Mix degreaser with waterless/rinseless to cut grime?

[Machine154]

Update:

After applying traditional wax on Thanksgiving weekend and running through several touchless tunnel washes, I decided to give it another go in the garage.

First wash: GD method and waterless pre-spray using Opti-Clean and ONR, full vehicle. Failed to remove grime in all areas exposed to road spray - front clip, lower side panels, and full rear of SUV. Also can clearly feel the drag resistance in the microfiber.

Second wash for road spray areas: Traditional car wash detergent in higher concentration, foamed well and a weak solution of degreaser added. Slight improvement, but the grime is still in place.

Tested 2 small areas using full strength degreaser and also bug and tar remover. Turns out that even full strength degreaser is significantly less effective than the bug and tar remover. The bug and tar remover cut right through it, leading me to believe that the grime may in fact be coming from asphalt in some manner.

Third (successful) wash:
I used copious amounts of bug and tar remover and the remaining grime areas cleaned right up. I followed immediately with ONR and a clean microfiber.

I used some of my least favorite microfibers for applying the bug and tar remover. Take a look at my photo after just 1 lower panel.

Attachment 65487

Is it safe to wash my bug and tar microfibers with the others?

Based on this experience, I think my waxing has no benefit and I have to strip it off with bug and tar remover in the end, even after only 2 weeks. And I'm going to need to add more bug and tar remover to my supplies. Any recommendations for bug and tar remover? Or an alternative product? My next bottle is a spray but seems to have a lot of surface warnings about clear plastics, adhesives, etc. Not sure what I should look for. I have never washed 1/2 of a vehicle with bug and tar remover.

[ducksfan]

I never had good results with Opticlean until I changed to diluting it with distilled/Power clean @ 10:1 instead of just distilled.

And once again, if you want safe but effective, you should try P21S Total Auto Wash. I know it's not cheap, but I've had great results knocking it down all the way to 1:30 with distilled water (using distilled with cleaners does make a difference).