# First go with QEW



## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

Hi guys - I had a go at eco-orientated car washing today with Quick & Easy Wash (QEW). Why not ONR? Well, I made an order with Serious Performance for a load of other stuff and noticed it at a bargain price in the clearance section and thought, "why not?".

I gather this was the product to use for no-rinse washing before Optimum brought out ONR ... and seemed to have a good rating according to some old posts I've read here. I will, of course, be getting a bottle of ONR in and will be able to make some comparisons there.

I read that the product likes one capful per litre of water and it did say on the instructions that 4 litres is good for a family car, but go with more if you're washing a larger car. Well, I'm washing a SAAB albeit a convertible, so no roof to wash ... and I went for 8 litres and 8 capfuls. What a dolt! I think I used 3 litres in all on the car and so 5 litres was wasted. That said, the actual product bucket was quite dirty and I am quite glad I did have such a lot of surplus in there:









http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery_albums/swd2009/DSCF1883.jpg

8 litres is to the line in the bucket. Notice the dirt on the sponge and in the water. I'll come onto that in a minute.

The rinsing bucket was much more filthy:









http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery_albums/swd2009/DSCF1884.jpg

As I said, I used a grouting sponge and a drying towel from Serious Performance which was a dream to use. Fold it, scrunch it up, use the corners to get into nooks and crannies. Lovely towel ... does the job!

Here is it afterwards:









http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery_albums/swd2009/DSCF1885.jpg

... the top left corner is the area I reserved for wheels. The rest of that side of the towel did door jambs, bonnet shuts, boot shuts, window closures and so on.

... the other side was used predominantly for flat paintwork.









http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery_albums/swd2009/DSCF1886.jpg

In all, I was very pleased indeed! The finish is bright and glossy, no hints of further imparted swirls or scratches, but:

1. I have a large ABS plastic bodykit and it seemed to look pretty limp afterwards, with a coating of ValetPro Yellow Bumper Gel applied a few weeks ago. I expected better. Perhaps the QEW washed the product off?

2. The sponge seems dirty and plainly by looking at the product bucket, you can see that the sponge has transferred some dirt into the clean bucket. How can I improve upon that scenario?

3. I have a number of areas on the convertible, namely around the sub-window spoiler, where I like to get a spray in to get dust and green out. How do I go about these kind of areas with a no rinse wash?

4. The paintwork on my black SAAB is odd. It is rock hard for polishing and veneer soft for putting swirls in. The boot is flawless after machine polishing the other day and remained flawless after this wash - it was the first panel to be washed with a virgin sponge, though. The bonnet, which was the second panel to be washed, seemed to pick up some feather light marring. I think this is linked to question 2. Is there something I can do about this? A mere wipe over by hand with 3M Ultrafina SE sorted my "issue". It's not quite swirling, more feathery.

I'm sure I'll get better as I use such products more. I can see me using this quite frequently being a product junkie - cleaning off a panel for a product test, that kind of thing. I think I'll also carry on washing the black SAAB in this way. I'll be machine polishing the rest of the car in due course, so it will stand as a really good canvas for showing off whether I get swirls imparted.

EDIT: I poured the dirty water down the loo so that it will be processed, rather than down the storm drain. It did stain the loo with a black grease which I had to squirt a bit of bleach down. Maybe that negated the eco-friendliness? Joking aside, is there a better way of dealing with that part of the process? My drying towel was washed in with a load of other clothes, socks, towels and so on ... and came out fine. Is that also a good idea, or should I be washing the towel on its own? I don't know the effect of the chemicals involved.


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## -Ally- (Mar 6, 2009)

isn't the idea that the drying towel shouldn't be dirty at all ?


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

Yes, it is ... hence the questions. Your point?

To be fair, it'd look like that after a full on water wash and rinse, but I just don't get on with drying towels and prefer a chamois.


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## -Ally- (Mar 6, 2009)

Orca said:


> Yes, it is ... hence the questions. Your point?
> 
> To be fair, it'd look like that after a full on water wash and rinse, but I just don't get on with drying towels and prefer a chamois.


Sorry If what I posted sounded rude, it wasn't intended to be, I didn't read all your first post but just looked at the pics.

When I use ONR my supernatural towel always stays white so was just thinking immediately when I saw the picture that you hadn't washed it enough before drying.


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

No problem - perhaps I responded in a terse manner. The streaks on the "clean side" (the paint side) are largely from the large rubber spoiler that runs around the windows on my car and so on ... the "dirty side" came from the wheels which the faces were clean, but the backs were dirty - transfer of dirt came through.

I did have a problem with the sponge breaking up on my rubber spoiler. It is about 20 years old and quite rough.

Here's a picture of the car to show:









http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery_albums/swd2009/DSCF1600.jpg

... that rubber spoiler started to break up my grouting sponge and it's full of rubber treatment which did transfer to the towel.

For a first go, I think it was okay. I'd like to perfect my routine and get the best out of this type of product.


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

Brilliant effort however i wouldn't place the towel on the kerb!


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2009)

alan_mcc said:


> Brilliant effort however i wouldn't place the towel on the kerb!


from the shadow i don't think it is


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

First of all thanks for the review.
I have used both products and where I personally favour ONR. I do like QEW.
The down side on QEW is the dilution ratios. ONR is one cap per 1 US gallon, So for your wash today it would have used 2 caps in total.

You will master the cleaning of the car with time as I remember my first Butt clenching experience also. It is so easy to over look certain areas while just dependant on a shampoo wash.
Once again Thanks for your findings.

Ps The towel is on two buckets by the looks of it.
Gordon.


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

Yeah, the towel is draped across the buckets not placed on the ground.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

Nice review Orca.

I also used QEW and have some similar findings:

1. it seems to lift dirt icely, but I alsways found it results in dirty water sitting on the panel. This means a dirty drying towel, as you are forced to dry the dirty water off the surface. It seems the dirt is in the water oand off the paint, but ONR has something in it which makes the dirt stick to the sponge/Mitt and hence get transferred into the rinse bucket. QEW fails for me in this regard.

2. the amount you use is much more than ONR, and its therefore much less economical, although SP have it very cheap so it probably is no different.

For these 2 reasons I favour ONR, as well as I think it leaves a glossier finish. 

I would suggest mixing some in a sprayer bottle to use in those tricky areas you suggest. Look forward to hearing more as you develop your technique with it.


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

Brilliant, mate! Thanks.

So, if it's down to the product and ONR addresses my issues then a bottle of ONR it will be. As I said, I bought QEW because I was there (well, in a virtual shop anyway), it was cheap and I thought, "why not?".

I can see this method being great in winter when the weather is threatening and you might want to get washed and a layer of something on, but a full wash, rinse and dry might take too long. The one panel at a time method seems bang on. Also, as a wipe-down before polishing ... how easy?

I will certainly get some mixed in a sprayer. I took another look at the sticky with the video which showed pre-soaking with the spray.

I have a kind of "gutter" between the windows and the spoiler that is a pig to get into and I tend to use a strong jet to ensure the drain holes are unblocked. Using a rinseless wash, I may well spray down the holes and use a pipe cleaner, or similar, to push through.

Other odd areas are behind the glass in the wing mirror casings, down spoiler drain holes, inside vent covers, grilles, latticework, mesh, behind bodykits, etc

... what about muddy wheel arches? Is that a case of lots of water is still best?


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

arches are always a challenge and come down to personal preference IMHO. A pressure garden sprayer and several MFs can be used. I often use an old sponge and the final rinse water and then dry with an old MF. If its really dirty then lots of water is probably the only way though. My arches are quite well hidden, so for weekly washes they dont need much attention luckily.


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