How Much Waterless Wash? How Many Microfiber Towels?

[Jaddie]

Dear Mike & Other Experts

I'm enjoying Mike's Art of Detailing eBook, but am having a little trouble figuring out how much stuff I'm supposed to be using.

I'm referring to waterless wash and microfiber towels in washing our Honda Odyssey van. About how many ounces of waterless wash, and about how many microfiber towels does it take to waterlessly wash a fairly clean Odyssey?

Mike says on page 22, "Use a lot of product and only tackle a small section at a time."

So what's a ballpark estimate of how much premixed waterless wash is appropriate for washing a fairly clean Odyssey? (I used Detailer's Pro Series Waterless Wash Concentrate mixed according to the directions at 3:1, which equates to 750ml of water to 250ml of concentrate.)

(I used about sixteen ounces of waterless wash without washing the roof, which looked spick-and-span to me.)

On page 23 Mike says:



Have plenty of microfiber towels
A large collection of clean, premium quality microfiber towels is ideal when using a waterless wash.

Work clean
Because it's important to use a clean microfiber towel, dedicate a clean, accessible area for storage. It doesn't do any good to maintain a collection of clean microfiber towels if you set them down on a dirty surface.

Use good wiping techniques
After wiping one or two sections, re-fold your microfiber towel to a clean, dry side. After using all 8 sides of your microfiber towel, switch to a clean, dry microfiber towel.

I don't know how to translate these instructions into an approximate number of microfibers I should be using. I don't have my wiping technique down pat yet, and I may have been using too much waterless wash, because I pretty well soaked a Cobra 600 towel after wiping the Odyssey's hood, front fenders, and front bumper. I think I used four microfiber towels, but that was because I have only a limited supply at this point. I could have used a dozen if I'd had them available.

[mjlinane]

Seems like a lot. I use about 6-8 oz for a full size sedan. You want good coverage but not so much that the beads roll off.

I use 2 long nap MF for the primary cleaning and a finishing towel on my car. I break my car up as follows: half hood, half roof, trunk, fenders, doors, rear and front. I fold my MFs into quarters, using a quarter on each of the above. (16 sides of towels, 16 (well, 15) car portions) Now, if my towels are really getting dirty, I'd use more. (I have a rather limited range where I'll do waterless - more than that and it's rinseless.)

Important reminders: no scrubbing, no pressure on MFs.

[Jaddie]

Dear mjlinane

I had beads rolling off, so I'll cut back.

So you're using just two microfiber towels per wash. Though I used only three, they were soaked when I was done. If I cut back to half of the amount of waterless wash I used, I'll need fewer microfibers.

Thanks for those reminders and for responding.

[Lasthope05]

I use about 10-12oz of waterless wash on average and about 8-10 towels. I cannot see myself using any less. A waterless wash is already risky(having a higher probability of instill marring) so using as many clean towels as you can drastically cuts down instill damage. In addition, you want the panel fully saturated/slightly dripping. You want a good liquid barrier between the paint and towel and remember to mist the towels before you wash. You want a primed towel and not a dry one when your wiping otherwise the towel would just absorbe the waterless wash.

[Rsurfer]

I use about 10-12oz of waterless wash on average and about 8-10 towels. I cannot see myself using any less. A waterless wash is already risky(having a higher probability of instill marring) so using as many clean towels as you can drastically cuts down instill damage. In addition, you want the panel fully saturated/slightly dripping. You want a good liquid barrier between the paint and towel and remember to mist the towels before you wash. You want a primed towel and not a dry one when your wiping otherwise the towel would just absorbe the waterless wash.

You say fully saturated/slightly dripping each panel..prime 8-10 mf towels with only 8-10 oz of waterless wash. What are you washing, a Mini or VW Bug?

[Lasthope05]

You say fully saturated/slightly dripping each panel..prime 8-10 mf towels with only 8-10 oz of waterless wash. What are you washing, a Mini or VW Bug?

I use that much with regular sedans(camry, altima gs300...etc) I wet all my microfibers first and wring them all out so they are just moist. I use about 10-12oz so a 1/3 of a 32oz bottle. I have a ton of both UWW+ and DP. With the DP i use a 1/3 of the bottle and UWW+ i use about half the bottle.

