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Real Life Applicaton - Rinseless Wash


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As you probably know, we've had a bit of 'weather' here in Colorado followed by few days above freezing so the snow and slush stuck around for longer than usual. The end result - my truck was a mess!

 

What better time to do a breif 'how do I use rinseless?' writeup from my own personal process. Bare with me... it was around 36* when I started and I didn't photo-document everything.

 

Whats needed for the "Dylan Method" of Rinseless Washing? Heres your list:

 

  • Adam's Rinseless Wash Concentrate
  • (2) buckets with grit guards, full of warm water
  • A diluted spray bottle (1oz Rinseless to 16oz of clean water)
  • (4) or more plush towels to be used for Rinseless Washing
  • (2) or more plush towels to be used for moisture removal
  • (4) Waterless Wash towels for door jambs, etc.

 

So lets start with the befores - my truck hadn't seen a hose off or any love for over 3 weeks. Add to that the fact that I get the urge to do snow donuts in any open field when the opportunities present themselves. Afterall... if its going to be dirty it might as well be REALLY dirty, right?

 

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So how dirty is too dirty for Rinseless Wash? There really is no right or wrong answer... you have to use common sense, and in that vein its never a good idea to try to find a products limits. Given the amount of salt crystals, sand, and grit suspended in the grit I made a quick run to my local pay and spray. For $4.50 I was able to use their pressure washer to blast off all the gunk, including the undercarriage of my truck, then drive home to deal with what remained.

 

Even without acces to a pay and spray I advise you hose off or rinse the exterior to knock loose the larger particles. While rinseless might be able to take on this level of grit, its not the best idea. For sub freezing days a pressurize garden sprayer with warm water is better than nothting to start to break up the gunk before its pulled indoors for cleaning.

 

My personal method is a hybrid of a few of the popular methods used with products of this type. I use multiple towels, as well as a rinse bucket to complete the job and (IMO) strike a nice balance between safety and need for supplies. Some methods advocate using dozens of towels, but no one wants to do that much microfiber laundry. On the same hand you don't want to risk damage to your paint just to spare a few towels. The multi towel + rinse bucket method serves me well.

 

I prepped my 2 buckets of warm water from inside the house and went heavy on the RW in the bucket. Given that my truck is pretty large I'm already working with a near full bucket of water, so 2oz would be the minimum dilution at that volume. I went 3oz+ to give me some more slippery juice to work with.

 

I also went with 4 blue borderless in the bucket so I could break the truck into quadrants, you can feel free to divide further or less, but I find for very dirty vehicles (4) towels is the minimum at which I'd recommend working. As few as 2 towels (split the vehicle in half)  if the vehicle is only lightly contaminated like the Porsche 911 in the product video.

 

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Each "quadrant" of the truck is cleaned top to bottom, the towel being rinsed frequently to remove debris, and followed by a separate dry towel to remove the moisture. Wheels are saved for the very end. After each panel and rinsing the towel is inspected to make sure its clean enough to continue being used. Any towel that becomes too contaminated is replaced with a fresh towel.

 

After cleaning the first half of the truck (quadrant 1 and 2) those towels are discarded, the rinse bucket is emptied and rinsed, and replaced with fresh water to complete the 2nd half of the truck. Again here, empty and replace rinse water more frequently for dirtier jobs or if it seems necessary.

 

Once the exterior of the truck is clean (minus wheels) I then move to the door jambs, fuel door, etc. These areas will hold a lot of grit. On some cars you may even find it hiding around headlamps, tail lights, mirrors, etc. Using the diluted 'waterless' version of rinseless wash I spray all these areas liberally, even using the stream setting on the sprayer to flush out contamination that might be hiding in the mirrors or tail lights. With a series of waterless wash towels I clean these areas separately using a simply spray and wipe process.

 

Lastly the wheels are addressed with the spray on version, but a saturated towel from the Rinseless bucket may also be used if you have delicate wheels or heavy debris to deal with. Luckily for me I'm not terribly in love with the wheeels on my truck so I don't spend too much time on them.

 

SO WHAT ABOUT THE TIRES?

To clean rubber thoroughly it often takes a brush and more aggressive cleaners, but you can clean them to some degree with the remaining rinseless product. Use a shop rag, or towel you don't care much for and soak it in the remaining rinseless liquid. Wad it up and scrub the tires as best you can. Follow up with your Super VRT or preferred tire dressing and you're done! It won't necessarily be perfect, but it will give the tires a refresh until you can do a more thorough cleaning and dressing later.

 

The afters pics below show a clean truck, that only took me a select few products and less than 1 hour of my time to complete. Best of all the paint is scratch free! This method can be modified to suit your individual process, how dirty your car is, or even what supplies you have at your disposal. While other popular methods might require you to use 1 towel per panel that becomes costly. A bucket of water can help 1 towel do multiple panels and keeps your overall cost down when it comes to the supplies needed. 

 

Hopfully this process helps take some of the mystery out of how this product can be used and gives you another way to make use of it in your own personal routine.

 

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Edited by Dylan@Adams
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OTHER METHODS - Please understand that my method is just one of many options and ways to use a product like this. Other approaches have their merits and can be implimented as desired to suit your needs.

