On our never-ending quest to improve this place by listening to feedback from the B&B, we are taking a new tack with these product posts, choosing instead to focus on items we use and may have purchased with our own meagre income. After all, if we’re giving you the truth about cars, we ought to give you the truth about car accessories.
As gearheads, we know – just know – that a clean car runs better. Don’t bore us with any of that logic stuff; a muscle car with shiny paint runs the quarter way quicker than one that’s dustier than an Arizona sidewalk. Right? Right?
Ok, maybe not. But most of us do like to have a clean ride – or at least one which is reasonably presentable. This isn’t that tough of a task when the weather is fine; hitting up the local pay and spray for self-serve power washing or breaking out the supplies at home isn’t a chore when temps and conditions are reasonable. However, there are wide swaths of the country in which the weather forecast promises plenty of misery falling from the sky.
This is a problem, especially for those of us who enjoy a perpetually clean car. And it is double trouble for anyone whose whip is slathered in inky black paint. Road grime, grit, and salt are but a few of the things which will assail a car, conspiring to hide that shiny paint on which you spent hours over the summer.
There’s no magic bullet for all this, but there are products which can help. A few years ago, on a recommendation, your author picked up a bottle of Optimum No Rinse. The company claims hydrophobic properties in the product allow it to encapsulate small amounts of dirt to create a barrier between the grime and vehicle paint. In other words, it should be ideal for those of us seeking a shiny car finish in between major details or even basic washing.
A bottle of Optimum No Rinse tends to last a good spell. Its instructions call for a single ounce of the stuff for every two gallons of water. I tend to use distilled water since there is a solid chance there are a lot fewer minerals and such in it than the well water which comes out of my kitchen faucet. Spending a couple of bucks on distilled water to avoid the horrible water spots left on vehicle finishes, especially black paint, after using tap water from my place is worth the cash to me. Your experience will vary.
Some users splash all this into a bucket and then apply it to the car by dipping a clean microfiber cloth in the mix and using a separate clean cloth for drying. Nothing wrong with that approach. I’ve taken to pouring the mixture into a couple of (clean) spray bottles and using those to soak each panel of the car, again using two cloths for wiping and drying. Both ways seem to work just fine.
Yes, I was also skeptical the first time trying this stuff. Laying a cloth on painted vehicle finish while there is still a skiff of dust or grime present is antithetical to every lesson ever learned about washing a car. Obviously, don’t use this product on a car which is extremely dirty but getting rid of a light layer of crud without having to break out the big guns is exactly the task for which Optimum No Rinse is designed. Once the summer rolls around and I’m detailing the car again, no obvious paint damage or scratches have been found from this process. The bottle says this stuff can also be used as a super-slick clay bar lubricant.
Using those spray bottles also means I can carry out the task in my garage without making a huge state of water on the floor; since one shouldn’t really apply this stuff in freezing temperatures, being able to use it indoors is a boon for keeping a car clean in winter. Just be prepared for questions at fuel stops asking how you’re managing to drive a shiny car in the depths of winter.
As planned, this series of posts will continue to focus on items we’ve actually used and bought with our own meagre income. In this case, none of the products were supplied and just happened to be what we picked up at the parts store. We hope you found this post to be helpful.
[Images © 2025 Matthew Guy/TTAC.com]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
