How to do a waterless wash

Waterless washes are all the rage right now due to California implementing more measures to safeguard our water supply. While the State has said you can’t wash your car at your home, they really mean you can’t spray 50 gallons of water on your car. Commercial services are still allowed at the home, and definitely with waterless washes. But how would you go about doing a waterless wash yourself? Well, the short answer is lots of towels and detail spray. But the actual method can be broken down as such:

What you need:

• you need about 10-20 microfiber towels

• 1 bottle of detail spray or Optimum No Rinse (ONR)

• 1 bottle of Spray Way Window Spray

• 1 bottle of sprayable degreaser soap

• soft bristle brushes

How to wash:

1. split a car up into approximately 2’ x 2’ sections

2. spray the car with ONR and fold a towel into fourths and wipe with your towel on one side and once that side has been used, don’t use it again. You can get 8 swipes out of one towel or about one car door panel.

3. do step 2 for the paint portion of the vehicle, and use a soft bristle brush to clean the windows crevices and trim areas.

4. now you can work on the wheels

5. start by spraying the wheel with the Super Clean degreaser soap and then use a soft bristle brush to agitate the soap and clean the entire wheel

6. now spray the wheel with ONR and wipe away any excess degreaser soap and grime with a soft microfiber towel

7. Apply tire shine with a tire shine applicator or a dirty towel

8. move on over to the windows, spraying the windows directly, and cleaning with the 2 towel method. (one towel for initial clean and then the other for finishing touches to make streak-free)

9. All finished!

The danger of waterless washes…

The danger commonly associated with waterless washes is scratching a car’s paint. This is a very real danger and why the main method for waterless washes is to only swipe dirt off a vehicle once with the same towel. If you use the same towel you will be scraping the dirt that’s already on the towel against the paint, which will marr or scratch the paint. It really takes special attention while doing this method as you can easily scratch car paint, especially on newer vehicles with softer clearcoat. There are certain instances where you can’t properly perform waterless washes like when there’s mud caked onto a vehicle. That has to be washed off and can’t be simply wiped away. This is where our water reclamation comes in handy where we reclaim and recycle the water.

The Consensus

So overall, with the new regulations in place, I would recommend using a commercial service as we’re professionals at this. However, it isn’t something to write off as ineffective, we’ve been doing it for years for commercial properties and it’s definitely a great option especially when you have the right tools, supplies, and method. Stay shining San Diego!