❤❤❤ thx for shout out Ben! Fair play if you cover the car in the right chem and blast down first it you get it close to clean. I just find the lance outputs the chem better and faster and you have the PW out anyway. But that big pump sprayer you have put out a good amount of chemical as well. I've found the touchless bh prewash leaves less film as well it's more free rinsing but yer has a really good cleaning power. GR8 stuff
The whole trick to having an easy to maintain clean vehicle is to have a base coating, sealant or wax of your choice, and top it with a hydrophobic topper of your choice on your Bi-weekly wash of choice.. This is what prolongs your base coat. Starting out with a full decon, polish if desired, and base coat is where the work is, after that its a breeze. The key is to be consistent with your Bi-weekly wash, and its becomes no work at all. Some will prefer a weekly wash.
Car washes are an activity I do with my daughter. She loves the foam. It costs a lot with the amount of product she uses up but it makes her happy and I enjoy doing it with her. The clean car is a consequence of it.
Well not really as it's an important step to be faster while working the mitt allover the car... No need to use 2 buckets, just foam and mitt and rinse, done! Snow foams don't magically clean alone, they need contact to work, and I've seen some pretty good ones do a great job at cleaning bugs and grime!!
I love this sort of analysis, as a community that is passionate about cars and how they look I personally think any input on the subject is invaluable and I take my hat off to you sir. I guess my only input that doesn't seek to discredit your findings it that with the likes of snowfoam it via a high pressure system you are more likely to encapsulate dirt and contamination within the fine gaps, this is partially helpful within door jams, engine bays and within wheel arches where the ability to apply such chemicals really does make a substantial difference. I will also point out something that should never ever be misinterpreted, you can not have a 100% effective touch-less wash, the agitation is required for a vehicle to be 100% clean that is just physics.
I suggest checking the hardness level of your local tap water before going with a deionizing water setup, if you live in an area with very soft water then it might not be needed at all.
I don't know about the UK but here in the US most Walmart's and other grocery stores have Reverse Osmosis Drinking water dispensers. I use these to fill my 5-gallon buckets with RO filtered water that is 002 on the TDS meter, spotless! I have a pressure washer and foam cannon but have really been more into using DIY Rinse-less Wash V2 to clean my vehicles. I ordered a RYOBI 40v battery powered pressure washer that has a syphon hose so I can apply the rinse-less wash easier.
Here in California, the going rate near my home for RO water is $2.50 for 5 gallons and with my TDS meter it measure 0 for dissolved solids. Honestly, I have not had an issues just using my house water when I do rinse-less.
@@falsedragon33 I end up using tap water because my dumb-ass son who lives free out my house with his two kids is too lazy to go fill up the 5 gallon jugs. So, I end up using tap water part of the time. I am not a big water drinker unless I am working out. Otherwise, drinking just a glass of water is not appealing. But I love the Diet Dr. Pepper and I am sure that has lots of minerals in it.
Having just got a new car I am literally in the process or working out how I want to clean it and keep it looking nice. This was really informative and will be a great help!
This video was really interesting. I have two ceramic coated cars. I have been spraying on foam, rinsing, and then bucket washing. The thing I have noticed is that the car looks totally clean while I'm washing. I use a grit guard, and when I dump the water, it's clear under the guard. I feel like I'm wasting my time. Also, this is a big deal... The time it takes to rinse the foam off is forever, not to mention all the foam to rinse away on the concrete. I did get a DI tank, and it's a game changer. Rinse and walk away. If you do find any spots after the car dries, just hit it with a quick detailer and call it a day.
If your bucket is not dirty that's a good sign that your pre wash is good, what you don't know is that snow foam changes the surface tension of the panel and creates the ability to draw the dirt off the panel but there will always be chemicals left on the car even after rinsing. The contact wash is using a Ph neutral product to lift off this product and leaves the perfect finish. You tubers are looking for views for monetisation and sadly most enthusiasts are the only ones doing you tube videos. I recommend speaking to a local detailer for accurate advice.
It's been the best car I've ever had 😀 (In terms of what it's enabled, adventures, time spent together etc). Reliability is documented here: www.disco3.co.uk/forum/bensla-d3-2008-hse-stornoway-grey-205232.html
Keep up the great content. I love how deep you go on topics... I also love how you surprise us with new topics...it's what makes youtube so great! I can't wash my car much in the city because I have no access to water or pressure washers and my car goes deep underground in a garage, but I hope to use the knowledge some day.
After reading about your situation I would highly recommend ordering a decent rinseless wash as well as a rinseless wash sponge. They were designed originally to serve customers such as yourself who have limited access to the workspace, the running water and time that is often required when using traditional wash techniques. They really work well and as hard as it is to believe, with proper technique they actually impart less damage in the forms of swirls than you would otherwise get with a normal wash. For me, upgrading to the rinseless wash sponge is what really won me over.
I always wondered why car detailers didn't just use a system of distilled water, to get rid of the problem with mineral spots. As it turns out, there is such a thing, and ionized water apparently is similar to this idea. I wonder how much this rig of yours costs?
I agree with some here. Washing a car is therapeutic, even fun. One reason i still use wax, applying it is relaxing to me and i love the smell. BUT, I wash four vehicles weekly and I'm definitely using tips from this video on three of them 😊
That is exactly the process I use during the winter season here in Montreal, Canada. ZERO touch from the first snowfall(mid-Nov.) to early April. Bilt Hamber Touchless in a manual weed sprayer with a 5min dwell time before power washing it off gives a 90% result compared to adding the bucket wash.
Great video, Ben. I love the finished look of a shiny, clean car. The hybrid method i'm currently using is a snow foam contactless wash with a liquid ceramic coat added into the bottle, then rinse and dry off but i will consider the Di water now 🤔 fusso wax getting good reviews will try👍
If you don’t feel like using a ceramic coating - to me that seems daunting - then take a look at Adam’s Graphene Wax. I have had a great experience with it, it lasts 2+ months before the water stops beading properly. My car is parked outside in the Florida sunshine and rainstorms full-time. When it’s not pouring, the sun is beating down. Sometimes the sun is shining even when it’s pouring for maximum car-destruction effect. Even with all that, my last application was in mid-late July and it is still beading beautifully.
Adams graphene wax is not a coating. It's just a wax. I have a bottle but don't really use it much cuz no clients ever ask for a hand applied wax. I use to apply it with a buffer. @@BenVallack
Hello Ben. Great time and water saving method. Would you recommend using a cordless battery powered pressure washer or are they not powerful enough to remove the traffic film?
I actually tested that too - it's good for a quick rinse after each drive but not really enough coverage to do a proper contactless wash in a short amount of time. th-cam.com/video/OU8PeHhCD2c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=6l_hlhtEg1pSRFYI
@@BenVallack Inspirational! This is the method I was looking for. Thank you for taking the time to product this content. I do a comprehensive detail once a year, chemical decon, clay, DA polish and sealant. So this method is perfect as an interim measure. Keep up the great work.
Been enjoying watching your journey on this! What and where do you get your deionised filter from please? And how much touchless do you use? Assume diluted as per instructions?
I am lucky enough to have a couple different options for washing my vehicle. I could wash it at home, which is truly a pain and takes the most amount of time by far, for the same result. Or, I could use a touchless tunnel wash which is awful and doesn't clean anything, or I have a couple different options of touch wash tunnels. These tunnels take like 2 minutes and then another 5 minutes to dry compared to at least an hour to wash it at home by time I drag all of the crap out and hook up the pressure washer and put all the crap back, etc. I like to keep my vehicle clean and in good shape, but at the end of the day I know it's not a lambo or something and if the paint is absolutely perfect at the time I go to sell/trade it in, it'll be worth the same or VERY close to the same exact vehicle with a few swirls. Over the past two years, I've run my vehicle through the touch tunnel wash at least once a day, every single day. Sometimes more than once a day (I have a truly unlimited plan, and lots of free time with nothing better to do :/ ). I live in PA, and over those two years I put 32k miles on this vehicle, which I bought brand new. Are there swirls on it if you'd hit it with a flashlight or whatnot in the dark? I'm sure. Could you see them during the day? Maybe a few if you were really looking hard for them, but nobody is looking that hard for a couple swirls on a 'regular' vehicle. I traded this vehicle in today. The shiny black plastic that's usually on the door by the window that a lot of vehicles have definitely had some swirls in it (but still not horrible, and I believe that no matter what [even washing at home or whatnot] you're going to have swirls in that stuff). This vehicle had some plastic silver pieces along the bottom trim of the doors, I noticed that had some fine scratches in it but still nothing bad. I guess if you want to spend a ton of time washing at home for the same result, go for it. I'll continue running any vehicle I have through the touch tunnel wash. If you're living somewhere where they use salt on the roads, your vehicle isn't going to last 40 years or whatever anyways.
How about a second garden sprayer pressurized with dionized or distilled water as a rinse? This might be effective if you do not have a larger in-line dionized water system. I will be trying this on my detailing adventures in the following way: 1) Ensure car has a solid ceramic coating (check) 2) Use 1 garden sprayer filled with Bilt-Hamber Touchless, diluted per label 3) Rinse with pressure washer with standard tap water (dense in disolved solids here in California) 4) Spray rinse with 2nd garden sprayer filled with distilled water (about $1.20/gallon here in CA). Estimate 2 gallons required 5a) Allow to air dry -or- 5b) Blow dry using Adams Air Cannon We shall see if this approach works. Thanks.
In my experience if you use normal water to pressure rinse it takes a lot of DI water to flush it all out. I'd often see marks from left over hard water. I'm not sure a weed sprayer would have anything like enough capacity but it's definitely worth a try! You can get little towels with sewn in magnets that you can place where any drips may come out which might be the missing link.
3:30 Having them setup permanently means they have water left in the machine and that can damage them if it's below freezing. I've broken a pressure washer due to not flushing after use in winter.
I appreciate your tips for contactless washing. I feel you are glossing over the amount of work it takes to get to the easy maintenance washes though. The majority of the detailing content makers I see are showing cars that haven't had this prep, and require the full decontamination before a coating can be applied.
To be fair my Land Rover paint is far from perfect - I did a light machine correction before I used Can Coat and that along with the Bathe+ maintenance washes is enough to make sure the contactless wash is pretty remarkably effective - even as shown in the time lapse when the coating is over a year old when beading was pretty poor, it still gets the dirt off very well.
@@BenVallack I've found a pre spray/rinse with dilute all purpose cleaner on the lower areas and wheels helps immensely in my situation. I have aggressive brake pads that produce large amounts of dust. YMMV Regardless, nice content overall!
There is types of foam viscosity. We use every one of them for purpose. But mainly it extends the dwell time by far as simply foam is bubbles every bubble when burst it gives new product to the surface. So with less product we get as we can the maximum effect.
This is basically the method and conclusion i have come to. I have Lustrous as my LSP and then Touch-Less to spray and rinse off with DI water. But will always et in a bucket wash because I enjoy it if I have more time.
I get what your saying in this video with respect to Touchless not needing to be done with a foam lance. The time and hassle of setting all that up etc... But you are using the pressure washer to rinse off the Touchless here no? And so that aspect is already set up. Which is arguably the most inconvenient aspect of the wash process. You are also clearly using a trigger gun there with a quick connect. Meaning to swap between the rinse nozzle and the snowfoam lance would only really take a few seconds. Although with a regular pressure washer fitting it doesn't take that much longer in reality. I can't imagine that is less convenient that pumping up a weed sprayer enough to spray the whole car, given the pressure washer is already set up. Filling up the weed sprayer versus filling up a snow foam bottle would also be a little bit more inconvenient. Although granted you would fill the weed sprayer less often. Overall I do actually agree with the premise that the chemical (in this case, Touchless) is roughly as effective when applied using other methods. However, I would argue that the use of a snow foam lance isn't really less convenient than a snow foam lance. There is an extra expense with the foam lance, sure. And as you say, it isn't strictly required. But a £35 lance that will last many years compared to a £15 weed sprayer pump? I think I could spend the extra £20 to not have to constantly pump up a weed sprayer to wash my car. None the less, some good tips here.
Coatings are very easy to apply correctly. You’re either not preparing the surface correctly or haven’t figured out the flash time for your particular coating.
Be aware that BH Touchless (and Auto Foam and many other popular snow foams) are very high PH products, this is what gives them their powerful cleaning abilities, so, while you are saving time contactless cleaning a coated car, you are also dramatically reducing the lifespan of the coating that allows you to do that. I have seen Gyeon Synchro, a multi layer 5 year coating, need replacing after 12 months, the damage high ph products do is actually very small, but with things like snow foam it’s the repeated regular application that cause cumulative damage over time. So much has been made about PH neutral shampoos but no one ever considers snow foam. I now use a ph neutral foam that cleans by dwelling longer on the surface and then uses the foam to transport the dirt off the car and away safely without causing damage. I also use Can Coat as it is relatively quick and easy to reapply when needed.
the Foam gives you visual aide to know that your getting full coverage of the vehicle . It giving you more dwell time is a myth as by the very nature of it having chemicals that made it more foamy it is heavier on the surface than say spraying an All purpose cleaner from a regular spray bottle (or your pump sprayer your using). Mobile detailers like myself probably will always use foam as we end up doing alot of really trashed cars ppl have neglected that have mud /dirt road fall out . Tree sap etc over every inch of the vehicle. The foam lets you know that u got every inch covered , It also keeps the sun off the surface and can be used as such to avoid prisms and heat related issues. And the most important reason I foam ..it acts as lubricant for the contact portion of the wash and again the visual aid that if im deconing the paint with a synthetic rag or clay bar I know the surface is for sure lubricated visually thx to the foam . And yea it looks cool. Contactless is a myth but so is ":Clean" ...ive been paid for ove 90 cars in 3 years of doing mobile detailing working by myself for clients. I got all of those vehicles much cleaner than they were prior to me seeing them. And then coated them with a ceramic coating. But Clean ? No I could work on the first car for the rest of my life it would never be clean cannot be used in a literal sense as we lack the visual acuity to truely declare anything "clean" . Contactless can achieve a cleaner surface ...But the drying portion of any cleaning method is the most important and the primary cleaning portion . Just like your bottom after you use the toilet. U can wet it all u like use any soap u like on your backside...its not as clean as u could get it till u dry it. Everything PRIOR to the drying portion is just breaking stuff loose that u later remove with a towel as you dry it.
Snow foaming is almost completely a total waste of time. I do not even own one. I have four weed pump sprayers to use rinseless wash, iron remover and another chemical which I've used since 2002 and do not even use soap anymore whatsoever. hard glossy surfaces do not need foamy suds to clean, fabrics do.
As a car detailing enthusiast, could you make a recommendation for a routine for people who don't want to go the whole nine yards with ionised water and whatnot? This all seems a bit overwhelming.
Yeah unfortunately the setup is pretty elaborate - but once it's in use it's very minimal in use. For simple but effective routines I would go for something like the routine I used here: th-cam.com/video/-XYxswbqhEw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Z59H1L_jpFaFyDp_ But ditch the snow foam and use the sprayer instead. That's a fast and reasonably simple routine that works well ongoing with no long term coatings needed.
As an amateur I would say snow form then wheel cleaner then bucket and sponge wash then polish then extra gloss protection then glass and bumper/trim gel and tyre dressing. I used all autoglym products and like I said I'm amateur and I'm sure someone with more knowledge could say about adding anything else.
Rinse-less washing is a game changer for me. Since I’ve found it, I have not used a 2 bucket method or foam cannon. I’ll use the pressure washer if the car is too soiled, which in my case is never. Then start my contact wash.
Yeah really good stuff for sure - I did a video looking at a rinse-less wash routine a while back th-cam.com/video/-XYxswbqhEw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=5XUl8-LwoFSDUuPU
Both your cars are silver, which is a colour that hides a lot of dirt. Do you think your process will work on a white car? I find that a prewash with touchless through a snowfoam cannon doesn't get all the dirt off with a base of fusso coat and regular applications of touch on. Maybe I'll try a different application method for the touchless and see if it's better
Yeah it helps for sure - my parent's car is white though and uses fusso coat and they use the exact same routine - it's definitely doesn't get it back to 100% but good enough to put off the bucket wash - maybe on a white car you'd find you want to do the bucket wash at 6-8 weeks instead of 2-3 months where I find I'm pushing it to on the grey cars. It's also important to not miss any weeks with the contactless because the traffic film bonds on more with wet/dry cycles the longer it's left on there - at least that's what seems to happen.
@@BenVallack part of the problem I get is what I call "tiger stripes" where the prewash (I've tried citrus too) cleans some areas better than others. That looks worse to me than dirty and I find I have to contact wash it . SWMBO's car is a deep metallic blue and that is much more acceptable after just a snowfoam and pressure rinse. Moving house soon so hoping to set up a wall mounted reel permanent set up with a filter to make quick washes super easy, maybe that will mean I do it more often and it stays cleaner
Thank you for this cause I now have a faster way to wash cars as a detailer of 3 years but I also valet for 4 years before that. It’s great that you explain you can just use a weed sprayer.
Yeah I'm tempted to sort that out - it means a new pressure washer for me though as mine can't draw from standing water. I will weigh it all up when it comes to next resin replacement!
We treat our rainwater collection before storing it. It’s absolutely phenomenal for cooking, cleaning, drinking and washing the vehicles. It MUST be treated properly first though. Far less expensive than buying water as well.
ROUTE 66 mobile detailing Yuma Arizona very true video here in Yuma AZ in the summer it's 120 degrees so anything that cuts on time or speeds up process of cleaning vehicles helps And all tips are always handy Kool video
What is the best type of cloth to use for a bucket wash? And if you can't use de-ionised water, what can you use to dry the car? I'm about 20 years away from understanding or implementing your workflow. But it is very interesting indeed.
Thanks! There are a few options with bucket wash and dry techniques. I actually use a single bucket with a grit guard and the Rag Company ultra safe sponge. I like the Rag Company 'dry me a river' towels for drying.
Completely agree with your comments regarding Touch-less, it truly is a remarkable product that is far superior to regular snow foam. Also agree with using it through a pump sprayer compared to a foam lance. If used through a foam lance, not only do you have to go through the hassle of working out the correct dilutions for your foam lance, you end up using a lot more product which then becomes very expensive per wash. Pump sprayer all the way! As you've mentioned it wont get your car spotless but then as you're not going in with a contact wash, it gets you 95% there!
1st time viewer of your channel. GREAT VIDEO !!!! So much info packed into 8 minutes. I'm a big fan of Forensic Detailing as well. I totally agree and my detailing process is almost identical. Might add a few things---- UltraLock Plus-Jescar is also an alternative to a ceramic coating. Also Armour Detail supply is releasing a spray on Ceramic Coarting this week that looks super easy. Reviewed on "Bruces Garage" on TH-cam. Also, ceramic coating can tend to develep water spots- from rain, ect. And an Acidic Wash from Time to Time is helpful to re-set the coating and address the water spots--- I like Descale from CarPro. Just a few thoughts. Just subscribed and thanks again. Owen (Dr. Detail) from the States- Atlanta.😀
Great wideo! What about the dwell time foam vs sprayer? I'm with you on the foam part. It looks cooler and is more satisfying but a pump sprayer could be more effective and economical. Looks like a great solution for colder weather but I can imagine it dries up a lot faster then foam when the temp goes up?
Have tried lots of different brands and products of car cleaning over the years but if i had to choose a winning brand it would have to be Bilt Hamber, every product that they manufacture is first class from Touchless snow foam to Auto Wash to there polish’s and wax’s, fallout removers for wheels and bodywork, their touch on coating is great aswell is their Traceless glass cleaner they all work well, to be fair there are other great brands such as Koch Chemie, Gyeon G techniq and Car Pro make great products such as re tyre and edge for tyre cleaning.
Good point. And the summer is when I'm willing to spend more time car washing anyways. But if You use the deionized water like in this video, you can just clean one section at a time since you dont dry it so you're done with that section before the pre-soak dries.
Bilt Hamber, Soft99 Fusso, a man I can relate to. I tried dozens of different products, but by trial & error, I ended up with Bilt Hamber and Soft99. I do use P & S beadmaker after every wash though, it's cheap, it's quick and easy to apply, and it beads and shines quite well considering how easy to use and cheap it is.
Ha yeah they are stand out products. I'm very excited by Bilt Hamber's rust preventer Dynax-UB - I've used Fluid Film for years on older cars under body but the video Bilt Hamber made shows that theirs beats it by an extraordinary amount (they didn't say Fluid Film or Lanoguard specifically but I'm pretty sure that's what they used in the tests!) Anyway the Land Rover will be getting Dynax-UB this winter!
