Waterless Detailing
Discussion
Thought I might pick your brains and ask if anyone has heard of a waterless detail service? I only ask as I had my Porsche detailed last month by a new company called Ultimate Detail which I happened to stumble accross on the internet. He uses this incredible dry wash-wax instead of the traditional shampoo which cut straight through the thick dirt on my car. Amazingly it didn't scratch the paint yet left a really glossy shine. Although I was extremely impressed with the detail side of his service it was the waterless wash that was the most surprising. I've heard of waterless valeting but not waterless detailing. Anyone else come accross this before? Be interested to know what you think.
Here's a link to the website:
www.noh2ouk.co.uk
Here's a link to the website:
www.noh2ouk.co.uk
The ONLY waterless product (slightly oxymoronic, as the product itself is made using water!) would be Optimum No Rinse, and even then, only if the grime was light.
In this weather/time of year, that's highly unlikely, IMO.
Heading out again, so will add to this thread in a bit more detail, if needed, tomorrow or the day after.
In this weather/time of year, that's highly unlikely, IMO.
Heading out again, so will add to this thread in a bit more detail, if needed, tomorrow or the day after.
PJ S said:
The ONLY waterless product (slightly oxymoronic, as the product itself is made using water!) would be Optimum No Rinse, and even then, only if the grime was light.
In this weather/time of year, that's highly unlikely, IMO.
Heading out again, so will add to this thread in a bit more detail, if needed, tomorrow or the day after.
I spoke to Steve at Ultimate Detail and he claims that his waterless cleaning solution can tackle any grime and dirt no matter who long it has been on the car (only thick mud has to be washed off). Infact, he has just detailed Performance Cars' Impreza long-termer which hadn't been cleaned for several months (see the pictures his website) Apparently the editor (who's press car it is) and all the staff had a bet that he couldn't clean the muck off without water. Apparently they were all surprised by the results. My own car wasn't that bad, but I know that it would of taken a good half an hour to jet wash the muck off, but Steve managed to clean it in the same amount of time without water. It really is amazing stuff and I'm still amazed at what it can do.In this weather/time of year, that's highly unlikely, IMO.
Heading out again, so will add to this thread in a bit more detail, if needed, tomorrow or the day after.
He may well have cleaned it off okay - that part isn't really in doubt, it's the additional swirling I suspect it'll have done with all the grime trapped on the cloth.
I know they'll talk about emulsifiers and so forth, but believe me, if it was THAT simple to do, you can bet Meguiar's, Autoglym, and quite a few of the other names in detailing products, would have the same thing on their arsenal.
You can bet they've looked at it, and even devised their own 'better' versions, but yet, still it remains absent from their line-up.
I know they'll talk about emulsifiers and so forth, but believe me, if it was THAT simple to do, you can bet Meguiar's, Autoglym, and quite a few of the other names in detailing products, would have the same thing on their arsenal.
You can bet they've looked at it, and even devised their own 'better' versions, but yet, still it remains absent from their line-up.
PJS is right... waterless products work well for very light soiling, but even though heavier grime can get removed, the chances of swirls/marring increase significantly. The other problem is that you need a lot of cloths to remove the muck... if it is not sluiced away it has to go somewhere... usually captured by the waterless product and then removed by wiping. Washing 20 microfibres after a job (if you wanted to prevent marring by wiping a heavily soiled cloth on the surface, you'd have to use loads of them) would use water and electricity - some of the water that waterless washes are meant to save.
The fact is, you don't need a lot of water to wash a car even though pressure washers are ideal and very water hungry compared to a normal hose. Using a traffic film remover could pre-soak the grime; a quick rinse of a standard hose would shift most of it; then fill a couple of buckets and do a final hose rinse. You could do this and use far less water than having a bath. With correct application of products afterwards (that resist soiling) you would then only need to do a light wash infrequently.
In Australia, car washes recycle the water (filtering the dirt out), so from an ecological perspective waterless washes seem to be a bit overrated. And performance wise the carrier (or solvent) they use can't be any more eco-friendly and natural than H20. They just use less of it and various cleaning agents/emulsifiers/surfactants/silicones to lubricate and lift dirt particles. But it's like applying wet wipe to your arm pits and builder's crack rather than having a full shower. Works well enough in many cases but is it the ultimate solution?
The fact is, you don't need a lot of water to wash a car even though pressure washers are ideal and very water hungry compared to a normal hose. Using a traffic film remover could pre-soak the grime; a quick rinse of a standard hose would shift most of it; then fill a couple of buckets and do a final hose rinse. You could do this and use far less water than having a bath. With correct application of products afterwards (that resist soiling) you would then only need to do a light wash infrequently.
In Australia, car washes recycle the water (filtering the dirt out), so from an ecological perspective waterless washes seem to be a bit overrated. And performance wise the carrier (or solvent) they use can't be any more eco-friendly and natural than H20. They just use less of it and various cleaning agents/emulsifiers/surfactants/silicones to lubricate and lift dirt particles. But it's like applying wet wipe to your arm pits and builder's crack rather than having a full shower. Works well enough in many cases but is it the ultimate solution?
Edited by domster on Saturday 20th December 10:49
PJ S said:
He may well have cleaned it off okay - that part isn't really in doubt, it's the additional swirling I suspect it'll have done with all the grime trapped on the cloth.
I know they'll talk about emulsifiers and so forth, but believe me, if it was THAT simple to do, you can bet Meguiar's, Autoglym, and quite a few of the other names in detailing products, would have the same thing on their arsenal.
You can bet they've looked at it, and even devised their own 'better' versions, but yet, still it remains absent from their line-up.
Amen to that ^^I know they'll talk about emulsifiers and so forth, but believe me, if it was THAT simple to do, you can bet Meguiar's, Autoglym, and quite a few of the other names in detailing products, would have the same thing on their arsenal.
You can bet they've looked at it, and even devised their own 'better' versions, but yet, still it remains absent from their line-up.
Gassing Station | Bodywork & Detailing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff