Tried a New Washing Technique (Pics Inside)

[M4rk]

Well it's cold outside and ONR (Optimum No Rinse) has its limit when it comes to washing salted cars. After all, you don't want to swirl and mar the paint with the salt and other particles. Normally I would go through a touchless wash first, and finish up with ONR at home, but I didn't want to risk damaging my Plasti-Dip'd wheels. So instead I bought a pump sprayer from Home Depot for $25, and went to work

I filled it with 2 gallons (7.5L) of warm soapy water using my left over Meguiar's soap (in the end I only used about 1 gallon of solution). I then sprayed and rinsed each body panel prior to washing it with ONR to remove any caked on dirt particles, and to reduce the possibility of damaging the finish.


Front fender before:

Rinsed with sprayer w/ warm soapy water:

Finished with ONR:

Finished product:

It's no pressure washer, but it did work quite well IMO. I was able to rinse-off all the crap off each panel with ease before washing it. It also made washing my wheels a breeze. You could even use it to spray down the wheel wells.

I am also considering buying a smaller unit to apply my water-based tire shine with (Optimum Opti-Bond).


That's all. Hope this will be of some use to other members

 

[jolinc01]

Man that looks good. FYI you can take your car throught the touchless with plastidip'd wheels, I tried it shortly after doing mine to see what happens.

 

[Bullschmidt]

This is a great idea. I had seen a few others with similar hand held pre-rinse sprayers before.

Going through the car wash before my ONR, while necessary, has been kind of annoying. I'm going to have to go pick up something similar to save Money/Time/Hassle of doing it the other way

Good info here Mark

 

[Kumba]

Ewww, snow

It's posts like this that remind me why I still live here.

 

[Silver_LS]

Looks great Mark, the plastidip is stronger than you might think, I have it on the front bully bar on my F150 and its been holding up this winter, I wash it once a week with a brushed touchy carwash.

 

[Andrizzle]

Good idea. Car looks real good. I can't believe how often you wash when you have all that snow on the ground. Has to feel sh!tty knowing as soon as you pull outta the drive, that you're ruining your hard work.

 

[M4rk]

Thanks for the feedback guys

Man that looks good. FYI you can take your car throught the touchless with plastidip'd wheels, I tried it shortly after doing mine to see what happens.

I have a little peeling/pulling back off the edges of a few spokes actually, so I am a little concerned. I think it's because I masked off everything, and when pulling the tape off, it weakened the adhesion on the edges

Good idea. Car looks real good. I can't believe how often you wash when you have all that snow on the ground. Has to feel sh!tty knowing as soon as you pull outta the drive, that you're ruining your hard work.

Whaddya gonna do? I can't stand seeing all the salt caked up on the sides, plus I needed the car clean to take some pics of the wheels, so it was a good excuse to wash. It surely does get dirty very quickly though. These tires kick up so much chit, it's unbelievable.

 

[BlackLS06]

I used to live in the north for awhile and just a quick rinse can do a lot for slowing down rust.

 

[M4rk]

Yep, that's why when it's above 0C (32F), I try to rinse the salt off by going to the local touchless wash which has an undercarriage spray.

My subframe and all non-aluminum suspension needs some lovin', so in the spring I will DIY rust proof using this:

 

[Alax7]

Looks good. How do you like the ONR? On your first bottle or are you a returning customer?

 

[Ghaleon64]

What's with the Thunderbird rims?

 

[M4rk]

Looks good. How do you like the ONR? On your first bottle or are you a returning customer?

It's great. I bought a smaller bottle to test it out, but it's so much better than conventional soap. I will continue using it in the summer

What's with the Thunderbird rims?

Winter setup.

 

[pektel]

Looks good. How do you like the ONR? On your first bottle or are you a returning customer?

ONR is the shiznitobang. I've went through a few gallons of it. Works as an excellent quick detailer for bird bombs and such as well (when diluted to QD strength.)

 

[Alax7]

It's great. I bought a smaller bottle to test it out, but it's so much better than conventional soap. I will continue using it in the summer



Winter setup.

ONR is the shiznitobang. I've went through a few gallons of it. Works as an excellent quick detailer for bird bombs and such as well (when diluted to QD strength.)

So you guys use this now instead of car soap?

 

[Bullschmidt]

I have been using ONR as well and can't say enough good things about it. Very versatile product. I plan to use it for light maintenance washes in between the hard grime/foam gun washes starting in the spring

 

[pektel]

So you guys use this now instead of car soap?

Sometimes, if I don't feel like dragging out the hose, or if I don't want to listen to teh pressure washer. I don't use it if the car is filthy though. It works great for standard road grime, but I make sure to remove the gritty particles before using it. I've actually been using the same method as the OP for a couple years now. Though I put ONR solution in the sprayer as well.

I also use these towels for washing:

http://stores.theragshack.com/-strse-11/Shag-Rag-Microfiber/Detail.bok

They are very thick, so they have plenty of room to pull the grime away from the surface.

I prefer to use towels (insteand of a sponge/mitt), and just set them aside as they become soiled. ONR makes the dirt stick to the wash media very well. This makes the wash media very tough to clean out mid-wash. I probably go through 6 towels on my LS per wash. I fold it in half, and essentially get 4 clean sides per towel to use.They clean up great after you rinse out all the ONR. I just throw them in the washing machine with Microrestore (a microfiber dedicated detergent) and they come out nice and clean every time.

 

[Alax7]

Sometimes, if I don't feel like dragging out the hose, or if I don't want to listen to teh pressure washer. I don't use it if the car is filthy though. It works great for standard road grime, but I make sure to remove the gritty particles before using it. I've actually been using the same method as the OP for a couple years now. Though I put ONR solution in the sprayer as well.

I also use these towels for washing:

http://stores.theragshack.com/-strse-11/Shag-Rag-Microfiber/Detail.bok

They are very thick, so they have plenty of room to pull the grime away from the surface.

I prefer to use towels (insteand of a sponge/mitt), and just set them aside as they become soiled. ONR makes the dirt stick to the wash media very well. This makes the wash media very tough to clean out mid-wash. I probably go through 6 towels on my LS per wash. I fold it in half, and essentially get 4 clean sides per towel to use.They clean up great after you rinse out all the ONR. I just throw them in the washing machine with Microrestore (a microfiber dedicated detergent) and they come out nice and clean every time.

Nice, I'm going to look into this, thanks!