Stop Complicating Rinseless Washing: ONR Was Designed to Be Simple
Spend enough time online reading about rinseless washing and you may come away thinking you need a hose, pressure washer, multiple buckets, pump sprayers, several different dilution ratios, stacks of microfiber towels, a pre-treatment, a drying aid and a detailed process before you can safely wash your car.
We see these questions constantly. People message us, call us and ask our Authorized Installers about all the steps they have been told they need to take before using Optimum No Rinse.
In fact, every day this week I have had a customer ask me about ONR and rinseless washing. Almost every conversation starts with some level of skepticism. They want to know whether it is really safe to wash a vehicle without constantly rinsing dirt away with a hose.
My answer is always pretty simple: we have been using ONR for over 20 years.
This isn't a new washing method that showed up on social media a few years ago. Dr. David Ghodoussi, our CEO and PhD polymer chemist, invented Optimum No Rinse in 2005. It was the first rinseless wash system developed specifically for modern clear-coated automotive paint.
Optimum introduced ONR to the public in 2006. Since then, it has been used for millions of vehicle washes by enthusiasts, professional detailers and our own team.
What may seem like a new idea to someone discovering rinseless washing today is actually a system backed by more than 20 years of real-world use.
At some point, skepticism has to give way to evidence.
Twenty years of real-world use has demonstrated that the process works when ONR is used correctly.
And the process is much simpler than the internet sometimes makes it look.
For a normal maintenance wash, you need:
- Optimum No Rinse
- Water
- A bucket
- A Big Red Sponge or another appropriate wash tool
- A drying towel
The only other piece of equipment I recommend is a Grit Guard in the bottom of the bucket.
That's it.
Rinseless washing was developed to make washing a vehicle simpler, not more complicated.
ONR Doesn't Require a Complicated "System"
Optimum No Rinse has been used for rinseless washing since 2006. The basic process has never required an elaborate collection of equipment or preparation steps.
Mix ONR with water at the recommended wash dilution. Put a Grit Guard in the bottom of your bucket, soak your Big Red Sponge in the solution, wash a section of the vehicle and dry it. Continue around the vehicle.
You don't need to foam the entire vehicle first.
You don't need a pump sprayer.
You don't need a pressure washer.
You don't need a second bucket.
You don't need distilled water.
You don't need to pre-spray every panel before washing it.
You don't need a drying aid to make ONR work.
Can you use some of those things? Absolutely.
Are they required? No.
There is an important difference between something being useful in a particular situation and something being required for rinseless washing.
Why I Recommend a Grit Guard
If there is one additional piece of equipment I recommend for an ONR wash, it is a Grit Guard.
The Grit Guard sits in the bottom of the bucket and helps keep the dirt removed from the vehicle separated from your wash tool. As dirt is released from the Big Red Sponge, it can settle below the Grit Guard instead of remaining where the sponge is sitting in the wash solution.
The idea is simple: keep the dirt at the bottom of the bucket and keep the Big Red Sponge in cleaner wash water.
It adds virtually no complexity to the process. Drop it into the bottom of the bucket, add your water and ONR, and wash the vehicle normally.
You still have one bucket. One wash solution. One wash tool.
Simple.
Optional Steps Are Still Optional
One of the interesting things that has happened as rinseless washing has become more popular is that people have developed increasingly elaborate techniques around it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that.
If you like using a pump sprayer to pre-treat the vehicle, use one.
If you prefer washing with multiple microfiber towels instead of a Big Red Sponge, that works too.
If you already have a pressure washer and want to knock heavy dirt off the vehicle before washing, there is nothing wrong with doing that.
But those are choices.
They should not be confused with requirements.
For most normally dirty vehicles, ONR was designed to work as a simple bucket wash.
What About Pre-Spraying?
This may be the question we receive most often.
Do you have to pre-spray or pre-treat the vehicle with ONR before touching the paint?
No.
Some users like to pre-spray. It can give them additional working time or simply make them more comfortable with the process. There is nothing wrong with doing it.
But ONR does not require you to cover the entire vehicle with a pre-spray or pre-treat before beginning the wash.
Put your properly diluted ONR solution in the bucket, load the Big Red Sponge with solution and begin washing.
Keep the sponge wet and allow the solution to do its job.
Do I Need to Rinse the Vehicle First?
Usually, no.
That's the point of a rinseless wash.
There are obviously exceptions.
If a truck comes back from an off-road trip covered in thick mud, rinse the loose mud off first.
If the vehicle has an unusual amount of sand, salt, grit or other heavy contamination sitting on the surface, removing the bulk of that material before making contact with the paint makes sense.
Use common sense.
"Rinseless" doesn't mean there can never be a situation where rinsing something off first is useful.
It means that a traditional rinse is not part of the normal wash process.
A normally dirty vehicle does not need to be pressure washed before you can wash it with ONR.
Do I Need Distilled or Deionized Water?
No.
ONR was designed to be mixed with normal tap water.
