I would be willing to bet, almost everyone posting has the completely wrong idea about what this is and when to use it.

You can't wash a 'dirty' car without away of removing the dirt.

I have some 'dry clean' waterless wash. Think came in a pack from Mercedes Benz. I have used it once and was reasonably impressed. Car had been washed a few days prior. But some light rain/dew had left dusty marks. The car wasn't really that dirty..... which I think is key. The spray worked well combined with a microfiber drying towel. Just enough to very quickly go over the car and make it look much more shiny and clean.

I wouldn't dream of trying to use it on a heavily soiled or dirty car. I guess a bucket of water and a brush first to remove most of the dirt. Then go over the car with the dry clean product after might work in a pinch.

Shame that's not what it's advertised for!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ShtSvQaSA

[A500leroy]

I use triple wax waterless stuff on my daily car and bikes (when i had bikes) and it works fine on dust and dirty rain marks if you apply plenty of the product to the paint to 'wet' it.

Never seen any scratches or swirls, BUT i wouldnt be using on 50k's worth of supercar.

[CarCrazyDad]

budgie smuggler said:

From 2-3 foot away the car looks perfectly clean, however if you run your fingers over the paint, it is clearly not as smooth as it would be after a full works - 2 bucket wash with snowfoam, tar remover etc. But it's so much quicker - it takes me about 30 mins to do a full car rather than 2 hours+.

Washed my 530E this morning 8am , before it got too hot in an hour :-)
and I'm old!

It's amazing how much difference proper paint protection helps in terms of speeding up the washing and drying process.

[steveo3002]

i use some on my fair weather garage queen , after the winter its lightly dusty from storage and it works great

not sure id use it on a gritty filthy dirty car

[somouk]

CarCrazyDad said:

Washed my 530E this morning 8am , before it got too hot in an hour :-)
and I'm old!

It's amazing how much difference proper paint protection helps in terms of speeding up the washing and drying process.

I'm not sure how people take hours and hours to wash a car once it's been properly detailed. I can do the other halfs Mii in 20 minutes and my Formentor in about 30 with a proper foam, rinse, wash, rinse and dry.

[Red9zero]

steveo3002 said:

i use some on my fair weather garage queen , after the winter its lightly dusty from storage and it works great

not sure id use it on a gritty filthy dirty car

That's all I've ever used it for. I wouldn't use it on a halfway dirty car. You can still use buckets and a watering can during the hosepipe ban, so that's all I will do.

[Crook]

I’ve got some “Wow” white stuff and squirt it liberally on, microfibre off then clean microfibre buff.
Works a treat.

I’ll see if I can find photos when I did it on my old E36.

ETA photos:

Edited by Crook on Friday 12th August 16:08

[CarCrazyDad]

somouk said:

I'm not sure how people take hours and hours to wash a car once it's been properly detailed. I can do the other halfs Mii in 20 minutes and my Formentor in about 30 with a proper foam, rinse, wash, rinse and dry.

I guess not a lot of people bother with having it detailed.