[Jimmie]

I use 22 oz for my SUV-18 oz on the car-1/2 dozen (6) mf's.

[umi000]

I spray until the panel is saturated (just before the beads start sheeting off). Then, fold the towel into four, and half again, for eight wiping sides (I don't use the short-nap side of the towel). Only one wipe each side - I never re-use a side. Two wipes per area. On my Yaris (which is a small car), hood and roof would take 36 (twelve for the roof, six for the hood, x2) wipes, so that's four and a half towels. I've never done a full waterless wash, so I'm not sure how much it'd take to do a whole car, but I use around 250 ml (about 8.5 oz) for the roof and hood. May seem like a lot of product and towels used, but I'd rather err on the side of caution than try to save on laundry soap.

[skipper1]

I have a Honda Fit and use on average 10 16 X 16 MF towels. It costs no more to wash 1 towel as it does to was 20 towels.

[PPLd]

get urself a pack of 10 ultra plush Eurow MF towel for twenty something dollars,
at 660gsm they are the most economical choice for doing waterless

[CEE DOG]

Currently my method for using Ultima Waterless Wash is this:

1.- Work on a cool (or as cool as possible) surface in shade

2.- Shake the bottle

3.- Mist your paint safe plush mf towel

4.- Spray 1 panel down liberally with UWWP. This step there isn't really such thing as too much product. Get the paint evenly covered. It's ok if its dripping.

Note: If you are using this just to remove some bugs after a drive (This is my main purpose for the product) or for some partially bonded contaminent then allow a minute or two for the UWWP to soften the offending trespasser before the next step.

5.- Then I take my mf towel and drag very lightly with no pressure whatsoever in straight lines. After a drag or two I flip the towl to a fresh side and repeat till the panel is complete. This first step is intended to remove all of the very loose dust and contamination.

6.- Next I take a fresh towel or fresh side of a towel and start over on that same panel but this time I apply gentle pressure... just enough to get the remainder of the UWW residue off. If you have very soft paint or you are working on a vehicle that has more than dust then you could repeat step 4 before moving forward with this gentle pressure step. This step is intended to get any and all dust and contamination that wasn't picked up on the first pass.

7.- Lastly I once again start over but this time with a dry towel. You might subsitute a dry towel for one with just a spray or two of UWW for lubrication if you have marr happy paint. This step is intended to remove any streaking or residue from the over application of waterless wash solution.

Note: (Assuming you are working in the shade on a surface that isn't hot)
Rather than working in sections I do one panel at a time. The reason for this is if you spray just a section and attempt to wipe it with the towel their will inevitable be a portion of your towel that overlaps onto the dry area that is dusty and has no lubrication.

That is all under proper circumstances and what I consider best practice.

Of course you could just be sure to leave a border of UWWP on the paint around the section and then work in an overlapping manner with the following section but that is tedious unless you are working on warm paint for some reason in which case I can see having to compensate.

[Old Tiger]

You say fully saturated/slightly dripping each panel..prime 8-10 mf towels with only 8-10 oz of waterless wash. What are you washing, a Mini or VW Bug?
I agree with Alan! I use WW very liberally and use a lot of MF. I use 2 MF per panel, 1 to waash & 1 to dry/buff. I use 24 to 32 oz to do an expedition completely. I use long pile MF only.

[Old Tiger]

I i keep a 2 gallon garden sprayer full of UWW+ and use as a presoak on every wash I do. Doesnt matter if it is 2 bucket, ONR or WW. It breaaks down contaminants and adds another barrier between bad stuff and paint. On BOGO UWW+ yields $1.75 a gallon! Amazing value!!!

[Jaddie]

Dear Corey, Old Tiger, & Friends

Thanks for responding.

Corey, your response should be a sticky in the 101 forum.

Save these posts, Corey. You can create short how-to articles and post them on your site. Not only would they be helpful to others, but they further add to your professional identity.

Thanks again for responding.

[jiverson04]

I use about 10 oz with 5 to 6 MF towels for Honda Accord. Works great for me..