Do you believe a vehicle can be too dirty for a waterless / rinse less / quick detail wash etc

[SON1C]

?

[ihaveacamaro]

Since you asked for opinions, absolutely imo. There will always be a time and a place for the 2 bucket wash, at least with today's technology.

However, I do mostly rinseless washes now.

[cleanmycorolla]

IMO if theres some caked on dirt, mud grime, perhaps no.

However, depending where you live, like here in Los Angeles the weather, it rains maybe 20 days out of the year, it's mostly just dust and pollen, and I have never had issues in these conditions. I even ONR'd my parents rides when i went back east for christmas with the fiance, and they had road salt, and all that crap from the winter and i didn't see anything negative.

it's probably all just preference though, i can imagine this thread will have good arguments on both sides of the fence!

[zmcgovern45]

If there is anything besides dust and water spots I will not do rinseless or waterless washes. If there is caked dirt or extremely heavy salt buildup I will take it to the coin op and power wash it first, then proceed with the rinseless wash. (That is my winter routine anyway)

[silverfox]

This is a trick question, yes..?..

[Setec Astronomy]

The rinseless washes seem so good today that the caked-on salt and grit doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. Of course I may want to reserve judgement on that until my spring inspection...

[BrutalNoodle]

Definitely.

I can honestly say I'm a big fan of rinseless & waterless. 90% of all my washing have been rotations of said methods for the last 2 yrs. Having said that, they have their limitations. Both are great for maintenance duty; light to moderate build up. For caked on dirt, without hesitation - a thorough hose down, follow with two bucket method.

[Audi X2]

[PiPUK]

That is a pretty common sight in this part of the world. As others have alluded to, the answer depends on your local climate. Anyone who claims that cleaning heavily soiled surfaces, without the aid of a rinse is either profiting from the sale of rinseless washes or hasn't thought through their answer!

[Jrocket]

I would say absolutely!

I pretty much do nothing but Rinseless and Waterless washes for my clients.

However I started running into a few cars that had way too much crap caked on to them as well as some stubborn spots.

Therefore I purchased an electric pressure washer to do a quick but powerful rinse down.

Plus it comes in handy for other small jobs.

Considered purchasing the nomad portable washer (to accompany my rinseless and ww)

but read lots of mixed reviews on it and it's overall reliability

so passed on it