@BenVallack thanks Ben, what's the resin call which you go for? Also, you mentioned about ONR as a quick detailer, how do you make this? Thanks again for the video it is super! John
@@JohnJez Thanks! ebay.us/XLbIDi (affiliate link to ebay listing I bought from last time). Using ONR as QD is great - use it around door openings etc, also amazing on interior surfaces. Use 1 part ONR to 16 water.
I have believed for years that foaming was a waste of time and money. I use this exact approach. Just spray on solution instead of foaming. Clean/polish the car to start. Ceramic coat the car. Then use rinse-less wash on a weekly basis on the whole care. All purpose cleaner on the tires/wheels, grill and any place where bugs or road tar might accumulate. If time permits, I use some type of ceramic detailing spray while drying for a little boost in protection, and shine. This approach is fast, works amazing, less mess and only uses a couple of gallons of water. I live in a condo, so while I could use a pressure washer, I try to avoid because I personally like as little noise coming from neighbors as possible, so I try to practice what I preach. Every 3-6 months, I will usually decide to do a full car wash and use the power washer and then back to rinse-less.
Hello Ben. Another v. interesting video -as usual. (not missing the Tesla? I am still loving my 22 MY LR (Red). So, since replacing my 10 year old X3, which was almost always commercially hand washed and was eventually returned to its original pristine swirl free condition with a machine polish before I sold her (BMW paint quality- so good ), I have, in retirement, become a keen carer of the Y. She was, immediately ceramic coated with top end Gtechniq ceramic with an exo4 sacrificial coat on top. Also PPF'd on the front end - all before I even drove her a mile. Since then, using only Gtechniq products, it's been a two bucket wash with G Ceramic Wash after snow foaming. I only use water from a "Spotless" water dispenser but still dry with best microfibre towels I can find. However, I am not getting any younger and so am keen to try your method (though dropping the foam cannon is a little too radical). I have one concern; I hear that touches wash chemicals can strip coatings. Should I be concerned?
Yeah for sure miss the Model Y! One day I'll get back on the wagon. I don't think Bilt Hamber Touch Less would hurt a coating. It's very different to things like APC which are very harsh.
Are you using the BH touch-less on the tires and wheels as well and not performing any contact with the wheel? Does it remove all the brake dust and film from the wheels?
I do use it on them - it by no means fully deals with brake dust but it does go a surprisingly long way! On the EV it's not an issue of course and the Land Rover wheels are in a very bad way so I tend just not to look too close. I would say though that the contactless routine is enough to keep them clean enough to keep the car looking good enough until the contact wash where you can use a bit of 'bilt hamber auto wheel' as needed.
Great video ,and I'm glad you're also not a fan of snowfoam .....complete waste of time. One thing though, the Gyeon Can Coat needs to stay on the vehicle without getting wet for 12 hours, not 24, I think 🤔
The pump up sprayer takes more time. I have tried it a hundred different ways. Switching to the foamer take it off is simple. I believe good products & deionized water is the only thing that speeds it up.
Pumping it adds a bit of time - a cordless tyre inflator could solve that though! Overall though it's faster than messing about filing the foam bottle each time. But yeah biggest gains come from not drying and the permanent pressure hose for sure.
Using products and water will wash off 80% of the dirt. But the contact wash with pickup the traffic film. If you don’t do a contact wash you’ll see your car kinda looks dusty after
Super useful video. Thanks. Have you tried 303 Graphene Nano Spray? It’s a graphene oxide-based spray coating that provides high protection for up to 12 months. Excellent hydrophobic properties, very easy to apply in any conditions, almost instant cure time, and it works on glass and trim. Very impressive and could be a good addition/alternative to your workflow.
Good video this, I’ve been detailing professionally and hobbiest for 24 years but always looking to learn. Can I ask, what impact ratio are you using touch less at from the weed sprayer? Assume it’s the 2-4%? You do the wheels this way also? I like you mention can coat as that’s my go to coating these days for ease factor. Really good video thanks for taking the time to share.
By applying a ceramic coating ! You must clay bar and correct your paint before adding a ceramic spray or what ever wax! Detailers are NEVER misleading! Depends on your environment! Living in Arizona during monsoon ! You must physically wash your car or SUV from dust. From causing minior scratches! So your misleading people. To doing a major problem with there paint! Each is own. Me as a detailer for 32 years you must prerp your car.
@@BenVallack you said you just need to rise your car with the chemical you use. Not every where has the environment in where you live. Try that on a black car. Trust that does not work. And detailers are not misleading.
@@BenVallack I did sir. Just detailers are not misleading, we all have our way of doing a car for so many years with no miss ups. Like to ask how long have you been detailing or doing cars? And you need to agree the way you say how to clean a car or SUV is not the same where the weather is lot different.
So how do you keep the door shuts and wheel arches clean each time, and what about the tar and iron fallout that accumulates? I have a professionally ceramic coated car and use Bilt Hamber Touch Less, but the door shuts and wheels still need extra attention, also the rain channnel round the hatch back. You talk a lot of sense, but personally I think you over simplified the process.
Have to be honest. I'm more interested in a quick-and-reliable way to make my car look presentable than anything else. I don't mind the occasional deep-clean once or maybe twice a year, but the majority of the time I just want to clean the muck off, vacuum her out and wipe the surfaces over. I'd love to just jetwash, but I have no outside tap.
Thank you for this but what's up with that huge amount of bilt hamber product you're using? The instructions say 2% for a really dirty car so that's 200ml max for your sprayer.
Snow foam is same as shaving cream to the face, it protects while shaving. If you NEED to do a contact wash, snow foam provides the same “shaving cream” like protection for the paint in between the mitt/towel etc and the paint.
Snow Foam isn't really supposed to be used for contact washing though is it. The whole point of it, is to remove 95% of the grime/dirt before you use a shampoo contact wash, which IS designed to be used with a mitt.
@@DjNikGnashersI think the whole foam for lubricity idea is a bit of a novel approach used by some - AmmoNYC marketed a product designed to be used that way. You're right though it wasn't the original idea.
So what's the difference between using touchless in a pump sprayer and using all around the car like you showed and using touchless in a snow foam gun ? Both you walk around the car and spay it , only diff is swapping the the foam gun on a quick release which takes seconds . The snow foam on a warm day will last longer and not dry out as quick either .
A few differences: - Refilling the snow foam bottle needs to be done every wash compared the weed sprayer which lasts several washes. The time impact of this isn't to be underestimated. It could turn a 6 min routine into over 10 mins. - There is a key issue in terms of the DI water. If you use DI water for the foam lance you'll be wasting a load of it. If you switch it then you have to wait for it to flush through when you switch. - Foam uses more rinse water (and time) to clear off than the spray
I've used Touch less on ceramic coated cars...it only gets 80 to 90 percent cleaner. A light contact wash is proven to be the absolute only way to get your exterior surfaces all the way clean. that's why Touch less will never be performed by an actual detailer. another negative is that 8 to 10 oz of touch less is needed to perform the job. that equates to like 5 to 8 dollars to wash the vehicle. very expensive. sadly not worth it adding a quality APC degreaser to any foam lance soap will raise the pH and will allow the same kind of result, though using both these methods over time will abrade and fade away any coating . it's a sacrifice. either work a little more and v longer to extend the life of your protection or save time at the expense of your protection layer. it's up to you. whatever works for you, and you enjoy , just do it. 💪
Not sure where you got the numbers for Touch-less costs. It's diluted 2% - I use 180ml in my 9L weed sprayer and that does about 4 or 5 washes. So about £0.30p per wash. The premise here is that if you do it weekly, before the dirt has had time to bond, you can easily get the car back to 95% clean. Which is enough to keep most people happy. Eventually it will of course need a catch up contact wash.
Between 1-2%. It has a PH of 12 so I think can be tough on coatings. I'd say as long as you're using a ceramic coating with a ceramic top up from a wash like Bathe+ then you're providing that sacrificial layer which protects the base coating. But maybe aim to re-apply Can Coat every 10 months as well. That whole approach should be fine indefinitely.
The car body is quick and easy if you have a high performance car its the wheels and brake calipers that are a time suck. They get very dirty very quickly.
Facts. I can do a rinseless using McKees on M2 in my garage quickly... it's the wheels that take all the time and effort. The paint has a recent coating of Mcguire's Hybrid Ceramic wax and each time I use thier hybrid ceramic quick detailer as a drying aid. I'm slowly switching over to Gtechniq products though. So far I've liked what I've used. I've really been shocked that I haven't found any scratches or swirls yet. The hydrophobics have been great so far too.
Interesting. Having DI filtered water on tap would be the most useful for me, with a dark car and always living in areas with very hard water. It would also be very useful just for rinsing off the car after trips in the rain - with a black car (even ceramic coated) you only need to think about driving on wet roads for it to look like total crap when it dries and sunlight is on the car. My other, silver, car basically never looks dirty however much its neglected.... I used to use the Flash car wash things that went on the end of the hose, they were a total revelation in hard water areas but were discontinued (and would be considered an ecological nightmare now with all the big plastic filters)...
Interesting, I hadn't heard of those filters. Yeah the resin does seem a bit wasteful too - it's just going into landfill. Apparently you can get pure water in Walmart in the US and there is a service in the UK called Spotless Water.
It’s just cleaning a car! I am a self proclaimed weekend warrior. Whilst your process may be efficient, I don’t believe you are getting a clean car without a contact wash each time. Plus you are taking any enjoyment out of the ‘hobby’. Also a good drying towel is about £25 and will last many many years if looked after. Not only is it good practise to manually dry your car, who in their right mind would pay £70 every 3 months to have deionised water. Even with the smart water, I do not know one single person who would still not dry their car. Zero decent weekend warriors or pro will simply leave a car to dry - not gonna happen. Finally the joy of car cleaning is trying new products. Again I don’t know one person who always sticks with the same stuff. There may be a few products that I would not veer from - like touchless, but things like shampoo, sealants, quick detailers, polish, wax - I am always up for trying new stuff. Worst case you buy it, you hate it, you sell it to someone that does like it.
If you enjoy the process then absolutely take your time! This is really about how to have a car that's 'clean enough' with as little time spent as possible. DI water lasts about a year so not a disaster - but it's definitely not cheap.
I would avoid towel drying after a contactless wash just because it's not a proper wash - there may be road film on there that you'd be pulling around with the towel. Definitely no problem after a proper bucket wash though. Model Y is a nice car to wash - not too many nooks and crannies for water to lurk in!
