Waterless car wash systems

[ToyotaFreak]

I rememeber seeing thse Waterless car wash kits while shopping for stuff at Bunnings.

I also discovered that Meguiars sell them in SuperCheap Autos, but they're expensive. :(

Anyone have experience with those?

Just as good as doing it the normal way, better, or not that effective?

Thanks,

TF

[Dead]

I lawl @ Waterless Car Wash systems.

lol

I don't trust them, even if meguires have a product. That's just me ay.

[akuma]

yeh i wouldnt trust em as well, its majority sprays etc, it does get rid of the dirt and shiit but also leaves a light scratch on your car. ill just take my car to the car wash, quick rinse, dry it and its back to spanky new.

[ToyotaFreak]

Yikes, so just companies taking advantage of the water restrictions. Didn't know they'll cause scratches too!

Looks like I'll stick to good ol' washing & waxing (Ummm..... no. Not that kind of waxing!:P).

TF

[Dead]

Gray water system ftw :D

[CAP]

5000 Litres of water storage FTMFW!!!!

[Dead]

5000 Litres of water storage FTMFW!!!!

win...

The end result of this is, however, that waterless systems suck *****.

They only thing they succeed at is making me lawl profusely when I see them in bargain bins while lining up to pay for petrol.

[CAP]

With that said though, there are things you can do to make your car look cleaner without actually washing it. I do it quite alot, it just involves cleaning the windows with a chamous, clean the wheels with a soft rag or brush and the car immediately looks cleaner even though it's still in fact dirty. But no, I wouldn't really use those waterless wash products.

[NIKICH]

It also helps when you have a silver beast!!

LOVE silver for hiding dirt!!

[Wixy]

lol

greetings toyota freak.

im no meguiars biased here, but i do detail quite often with a wide range of products.

the meguiars waterless system is not designed to wash a fully dirtied car. it is designed to "wash" a car that has minimal dirt, surface contaminants and other flaws from perhaps light driving or rather.

if you go out on a road trip and your car is all muddy, dirty and has a thick coat of crap on it, any waterless system in the market today will not work.

if you garage your car, and only drive it, lets say 3-4 times a week, short distances or in great weather, your car doesnt have a thick coating of dirt and surface bondage, and you wish to detail your car, thats when these waterless system shines.

i myself have used all consumer waterless systems in the market to date, and all of them work just as well, under the right conditions and in the right way. the right way meaning, using the right materials to do so. alot of people, after using the waterless systems, find they create scratches and swirls is because of 2 fundamental aspects:

1. they use it on a very dirty car and/or

2. they do not use the right materials to clean their car with the waterless systems.

the right materials have to be:

Microfibre towels, and LOTS LOTS of it! cotton towels i assure you, will create scratches and swirls. 9/10 of the general public either use cotton towels/kitchen towels to "wax" or clean their cars. little do they understand that it makes their car look worse off, and have a shizzle load of scratches and swirls. even the car dealers wash your cars in harmful towels and spread dirt and scratches all over your new/used car. i personally would never get anyone to wash my car except for me.

the other aspect is the right technique. simply spreading the waterless system over your bonnet and quickly rubbing it off will not work. the emphasis is SLOW. do it SLOWLY, because the slower you cover a certain space, the more surface contaminants the microfibre towel will pick up, hence producing the perfect scratchless and swirlless finish. if you give milliseconds for the microfibre towel to pick up dirt from the surface, i guarantee you there will be heaps of dirt left behind.

moral of the story? waterless systems work. if you cant be stuffed using it properly, dont. it will hinder your car's paintjob more than a normal car wash will. there is a huge LACK of knowledge when it comes to selling car detailing product in the retail chain. the general public have no idea what brands do what, and how to properly use their products after they have purchased them. there are heaps of people using waterless system. you just need to do it right.

for more information, visit websites such as finalinspection.com.au or other forums like meguiarsonline.com.

wixy

[Kenster]

I havent been to a waterless car wash only been to laser one that about. I dont think i will give it a try until i hear good result from it from actually people who experience it themself

[Wixy]

I havent been to a waterless car wash only been to laser one that about. I dont think i will give it a try until i hear good result from it from actually people who experience it themself

lol

i'll be damned if i see a waterless car wash in a servo dude.

what toyota freak is referring to is waterless car wash SYSTEMS where you purchase products and wash your car with the product, and not water.

i havent seen a waterless car wash on the road yet so...

alot of people are using waterless car wash systems and have achieved good results. its the ones that arent educated on how to use them that have bad experiences.

