Hi all,
Has anyone used this water less car wash and if so is it any good without damage to the paint.
ned
No …but I enjoy correcting the paintwork of those who have…
Its OK if just removing pollen and very light dust (even that is risky)…but prolonged use and using it on a dirty car does damage the paint!
Ned, I have a full bottle of waterless wash and wax. (*)
You are very welcome to have it - I work near St Albans if you would like to pick it up.
Given the above comment though you may not wish to take me up on my offer!
Thanks for the offer, But as you say…
Think I’ll stick with water as the base for cleaning for the time being
unless anyone knows different .
cheers anyway
Ned
hey Ned, I looked at that product & was warned off from another chap.
IS this a specific product / manufacturer that has issues or is it all such ones - I was given a bottle of “Demon Shine” - maybe he knew something…
I do not understand why anyone would think that a water less cleaning system would not damage the paint of the car… not for me thanks 
Demon Shine is not a waterless wash product…Its a QD for adding some shine to clean paintwork in between regular waxing
And that’s why I posted in the first place
'scuse my total ignorance, but why would any waterless cleaning agent ruin the paint ? I’m not peddling anyone’s product here, but I’ve used this stuff a few times and so far my paint has not fallen off !
The main problem with many waterless (or for that matter optimum no rinse or other lesser known limited use water products) is down mainly to a lack of lubrication* and the risk inflicted by not going “top down” instead panel by panel. Lubrication (NOT as many think the amount of actual suds created) is the life blood of many good quality shampoos and ultimately can determine whether or not damage is inflicted. The problem with not going top down is that generally a vehicle is cleaner on the top half than the bottom half, going panel by panel increases the risk of inflicting damage on the surface (such as swirls, RDS etc.)
That is before we start talking about the media used to actually carry the process out which in itself can carry all matter of issues and further increases the risk you want grit and other dirt to be as far away from the surface as possible when contact washing hence 2 bucket methods, mitts etc. which help to minimise (not completely) the risk created by contact washing.
*The other problem with many of these products to gain lubrication is they use polymers which then stay on there for a few washes after so your protection for that period won’t be the actual dedicated product either.
Doing even a quick detailer wipedown on a vehicle after a few days with light dust and pollen has a number of risks which are highly similar to the above
My thoughts are quite simple:
Wash the wheels first as these are always the most dirty
Have a good prewash with a dedicated pre wash or snow foam
2 bucket method with a good quality shampoo with good lubrication and mitt (two or three if you are feeling really cautious
Rinse suds
Open hose rinse
Dry with MF using a good technique
Wipedown for any remaining marks you find
You took the words right out of my mouth
Not the song…LOL
I was more thinking “You see my true colours”…
One final point I have just thought about is the one small addition I do after a pre rinse and rinse down is to use snow foam again and 2 bucket method on top of that on soft paint it provides an additional barrier of lubrication for you to wash on…
If anything the only more “risk laden” steps is drying with a drying towel. As you have limited lubrication to dry - there are of course multiple ways to minimise that risk using softer water invariably helps as you do not need to dry (so much or at all) or if you do not go down that route at least at bare minimum using the open hose technique.
Which drying towels/cloths do you use?
I have a couple on the go.
My main go to are two Dodo Juice ones which are both two ply - one is a double touch and the other is one of their orange ones.
My final one is the carpro one.
Reason being the dodo ones are nice thick and plush for general drying when needed. However, at 60 x 60 they can be a bit of handful in some more intricate areas, the less plush double sided carpro works better then.
In honesty using the DI filter means that drying is much less of a problem ;).
Of course to a degree the technique you use can decide on some of the drying towel preferences using the blotting technique personally I find these best, but for the more spread out and pull method then they are far to heavy.
I will freely admit one of the things I hate most is drying towels there are so many yet at the same time I find I buy them try them and that makes the decision whether they get used and liked very quickly. I have had more drying towels than I know what to do with, heck my wax removal ones and wipedown ones have lasted longer (my most recent load of these have all been Carpro BOA’s varying weights).
I’d just like to stick my tuppence worth in here.
I use Showroom Shine, NOT for cleaning my car, but as a very quick and easy wax when i haven’t the time or patience to do a full jobby.
Anyway, last Sunday i cleaned and re-proofed my hood and inevitably (windy day) my paintwork got some overspray on it, as we all know it’s a pig of a job to remove, brake cleaner, no, glass cleaner, no,right i’m going to have to clay the car and that’s going to take hours.
Hang on a minuet, lets squirt some Showroom Shine on a micro fibre and see what happens.
Result, squirt, wipe, gone, brilliant and only took minuets to do the whole car.
Try it yourself next time you re-proof the lid.
I’ve used both the Williams stuff and showroom shine, and prefer showroom shine. I wouldn’t use either to clean a dirty car, but great to refresh the shine if a bit dull and dusty from just sitting in garage, or after a quick wet wash.
Following on from the previous comment about showroom shine, when the cleaner and wax separate out in the bottle, a small dab of the cleaner element on a cloth is great for removing the most stubborn of tar spots, bugs or any other marks and stains.
If god wanted us to clean our cars without water, then he wouldn’t have invented rain.
Even if my car isn’t dirty, it will get a hosing down with a fan spray, if only to remove the dust first.
I’m not fanatical, i wash it, i leather it, and if i’m feeling energetic, then i might wax or polish it, but i’d never ever consider cleaning it with that “No water cleaner”
I too use this stuff - shock horror! As above if the car is not dirty but only lightly dusty and have done on several cars for several years. None of which appear to be showing any signs of paint degradation in any form and all shine good enough for me. They all get a good wash, polish and shine in spring and autumn.
I am sure a hard core detailer would find some faults but I am happy enough.