11 replies to this topic

[DanGull]

Morning all,

Well, with the weather being so good yesterday I decided to get out and do a decent detail on my car. In September I moved to a new house with a small shared car park, and no access to water for the cars. I am sad enough to admit, that I almost didn't take what is otherwise the perfect house because of this...

However, the better half won and so I needed to find a new way of detailing. Cue much researching on Detailing World. In the end there was one stand out product that I had to try...

Optimum No Rinse

Now I've been using the product since September and have finally got my technique with it to the point where I'm happy - and almost up to the standard I had when I was snowfoaming/citrus washing/rinsing.

So here's the car yesterday morning...

















The pictures don't quite show how messy it was - probably the worst I've ever let my car get in fact.

My gear (<cough, well some of it>)



Process...

Wheels sprayed down with APC and Bilberry.

ONR made up at slightly over the stated ratio - 2oz for a 2 gallon bucket - in two buckets, both with grit guards. It's really very simple to use this stuff. Soak a mitt or microfibre cloth in the wash bucket and clean the area with minimal pressure (I also have some ONR and APC in spray bottles handy to help shift stubborn grime). I'm always amazed at how much it shifts. Because the water is so 'slick' once the ONR is in it, it is safe to dry the car when it still appears quite dirty. One of my huge microfibre drying towels was the weapon of choice today. Wheels first to shift the Bilberry etc. then from the top down on the car itself. The whole front of the car and the mirrors were soaked in APC to help with the bugs before the ONR was used. Two bucket method employed to make the whole process as safe as possible for the paint.

Car then clayed using Dodo Supernatural Clay and Born Slippy lube. The car has covered 30,000 miles now and the stone ships are really starting to show. I have a plan to get it into a pro detailer at some stage and get these looked at - along with a thorough under car, engine bay and wheels off detail which I can't really do with ONR, good as it is!

Washed down with ONR/APC again.

Coat of Autoglym Super Resin Polish.

Very thin coat of Autoglym HD wax.

Glas cleaned with Megs concentrated glass cleaner.

Wheels sealed with FK1000P.

Tyres dressed with Megs endurance (three coats).

Interior hovered and wiped down with APC before the leather being treated with some Autoglym Leather Cream. (side note - 30,000 and look how my SECOND set of mats are coping - can nobody make decent mats for the Fiesta?)

[DanGull]

Leaving this...







I've been keeping a careful eye on my paint since starting to use ONR. There is evidence of very light swirling starting to appear (the coat of SRP filled most of it, so it's very minor) - however I would suggest that the amount this car gets washed after 18 months and 30,000 miles just about any wash technique will leave some. I'll ask this to be sorted when she visits the pro.

So folks - don't be scared of trying ONR, think of your water meter if nothing else

[Gazjs]

Excellent write up Dan, looks to be a very good product as well. Cant belive you let your car get that dirty though I never trusted the whole waterless wash technique but having tried a similar product and reading the review just there makes it sound all not too bad at all.

Did you get rid of your snow foam equipment etc?

[JackieR]

Your car looks spotless. It's lovely. I have been thinking about asking for opinions on here on Showroom Shine. Has anyone else used it and if so then what's your take on it ??

My car is about 6 weeks old now and I have washed it a couple of times and Showroom Shined it the rest of the time (once a week) and to me it looks stunning. Other people have mentioned the shine as well, but then I suppose, it's a brand new car.

So, if anyone has any good or bad stories i'd love to hear them. I'm actually enjoying using it to be honest. It's better than getting soaked with a dodgy hose !!!!!

Thanks.

[DanGull]

Thanks Jackie - I've compared several 'waterless' products recently. The important thing about ONR is that it's not waterless, it's no rinse. The products that are spray on, wipe off are in my opinion asking for trouble. Of those I've tried, only ONR was actually allowed near my paint. It's also much, much better value than others.

Gaz - yeah, that bloke who got given an MX5 and then seemingly left the forum took my snowfoam gear off my hands

[JackieR]

Thanks Jackie - I've compared several 'waterless' products recently. The important thing about ONR is that it's not waterless, it's no rinse. The products that are spray on, wipe off are in my opinion asking for trouble. Of those I've tried, only ONR was actually allowed near my paint. It's also much, much better value than others.