[Brad!]

I havent been to a waterless car wash only been to laser one that about. I dont think i will give it a try until i hear good result from it from actually people who experience it themself

lol

i'll be damned if i see a waterless car wash in a servo dude.

what toyota freak is referring to is waterless car wash SYSTEMS where you purchase products and wash your car with the product, and not water.

i havent seen a waterless car wash on the road yet so...

alot of people are using waterless car wash systems and have achieved good results. its the ones that arent educated on how to use them that have bad experiences.

I honestly don't think it matters how much you educate someone about the system.

At the end of the day you are wiping grains of dirt across the paint with a cloth - Correct? in turn leaving swirl marks/spider webbing

[Wixy]

I havent been to a waterless car wash only been to laser one that about. I dont think i will give it a try until i hear good result from it from actually people who experience it themself

lol

i'll be damned if i see a waterless car wash in a servo dude.

what toyota freak is referring to is waterless car wash SYSTEMS where you purchase products and wash your car with the product, and not water.

i havent seen a waterless car wash on the road yet so...

alot of people are using waterless car wash systems and have achieved good results. its the ones that arent educated on how to use them that have bad experiences.

I honestly don't think it matters how much you educate someone about the system.

At the end of the day you are wiping grains of dirt across the paint with a cloth - Correct? in turn leaving swirl marks/spider webbing

yes, 'at the end of the day' u are using a cloth, but its a cloth that does not scratch your paint, does not leave swirl marks and spider webs because the dirt goes beneath the surface of the cloth - it does not stay at the surface.

youd be surprised how many different techniques there are just on car detailing. so educating someone about a particular system is just as effective as teaching someone how to drive manual.

professional car detailers need to be taught how to become professional! you cant be a professional and scratch your client's supercar now can you?

[T.J]

one time i pulled into a servo and some guy came up to me trying to sell me this car wash in a can crap after tellin him i wasnt interested several times he then proceded to spray the stuff on the car and give me a little demo and cause the car was dirty it scratched the paintwork.

needless to say i nearly punched him out

[Kenneth]

one time i pulled into a servo and some guy came up to me trying to sell me this car wash in a can crap after tellin him i wasnt interested several times he then proceded to spray the stuff on the car and give me a little demo and cause the car was dirty it scratched the paintwork.

needless to say i nearly punched him out

ouch! he must have been a very poor sales man :P

to be honest thou i've never really trust waterless car wash its like.. WATERLESS SHOWER :S try showering with a few squirts of "stuff" but yeh i must agree wixy has his point too so hrm its all depend on personal peference i guess

Edited February 21, 2008 by kenneth

[T.J]

one time i pulled into a servo and some guy came up to me trying to sell me this car wash in a can crap after tellin him i wasnt interested several times he then proceded to spray the stuff on the car and give me a little demo and cause the car was dirty it scratched the paintwork.

needless to say i nearly punched him out

ouch! he must have been a very poor sales man :P

to be honest thou i've never really trust waterless car wash its like.. WATERLESS SHOWER :S try showering with a few squirts of "stuff" but yeh i must agree wixy has his point too so hrm its all depend on personal peference i guess

yeh horses for courses i guess funny thing i pulled into a servo in north rocks for a drink this arvo and there were people selling the same product as i was walking back to the car when one of them came running along behind me tryng to flog me the crap she said well can i give you a demo after i already said no when i said very sternly DONT.....spray that on the car thankyou it was my girlies car and she hasnt washed it in over a year but still you know

[Kenneth]

one time i pulled into a servo and some guy came up to me trying to sell me this car wash in a can crap after tellin him i wasnt interested several times he then proceded to spray the stuff on the car and give me a little demo and cause the car was dirty it scratched the paintwork.

needless to say i nearly punched him out

ouch! he must have been a very poor sales man :P

to be honest thou i've never really trust waterless car wash its like.. WATERLESS SHOWER :S try showering with a few squirts of "stuff" but yeh i must agree wixy has his point too so hrm its all depend on personal peference i guess

yeh horses for courses i guess funny thing i pulled into a servo in north rocks for a drink this arvo and there were people selling the same product as i was walking back to the car when one of them came running along behind me tryng to flog me the crap she said well can i give you a demo after i already said no when i said very sternly DONT.....spray that on the car thankyou it was my girlies car and she hasnt washed it in over a year but still you know

they r no difference compared to those kids cleaning your windscreen @ the lights eventhough you said NO by waving ur hands from one end of ur car to the other end..

