How does a rinseless wash work?

A rinseless wash is the process of washing the car without doing a final rinse. If the vehicle has more than just dust on it you would do a pre soak with your rinseless solution in your sprayer let it dwell for around 30 seconds then rinse it off, this will help to remove a lot of the dirt on the surface.

Once this is done wash the car one panel at a time using the rinseless solution as a presoak, take your microfiber towel, rinseless sponge, or microfiber mitt out of your bucket and wipe your first panel down and dry.

If you are using microfiber towels be sure to have around 4 to 6 in the bucket folded in 4’s. Each panel you wipe you will flip to a different side of the towel and then discard after 4 panels. This is known as the Garry Dean wash method. The benefit of this technique is that you are never introducing dirt back into the clean wash media.

For the rinseless sponge you will need a grit guard in the bucket but the wash process on the car is the same, on panel at a time start at the top and work your way down. Unlike the microfiber towel method you need to dip the sponge back into the clean wash solution, which is why you need to use the grit guard. The benefit of this technique is unlike the microfiber towels where the dirt sits on the surface of the towel the sponge sucks the dirt up inside it and keeps a clean surface as you glide along the panel.

When using the microfiber mitt method it is recommended that you have two mitts and two buckets. Both buckets should have grit guards in but only one will have the rinseless solution in. One bucket will be your wash bucket and the other is your rinse bucket. After you do one panel flip the mitt over and do the next panel then you would stick the microfiber mitt in the rinse bucket and rub it on the grit guard to help remove the dirt. Use the other mitt to do the next two panels and do the same thing.

Is a rinseless wash safe?

A rinseless wash uses surfactants, polymers, and detergents that lubricate the surface and help to lift the dirt as you are washing each panel. Just like with a traditional wash if the vehicle is more than moderately dirty you would need to hit it with a pre wash and rinse it off to get a good magarity of the heavy decontamination off of the vehicle.

Since you don’t do a final rinse while performing a rinseless wash your surface is perfectly lubricated and ready to towel dry. This is different from a traditional wash in that water is not a lubricant but a solvent so if you were to rinse your car off and dry it with a towel you are creating marring on your vehicle's paint. To safely towel dry your car with a traditional wash, you are required to spray the car down with a drying aid or drying lubricant. The safest way to dry your vehicle with a traditional wash is to use a blow dryer but it can be difficult to get every drop of water out of all the cracks and crevices and you sometimes still end up with water drips on various spots of the vehicle.

It is an eco-friendly way to wash your car!

Rinseless and waterless detailing was designed to conserve water and give people in drought conditions a way to still maintain their investment, but it also benefits those in the northern areas that are pron to the harsh winter conditions. If your vehicle is garage kept you can use a rinseless wash to keep the salt and brine off of your vehicle without having to pull it outside, as long as you can keep the car above freezing you are able to do a rinseless wash on your vehicle and keep it clean without leaving your garage soaking wet.

If you take your pride and joy to a car show you can take a few towels, a collapsible bucket and some Microfiber towels and wash your show stopper right there at the show without the risk of marring the paint like you would with a california duster. A rinseless wash is so universal you can even use it to clean your interior and engine bay allowing you to get your show car looking its best top to bottom inside and out without making it dripping wet!