@@BenVallack hmmm so its as clean after your wash process as after you first applied the ceramic….. (or at least that’s the implication) but not clean enough to towel dry :)
I use Race Glaze and found it discourages pressure rinsing via the container, how have you got yours to work? Have you thought of a proper DI system like Big BOI? One slight issue with this method is that complete Touchless I find even weekly only removes around 80\90% of dirt, if you got yourself DIY Detail rinseless sponge and solution you could do a super fast contact and won’t be any swirls!
Do you mean the pressure washer doesn't work when the filter is inline? I had no issues with mine - they do sell a gauze that you put on the filter exit just to stop any resin getting into the machine but other than that it's literally just inline in the inlet to the pressure washer. Big BOI seems a bit overkill for a DIY routine but certainly looks the business! Are you using touchless on a ceramic coated car? I would put the number much nearer 95% on how much it cleans - as long as it's done weekly before gets time to bond too much. This translates to about 3-4 months before I look at it and say it's time for a bucket wash. Yeah super fast rinseless contact wash is also a good option if you're confident in the product. Maybe a few contactless rinses, then a rinseless, then a few more contactless then a bucket wash.
@@BenVallack interesting, I use a Kranzle K10 (10 litre/min) high flow, what pressure washer you using with your setup, perhaps it’s my 7L container that is causing issues! The gauze I was going to use certainly as can’t destroy my Kranzle! Understood on BiG BOI, I say this coming from a side business doing car detailing, I’ve been taking similar sort of approaches on science/no gimmicks to clients and saving them £££ Regarding ceramic, yes I use DIy Detail coatings usually, I find the 3 year graphene is perfect and easy to apply for UK hard water areas. Il try Touchless for a month on my daily driver and report back to you, also keen to stay in contact as I test out a lot of approaches like you do on my detailing side business / I like to get the most efficient methods!
@@poynty400Sounds like exactly how I'd run a detailing business! I wonder if it's my cheap Nilfisk that is allowing the filter to work due to not being very high flow. Look forward to your findings on touch-less - if it's not performing as well as you'd like it might be worth experimenting with higher PIR.
@@BenVallack You may better off filing up a water butt(after attaching 3/4" tank connector - see Smouts video on wheelie bin for fittings) with demineralised water and use a short suction hose. The earlier Nilfisk C models could suck water. 1 less thing to set up when you want to rinse. To further make your resin last, you could set up a second rainwater butt(TDS < 2/10/15) , get a 12V water pump(+ battery/transformer) and pump rainwater through the resin to demineralised water butt. Resin seems to just be climbing in price every year. Cost of all that will be around the price of 1 years worth of resin with tap water!
I just watched your video, and it got me really curious. First off, I'm a car care enthusiast like you. There are a few things I've always wondered about, and your video seems to confirm them for me. When you use filtered water, does it make the products more effective since they don’t have to deal with any dirt or impurities in the water before they touch the car? And by not using foam, you're not diluting the product as much, so everything that hits the surface works directly on it, right?
I think there probably is a benefit to using DI water for the product mixes - I don't tend to bother though. i.e I used normal water when mixing the Touch-less. In terms of foam and dilution, the idea is to use the same PIR (panel impact ratio) so you should be able to get the same strength/effect. It's just that it's harder to calculate and more time to fill the bottle each time with the lance.
So would you use the neutral one for the contactless wash? And you think that would clean better as a contactless wash that Bilt Hamber Touch-less? What about ease of rinsing? (appreciate there is concern around Touch-less being too harsh for coatings)
Without going into much details, keep doing this method and expect a faded paint and dried out plastic and rubber in year or so. There so many misinformation regarding detailing, from enthusiast and well seasoned detailers. High PH is the go to process by most detailers and enthusiast because it gives u the cleaning power but forget the repercussions of using High PH, any panel that u leave with a high PH or LOW pH needs to be neutralize to mitigate the above mentioned as to why this method is wrong. If your really are interested on detailing i highly suggest to learn about PH level because this will help u all through out ur venture in the world of detailing. Lastly rinseless should only be used on light dust and as a last resort, its not meant to shorten the process of "car detailing" or whatever, u want an "effective" method and cutting corners is not one of them.
I'm not talking about rinseless here. I trust Touch-less not to fade my paint. Bilt Hamber do test their products in accelerated tests - I find it very unlikely that there would be risk at all from a product like this - especially on a coated car.
blah blah blah. I use Wurth foaming spray in a hand sprayer. Wet the car down, spray it on, scrub with a soft broom hose off, job done. Takes all of 20-30 mins if that.
@@BenVallack yeah the towel is what was missing from detailing for a long time. We had traditional clay as a nuclear option, but nothing lighter for more regular use. I'm using a "fine" clay towel which was expensive but is a long term investment.
Sold it unfortunately!! We had a loft conversion and it got too expensive to have a Tesla as well. I'd get one again in a heartbeat if finances allowed.
Great channel and awesome deep-dive detail, but you rattle through the content very quickly which makes it difficult to take in. I for one would love if you took more time and broke the video down more into sections. At the moment it’s like reading someone’s detailed brain dump as a massive paragraph with little punctuation - the info is all there, but difficult to absorb. It’d be much better spilt into sections with more time to dwell on and take in the detail. Thanks for the content and hard work - some of the best out there and great to see when you put up a new video!
Been valeting cars for 40+ years. Haven't used a stupid bucket/sponge/mitt/leather since the 80's. All this spraying on products, then rinse, then foaming, then 2/3 bucket wash, then rinsing off again, then foaming again, then rinsing off again, then drying, then foaming a wax/ceramic coat, then rinsing, then a final drying is all bollox. These so-called-detailers on YT go way OTT to get the same results i can do on my estate in 10-15mins that will last just as long in the shite British weather.
Contactless wash is a gimmick. Your paint maybe looks clean but dirt and grim will still be in your paint. And none of what you are saying is a secret, it’s all easily available online and in detailing groups.
@@bobdidit55 This is absolute rubbish. I use Bilt Hamer Touchless and you can literally see the dirt coming off with the foam. You definitely need to do a normal bucket wash after if its really dirty, but to say its a gimmick is just straight up wrong. I use it on the regular as a quick clean on top of ceramic coating and it works FAR better than just using a pressure washer with water alone
Good advice here but takes out all the fun in detailing and all the time avoiding the family
Haha
😂😂😂
❤❤❤ thx for shout out Ben! Fair play if you cover the car in the right chem and blast down first it you get it close to clean. I just find the lance outputs the chem better and faster and you have the PW out anyway. But that big pump sprayer you have put out a good amount of chemical as well. I've found the touchless bh prewash leaves less film as well it's more free rinsing but yer has a really good cleaning power. GR8 stuff
No problem! Love your channel - has been a go-to for me for many years. Thanks for your comment.
The whole trick to having an easy to maintain clean vehicle is to have a base coating, sealant or wax of your choice, and top it with a hydrophobic topper of your choice on your Bi-weekly wash of choice.. This is what prolongs your base coat. Starting out with a full decon, polish if desired, and base coat is where the work is, after that its a breeze. The key is to be consistent with your Bi-weekly wash, and its becomes no work at all. Some will prefer a weekly wash.
Snow foam is simply more fun and this I will always use it, I wash my cars for the joy of the matter
Absolutely fair point! When I filmed that b-roll I was like 'this is very fun though'!
Couldn't have said it better
Car washes are an activity I do with my daughter. She loves the foam. It costs a lot with the amount of product she uses up but it makes her happy and I enjoy doing it with her. The clean car is a consequence of it.
Well not really as it's an important step to be faster while working the mitt allover the car... No need to use 2 buckets, just foam and mitt and rinse, done! Snow foams don't magically clean alone, they need contact to work, and I've seen some pretty good ones do a great job at cleaning bugs and grime!!
Cleaning my car is therapeutic for me.
I love this sort of analysis, as a community that is passionate about cars and how they look I personally think any input on the subject is invaluable and I take my hat off to you sir.
I guess my only input that doesn't seek to discredit your findings it that with the likes of snowfoam it via a high pressure system you are more likely to encapsulate dirt and contamination within the fine gaps, this is partially helpful within door jams, engine bays and within wheel arches where the ability to apply such chemicals really does make a substantial difference.
I will also point out something that should never ever be misinterpreted, you can not have a 100% effective touch-less wash, the agitation is required for a vehicle to be 100% clean that is just physics.
I suggest checking the hardness level of your local tap water before going with a deionizing water setup, if you live in an area with very soft water then it might not be needed at all.
I don't know about the UK but here in the US most Walmart's and other grocery stores have Reverse Osmosis Drinking water dispensers. I use these to fill my 5-gallon buckets with RO filtered water that is 002 on the TDS meter, spotless! I have a pressure washer and foam cannon but have really been more into using DIY Rinse-less Wash V2 to clean my vehicles. I ordered a RYOBI 40v battery powered pressure washer that has a syphon hose so I can apply the rinse-less wash easier.
That is brilliant!
Here in California, the going rate near my home for RO water is $2.50 for 5 gallons and with my TDS meter it measure 0 for dissolved solids. Honestly, I have not had an issues just using my house water when I do rinse-less.
@@MusicByJC Same rate here, .50 cents a gallon or $2.50 for 5 gallons. My house water measures 050 on the TDS meter which is quite good.
You really shouldn't drink RO water too much. You need the minerals and the ph of ro water is on the acidic side.
@@falsedragon33 I end up using tap water because my dumb-ass son who lives free out my house with his two kids is too lazy to go fill up the 5 gallon jugs. So, I end up using tap water part of the time. I am not a big water drinker unless I am working out. Otherwise, drinking just a glass of water is not appealing. But I love the Diet Dr. Pepper and I am sure that has lots of minerals in it.
Having just got a new car I am literally in the process or working out how I want to clean it and keep it looking nice. This was really informative and will be a great help!
Thanks!
😂 I'm in exactly the same boat. Ben just pointed me to this latest video. 🎉
This video was really interesting. I have two ceramic coated cars. I have been spraying on foam, rinsing, and then bucket washing. The thing I have noticed is that the car looks totally clean while I'm washing. I use a grit guard, and when I dump the water, it's clear under the guard. I feel like I'm wasting my time. Also, this is a big deal... The time it takes to rinse the foam off is forever, not to mention all the foam to rinse away on the concrete. I did get a DI tank, and it's a game changer. Rinse and walk away. If you do find any spots after the car dries, just hit it with a quick detailer and call it a day.