Gaz - yeah, that bloke who got given an MX5 and then seemingly left the forum took my snowfoam gear off my hands

How did you get on with the "waterless" products tho ?? Did you like the clean you got with them ? Yeah, I re-read your post and saw that it was no-rinse. I suppose that doesn't need the leaky old hose either then !!! I'll maybe get bored of Showroom Shine (once i've emptied the Buy 1 Get 1 Free bottles .... I am Aberdonian after all !!) and try the no-rinse method.

[DanGull]

I didn't actually use them on the car - I have some body panels that I practised machine polishing on, and I tried them out on that. Showroom Shine just didn't have the lubricity that I needed to convince myself that damage wasn't going to be done to the paint.

[JackieR]

I didn't actually use them on the car - I have some body panels that I practised machine polishing on, and I tried them out on that. Showroom Shine just didn't have the lubricity that I needed to convince myself that damage wasn't going to be done to the paint.

Aaaaah, gotcha. Oh well, maybe i'll look into alternative methods then. Let's face it, you guys know a helluva lot more about this stuff than I do. It's just that this is my very first brand new car so I was just wanting to start as I meant to go on as with keeping it clean and shiny etc, and being black (Grrrrrrr) it's a bit of an ongoing job !! As for lubricity ... I can only imagine !!!!

[graham1979]

hello felow Foc-ers

I have been working like a moron at the weekend putting super resin polish on, using supagard paint sealant then getting given some pureguard (2 stage stuff that actually got applied to my titanium when i bought it but i felt the 12 year old who probably put it on was listening to justin beiber) and deciding to apply that today.


Firstly that fiesta is a gorgeous looking car, I would imagine it came up so clean because you have not been washing it and getting swirl marks etc. I worked with a pharmacist years ago who never washed his car (ever) then low and behold one deay he decided to sell it and it looked new! My titanium is black so shows up road spray etc but you dont see tar spots, althoug you can feel them.

I like the photo with all the boxes of cleaning stuff, people will have woalked past thinking idiot OR what a hero!

I have used showroom shine after buying a bottle years ago. while on a certain shopping channel cleaning of mud, bird !Removed!, charcoal etc what they dont mention is the fact the car has been treated repeatedly in the past and as the carnuba wax builds up any external dirt will just wipe off! that said it made my old zetec s shine like no other, just the carnuba wax is a pain in the !Removed! to polish in. the guy who lives down the road works at the local bodywork shop and he said that suffers use carnuba wax on their surf boards. His father uses it on his landrover discovery and when applied in layers the carnuba wax can be buffed off and reapplied meaning his car always looks clean.

Personally, I dont see how waterless cleaning systems like showroom shine is able to lift of ground in dirt as it is stuck to the bodywork, surely it is the person exerting pressure that releases it, dragging it along the bodywork ;-(

graham1979

Edited by DanGull, 18 April 2011 - 08:09 PM.
Language

[JackieR]

hello felow Foc-ers

I have been working like a moron at the weekend putting super resin polish on, using supagard paint sealant then getting given some pureguard (2 stage stuff that actually got applied to my titanium when i bought it but i felt the 12 year old who probably put it on was listening to justin beiber) and deciding to apply that today.


Firstly that fiesta is a gorgeous looking car, I would imagine it came up so clean because you have not been washing it and getting swirl marks etc. I worked with a pharmacist years ago who never washed his car (ever) then low and behold one deay he decided to sell it and it looked new! My titanium is black so shows up road spray etc but you dont see tar spots, althoug you can feel them.

I like the photo with all the boxes of cleaning stuff, people will have woalked past thinking !Removed! OR what a hero!

I have used showroom shine after buying a bottle years ago. while on a certain shopping channel cleaning of mud, bird !Removed!, charcoal etc what they dont mention is the fact the car has been treated repeatedly in the past and as the carnuba wax builds up any external dirt will just wipe off! that said it made my old zetec s shine like no other, just the carnuba wax is a pain in the !Removed! to polish in. the guy who lives down the road works at the local bodywork shop and he said that suffers use carnuba wax on their surf boards. His father uses it on his landrover discovery and when applied in layers the carnuba wax can be buffed off and reapplied meaning his car always looks clean.