 

 

THE TONS OF TOWELS APPROACH -

This process utilizes 1 towel per panel (or more). So for the average vehicle you'll need close to 15 or more towels, not including towels for the drying part of the process. The benefit is that it can be done with 1 bucket of water as the towels are discarded, not rinsed, after each panel. The downside is the cost - water is relatively cheap while towel costs can add up... plus the additional towel laundry is a lot of work if the process is done regularly.

 

THE LOTS OF RINSING APPROACH -

This is the method outlined in the Rinseless Wash product video. It minimizes the need for towels and utilizes an additional bucket of water. The drawbacks are obvioulsy the chances that a towel becomes more contaminated than rinsing can address. Its an approach best suited to moderate to light contamination and should be used knowing that very dirty vehicles should be cleaned using other methods.

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FINALLY!  A car that NEEDED it! Thanks Dylan!

 

This is how I'd use mine on my white Ram if it wasn't so bloody cold.  Of course, I sprayed mine down last night (straight water at the coin op) and then it snowed again last night.  UGH! 

 

You can't beat white in the winter!   ;)

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Nice write up, Dylan.

 

I find my method personally also to be a Hybrid of sorts.  I used 8 Single Soft Towels today, after I had blasted all the heavy stuff off last week, once the snow started melting a bit...some towels were one panel only, some towels I was able to get multi-panel use out of.

 

A couple things I tried out too:  AFTER I was done with the paint, I chose to soak some Utility Towels in the solution, and do my wheels, wheel wells, and tires that way.  Turned out Exactly how I wanted it to be. 

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i did the exact same thing yesterday to my truck. last wash was 4 weeks ago, and since then we've had 2 winter storms.

 

my method with rinseless wash was very similar to yours laid out above. only difference, i started on the roof and worked my way down to the wheels, switching the water before going below the side molding.

 

took me about an hour start to finish.

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I missed this thread but I posted a slightly strikingly similar process to Dylan this morning in the Rinseless wash discussion thread.

 

Basically I used 4 towels too, and a clean rinse bucket.  However, instead of splitting the side of the truck in half vertically, as Dylan did, I split the sides of my X5 horizontally, basically where the rub strip is in the middle of the doors, and used 2 towels per half of the side.  this way I knew I was working top down, and would get to the dirtiest stuff last.  It just makes me feel a bit better to do the very bottom of the side last, but Dylan's method is perfectly fine, because it's all about technique , light pressure when wiping, and keeping your wash media clean with the rinse bucket.  When I was done and washing my buckets out in the sink there was almost zero contaminants in my wash bucket, everything was contained in the rinse bucket under the grit guard.

 

I go a little more in depth in that thread in the washing section if anyone cares to read about how I did my X5 yesterday, bottom line though, very impressed, I never in a million years thought I could do this in my garage with the doors closed in winter.  Excellent product and i'm sure i'll be buying more, as I already am mixing up a new gallon of WW with 8 oz. of Rinseless and distilled water tonight (my gallon is empty).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Question, and sorry if I missed it, I have been away from the forum cause my computer was out of commission for a bit.  I wonder could a person use a wash pad if they desired?  I understand that the towels must be better cause thats how you demonstrate it.  If I had to guess the towels hold more dirt?  Hence making them better at lifting dirt away?  But could a wash pad be used?  Thanks, looking forward to trying it Fo Sho!

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Thanks for the write up Dylan. I have been trying to come up with methods for one of my fleet clients. We clean up to a dozen vehicles on the street in Downtown Denver in a single day, and some of them get pretty trashed. What we have come up with is very similar to what you outlined. Good to see that others have come up with the same thing.

 

BTW, the Rinseless Wash is making our job so much easier as full-time detailers. We are loving the product. Thank you!!

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Question, and sorry if I missed it, I have been away from the forum cause my computer was out of commission for a bit.  I wonder could a person use a wash pad if they desired?  I understand that the towels must be better cause thats how you demonstrate it.  If I had to guess the towels hold more dirt?  Hence making them better at lifting dirt away?  But could a wash pad be used?  Thanks, looking forward to trying it Fo Sho!

 

You could, I use a 'dread head' wash mitt.  I would keep that mitt as a Rinseless only mitt afterwards though.  The stuff that make a rinseless product work leave a lot of stuff behind on mitts and brushes.  

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You could probably use a mitt, but you just have to rub it in the rinse bucket/grit guards more often, mitts catch a ton of stuff in them.  I wouldnt use wool wash pads or wash mitts though.  FWIW, I saw a guy on Youtube using a Home Depot $1 sponge from the painting aisle, with some "cube slits" cut into it so that dirt would get sucked into the sponge instead of staying on the surface.  It seemed to work for him, but would make me a bit nervous.

 

My method using the equivalent of 4 Double soft towels in alternating fashion and dipping them in the rinse bucket as I go, works well enough for me that I don't need to try anything else.  Make sure you rinse the towels out good afterwards though, and like mc2hill said, throw the towels and stuff in the wash when you're done, to get rid of any product residues.

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