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Winter is a brutal time for those of us who like to wash our own cars. I recently moved to Missouri from Florida, and this year will be my second “real” winter.
During the summer, I would wash my car weekly, as it’s something I truly enjoy doing. Before it got cold, I made sure to thoroughly detail my car and throw on a ceramic wax hybrid spray coating. I went with Turtle Wax ICE Seal N Shine, and it has held up for months now.
My car has gotten dirty and this is the longest I’ve went without washing it in a very long time. It sits in my garage at all times, except for when I’m at work and it’s in a parking lot.
Still, between snow, ice and salt on the roads – it’s been getting filthy over the past few weeks. After watching videos on Optimum No Rinse and always reading about how great of a product it is, I decided to buy it and give it a try.
My first wash with Optimum No Rinse
I put 4 gallons of water in my bucket, along with 2oz of ONR. Using a spray bottle, I made a stronger mix of ONR for my wheels and lower parts that have more dirt built up.
This allowed me to fill up a bucket with warm water from inside, as it’s under 30 degrees where I live and water from the hose would be super cold.
With that said, I did not pre-rinse the vehicle to knock off loose dirt. However, when using the spray bottle on all heavily contaminated areas, such as wheels, front bumper and side skirts – all the dirt just rolled off. Very impressive!
Once the dirtiest parts of my car were soaked, I grabbed the wash mitt in the 5 gallon bucket and began cleaning off the top of my car. I did a section at a time, washing and then drying with a clean microfiber.
It certainly left a nice shine and my car looked like I went through a car wash, except it didn’t seem to cause a swirl or scratch.
Amount of time it took for me to clean my entire car? 20 minutes
Cleaning Wheels with ONR
During this time, my wheels have been soaked with ONR and all the loose debris was gone. So I picked up a different wash mitt I use for wheels and began cleaning them, one by one. After that, I dried them.
It might be due to the spray wax I applied on both the paint and my wheels, but everything seemed to come off effortlessly. Once dried, my wheels looked flawless.
Using Optimum No Rinse During Winter
Optimum No Rinse is a blessing for the auto detailing industry. A little bit goes a long way, and it gave me the opportunity to clean my car in my garage. It’s too cold to wash outside.
ONR worked well on my car – which was filthy, and I didn’t even pre-rinse the vehicle.
It will now be the product I use to wash my vehicle weekly during winter. My only regret is not buying this product sooner!
Buy Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine on Amazon
David was a diesel mechanic for years, working on commercial vehicles and performing DOT inspections. Now, he specializes in web development and digital marketing for the auto industry while running a part-time auto detailing business from his garage.
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