If you are preparing a solution that you plan to store for an extended period, purified water can have advantages. Water quality can also vary substantially from one location to another.
But you do not need to buy distilled water every time you want to wash your car.
Fill the bucket with tap water, add ONR and wash the vehicle.
Don't create an obstacle where one doesn't need to exist.
Do I Need Multiple Towels Instead of a Sponge?
No.
Multiple microfiber towel methods have become popular for rinseless washing, and they are perfectly valid techniques.
But they are not inherently required for ONR.
The Big Red Sponge was created by our partners at Lake Country Manufacturing as a purpose-built rinseless wash tool. Its foam structure was designed to work with the ONR wash process while giving users a simple, reusable way to wash an entire vehicle without going through a pile of towels.
That is an important part of the simplicity of the system. ONR provides the chemistry, and the Big Red Sponge gives you a wash tool designed specifically around that method.
Combined with a Grit Guard in the bottom of the bucket, the BRS can release dirt into the wash solution while that contamination settles below the guard, helping keep the sponge in cleaner solution as you work around the vehicle.
Use the method you prefer.
But if someone tells you that you must use eight microfiber towels to safely perform a rinseless wash, that isn't how ONR was designed to be used.
What About a Drying Aid?
You don't need one.
ONR provides the cleaning and working characteristics necessary to wash and dry the vehicle on its own.
If you want to apply a spray sealant or drying aid during the drying process, that can be a convenient way to add protection or improve the final feel of the surface.
But that is a separate step.
You should not need another product to make your rinseless wash product function correctly.
The Basic ONR Wash
For most maintenance washes, the process really is this simple:
- Place a Grit Guard in the bottom of your bucket.
- Fill the bucket with water.
- Add the recommended amount of Optimum No Rinse.
- Place the Big Red Sponge into the solution and allow it to absorb plenty of wash solution.
- Wash one section of the vehicle at a time.
- Return the BRS to the bucket as needed, allowing released dirt to settle below the Grit Guard.
- Dry the section with a clean microfiber drying towel.
- Move to the next section.
That's rinseless washing.
It doesn't need to become a chemistry experiment every Saturday morning.
Let the Product Do the Work
One reason detailing processes become complicated over time is that techniques tend to accumulate.
Someone adds a step.
Another person adds another precaution.
Someone develops a different method.
Eventually, an optional technique gets repeated often enough that new users assume it must be necessary.
This is especially important as more people discover rinseless washing for the first time.
If someone who has always washed a car with soap, a hose and a bucket looks at rinseless washing and sees a ten-step process involving multiple sprayers, products, dilution ratios and towels, we have missed one of the biggest advantages of rinseless washing.
It should be easier.
ONR was developed around the idea that the chemistry in the wash solution should allow you to safely clean the vehicle while using very little water and very little equipment.
You shouldn't have to compensate for the product with a complicated procedure.
Twenty Years of Proof
There is nothing wrong with being skeptical of a product or process you haven't used before.
But ONR is not unproven technology.
Professional detailers have built businesses around rinseless washing. Enthusiasts have used it for decades. We use it ourselves every day.
At this point, the question shouldn't be whether rinseless washing can work.
Twenty years of real-world use has answered that.
The better question is why we keep trying to make something that was designed to be simple so complicated.
Keep It as Simple—or as Complicated—as You Want
Detailing enthusiasts enjoy experimenting. That's part of the hobby.
If you have developed a six-step rinseless process that you enjoy and that gives you great results, there is no reason to stop doing it.
But someone buying their first bottle of ONR shouldn't think they need to copy that entire process before they can safely wash their vehicle.
Start simple.
ONR. Water. Bucket. Grit Guard. Big Red Sponge. Drying towel.
Learn how the product behaves. Learn how much pressure is necessary. Learn when your wash tool needs to go back into the bucket. Pay attention to the condition of the vehicle.
Then add steps if they solve a problem for you.
Don't add them simply because someone on the internet told you rinseless washing has to be complicated.
It doesn't.
That's one of the reasons we developed ONR in the first place.
My Preferred Rinseless Wash Kit
If you are new to rinseless washing and want the simple setup I recommend, we put everything together in our: Optimum No Rinse Preferred Wash Kit
The kit includes:
- Optimum No Rinse Version 6 — 32 oz
- Big Red Sponge 2.0
- Pro Plush Drying Towel
- Optimum Wash Bucket
- Grit Guard
Add water and you have everything you need for a normal ONR maintenance wash.
No foam cannon. No pump sprayer. No pressure washer. No second bucket. No complicated system.
About the Author
Don Paradis — Business Development Manager, Opti-Coat, LLC
Don leads initiatives across business development, product strategy, professional education, and marketing for Opti-Coat and Optimum Polymer Technologies. Working directly with Authorized Installers and end customers, he conducts market research, identifies opportunities for new products, and contributes to R&D through real-world testing and evaluation of new formulations. Don plays a key role in bringing products from initial concept to market, shaping product positioning, instructions and labeling, digital content, and professional education.