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      09-26-2013, 08:58 PM   #1
utenigma
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Washing with Optimum No-Rinse - Video

A time-lapse video of me washing my F30 with Optimum No-Rinse Wash and Shine including annotated instructions



One-bucket wash method using Optimum No-Rinse wash and shine 3oz in 2 gal of water from my Reverse Osmosis unit
Yellow towels are Costco special microfiber
Purple towels are Cobra Deluxe 600 Microfiber

Jet Black (688) 2013 BMW 335i (F30)
Car had OptiCoat 2.0 professionally applied about 10 months ago - highly recommend

There is no wax on the car

Video taken with GoPro Hero3, compressed with CIneform Studio, annotations done with windows Movie Maker

Last edited by utenigma; 09-26-2013 at 09:12 PM..
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      09-27-2013, 02:29 AM   #2
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I get the same results in an hour using water inc drying, vacuuming and detailing tyres. So whats the benefit of this?
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      09-27-2013, 02:33 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigNPT View Post
I get the same results in an hour using water inc drying, vacuuming and detailing tyres. So whats the benefit of this?
Some of us aren't fortunate enough to have a hose
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      09-27-2013, 06:54 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Steve33 View Post
Some of us aren't fortunate enough to have a hose
I'd have to move house, LOL!!!! In fact we're about to buy a house just on the fact it has good car cleaning areas - sad I know! But I have a very understanding wife!
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      09-27-2013, 10:17 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by BigNPT View Post
I get the same results in an hour using water inc drying, vacuuming and detailing tyres. So whats the benefit of this?
I've been washing cars for a long time and this is by far the safest and most convenient method I've ever run across

To Steve33's point
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve33 View Post
Some of us aren't fortunate enough to have a hose
True - if you're an apartment dweller this is no hose required. I've even taken my bucket full of towels and a little bottle of no-rinse on road trips, bought 2 gallons of distilled water at the grocery and washed the car in the hotel parking lot. Sounds silly, but I'd rather drive a shiny car around for the week instead of one covered in 500 miles of bugs and road grime.

As to this being the safest method - I'm all about giving myself margin for error in such a way where little mistakes won't affect the outcome. This method gives me that in truck-loads

1. I can do it inside. Because there's almost no water hitting the ground I can do it in my garage. That means the car's not in the sun and the car stays cool. That gives me extra time to dry the car which is insurance against water spots. Also, in the winter time I'm the only one with a car not covered in months of grime. Additionally, since I'm not soaking the car down with water, there's not a ton of water caught between the panels that always drip out after you're done drying leaving nasty drip water spots.

2. I can use RO water (or distilled if you don't have an RO unit). The water out of my hose is full of garbage that is counter-productive to washing your car. Primarily it's full of minerals that if left to dry on the car cause water spots. Additionally, city water's full of Ph buffers that inhibit acting chemicals from changing the Ph of the water, which means your soap has a harder time so you have to use more for the same effect which is more garbage in the water that could end up as deposits on the paint - RO and distilled have none of this and it's Ph 7.0 - again insurance against water spots. You can put a filter on your hose and that helps a little, but it's nothing like using purified H20 with a PPM of ~0

3. I'm never rubbing my car with sand-paper. The one bucket method (which you could use with your hose) means that every time you're cleaning a panel, you're using a brand new completely clean rag with clean soap and water on it. If you're dumping your dirty sponge/wash-mitt/towel into your soap bucket after washing a panel all the grit on the towel won't wash off and you'll just scrape some of the grit from the first panel across the second one you wash. This causes small scratches in the paint (swirls if you rub in a circular motion) If you use the two-bucket method (second rise bucket with a grit-guard) it's extra protection, but there's nothing better than a fresh clean towel every time.

And if you're concerned about environmental impact, water usage, soap killing your lawn blah blah blah that stuff to.