[keifer33]

haha was just about to say that kenneth, had a kid on the off ramp from graham farmer to great eastern wash my car with my gf and i both waving no. Washes my windscreen then yells atm...ffs my screen was cleaner before hand. Had to stop round the corner and get my glass cloth out, couldnt see a damn thing and he wanted money for it...there is no hope for these people.

[Kenneth]

haha was just about to say that kenneth, had a kid on the off ramp from graham farmer to great eastern wash my car with my gf and i both waving no. Washes my windscreen then yells atm...ffs my screen was cleaner before hand. Had to stop round the corner and get my glass cloth out, couldnt see a damn thing and he wanted money for it...there is no hope for these people.

i was luckier :P i had a kid doing it i waved no but he did a pretty good job.. guess u cant just NOT pay :S i rather waste some money then them scratching ur car.. lol then it'd be bad..

[SILVABULLIT]

Don't like nor use any of it.....

Rather high pressure to remove crud then with micro fibre wash mit remove the remainder. And no scratches!!! My Sportivo was proof to this method to those who have seen it in the flesh....

[Wixy]

Don't like nor use any of it.....

Rather high pressure to remove crud then with micro fibre wash mit remove the remainder. And no scratches!!! My Sportivo was proof to this method to those who have seen it in the flesh....

well your comparing apples to bananas here

obviously a high pressure hose is the desired equipment usage! why would anyone use waterless systems over that if they had a choice?

i would just like to stress again, if u have passion to do things with whole heart, and do them properly, scratches WILL NOT appear. technique is THE most important aspect here.

ive tried it endless amounts of times, and i have displayed and demonstrated to people who were certain that waterless systems will scratch, and their huge eyeballs at the end of the demonstration just gives me huge satisfaction = )

i know a guy who takes his hobby a tad toooo seriously, and waterless-ly systemizes his car daily. he does this because he wants to save water and has alot of bucks to off load (im talking about lots here). his car is black, and i aint seen a scratch created ever since. i dont even see cobwebs and swirls for pete sake

[SILVABULLIT]

I only use Meguiars final inspection on my car maybe a day after I wash it or 2 at the absolute max. After that it gets rinsed with high pressure and wash again if the need be. waterless car wash systems also tend to leave a white residue on rubbers if you get overspray on them and it doesn't come off easily. (the ones I have had demonstrated for me by reps). I didn't say anything about it have never been a fan of it for the risks associated of doing damage.

I've been detailing show cars,hot rods, street machines and vintage cars for over 15 years and haven't got the reputation i have for doing quality work and achieving results for taking short cuts. I am yet to detail a car that enters a show that hasn't won a trophy in some form or another.

My old Sportivo won 13 odd trophies in just on 3 years of me owning it which is proof that proper full on care of a daily driver will yield the results and go home with the goodies....

[Wixy]

well done mate, and its good to hear u use some, if not all of megs products too.

their professional and detailer series is just not as popular as it is in the states for obvious reasons.

its good to know that u have been detailing for 15years, and won all those trophies, and dont take short cuts,

but it wasnt the intention of my reply to some how indicate that using waterless system 'short cut' will achieve flawless, superior results than doing the whole process of a proper detail.

i personally know detailers who have been detailing professionally who do make the most of the maintenance stage on their daily rides with various speed detailers (including other products from different brands), and they do work. preference and impetus to change plays a big factor.

the megs waterless system for sale @ general auto retailers is the same formula from a product in the detailer range, all it needs is a lil bit more confidence in the products, and awareness on how to use them.

the black car my friend uses a waterless system (not megs) is on a 06 740IL bm. with a xenon light, it still maintains the car's condition, water beading is enhanced or maintained while gloss is evidently present.

you should post some pics of your work~! cant wait to see some pics of your daily ride! ive personally got a white car so i dont have the privilege of driving my ride with pride...not in white anyway....

[SILVABULLIT]

http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde..._item&CID=4

Link to my old Sportivo.