Thank you for your feedback!
I'm aware of the risk of overlapping the wipes, but cleaning the car in small sections--instead of a whole panel--reduces the amount of dirt being picked up, compared to cleaning a whole panel. Using Grit Guards + a rinse bucket will let people use the same towel, instead of using a bunch for every panel.
For instance, in my video & every other time I clean, I divide my roof into quadrants. First, I wipe the upper left quadrant (driver side adjacent to windshield), then rinse the towel, put it back into the ONR+water bucket, then continue onto the left lower quadrant. If my car isn't particularly dirty, I still divide it into quadrants but flip the towel's side instead of putting in buckets. In a vehicle like the Toyota Prius, which has a very long roof, I divide it into 6-8 (depending on how dirty it is) sections per side, for a total of 12-16 wiping sections.
For sides alone, I have about 40 segments when I wash my Toyota Prius, and about 28 when I wash my MR2. Depending on how dirty it is, I'm either flipping it or rinsing the towel out after each segment.
The problem with going too in-depth with segmentation is that people who aren't as meticulous with their car may get discouraged due to the perceived complexity or time. I didn't want to overwhelm people--I was even considering omitting the 3-buckets but I couldn't. A lot of my friends, and people in general, who have asked me to make this video (I'm from San Francisco...lots of water restrictions & apartments here too) don't care about swirl marks, but just want a clean car.
But unless an individual is using a Rinseless wash method to make a profit, I'd like to defend my process and say that it's not as bad as it looks, especially since many people are used to using a circular motion when cleaning, or overlapping the same spot 5 or 6 times. Most cars will get Swirl Marks no matter what. The previous owner of the MR2 went to Automatic Car washes, and I haven't corrected the paint or anything yet, but you can barely see that in the video until you look really close.
Thanks again for your feedback, I really do appreciate it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by imom
Hi, Thank you for taking time and posting up the video. I wanted to say though if you have a black car and really want to avoid any swirl marks or at least reduce the chance of swirl marks... don't do what you show in the video.
If you want to use optimum ONR, then look up Garry Dean wash method and only do a single pass. The fact that you are rubbing back and forth and overlapping the pick up of dirt is not good practice for pro level washing. Synopsis for Garry Dean wash method is two buckets. One bucket soaked with clean towels soaked in ONR and the other bucket is to hold the dirty towels. Use only one pass on the dirty panels.
The other option that I use is waterless with high end MF towels. I use Meguiars D115 rinsefree and wax. I mix the solution with distilled water and spray the panel and wipe down in one direction...if it's extra dirty I go several passes with clean towels or use ONR and use the Garry Dean method. The nice thing is the car is clean and waxed at one time...no need for extra polishing and extra chances of marring the paint. It's a bit scary at first to use rinsefree (waterless), but once you get the hang of it...hardly any chance of scratching even the soft paint on these 86 cars. I've had my car for a year now and hardly any swirl marks...the bird and bee poop does far more damage...even with Opti coat. I recently got PPF on the front clip of the car that I will post a review on. I hope that helps.
Finally...I had a black Z4MR and using the method you described...I had a lot of scratches...the BRZ has hardly any and it's also about the same time or faster than what you posted.
P.s. one last note...even if I use ONR rinseless...I still use Distilled water... I hate water mark and it will etch the paint if you miss a spot. Hard water sucks. A whole car takes about 8 oz for me since I'm so liberal on waterless wipe down. Nice and shiny and well lubed while picking up dirt.
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