# ONR questions....



## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Hi All.

I used ONR for the first time over the weekend and generally found it very good (and pretty quick), but I have a few questions to refine its use...

1. I used the B&Q Tile sponge after a quick squirt of ONR via a pump sprayer as per Bigpikle's video demo. With only very light dusting on the car, it still felt rough with the first gentle pass of the sponge. Felt very disconcerting. Should this be the case or should it glide?

2. Would a MF Noodle Mitt be softer on the paint rather than the sponge, and still release the dirt into the wash solution?

3. Do any of you use a rinse bucket with any ONR solution?

4. Do you all use one bucket of solution per car, or could I get with one bucket for two cars with low levels of summer dirt?

Any help most welcome


----------



## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

I put 2 and half capfuls into a 16L bucket but fill it to about 12L. Soak the sponge in the water and then give it a big squeeze so it's not dripping. I don't use a sprayer when it's just summer dust, a gentle wipe with the sponge a couple of times is enough. Then I will dry it and sometimes use time to dry if it's really hot.

During the autumn and winter months I use 2 buckets as the water gets very dirty and I still don't like the thought of putting that water back onto the car. Sometimes I will use a spray bottle to soak any heavily soiled areas. It is strange washing like this at first but once you get used to it it's fine :thumb:


----------



## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

I felt the same as you and found that a pre-treatment spray of ONR made the draggy feeling go away. Just so the paint is wet when you go over it.

I also start at the top of the car and each individual panel so that you are always going over wet paint.

I only used 2 bucketfuls last time but i am thinking of stepping up to three as i have some watermarks on the last panels that i cleaned but no thte first which means dirty water. That's what you get for finishing off at dusk.


----------



## ash888 (Apr 29, 2010)

what kind of drying towels do you guys use with ONR?
waffle weave or thick fluffy ones?

sorry to jump in your thread yetizone.


----------



## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

ash888 said:


> what kind of drying towels do you guys use with ONR?
> waffle weave or thick fluffy ones?
> 
> sorry to jump in your thread yetizone.


Whatever you prefer, I use both.


----------



## hag (Apr 8, 2010)

I use the fluffy type of towel works well by dabbing the wet panel. It absorbs the remaing water very effectively.

I have had good reults with Uber Blue drying towel http://www.i4detailing.co.uk/acatalog/I4D_Uber_Blue_Drying_Towel_1.html


----------



## big ben (Aug 25, 2009)

try the zymol sponge, much nicer and better than the tile sponge :thumb:

You only need one bucket per car as well, if its too dirty for 1 bucket i wouldnt use ONR. The idea is to clean it more as it takes next to no time to do!! ONR cleans the water, so even if it looks dirty it is in effect, cleaned AND softened. As long as you rinse the sponge out enough...

Also, If you do a panel at a time there is no way you will get water marks as when you wipe it with a clean fluffy towel it is in effect being a QD at the end. If you get water marks you are leaving it to dry, which means you are cleaning too much at once.

I also hate them blue towels. All mine arent anywhere near as soft as my other towels! But definately prefer the fluffy style towels


----------



## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Cheers guys. Very helpful advice all. I'll persevere with the tile sponge for now and then possibly buy the Zymol one as well to compare. I've been doing roughly one and a half panels at a time and then using an Uber towel to dry. Working from the roof down. I used it in the blazing sun and got no water marks, so it gets top marks for that alone :thumb:


----------



## MeganeChick (Apr 9, 2009)

I have been reading these threads about ONR for a while now, still finding it hard to believe it wont marr my paintwork (have extremely easily-marred black Renault paint) - but want to give it ago for when displaying at summer shows - its got to be better than using a quick detailer for getting that light layer of dust off

regarding drying towels - i cant use a waffle weave without it causing holograms, some of my super fluffy ones seem to also - although much better if i pat dry rather than drag across the surface 

Im not sure I could bare to touch my paintwork with a sponge, feels a bit too far for me to go lol but wondered if i could use a lambswool washmitt with ONR?


----------



## hag (Apr 8, 2010)

I have used a good quality deep pile microfibre cloth which is more flexible than a mitt as it possible to use four sides of the cloth by folding into four. One wipe across a part of the panel then use another quarter of the cloth and so on.


----------



## Lowiepete (Mar 29, 2009)

The key thing about the pre-spray of ONR is that it gets under the dust/dirt.
So the "secret" is to let it dwell a while for it to do its work. ONR is pretty
good at resisting evaporation, though in hot weather it's a good idea to give
the paint a second spray before applying the sponge / MF cloth. A pump
sprayer is better than hand pump in this situation.

