Streaks after washing

[Shakabruddah808]

Greetings!

I have a slight problem of streaking while drying my car after washing. I use ONR to wash, and my LSP is Poorboy's Blue Paste. I'm not sure if it's because of the chilly weather, or if ONR does not play well with Poorboy's Blue Paste.

I use between 2.5-3 ounces of ONR per 3 gallons of tap water.

My WW's and other MF's are always washed using Micro-Restore and hung to dry.

Has anyone had this streaking problem?

[BobbyG]

I have had this problem in the past but only when I add too much product to the water. For some reason these Rinseless washes are finicky when it comes to overdoing it with the concentration.

DP Rinseless Wash & Gloss recommends adding 1oz of product to 2 gallons of water and works very well with no streaking.

Also, if your drying towel becomes saturated with water it might be leaving residue behind which end up as streaks...

[silverfox]

Winter washing has its challenges and lots of products act weird once you get under 40 degrees.

I agree that streaking in any temperature is usually an indicator of too much product. I in fact use less product than what's recommended because most manufacturers recommendations have a huge factor of safety thrown in to cover their butts.

I notice more of an issue with humidity than I do with temperature but when you combine both...a wet winter day with any product beware of using too much of any product. Also use a damp drying towel instead of a dry one. It makes a huge difference.

[Shakabruddah808]

I have had this problem in the past but only when I add too much product to the water. For some reason these Rinseless washes are finicky when it comes to overdoing it with the concentration.

DP Rinseless Wash & Gloss recommends adding 1oz of product to 2 gallons of water and works very well with no streaking.

Also, if your drying towel becomes saturated with water it might be leaving residue behind which end up as streaks...

Thinking I have hard water, I've been adding 1.5-1 ounce extra ONR, but it seems as though my water is not as hard as I thought it was. I'll drop it down to the minimum recommended amount of ONR with my next wash.

And I'll be sure to swap out WW's more often. I think I may need more WW's. Currently have only three: One Pakshak Micropak 16" x 27" and two Meg's Water Magnets. Do you have any recommendations? I was thinking of at least two Cobra Guzzlers.


Winter washing has its challenges and lots of products act weird once you get under 40 degrees.

I agree that streaking in any temperature is usually an indicator of too much product. I in fact use less product than what's recommended because most manufacturers recommendations have a huge factor of safety thrown in to cover their butts.

I notice more of an issue with humidity than I do with temperature but when you combine both...a wet winter day with any product beware of using too much of any product. Also use a damp drying towel instead of a dry one. It makes a huge difference.

I give my WW's a light spritz with ONR diluted to QD strength. It helps my towels dry the car better.

Thanks for the helpful hints!

Happy Detailing, everyone!
:dblthumb2:

[swanicyouth]

I don't think it's adding to much product. The reason is most rinse less washes (including ONR) can be used at much higher concentrations (like 1:16) as QD sprays without streaking.

IMHO the issue is undoubtedly the cold. I've noticed rinse less washes are much harder to dry once the temps get around 50 degrees or below. In fact for me, the difference is night and day.

Their is a way to overcome this. Work in a garage. Even if the garage is not heated, get yourself a $25.00 little heater and run it for a few hours before working. This will easily raise the garage temps 20 to 30 degrees. I do this.

If you can't work in a garage, give up 2 bucket rinseless washes and switch to the Gary Dean Wash Method using bottled distilled water only. This will enable you to rinseless wash a whole car with only a gallon or two of water. After you do this once, you will never do another 2 bucket rinseless wash again. So, you can buy 2 gallons of distilled water to do your rinseless washes. Make any pretreatment spray you use with distilled water also.

Working with distilled water only seems to really help. After your done, do another wipe down with a waterless wash or QD, but since the car is now clean, you only need a very small amount of product to remove any left over streaks.

[Vegas Transplant]

Winter washing has its challenges and lots of products act weird once you get under 40 degrees.

I agree that streaking in any temperature is usually an indicator of too much product. I in fact use less product than what's recommended because most manufacturers recommendations have a huge factor of safety thrown in to cover their butts.

I notice more of an issue with humidity than I do with temperature but when you combine both...a wet winter day with any product beware of using too much of any product. Also use a damp drying towel instead of a dry one. It makes a huge difference.

I agree.
IMHO, the polymers used in OCC products have a tendency to build upon themselves if not dried (buffed off) - similar to Chris' explanation to OCW streaking.

If you're using a damp ONR laden towel (as opposed to dry) you're giving the polymers a chance to build up so to say.


After your done, do another wipe down with a waterless wash or QD, but since the car is now clean, you only need a very small amount of product to remove any left over streaks.

Especially if you're RW'ing the entire vehicle before drying. If so, then panel by panel will be your future fix.

My two cents.

[Y2KSVT]

I agree that it's the cold weather causing the streaking. For me, regardless of whether it's 30 or 90 degrees outside, I use the same method for rinseless washes. I wash first, using a grout sponge. I then take a soaking wet MF towel and wring as much water out of it as I can and go over the washed area to remove the big drops and "puddles" of rinseless solution. At this point, I take out the WW towel for the final wipe which completely dries the paint to a non-streak finish. I also use compressed air to get everything out of all the creases and crevices.

If I don't use that wrung out MF towel to get the excess rinseless solution off the paint, I find that going straight to a WW towel tends to not only load the towel up faster, rendering it useless, but it also pushes the rinseless solution around on the paint instead of picking it all up.

Grout sponge + damp MF + dry WW = spotless finish.

[spiralout462]

My Ultimate Guzzler really gets overworked in the winter. It works much better with a little help from a blower or other MF towels. I don't have a problem drying with one waffle weave only in the warmer months.

[Shakabruddah808]

I don't think it's adding to much product. The reason is most rinse less washes (including ONR) can be used at much higher concentrations (like 1:16) as QD sprays without streaking.

IMHO the issue is undoubtedly the cold. I've noticed rinse less washes are much harder to dry once the temps get around 50 degrees or below. In fact for me, the difference is night and day.

Their is a way to overcome this. Work in a garage. Even if the garage is not heated, get yourself a $25.00 little heater and run it for a few hours before working. This will easily raise the garage temps 20 to 30 degrees. I do this.

If you can't work in a garage, give up 2 bucket rinseless washes and switch to the Gary Dean Wash Method using bottled distilled water only. This will enable you to rinseless wash a whole car with only a gallon or two of water. After you do this once, you will never do another 2 bucket rinseless wash again. So, you can buy 2 gallons of distilled water to do your rinseless washes. Make any pretreatment spray you use with distilled water also.

Working with distilled water only seems to really help. After your done, do another wipe down with a waterless wash or QD, but since the car is now clean, you only need a very small amount of product to remove any left over streaks.

Alas, I don't have a heated garage, since I live in a condo. There is one alternate method I've been using and it's worked well. After washing, I rinse the ONR solution off using water from a bucket, then dry using a WW to remove the majority of the water, then use as many MF's as needed till dry.

And I've seen Garry Dean's wash method, and that's something I should consider as well. But I will have to begin stocking up on my MF's, since 12 is all I have at the moment. AG is going to be busy filling my orders for the next several months, I think. LOL

I have several empty one gallon water jugs lying around. I'll take them to the nearest supermarket and fill them up with distilled water. At .39 cents a gallon it's cheap.


I agree that it's the cold weather causing the streaking. For me, regardless of whether it's 30 or 90 degrees outside, I use the same method for rinseless washes. I wash first, using a grout sponge. I then take a soaking wet MF towel and wring as much water out of it as I can and go over the washed area to remove the big drops and "puddles" of rinseless solution. At this point, I take out the WW towel for the final wipe which completely dries the paint to a non-streak finish. I also use compressed air to get everything out of all the creases and crevices.

If I don't use that wrung out MF towel to get the excess rinseless solution off the paint, I find that going straight to a WW towel tends to not only load the towel up faster, rendering it useless, but it also pushes the rinseless solution around on the paint instead of picking it all up.

Grout sponge + damp MF + dry WW = spotless finish.

I've never thought of using a damp MF to remove the majority of the ONR. I think I'll incorporate that into my next wash. My poor car is filthy, but it can't be helped. It's too danged cold outside these days.


My Ultimate Guzzler really gets overworked in the winter. It works much better with a little help from a blower or other MF towels. I don't have a problem drying with one waffle weave only in the warmer months.

I agree with you there. I was hoping to receive a cordless leaf blower for Xmas, but the online distributor is out of stock. I was going to use that to blow the excess water out of the many crevices in my car. And believe me, there are a TON of them!

Thanks for all of the helpful hints....I really appreciate the help!