Optimum No Rinse Wash and Shine Version 5 - ONR Rinseless Car Wash Soap for Auto Detailing, Use On Paint, Ceramic Coatings, Glass, Interior (1 Gallon)

I will start off by saying that I was skeptical of this product initially. If you're not familiar with what is different about this product from a traditional car wash soap, it is designed to be "rinseles," in that you dunk your wash cloth, wash mitt, or whatever you're using to wash your car, into the bucket and wipe the dirt off your car. The wet towel goes back into the bucket and you dry immediately with a separate towel.When I first heard about this, I didn't really think that it would be possible for a product like this to work without scratching the paint on your car. It just doesn't seem to make sense that you can take a wash mitt and wipe dirt off without having done an initial rinse to get the majority of the dirt particles off first. The product apparently has "polymers" in it that encapsulate the dirt and prevent scratching. I don't know if that's actually the case or how the chemistry of the product works, but after reading a lot of other reviews from people on auto-detailing forums, seeing testimonials from professional detailers, and seeing the results on cars such as Ferraris, Porsches, and Aston Martins, I figured that there has to be something to this.You literally just need a bucket and your wash mitt and drying towel. No hose necessary. And for someone who lives in an apartment complex, this is great. Also, you save water, which is an added benefit. You only use 2 gallons to fill the bucket as opposed to rinsing your car with who knows how many gallons of water.In addition to its "revolutionary" qualities, it's just a great car wash as well. It removes any dirt I've run into on my vehicle and leaves the car extremely shiny.If used correctly, it leaves no scratches or "swirl marks." And this is one area where I think a word of caution is appropriate. Do yourself a favor and buy a quality wash mitt and quality drying towel. Most of the stuff you can buy in auto stores is just not good and may do damage to your paint by leaving scratches. But if you spend a little bit of money on some nice towels, this product will work great for you. Also, I'd say don't scrub or apply a lot of pressure when wiping the dirt off. This goes for any car wash, but in most instances, simply swiping over the car panel will be sufficient. I'd also suggest wiping of an area slightly larger than you're going to dry, to prevent dirt from surrounding panels getting into your drying cloth. If you're using the product correctly, all the dirt will be encapsulated within the wash mitt and bucket, and your drying towel should remain completely clean.One of the touted benefits of this wash is that it saves time. This part of the product's benefits I have not really noticed. I find that it generally takes me the same amount of time to do my whole car.Ultimately, this is a great product, and it's worth a try. It's not only one of the best car washes I've used, it's also friendly to the environment.

I use this exclusively as a quick detailer -- I've not once used it for its primary purpose of being a rinseless car wash, so I can't comment on that. As a quick detailer, it's great, and much more economical than buying a new bottle of quick detailer when you run out (especially if you go through a bottle a month, or even more frequently!) Buy yourself some microfiber towels, a misting spray bottle (or repurpose an old quick detailer bottle,) and you're off to the races. Dilute 1:5 with water for quick detailing. Use distilled water for absolute best results, but it's not a dealbreaker if you don't. I use water from my Brita pitcher and call it a day.I enjoy great results on paint, wheels, and brake calipers. Wipes away pesky stuff like dried bugs, tree sap, and brake dust with ease. Leaves the surface light and smooth. Takes a bit of experimenting to spray the right amount without getting streaky (a light, wide mist is best for me,) and comes up better the more dry your towel is. Larger vehicles may require 2 or 3 microfiber towels as they get saturated with the product.The only thing I think it's missing from being a true quick detailer is wax content, which is solved by adding a bit of your favorite liquid wax. It does provide a decent clean shine without, but not quite a just-waxed (or just-quick-detailed) shine. What I do: using a 12oz spray bottle and a 30mL syringe, I add 60mL (about 2oz) of this product, 5mL (about 0.16oz) of liquid wax, and then top the bottle off with water. Shake well. Oh, and it smells pretty great, too!

Update: When your car is only lightly dirty (nowhere near the level of filth in my photos), I highly recommend using a garden pump sprayer to get the job done. I use the Chapin 2 gallon sprayer (from Menards or any home improvement store) filled with regular water and 4.5 capfuls of ONR.I used a few microfiber towels to clean the car. I dried it with the Aquis waffle weave towel, and used Chemical Guys' new Blazin' Banana Spray Wax to finish it off.You can wipe down your car very quickly with this method, but the Chapin sprayer really shines when used to clean wheels and tires. I wanted something that could rinse the Super Clean off the tires easily, because spraying them with a spray bottle is far too tedious/time consuming. I used about 1.5 gallons for the entire wash. ONR is a great product for maintaining a nice finish in winter, but I can't wait to try mixing it with a normal car soap. I will update my review again when the weather's nice enough to bring out the hose!---------Sure, automatic car washes exist. They're great for getting salt off the undercarriage. But nothing beats the satisfaction of making your car shine in the comfort of your own garage, at least in my opinion. I was skeptical about ONR for the longest, but after letting my car go unwashed for over a month, it was time to go ahead and try it out. I wrote out my method and additional products used, but I think the before and after pictures speak for themselves.I pre-soaked one side of the car at a time, mixing 32oz of distilled water and 4 capfuls (2oz) of ONR in a spray bottle. I used two buckets and a handful of microfiber towels to get the job done. The wash bucket had 3 gallons of hot water mixed with 3 capfuls (1.5oz) of ONR. The rinse bucket had about 3.5 gallons of hot water with nothing added.After letting the pre-soak dwell for a couple of minutes, I started from the top and worked my way down to the dirtiest parts. Weeks worth of heavy salt, snow and mud simply glided off with very light pressure. No scrubbing was ever needed, and that's what really shocked me about this product. It made the water so unbelievably slick, I no longer had fears of scratching the mess out of my paint.I finished the body within an hour of very careful cleaning. I dried each panel with the Aquis waffle weave towel (yes, it's marketed towards hair use, but it does an amazing job of drying the car!) There was no residue left behind, the paint looked and felt clean.I used the ONR pre-soak spray on my wheels, and it did a good job with the use of a wet microfiber towel. For the tires, I used Super Clean degreaser full strength with a wet firm-bristle brush. I recommend the Tuf Shine brush, it's very comfortable in the hand and scrubs tires well.I finished up with Griots Spray-on Wax and Meguiar's Dub Tire Shine. Overall I'm very impressed with ONR and will definitely keep using it!