With ONR and very light dust, it's perfectly feasible to do a "bucketless" wash.
All that's needed is to develop a wiping technique where you rotate the MF
cloth with each light pass. See this thread...

Regards,
Steve


----------



## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Thanks Steve, that's very helpful indeed. I'm going to give it a go again this weekend. I'm finding that dust is a real issue now that the Golf is garaged most of the time, so the 'bucketless' wash is in an intriguing prospect! A deep breath needed before that go I think!


----------



## Lowiepete (Mar 29, 2009)

yetizone said:


> so the 'bucketless' wash is in an intriguing prospect! A deep breath needed before that go I think!


Don't be too frightened. If you have a good base of wax or sealant below,
that will help. I did my car last night - I was in two minds about whether to
use the Hose-Free-Eco from a small pail, or ONR, and settled on the latter. 
I simply needed 4 MF cloths instead of 3.

You'll soon develop your own technique. It only requires the lightest drag of
the MF. In all probability, you'll have some dead bug residue - just respray the
area and come back to it last of all. It's the way that ONR will loosen the most
sticky of these that helps to reinforce your confidence in its use.

Regards,
Steve


----------



## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Interesting about the bug splats being softened by ONR. I was just wondering about this very issue as I currently have a bug splattered car after a trip to GTi International and questioned the best approach to tackle them when using the ONR method. Seems that will be its ultimate test for me!


----------



## Lowiepete (Mar 29, 2009)

yetizone said:


> Seems that will be its ultimate test for me!


Actually, this was the first job where I used ONR. I knew that I was on to
a winner from that first task...

Regards,
Steve


----------



## ash888 (Apr 29, 2010)

so how much do you use in your solution? you diluted it quite a lot!...unless i read it wrong.

i need to give the car a proper wash with the buckets but after that i was looking to maintain it in the same way as you have shown.

i was just going to keep it in a bottle as a QD to tackle the bird droppings.
iv actually got some etching left on my roof from last week, do you think i could remove it with ONR?


----------



## Lowiepete (Mar 29, 2009)

ash888 said:


> so how much do you use in your solution? you diluted it quite a lot!...unless i read it wrong.


Between 30 and 40 to 1 - for QD you can go down to 64 to 1. I add 2 ONR
bottle capfuls (not to brim) to a 1.18Ltr pump sprayer and 1.5 capfuls to the 
32oz hand spray bottle.



ash888 said:


> iv actually got some etching left on my roof from last week, do you think i could remove it with ONR?


I'd be very doubtful about that. If it's gone through the wax, then my approach
would be to try a paint cleaner like P21S first, then locally re-wax. I presently
have FK1000p x 2 plus a summer coating of Harly Wax - and that has had a
couple of QD wipeovers with either SwissVax or FK426, giving a very slick paint
surface. It seems to resist bird-bombs very well, as long as they're tackled
pretty quickly.

For the wheels, my present favourite is Hose-Free-Eco - 1 capful in about
8 pints of warm water and an MF noodle mit - takes less than a minute to
do each 15 spoke wheel. That gallon easily does all 4 wheels where there's
light dusting - again it's a judgement call whether or not to do 2 or 4 wheels
with one mix. I'd not double the mix at once and then do 4 heavily dusted
wheels. Remember, there's no rinsing or wiping dry on the wheels. Wheels 
only have FK1000p x 2 on them.

Regards,
Steve


----------



## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Well, I used ONR for a 'bucketless' wash over the weekend. And it worked rather well. Only very light dusting on the car only, so I sprayed the entire vehicle with an ONR mix while still in the garage. Let it dwell for ten mins for the ONR to do its work and then wiped down very gently with about six or seven MF cloths, folded twice and used one pass per side of the cloth. No marring present, even on a couple of newly machined panels (to deal with recent car park scratches - grrrr) so I was very pleased. 

I don't think I'd like to use this technique on a car with soft paint mind, but I was (fairly) confident that the combination of ONR and tough VAG paint would resist marring.

I also think that (for me anyway) its a technique I'll reserve just for light summer dusting on the car, and use the bucket with ONR for regular washing, upping to two buckets in respect of the soiling present :thumb:


----------



## Lowiepete (Mar 29, 2009)

yetizone said:


> Well, I used ONR for a 'bucketless' wash over the weekend. And it worked rather well.


It's good to hear that it went well. Because of its simplicity, you might find
yourself doing this more often than you thought. For example, I'll often do just
the horizontal surfaces, especially if a heavy dew has trapped more airborne
crud than usual. The first go at this technique is always the scariest...

Regards,
Steve


----------