If your bucket is not dirty that's a good sign that your pre wash is good, what you don't know is that snow foam changes the surface tension of the panel and creates the ability to draw the dirt off the panel but there will always be chemicals left on the car even after rinsing. The contact wash is using a Ph neutral product to lift off this product and leaves the perfect finish.
You tubers are looking for views for monetisation and sadly most enthusiasts are the only ones doing you tube videos. I recommend speaking to a local detailer for accurate advice.
WOW!!!!….really impressed that your ’Land Rover’ has lasted over a year!?!?😊 thanks for the info.
It's been the best car I've ever had 😀 (In terms of what it's enabled, adventures, time spent together etc). Reliability is documented here: www.disco3.co.uk/forum/bensla-d3-2008-hse-stornoway-grey-205232.html
Keep up the great content. I love how deep you go on topics... I also love how you surprise us with new topics...it's what makes youtube so great! I can't wash my car much in the city because I have no access to water or pressure washers and my car goes deep underground in a garage, but I hope to use the knowledge some day.
Thanks!
After reading about your situation I would highly recommend ordering a decent rinseless wash as well as a rinseless wash sponge. They were designed originally to serve customers such as yourself who have limited access to the workspace, the running water and time that is often required when using traditional wash techniques. They really work well and as hard as it is to believe, with proper technique they actually impart less damage in the forms of swirls than you would otherwise get with a normal wash. For me, upgrading to the rinseless wash sponge is what really won me over.
I always wondered why car detailers didn't just use a system of distilled water, to get rid of the problem with mineral spots. As it turns out, there is such a thing, and ionized water apparently is similar to this idea. I wonder how much this rig of yours costs?
Thank you for sharing all that knowledge. Much appreciated you shared it in eight minutes, too.
I agree with some here. Washing a car is therapeutic, even fun. One reason i still use wax, applying it is relaxing to me and i love the smell.
BUT, I wash four vehicles weekly and I'm definitely using tips from this video on three of them 😊
That is exactly the process I use during the winter season here in Montreal, Canada. ZERO touch from the first snowfall(mid-Nov.) to early April. Bilt Hamber Touchless in a manual weed sprayer with a 5min dwell time before power washing it off gives a 90% result compared to adding the bucket wash.
Great video, Ben. I love the finished look of a shiny, clean car. The hybrid method i'm currently using is a snow foam contactless wash with a liquid ceramic coat added into the bottle, then rinse and dry off but i will consider the Di water now 🤔 fusso wax getting good reviews will try👍
Let me know if you find a way to apply ceramic top up without the buff dry!
Great Video! Thank you 🔥👏💪🫶
I still like the foam 🤷🏼 But I do agree this makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing 😁👍🏻
If you don’t feel like using a ceramic coating - to me that seems daunting - then take a look at Adam’s Graphene Wax. I have had a great experience with it, it lasts 2+ months before the water stops beading properly. My car is parked outside in the Florida sunshine and rainstorms full-time. When it’s not pouring, the sun is beating down. Sometimes the sun is shining even when it’s pouring for maximum car-destruction effect. Even with all that, my last application was in mid-late July and it is still beading beautifully.
The Graphene Wax on my truck lasted from mid-March to July before it started wearing off. It applies like a normal wax as well.
Sounds good - yeah I've heard good things about graphene coatings. Will experiment with them next!
Adams graphene wax is not a coating. It's just a wax. I have a bottle but don't really use it much cuz no clients ever ask for a hand applied wax. I use to apply it with a buffer. @@BenVallack
Hello Ben. Great time and water saving method. Would you recommend using a cordless battery powered pressure washer or are they not powerful enough to remove the traffic film?
I actually tested that too - it's good for a quick rinse after each drive but not really enough coverage to do a proper contactless wash in a short amount of time. th-cam.com/video/OU8PeHhCD2c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=6l_hlhtEg1pSRFYI
@@BenVallack Inspirational! This is the method I was looking for. Thank you for taking the time to product this content. I do a comprehensive detail once a year, chemical decon, clay, DA polish and sealant. So this method is perfect as an interim measure. Keep up the great work.
@@andyg7210Many thanks!!
Been enjoying watching your journey on this! What and where do you get your deionised filter from please? And how much touchless do you use? Assume diluted as per instructions?
Yeah it's the new version of Touch Less so even less product needed - 2% or something like that. I got it from raceglaze.co.uk
I am lucky enough to have a couple different options for washing my vehicle. I could wash it at home, which is truly a pain and takes the most amount of time by far, for the same result. Or, I could use a touchless tunnel wash which is awful and doesn't clean anything, or I have a couple different options of touch wash tunnels. These tunnels take like 2 minutes and then another 5 minutes to dry compared to at least an hour to wash it at home by time I drag all of the crap out and hook up the pressure washer and put all the crap back, etc.
I like to keep my vehicle clean and in good shape, but at the end of the day I know it's not a lambo or something and if the paint is absolutely perfect at the time I go to sell/trade it in, it'll be worth the same or VERY close to the same exact vehicle with a few swirls. Over the past two years, I've run my vehicle through the touch tunnel wash at least once a day, every single day. Sometimes more than once a day (I have a truly unlimited plan, and lots of free time with nothing better to do :/ ). I live in PA, and over those two years I put 32k miles on this vehicle, which I bought brand new. Are there swirls on it if you'd hit it with a flashlight or whatnot in the dark? I'm sure. Could you see them during the day? Maybe a few if you were really looking hard for them, but nobody is looking that hard for a couple swirls on a 'regular' vehicle. I traded this vehicle in today. The shiny black plastic that's usually on the door by the window that a lot of vehicles have definitely had some swirls in it (but still not horrible, and I believe that no matter what [even washing at home or whatnot] you're going to have swirls in that stuff). This vehicle had some plastic silver pieces along the bottom trim of the doors, I noticed that had some fine scratches in it but still nothing bad.
I guess if you want to spend a ton of time washing at home for the same result, go for it. I'll continue running any vehicle I have through the touch tunnel wash. If you're living somewhere where they use salt on the roads, your vehicle isn't going to last 40 years or whatever anyways.
How about a second garden sprayer pressurized with dionized or distilled water as a rinse? This might be effective if you do not have a larger in-line dionized water system. I will be trying this on my detailing adventures in the following way:
1) Ensure car has a solid ceramic coating (check)
2) Use 1 garden sprayer filled with Bilt-Hamber Touchless, diluted per label
3) Rinse with pressure washer with standard tap water (dense in disolved solids here in California)
4) Spray rinse with 2nd garden sprayer filled with distilled water (about $1.20/gallon here in CA). Estimate 2 gallons required
5a) Allow to air dry
-or-
5b) Blow dry using Adams Air Cannon
We shall see if this approach works.
Thanks.
In my experience if you use normal water to pressure rinse it takes a lot of DI water to flush it all out. I'd often see marks from left over hard water. I'm not sure a weed sprayer would have anything like enough capacity but it's definitely worth a try! You can get little towels with sewn in magnets that you can place where any drips may come out which might be the missing link.
3:30 Having them setup permanently means they have water left in the machine and that can damage them if it's below freezing.
I've broken a pressure washer due to not flushing after use in winter.
I always de-pressurise it in the winter and make sure the hose is off at the outside tap. It's survived several winters in there now.
You can buy pressure washer antifreeze. Run it through the pump before storage and you’re good.
I appreciate your tips for contactless washing. I feel you are glossing over the amount of work it takes to get to the easy maintenance washes though. The majority of the detailing content makers I see are showing cars that haven't had this prep, and require the full decontamination before a coating can be applied.
To be fair my Land Rover paint is far from perfect - I did a light machine correction before I used Can Coat and that along with the Bathe+ maintenance washes is enough to make sure the contactless wash is pretty remarkably effective - even as shown in the time lapse when the coating is over a year old when beading was pretty poor, it still gets the dirt off very well.
@@BenVallack I've found a pre spray/rinse with dilute all purpose cleaner on the lower areas and wheels helps immensely in my situation. I have aggressive brake pads that produce large amounts of dust. YMMV
Regardless, nice content overall!
There is types of foam viscosity.
We use every one of them for purpose.
But mainly it extends the dwell time by far as simply foam is bubbles every bubble when burst it gives new product to the surface.
So with less product we get as we can the maximum effect.
This is basically the method and conclusion i have come to. I have Lustrous as my LSP and then Touch-Less to spray and rinse off with DI water. But will always et in a bucket wash because I enjoy it if I have more time.
Rinse it. Foam it. Rinse it again. Forum it and hand wash with micro fiber mitt. Dry it! How hard is that? Looks great.
You missed a rinse in there I think!
Its not hard, its time consuming. I think thats the point the video was trying to make
Spend 45 minutes doing all that or do this method and spend less than 10 minutes with no real labor involved as well?
I get what your saying in this video with respect to Touchless not needing to be done with a foam lance. The time and hassle of setting all that up etc...
But you are using the pressure washer to rinse off the Touchless here no? And so that aspect is already set up. Which is arguably the most inconvenient aspect of the wash process.
You are also clearly using a trigger gun there with a quick connect. Meaning to swap between the rinse nozzle and the snowfoam lance would only really take a few seconds. Although with a regular pressure washer fitting it doesn't take that much longer in reality. I can't imagine that is less convenient that pumping up a weed sprayer enough to spray the whole car, given the pressure washer is already set up. Filling up the weed sprayer versus filling up a snow foam bottle would also be a little bit more inconvenient. Although granted you would fill the weed sprayer less often.
Overall I do actually agree with the premise that the chemical (in this case, Touchless) is roughly as effective when applied using other methods. However, I would argue that the use of a snow foam lance isn't really less convenient than a snow foam lance. There is an extra expense with the foam lance, sure. And as you say, it isn't strictly required. But a £35 lance that will last many years compared to a £15 weed sprayer pump? I think I could spend the extra £20 to not have to constantly pump up a weed sprayer to wash my car.
None the less, some good tips here.
Coatings are very easy to apply correctly. You’re either not preparing the surface correctly or haven’t figured out the flash time for your particular coating.
Be aware that BH Touchless (and Auto Foam and many other popular snow foams) are very high PH products, this is what gives them their powerful cleaning abilities, so, while you are saving time contactless cleaning a coated car, you are also dramatically reducing the lifespan of the coating that allows you to do that. I have seen Gyeon Synchro, a multi layer 5 year coating, need replacing after 12 months, the damage high ph products do is actually very small, but with things like snow foam it’s the repeated regular application that cause cumulative damage over time. So much has been made about PH neutral shampoos but no one ever considers snow foam.
