Our Hoseless Winter Wash Method
By John Davis
CSW Communications Manager
If you find washing your car therapeutic but live in a climate where pulling your car outside for your two bucket hand wash isn’t an option during part of the year, then rinseless washing is for you. This also applies to people without access to running water in their workspace. Here are our secrets for properly giving your car a rinseless wash while minimizing your risk of scratching up your paint.
Pick the proper rinseless wash for you
Rinseless washing is nothing new, and there are a few options out there depending on your needs. Optimum No Rinse is an industry standby that we’ve used for years at Chicago Auto Pros, and it adds a small amount of protection and slickness to the paint. If you’re polishing or claying the car after the wash, McKee’s 37 N-914 is the way to go, as it does not contain any polymers that are left behind after the wash process. For those looking to add maximum protection during their wash process, CARPRO Ech2o is an SiO2 quick detailer that can be used as a rinseless wash, allowing you to wash and protect your car in one fell swoop.
Pre rinse the car using a pump sprayer
When performing a rinseless wash on a heavily contaminated car, you need to do everything you can to ensure that you don’t pick up spots of heavy contamination and drag them across the paint. That’s why we like to make some extra rinseless wash solution inside a pump sprayer (make the solution in your pump sprayer about twice as strong as the solution in your bucket) and pre-rinse the whole car. This has the added benefit of ensuring that other surfaces are protected from scratches and swirls.
Paint first, then wheels
A normal hand wash process typically starts with the wheels first. For rinseless washing, we always end with the wheels, because the wheels typically have the most built up contaminants, and we don’t want that to end up on our paint. Start by rinsing them off with your rinseless solution, and spray heavily diluted APC onto the wheels and tires. From there, you can proceed with your normal wheel cleaning process
Steam away caked on contaminants
One of the common complaints about rinseless washing is that it is limited in its ability to remove heavy contamination, or remove contaminants in crevices. For caked on bits of mud and road salt, take a steamer to the area to loosen up contaminants.
Want to see this method in action? Check out our video with Alex of Legit Street Cars.
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