My car's Jet Black - no metallic at all. When I got it from the dealer (special order) the dealer had already washed it and installed swirls on the entire car. I had it professionally clayed and polished then protected with Opti-coat 2.0 and it looks like a mirror. I had no interest in having to do that again so I'm super careful with the paint and 10 months later it still shines like a mirror - even under a Brinkmann - no swirls or scratches at all

The detailer posted about it
http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-b...ti-coated.html

I've been washing my cars for years and tried almost everything under the sun and you can get good safe results with a lot of methods. But this one is super easy super safe and does a great job every time and the effort level is crazy low.

That's how I like it - fast and easy

Last edited by utenigma; 10-02-2013 at 02:05 PM..
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      10-02-2013, 11:32 AM   #6
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What about cleaning the wheels?
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      10-02-2013, 12:59 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron-M3 View Post
What about cleaning the wheels?
Good question, especially for BMW owners because of the notorious brake dust. I guess it depends how bad the wheels are, how clean you prefer your wheels and the available supplies you have.

Let's stick with "No-Rinse" scenario, to keep it simplified for now.

1. You can wash the wheels in the same fashion as you did the vehicle: prespray/wash/dry. This process will get the wheels cleanER, but if they are pretty gummed up with brake dust, you might not be happy with the results. However, this process can work perfect for wheels that have been opti-coated since they will be easier to clean.

2. Prespray the dirty wheels with diluted APC (All-Purpose Cleaner) to break down the grime, then proceed to wash the wheels the same as above. The APC will simply loosen some of the dirt and grime that can be removed from the rinseless wash. Pay in mind - cleaning wheels with a rinseless wash will make your wash media (MF towels work best for me) dirty faster. If you use a mitt/sponge, clean it often. If you use MF towels (YouTube "Garry Dean Wash Method for in-depth guide) then I would suggest keeping them separate from the towels used to wash the cars as they will get soiled real quick.

3. Using a dedicated wheel cleaner like Sonax or Shine Supply you can pull out more embedded brake dusts and iron deposits. You can still technically do this with a rinseless wash like explained in #2 (substituting APC with the wheel cleaner), but I would recommend getting a pesticide sprayer (1 or 2 gallon) that you can pump up and utilize that pressure to rinse away the wheel cleaner before going back in there with the rinseless wash to finish up the cleaning.

Obviously, if you have access to a hose then the above explained processes can be changed, this is geared more towards owners who don't have access to a hose or don't want to use one in the winter.

Hope this helps a little.

-Kody-
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      10-02-2013, 02:09 PM   #8
utenigma
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron-M3 View Post
What about cleaning the wheels?
I take no extra effort in cleaning the wheels other than I have two towels that are slightly different color that I always use for cleaning the wheels b/c that brake dust grime never really comes out of them in the wash.

I also don't use my purple cobra towels to dry them, I use one of the cheaper Costco towels

They were OptiCoated as well when the rest of the car was treated

All of Kody's comments are valid, but I don't do anything special with them, just grab one of the wheel wash towels out of the No-Rinse bucket and go to town on them, then dry as normal. The brake dust and grime just slides off
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      10-02-2013, 02:11 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by utenigma View Post
I take no extra effort in cleaning the wheels other than I have two towels that are slightly different color that I always use for cleaning the wheels b/c that brake dust grime never really comes out of them in the wash.

I also don't use my purple cobra towels to dry them, I use one of the cheaper Costco towels

They were OptiCoated as well when the rest of the car was treated

All of Kody's comments are valid, but I don't do anything special with them, just grab one of the wheel wash towels out of the No-Rinse bucket and go to town on them, then dry as normal. The brake dust and grime just slides off
Impressive. I guess the Opticoat on the wheels is the key. Thanks for sharing.
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      10-04-2013, 04:37 PM   #10
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I use optimum no rinse and I like being able to wash my car in the garage at night time.

To clean the wheels I just make a quick detailer using Optimum Wash( 1.5 cap full and 24-32oz of water in spray bottle) and spray a micro fiber generously and just wipe away the brake dust. It's great because I'm not leaving break dust water all over the ground
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