I now use a ph neutral foam that cleans by dwelling longer on the surface and then uses the foam to transport the dirt off the car and away safely without causing damage. I also use Can Coat as it is relatively quick and easy to reapply when needed.
Yeah I think I've made my peace with that - with the top ups of Bathe+ and Can Coat once a year it all seems to work out well!
the Foam gives you visual aide to know that your getting full coverage of the vehicle . It giving you more dwell time is a myth as by the very nature of it having chemicals that made it more foamy it is heavier on the surface than say spraying an All purpose cleaner from a regular spray bottle (or your pump sprayer your using). Mobile detailers like myself probably will always use foam as we end up doing alot of really trashed cars ppl have neglected that have mud /dirt road fall out . Tree sap etc over every inch of the vehicle. The foam lets you know that u got every inch covered , It also keeps the sun off the surface and can be used as such to avoid prisms and heat related issues. And the most important reason I foam ..it acts as lubricant for the contact portion of the wash and again the visual aid that if im deconing the paint with a synthetic rag or clay bar I know the surface is for sure lubricated visually thx to the foam .
And yea it looks cool. Contactless is a myth but so is ":Clean" ...ive been paid for ove 90 cars in 3 years of doing mobile detailing working by myself for clients. I got all of those vehicles much cleaner than they were prior to me seeing them. And then coated them with a ceramic coating. But Clean ? No I could work on the first car for the rest of my life it would never be clean cannot be used in a literal sense as we lack the visual acuity to truely declare anything "clean" . Contactless can achieve a cleaner surface ...But the drying portion of any cleaning method is the most important and the primary cleaning portion . Just like your bottom after you use the toilet. U can wet it all u like use any soap u like on your backside...its not as clean as u could get it till u dry it.
Everything PRIOR to the drying portion is just breaking stuff loose that u later remove with a towel as you dry it.
Snow foaming is almost completely a total waste of time. I do not even own one. I have four weed pump sprayers to use rinseless wash, iron remover and another chemical which I've used since 2002 and do not even use soap anymore whatsoever. hard glossy surfaces do not need foamy suds to clean, fabrics do.
As a car detailing enthusiast, could you make a recommendation for a routine for people who don't want to go the whole nine yards with ionised water and whatnot? This all seems a bit overwhelming.
Yeah unfortunately the setup is pretty elaborate - but once it's in use it's very minimal in use. For simple but effective routines I would go for something like the routine I used here: th-cam.com/video/-XYxswbqhEw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Z59H1L_jpFaFyDp_ But ditch the snow foam and use the sprayer instead. That's a fast and reasonably simple routine that works well ongoing with no long term coatings needed.
As an amateur I would say snow form then wheel cleaner then bucket and sponge wash then polish then extra gloss protection then glass and bumper/trim gel and tyre dressing. I used all autoglym products and like I said I'm amateur and I'm sure someone with more knowledge could say about adding anything else.
@@BenVallack Brilliant, thanks Ben 😊
Rinse-less washing is a game changer for me. Since I’ve found it, I have not used a 2 bucket method or foam cannon. I’ll use the pressure washer if the car is too soiled, which in my case is never. Then start my contact wash.
Yeah really good stuff for sure - I did a video looking at a rinse-less wash routine a while back th-cam.com/video/-XYxswbqhEw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=5XUl8-LwoFSDUuPU
Both your cars are silver, which is a colour that hides a lot of dirt. Do you think your process will work on a white car? I find that a prewash with touchless through a snowfoam cannon doesn't get all the dirt off with a base of fusso coat and regular applications of touch on. Maybe I'll try a different application method for the touchless and see if it's better
Yeah it helps for sure - my parent's car is white though and uses fusso coat and they use the exact same routine - it's definitely doesn't get it back to 100% but good enough to put off the bucket wash - maybe on a white car you'd find you want to do the bucket wash at 6-8 weeks instead of 2-3 months where I find I'm pushing it to on the grey cars. It's also important to not miss any weeks with the contactless because the traffic film bonds on more with wet/dry cycles the longer it's left on there - at least that's what seems to happen.
@@BenVallack part of the problem I get is what I call "tiger stripes" where the prewash (I've tried citrus too) cleans some areas better than others. That looks worse to me than dirty and I find I have to contact wash it . SWMBO's car is a deep metallic blue and that is much more acceptable after just a snowfoam and pressure rinse. Moving house soon so hoping to set up a wall mounted reel permanent set up with a filter to make quick washes super easy, maybe that will mean I do it more often and it stays cleaner
Thank you for this cause I now have a faster way to wash cars as a detailer of 3 years but I also valet for 4 years before that. It’s great that you explain you can just use a weed sprayer.
I use a water butt to collect rain water, then use this free pure water through the jet washer, with bilt hamber touchless for a spot free finish
Yeah I'm tempted to sort that out - it means a new pressure washer for me though as mine can't draw from standing water. I will weigh it all up when it comes to next resin replacement!
Rain water nowadays isn't spot free.
Rain water isn't spot free. It's not even potable here in Sydney Australia. Toilet flushes and watering the lawn only.
rain water is nowhere near spot free
We treat our rainwater collection before storing it. It’s absolutely phenomenal for cooking, cleaning, drinking and washing the vehicles. It MUST be treated properly first though. Far less expensive than buying water as well.
ROUTE 66 mobile detailing Yuma Arizona very true video here in Yuma AZ in the summer it's 120 degrees so anything that cuts on time or speeds up process of cleaning vehicles helps And all tips are always handy Kool video
Sometimes doing things the old fashion way is better for something's 😉 but great video and very true
What is the best type of cloth to use for a bucket wash? And if you can't use de-ionised water, what can you use to dry the car? I'm about 20 years away from understanding or implementing your workflow. But it is very interesting indeed.
Thanks! There are a few options with bucket wash and dry techniques. I actually use a single bucket with a grit guard and the Rag Company ultra safe sponge. I like the Rag Company 'dry me a river' towels for drying.
@@BenVallack thank you!!!
Look at raceglaze for 0ppm water. Makes a huge difference to drying and is very cost effective.
Completely agree with your comments regarding Touch-less, it truly is a remarkable product that is far superior to regular snow foam.
Also agree with using it through a pump sprayer compared to a foam lance. If used through a foam lance, not only do you have to go through the hassle of working out the correct dilutions for your foam lance, you end up using a lot more product which then becomes very expensive per wash. Pump sprayer all the way!
As you've mentioned it wont get your car spotless but then as you're not going in with a contact wash, it gets you 95% there!
1st time viewer of your channel. GREAT VIDEO !!!! So much info packed into 8 minutes. I'm a big fan of Forensic Detailing as well. I totally agree and my detailing process is almost identical. Might add a few things---- UltraLock Plus-Jescar is also an alternative to a ceramic coating. Also Armour Detail supply is releasing a spray on Ceramic Coarting this week that looks super easy. Reviewed on "Bruces Garage" on TH-cam. Also, ceramic coating can tend to develep water spots- from rain, ect. And an Acidic Wash from Time to Time is helpful to re-set the coating and address the water spots--- I like Descale from CarPro. Just a few thoughts. Just subscribed and thanks again. Owen (Dr. Detail) from the States- Atlanta.😀
Awesome points thanks so much!
Great wideo! What about the dwell time foam vs sprayer? I'm with you on the foam part. It looks cooler and is more satisfying but a pump sprayer could be more effective and economical.
Looks like a great solution for colder weather but I can imagine it dries up a lot faster then foam when the temp goes up?
Yeah dries a bit faster, confident no change in cleaning performance though. It re-wets and rinses off fine in the summer even if it's started to dry.
Have tried lots of different brands and products of car cleaning over the years but if i had to choose a winning brand it would have to be Bilt Hamber, every product that they manufacture is first class from Touchless snow foam to Auto Wash to there polish’s and wax’s, fallout removers for wheels and bodywork, their touch on coating is great aswell is their Traceless glass cleaner they all work well, to be fair there are other great brands such as Koch Chemie, Gyeon G techniq and Car Pro make great products such as re tyre and edge for tyre cleaning.
Foam gives more time before drying, in the summer before you finish spraying the car it has already dried
Good point. And the summer is when I'm willing to spend more time car washing anyways. But if You use the deionized water like in this video, you can just clean one section at a time since you dont dry it so you're done with that section before the pre-soak dries.
Bilt Hamber, Soft99 Fusso, a man I can relate to.
I tried dozens of different products, but by trial & error, I ended up with Bilt Hamber and Soft99.
I do use P & S beadmaker after every wash though, it's cheap, it's quick and easy to apply, and it beads and shines quite well considering how easy to use and cheap it is.
Ha yeah they are stand out products. I'm very excited by Bilt Hamber's rust preventer Dynax-UB - I've used Fluid Film for years on older cars under body but the video Bilt Hamber made shows that theirs beats it by an extraordinary amount (they didn't say Fluid Film or Lanoguard specifically but I'm pretty sure that's what they used in the tests!) Anyway the Land Rover will be getting Dynax-UB this winter!
This is great! I just ordered a new washer gun(w/ tips) bundled with a foam cannon. But I enjoy coating the car with thick foam. lol
Hi Ben,
Where do yuu purchase your resin from?
Thanks,
John
Just one of the eBay sellers.
@BenVallack thanks Ben, what's the resin call which you go for?
Also, you mentioned about ONR as a quick detailer, how do you make this?
Thanks again for the video it is super!
John
@@JohnJez Thanks! ebay.us/XLbIDi (affiliate link to ebay listing I bought from last time). Using ONR as QD is great - use it around door openings etc, also amazing on interior surfaces. Use 1 part ONR to 16 water.
Very informative video. Can you make a video on how to detail the engine bay of the ionic please? Thx
Had my ceramiced. Just go to public hand-wash now. Car looks immaculate, I will only have car for two years, so no problem.
I have believed for years that foaming was a waste of time and money. I use this exact approach. Just spray on solution instead of foaming. Clean/polish the car to start. Ceramic coat the car. Then use rinse-less wash on a weekly basis on the whole care. All purpose cleaner on the tires/wheels, grill and any place where bugs or road tar might accumulate. If time permits, I use some type of ceramic detailing spray while drying for a little boost in protection, and shine. This approach is fast, works amazing, less mess and only uses a couple of gallons of water. I live in a condo, so while I could use a pressure washer, I try to avoid because I personally like as little noise coming from neighbors as possible, so I try to practice what I preach. Every 3-6 months, I will usually decide to do a full car wash and use the power washer and then back to rinse-less.
