I posted this over in a GMC Acadia forum that I'm a member of as well, and thought I would post it here as well. Thought maybe some of the newer to detailing guys might get some use out of it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok, in another thread, somebody wanted to see some wasch pics from the next time I washed my Acadia using Optimum No Rinse (ONR). ONR is a solution that you put a few ounces into a bucket of water and use with a wash mitt and some microfiber drying towels to wash your Acadia a section at a time. With all the snow this past week in St. Louis, the Acadia was pretty nasty. At first I was planning on taking it to the car wash to power spray some of the heavier, nastier stuff off. However, I received a new foam attachment for my power washer this past week, and it was about 40 degrees out, so I broke out the power washer to give it a pre-soak. Here are some pics: So, I let the foam loose on it: It was the first time I was using it, so still need to adjust how much soap/water to put in. Wanted to note that I did the wheels, wheel wells, and tires with the foam cannon/power washer as well. I usually prefer to do this instead of with the ONR, but you can use the ONR to do these pieces. Just make sure to do them last. You wouldn't want to do get brake dust on yoru mitt/rinse bucket and potentially re-introduce it to your painted surfaces. After rinsing it off, I was left with this: I pulled it into the garage next and started the ONR wash. I use 2 5 gal. buckets. The first one filled with 3 gallons of warm water and the 2nd one filled up just above the grit guard. The grit guard is there to rub your mitt against after doing each section. It helps knock some of the dirt and debris loose. The wash mitt I use is a microfiber finger one. I picked up a few 3 packs last summer from Costco. The above pic shows the solution bucket. I pour 3 capfulls of ONR into the bucket with 3 gal. of water. The other bucket is the rinse bucket. I dunk the mitt into the solution bucket: Do a section like this: By section, I mean half the hood, or the windows of one side, or a door panel. You don't have to push real hard on the mitt, let the solution do the work for you. Go in long straight lines, not circles. Do the section once with one side of the mitt, flip it, and then go over the section again. After doing this, your section will look like this: Then wipe it dry using the microfiber waffle weave towel like this: Again, do long back and forth wipes. You don't have to wipe real hard, let the towels do the work. Do an initial wipe, flip the towel and then do another wipe to completely dry. Then I dunk the mitt into the rinse bucket and rub each side against the grit guard a few times: Then you're ready to do the next section the same way as above. One of the coolest things is when you're drying the section, you'll notice there is absolutely no dirt that is left to come off on your drying towel. Here is a pic of a white drying towel before drying a section: Here's the section to dry: And here's the towel after drying the section. You'll notice that it's a little wet, but there's no dirt on it: Here's a 50/50 shot of a section that I did against a section not done: It does a pretty good job on windows as well as you can get away with not going over your windows with a separate cleaner. Here's a couple of finished shots: Carbon Metallic Flake: So, that's pretty much it. You work your way from top to bottom as the bottom parts are dirtier along with the bumper areas. Just remember to use the two buckets, a grit guard in your rinse bucket, don't apply a lot of pressure, take your time, and have fun while you're doing it. After I washed it using this method, I decided to go ahead and give it a wax using Collinites 476 paste wax. It's a sealant wax good for St. Louis nasty winters and I usually get about 6 months protection out of it. Here's a couple of finished shots after waxing: If it's really cold out, I do have a little space heater I'll run in my garage, close the door, and then do it as well. I've ONR'd at night before as well. I remember, we initially had our eye on a blue Acadia, but insisted on washing it first to make sure the paint was in good shape. I'm glad I did, It had about a quarter sized scratch on the hood. My neighbor works at the dealer, and he brought it home, and I washed it that night in my garage while it was pitch black outside. Well, I hope you enjoyed this write-up and it encourages you to keep your Acadia clean even in the cold winter months. If there are any questions/comments, just let me know. Now it's time for a cold beer! :beer: :cheers:
We love the Acadia and yes there are Acadia enthusiasts running around.:gidiup: GMC Acadia Forum: AcadiaForum.net - Index Just in case you want to join, or thinking of buying one. If you're not married and don't have any kids yet, then you don't have to worry about it. Wife refused to go the mini-van route.
Nice write up. I have been using the same style wash mitt in a similar manner but I am going to sew the elastic cuff to the inside to prevent tehe cuff from touching the paint. I think it can cause scratches. What brand of ww drying towel is it?
The blue ww towels are the uber ones from Phil (Detailers Domain). The white one was from Phil as well but back when he was carrying Adam's ww drying towels. Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. The foam cannon is form advs1 and it's built like a tank. I need to play with some more car washes / misture ratios to get better foam next time, but it did what I needed it to and that's get a lot of the heavy stuff off the car.
Hey, Ben, can't believe you haven't done some ONR action yet over there on the east side!!! Yeah, I use it all the time without pre-rinsing. I did the pre-rinse/soak this time due to all the road salt from this past week.
Never have used ONR, must be one of those illinois things. I have always been a driNwash or ONE guy. If it meets your standards then I think I will have to give it a try soon.
ONR FTW Ben! Blast the large crap off in the bay with the pressure washer, then treat yourself to a warm water ONR...unless it's already heated in there, of course.