Personally, I dont see how waterless cleaning systems like showroom shine is able to lift of ground in dirt as it is stuck to the bodywork, surely it is the person exerting pressure that releases it, dragging it along the bodywork ;-(

graham1979

Yeah, they say that you need 3+ applications to get the build up of carnuba wax on the car to fully protect the bobywork. I washed mine last week-end coz it was pretty dirty and I didn't fancy "rubbing that in" so to speak an then took it for a run to dry it off and then Showroom Shined it. T'was beautiful and shiny. They are right tho, bird poo is sooooo easily wiped off. Bloomin birds have no respect for all my hard work !!!

I'll keep going for now and see how it goes. I actually enjoy doing it to be honest. Saddo !!!

[DanGull]

hello felow Foc-ers

I have been working like a moron at the weekend putting super resin polish on, using supagard paint sealant then getting given some pureguard (2 stage stuff that actually got applied to my titanium when i bought it but i felt the 12 year old who probably put it on was listening to justin beiber) and deciding to apply that today.


Firstly that fiesta is a gorgeous looking car, I would imagine it came up so clean because you have not been washing it and getting swirl marks etc. I worked with a pharmacist years ago who never washed his car (ever) then low and behold one deay he decided to sell it and it looked new! My titanium is black so shows up road spray etc but you dont see tar spots, althoug you can feel them.

Eh? My car is detailed usually every week. The reason I don't have major swirls is because my wash routine is extremely disciplined, I use only high quality products and I know how to machine polish

I like the photo with all the boxes of cleaning stuff, people will have woalked past thinking idiot OR what a hero!

I detail a lot of cars in the area, most people round here see me do it and ask if I'll do their car too.

I have used showroom shine after buying a bottle years ago. while on a certain shopping channel cleaning of mud, bird !Removed!, charcoal etc what they dont mention is the fact the car has been treated repeatedly in the past and as the carnuba wax builds up any external dirt will just wipe off! that said it made my old zetec s shine like no other, just the carnuba wax is a pain in the !Removed! to polish in. the guy who lives down the road works at the local bodywork shop and he said that suffers use carnuba wax on their surf boards. His father uses it on his landrover discovery and when applied in layers the carnuba wax can be buffed off and reapplied meaning his car always looks clean.

This bit doesn't make much sense to me. The wax I used here is a Carnauba wax - Autoglym High Definition. It's one of several high quality waxes I own which are carnauba wax based. You can't wax a car or a surfboard with just carnauba wax, it's rock solid on its own. You don't polish in wax - you apply it, leave it to cure and buff of the haze, leaving a significant amount of the wax on the surface, not in it. It is extremely easy to remove a layer of Carnauba based wax - it happens naturally over the course of a few months at the most. That's the whole point - it's a sacrificial layer that is destroyed by road film, bird bombs, tar and the like - saving your paint. Layering wax is a subject for debate, but one things is true, in my opinion - wax bonds better to paint than to cured wax, so in my opinion layering is a waste of product. Applying a layer more frequently is a better plan. Most people apply wax to thickly, meaning it doesn't bond at all and is pretty much pointless, but I'm getting off track. The point is, by the time I come to reapply wax the old layer is gone - it has little to no effect on lifting the dirt.

Personally, I dont see how waterless cleaning systems like showroom shine is able to lift of ground in dirt as it is stuck to the bodywork, surely it is the person exerting pressure that releases it, dragging it along the bodywork ;-(

This is why I don't recommend you use Showroom Shine as you say, it doesn't shift much. I can guarantee you that I don't exert any pressure on my paint to remove the grime, and the car was pretty filthy to begin with. If you'll notice, the front end of the car (including the mirrors and any other particularly dirty spots) was soaked, and I mean soaked, in All Purpose Cleaner - which in itself is strong enough a detergent to remove wax. This, combined with slickness of the ONR in water means that the dirt is removed easily, even when there's no wax underneath it. My top up details in between large scale ones like this will be assisted by the wax - this one was not.

graham1979

[graham1979]

many thanks for the comprehensive shoot down there matey

if i am ever walking past and you are out cleaning your car i will be sure to ask if you fancy doing mine.

carnuba wax is edible i seem to recall!