Awesome!
Bro has an ionizer water spot remover in line in the hose that is badass bro
What ratio of Built Hamber to water do you use please...Also great video and advice...
As per the label - 2% I think. 180ml in my 9ltr sprayer. Thanks so much!
@@BenVallack Thanks Ben..
Hello Ben. Another v. interesting video -as usual. (not missing the Tesla? I am still loving my 22 MY LR (Red). So, since replacing my 10 year old X3, which was almost always commercially hand washed and was eventually returned to its original pristine swirl free condition with a machine polish before I sold her (BMW paint quality- so good ), I have, in retirement, become a keen carer of the Y. She was, immediately ceramic coated with top end Gtechniq ceramic with an exo4 sacrificial coat on top. Also PPF'd on the front end - all before I even drove her a mile.
Since then, using only Gtechniq products, it's been a two bucket wash with G Ceramic Wash after snow foaming. I only use water from a "Spotless" water dispenser but still dry with best microfibre towels I can find. However, I am not getting any younger and so am keen to try your method (though dropping the foam cannon is a little too radical). I have one concern; I hear that touches wash chemicals can strip coatings. Should I be concerned?
Yeah for sure miss the Model Y! One day I'll get back on the wagon. I don't think Bilt Hamber Touch Less would hurt a coating. It's very different to things like APC which are very harsh.
Are you using the BH touch-less on the tires and wheels as well and not performing any contact with the wheel? Does it remove all the brake dust and film from the wheels?
I do use it on them - it by no means fully deals with brake dust but it does go a surprisingly long way! On the EV it's not an issue of course and the Land Rover wheels are in a very bad way so I tend just not to look too close. I would say though that the contactless routine is enough to keep them clean enough to keep the car looking good enough until the contact wash where you can use a bit of 'bilt hamber auto wheel' as needed.
Great video ,and I'm glad you're also not a fan of snowfoam .....complete waste of time. One thing though, the Gyeon Can Coat needs to stay on the vehicle without getting wet for 12 hours, not 24, I think 🤔
You are quite right! Thanks!
The pump up sprayer takes more time. I have tried it a hundred different ways. Switching to the foamer take it off is simple. I believe good products & deionized water is the only thing that speeds it up.
Pumping it adds a bit of time - a cordless tyre inflator could solve that though! Overall though it's faster than messing about filing the foam bottle each time. But yeah biggest gains come from not drying and the permanent pressure hose for sure.
Using products and water will wash off 80% of the dirt. But the contact wash with pickup the traffic film. If you don’t do a contact wash you’ll see your car kinda looks dusty after
I would put the number much nearer 95%. The conditions are: 1. needs to be done weekly to prevent bonding on. 2. needs to be on ceramic coated car.
@@BenVallack I coated my car with a professional ceramic coat and I still find if I do contactless every week it’s still somewhat dirty and noticeable
Super useful video. Thanks. Have you tried 303 Graphene Nano Spray? It’s a graphene oxide-based spray coating that provides high protection for up to 12 months. Excellent hydrophobic properties, very easy to apply in any conditions, almost instant cure time, and it works on glass and trim. Very impressive and could be a good addition/alternative to your workflow.
Sounds very good - does indeed sound like another good one to add the viable 12 month coatings list!
Does the Race Glaze tank need to be 14L to wash a car, or could the smaller one be an option?
Smaller one just needs the resin to be changed sooner afaik, shouldn't reduce its performance.
Excellent experimentation, research and advice! As usual. Thank you
Thanks!
Well I’ve got a 5 gallon drum of snow foam so I guess I’m going to continue using that, plus fraid I couldn’t afford all that extra equipment 😬
Plenty of full ceramic coatings that are easy to apply and don't need to be inside nowadays. Carpro UK 3 for example.
Good video this, I’ve been detailing professionally and hobbiest for 24 years but always looking to learn. Can I ask, what impact ratio are you using touch less at from the weed sprayer? Assume it’s the 2-4%? You do the wheels this way also? I like you mention can coat as that’s my go to coating these days for ease factor. Really good video thanks for taking the time to share.
Thanks! About 2% yep. Yes wheels included.
@@BenVallack thanks buddy
And one more question? Have you tested the bilt hamber through a foaming sprayer versus your method?
By applying a ceramic coating ! You must clay bar and correct your paint before adding a ceramic spray or what ever wax! Detailers are NEVER misleading! Depends on your environment! Living in Arizona during monsoon ! You must physically wash your car or SUV from dust. From causing minior scratches! So your misleading people. To doing a major problem with there paint! Each is own. Me as a detailer for 32 years you must prerp your car.
When did I say not to prep the car? I specifically said to machine correct before ceramic.
@@BenVallack you said you just need to rise your car with the chemical you use. Not every where has the environment in where you live. Try that on a black car. Trust that does not work. And detailers are not misleading.
@@xhernandez6034You need to watch the whole video 😊
@@BenVallack I did sir. Just detailers are not misleading, we all have our way of doing a car for so many years with no miss ups. Like to ask how long have you been detailing or doing cars? And you need to agree the way you say how to clean a car or SUV is not the same where the weather is lot different.
@@BenVallack and am not saying your ideas are not good. We all have our ways that's all. Not hard feeling sir. None what so ever. Keep on washing.
Our water here in East England is incredibly hard. DI has been an amazing find, albeit i'm sure will prove expensive.
Yeah same in Wiltshire!
So how do you keep the door shuts and wheel arches clean each time, and what about the tar and iron fallout that accumulates? I have a professionally ceramic coated car and use Bilt Hamber Touch Less, but the door shuts and wheels still need extra attention, also the rain channnel round the hatch back. You talk a lot of sense, but personally I think you over simplified the process.
I do door shuts with ONR diluted as a QD - around every 2 weeks. A separate event to the contactless wash. Tar and iron are addressed as needed.
Have to be honest. I'm more interested in a quick-and-reliable way to make my car look presentable than anything else. I don't mind the occasional deep-clean once or maybe twice a year, but the majority of the time I just want to clean the muck off, vacuum her out and wipe the surfaces over. I'd love to just jetwash, but I have no outside tap.
You could achieve a similar routine with a cordless pressure washer - combine this video with this one: th-cam.com/video/OU8PeHhCD2c/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for this but what's up with that huge amount of bilt hamber product you're using?
The instructions say 2% for a really dirty car so that's 200ml max for your sprayer.
Yeah might have poured a bit more but that's what I was aiming for! I was looking at what I estimated at around .2L on the side of the sprayer.
How much touchless do you put in your sprayer?
1-2% dilution
What ratio are you using with touchless to water in the sprayer?
It's the new version of Touch-Less so 2%.
What pressure end do you use, and machine, or is it straight off the mains tap?
Mains tap into cheap Nilfisk pressure washer with the DI filter inline just before the machine.
Snow foam is same as shaving cream to the face, it protects while shaving. If you NEED to do a contact wash, snow foam provides the same “shaving cream” like protection for the paint in between the mitt/towel etc and the paint.
Yeah there could be a justification on those grounds but I think the lubricity in a shampoo is probably just as effective.
Snow Foam isn't really supposed to be used for contact washing though is it.
The whole point of it, is to remove 95% of the grime/dirt before you use a shampoo contact wash, which IS designed to be used with a mitt.
@@DjNikGnashersI think the whole foam for lubricity idea is a bit of a novel approach used by some - AmmoNYC marketed a product designed to be used that way. You're right though it wasn't the original idea.
Ben - great video, thanks. Any suggested alternates to Bilt Hamber TOUCH-LESS for the USA?
So what's the difference between using touchless in a pump sprayer and using all around the car like you showed and using touchless in a snow foam gun ? Both you walk around the car and spay it , only diff is swapping the the foam gun on a quick release which takes seconds . The snow foam on a warm day will last longer and not dry out as quick either .
A few differences:
- Refilling the snow foam bottle needs to be done every wash compared the weed sprayer which lasts several washes. The time impact of this isn't to be underestimated. It could turn a 6 min routine into over 10 mins.
- There is a key issue in terms of the DI water. If you use DI water for the foam lance you'll be wasting a load of it. If you switch it then you have to wait for it to flush through when you switch.
- Foam uses more rinse water (and time) to clear off than the spray
@@BenVallack defiantly getting the DI water system, great for the summer months when against the heat .
What about those dirty alloy barrels , door shuts , boot opening ect there’s clean and then there’s clean .
I've used Touch less on ceramic coated cars...it only gets 80 to 90 percent cleaner. A light contact wash is proven to be the absolute only way to get your exterior surfaces all the way clean. that's why Touch less will never be performed by an actual detailer. another negative is that 8 to 10 oz of touch less is needed to perform the job. that equates to like 5 to 8 dollars to wash the vehicle. very expensive. sadly not worth it
adding a quality APC degreaser to any foam lance soap will raise the pH and will allow the same kind of result, though using both these methods over time will abrade and fade away any coating . it's a sacrifice. either work a little more and v longer to extend the life of your protection
or save time at the expense of your protection layer. it's up to you. whatever works for you, and you enjoy , just do it. 💪
Not sure where you got the numbers for Touch-less costs. It's diluted 2% - I use 180ml in my 9L weed sprayer and that does about 4 or 5 washes. So about £0.30p per wash. The premise here is that if you do it weekly, before the dirt has had time to bond, you can easily get the car back to 95% clean. Which is enough to keep most people happy. Eventually it will of course need a catch up contact wash.
What PIR is touchless mixed at, its known to strip LSP such as collinite in only a few washes, so guessing synthetic or ceramic is a must?
Between 1-2%. It has a PH of 12 so I think can be tough on coatings. I'd say as long as you're using a ceramic coating with a ceramic top up from a wash like Bathe+ then you're providing that sacrificial layer which protects the base coating. But maybe aim to re-apply Can Coat every 10 months as well. That whole approach should be fine indefinitely.
The car body is quick and easy if you have a high performance car its the wheels and brake calipers that are a time suck. They get very dirty very quickly.
One of the perks of an EV!
Facts. I can do a rinseless using McKees on M2 in my garage quickly... it's the wheels that take all the time and effort. The paint has a recent coating of Mcguire's Hybrid Ceramic wax and each time I use thier hybrid ceramic quick detailer as a drying aid. I'm slowly switching over to Gtechniq products though. So far I've liked what I've used. I've really been shocked that I haven't found any scratches or swirls yet. The hydrophobics have been great so far too.
Interesting. Having DI filtered water on tap would be the most useful for me, with a dark car and always living in areas with very hard water. It would also be very useful just for rinsing off the car after trips in the rain - with a black car (even ceramic coated) you only need to think about driving on wet roads for it to look like total crap when it dries and sunlight is on the car. My other, silver, car basically never looks dirty however much its neglected.... I used to use the Flash car wash things that went on the end of the hose, they were a total revelation in hard water areas but were discontinued (and would be considered an ecological nightmare now with all the big plastic filters)...
Interesting, I hadn't heard of those filters. Yeah the resin does seem a bit wasteful too - it's just going into landfill. Apparently you can get pure water in Walmart in the US and there is a service in the UK called Spotless Water.
It’s just cleaning a car! I am a self proclaimed weekend warrior. Whilst your process may be efficient, I don’t believe you are getting a clean car without a contact wash each time. Plus you are taking any enjoyment out of the ‘hobby’. Also a good drying towel is about £25 and will last many many years if looked after. Not only is it good practise to manually dry your car, who in their right mind would pay £70 every 3 months to have deionised water. Even with the smart water, I do not know one single person who would still not dry their car. Zero decent weekend warriors or pro will simply leave a car to dry - not gonna happen. Finally the joy of car cleaning is trying new products. Again I don’t know one person who always sticks with the same stuff. There may be a few products that I would not veer from - like touchless, but things like shampoo, sealants, quick detailers, polish, wax - I am always up for trying new stuff. Worst case you buy it, you hate it, you sell it to someone that does like it.
If you enjoy the process then absolutely take your time! This is really about how to have a car that's 'clean enough' with as little time spent as possible. DI water lasts about a year so not a disaster - but it's definitely not cheap.
I use a snow foam cannon because i can see what spots i’ve hit and missed,
Great content. I’ve been going down the rabbit hole after getting our Model Y last week 😅 If not using distilled water, can the car be towel dried?
I would avoid towel drying after a contactless wash just because it's not a proper wash - there may be road film on there that you'd be pulling around with the towel. Definitely no problem after a proper bucket wash though. Model Y is a nice car to wash - not too many nooks and crannies for water to lurk in!
@@BenVallack ok nice. Thanks
@@BenVallack hmmm so its as clean after your wash process as after you first applied the ceramic….. (or at least that’s the implication) but not clean enough to towel dry :)
@@hamza-m Not sure I follow? Contactless isn't as clean as a bucket wash so I'd only use a towel after a bucket wash.
My rims take the most time cleaning/wash because of brake dust
Do you apply the bilt hamber neat or diluted please?
Diluted about 2% in the weed sprayer. (Instructions are on the bottle).
I use Race Glaze and found it discourages pressure rinsing via the container, how have you got yours to work?
Have you thought of a proper DI system like Big BOI?
One slight issue with this method is that complete Touchless I find even weekly only removes around 80\90% of dirt, if you got yourself DIY Detail rinseless sponge and solution you could do a super fast contact and won’t be any swirls!
Do you mean the pressure washer doesn't work when the filter is inline? I had no issues with mine - they do sell a gauze that you put on the filter exit just to stop any resin getting into the machine but other than that it's literally just inline in the inlet to the pressure washer.
Big BOI seems a bit overkill for a DIY routine but certainly looks the business!
Are you using touchless on a ceramic coated car? I would put the number much nearer 95% on how much it cleans - as long as it's done weekly before gets time to bond too much. This translates to about 3-4 months before I look at it and say it's time for a bucket wash.
Yeah super fast rinseless contact wash is also a good option if you're confident in the product. Maybe a few contactless rinses, then a rinseless, then a few more contactless then a bucket wash.
@@BenVallack interesting, I use a Kranzle K10 (10 litre/min) high flow, what pressure washer you using with your setup, perhaps it’s my 7L container that is causing issues! The gauze I was going to use certainly as can’t destroy my Kranzle!
Understood on BiG BOI, I say this coming from a side business doing car detailing, I’ve been taking similar sort of approaches on science/no gimmicks to clients and saving them £££
Regarding ceramic, yes I use DIy Detail coatings usually, I find the 3 year graphene is perfect and easy to apply for UK hard water areas.
Il try Touchless for a month on my daily driver and report back to you, also keen to stay in contact as I test out a lot of approaches like you do on my detailing side business / I like to get the most efficient methods!
@@poynty400Sounds like exactly how I'd run a detailing business! I wonder if it's my cheap Nilfisk that is allowing the filter to work due to not being very high flow. Look forward to your findings on touch-less - if it's not performing as well as you'd like it might be worth experimenting with higher PIR.
@@BenVallack You may better off filing up a water butt(after attaching 3/4" tank connector - see Smouts video on wheelie bin for fittings) with demineralised water and use a short suction hose. The earlier Nilfisk C models could suck water. 1 less thing to set up when you want to rinse. To further make your resin last, you could set up a second rainwater butt(TDS < 2/10/15) , get a 12V water pump(+ battery/transformer) and pump rainwater through the resin to demineralised water butt. Resin seems to just be climbing in price every year. Cost of all that will be around the price of 1 years worth of resin with tap water!
I just watched your video, and it got me really curious. First off, I'm a car care enthusiast like you.
There are a few things I've always wondered about, and your video seems to confirm them for me.
When you use filtered water, does it make the products more effective since they don’t have to deal with any dirt or impurities in the water before they touch the car?
And by not using foam, you're not diluting the product as much, so everything that hits the surface works directly on it, right?
I think there probably is a benefit to using DI water for the product mixes - I don't tend to bother though. i.e I used normal water when mixing the Touch-less. In terms of foam and dilution, the idea is to use the same PIR (panel impact ratio) so you should be able to get the same strength/effect. It's just that it's harder to calculate and more time to fill the bottle each time with the lance.
The real secrets are have a ceramic coating then use a 3pH cleaning system touchless or touch. Works much better that what are showing.
So would you use the neutral one for the contactless wash? And you think that would clean better as a contactless wash that Bilt Hamber Touch-less? What about ease of rinsing? (appreciate there is concern around Touch-less being too harsh for coatings)
Without going into much details, keep doing this method and expect a faded paint and dried out plastic and rubber in year or so. There so many misinformation regarding detailing, from enthusiast and well seasoned detailers. High PH is the go to process by most detailers and enthusiast because it gives u the cleaning power but forget the repercussions of using High PH, any panel that u leave with a high PH or LOW pH needs to be neutralize to mitigate the above mentioned as to why this method is wrong. If your really are interested on detailing i highly suggest to learn about PH level because this will help u all through out ur venture in the world of detailing. Lastly rinseless should only be used on light dust and as a last resort, its not meant to shorten the process of "car detailing" or whatever, u want an "effective" method and cutting corners is not one of them.
I'm not talking about rinseless here. I trust Touch-less not to fade my paint. Bilt Hamber do test their products in accelerated tests - I find it very unlikely that there would be risk at all from a product like this - especially on a coated car.
BH Touchless used to have a ph of 12. The new formula is 10.5.
blah blah blah. I use Wurth foaming spray in a hand sprayer. Wet the car down, spray it on, scrub with a soft broom hose off, job done. Takes all of 20-30 mins if that.
I used to use touchless all the time, fantastic product and works very well but it’s not ph neutral. Now my car is ceramic coated I have to avoid it
OCD keyboard minimalist man wants to teach me how to wash my car. Sold!
Do you ever use a clay towel? I find one necessary to really clean the paint a few times a year.
Yeah I use a clay bar as needed but only really if I see visible tar spots - will try a clay towel next time as the bar is pretty fiddly.
@@BenVallackthe towels are pretty revolutionary compared to a bar. Only keep a heavy clay bar around for overspray or on glass when needed.
@@BenVallack yeah the towel is what was missing from detailing for a long time. We had traditional clay as a nuclear option, but nothing lighter for more regular use. I'm using a "fine" clay towel which was expensive but is a long term investment.
What happened to your Tesla Ben?
Sold it unfortunately!! We had a loft conversion and it got too expensive to have a Tesla as well. I'd get one again in a heartbeat if finances allowed.
Great channel and awesome deep-dive detail, but you rattle through the content very quickly which makes it difficult to take in. I for one would love if you took more time and broke the video down more into sections. At the moment it’s like reading someone’s detailed brain dump as a massive paragraph with little punctuation - the info is all there, but difficult to absorb. It’d be much better spilt into sections with more time to dwell on and take in the detail.
Thanks for the content and hard work - some of the best out there and great to see when you put up a new video!
Thanks! I'd love to improve on this too - will keep experimenting! I think a pause and title between sections would help, do you agree?
What can i do if i dont have that bog filter thing i use a hose with cannon as i dont have a pressure washer
🇬🇧 👍🏽September 2024
What a bluddy awesome video!!
What the Car Detailing Community Doesn’t Want to Talk About: Erectile Dysfunction.
There's got to be a joke about snow foam lances somewhere here but I don't want to lower the tone!
Been valeting cars for 40+ years. Haven't used a stupid bucket/sponge/mitt/leather since the 80's. All this spraying on products, then rinse, then foaming, then 2/3 bucket wash, then rinsing off again, then foaming again, then rinsing off again, then drying, then foaming a wax/ceramic coat, then rinsing, then a final drying is all bollox. These so-called-detailers on YT go way OTT to get the same results i can do on my estate in 10-15mins that will last just as long in the shite British weather.
Ya sure buddy
can you share details?
Jesus man lets keep it simpler?
Contactless wash is a gimmick. Your paint maybe looks clean but dirt and grim will still be in your paint.
And none of what you are saying is a secret, it’s all easily available online and in detailing groups.
I disagree. I use Chem-Xs touchless system and can take a white towel to the paint and have no dirt on the towel, and I do this professionally.
@@shimozo preach that to bob
@@bobdidit55 This is absolute rubbish. I use Bilt Hamer Touchless and you can literally see the dirt coming off with the foam. You definitely need to do a normal bucket wash after if its really dirty, but to say its a gimmick is just straight up wrong. I use it on the regular as a quick clean on top of ceramic coating and it works FAR better than just using a pressure washer with water alone
Contactless washing is by no means a gimmick. Do your homework, discover the science about it.
Why are you washing clean cars tho?
They are clean because I wash them like this!