steam wash, optima steamer?

Ive been thinking about buying this machine, just a little worried it may do more damage then good to a vehicles paint. I was thinking of using onr on my nomad to mist the whole vehicle and then have at it with the steamer, your thoughts?

 

I tried the ONR and another soap that has the same affects and when you do this method it does not put out enough moisture for the onr to work. it actually streaks in areas.

what is a nomad?

godoman

 

here is an articale I found on another guy that already came up with your idea and it worked! here it is

Nomad Portable 18V Pressure Washer - ShowCarDetailing

Hey folks, got a new product that I'm carrying in my store. It's an 18Volt battery powered pressure washer with a 3.5 gallon tank. It's perfect for apartment dwellers without access to a hose and running water or for travelling enthusiasts.

Ok, I just washed my MINI with the washer. It's awesome!!! Ok first some quick notes:

1.) There's definitely enough pressure to get off bugs and wash a dirty MINI and wheels
2.) There's enough water to rinse off a MINI and the wheels and still have water left over. The water capacity is 3.5 gallons.
3.) I used a 3.5 gallon bucket filled with tap water and mixed with car wash soap. I use the Nomad to rinse the dirt off, then wipe a panel down at a time with soap. Then rinsed it off, and dried it with a MF Waffle Weave. It takes some practice to rinse the panel without getting the just dried adjacent panel wet again.
4.) No water spots at all when using Distilled Water. At my local grocery store it costs $5 for 5 gallons of distilled water.
5.) The cord is long enough to position the washer at the rear of the MINI and walk around without restriction to the front and spray the roof, so you don't have to lug it around as you wash.

This is by FAR the best and more usable solution to wash your MINI. I've tried bug sprayers and various hand pump washers and none worked very well.


I washed my car today with a 3.5 gallon bucket of car wash soap and a lambswool mitt. You can usually fill a bucket of water from your bathtub. I had some Turtle Wax Ice car wash soap from Costco I wanted to try out.

I bought 3 (2.5 gallon jugs of Distilled Water) from the grocery store for spot free water.

For dirty wheels, I would spray on Meguiar's Wheel Brightener then hose them down with the washer. Then rinse off the paint. If you're working under the sun without cover, then wash, rinse, and dry one section at a time. Class can always be cleaned with glass cleaner if you want.

godoman

 

Just look at the car, And I didnt even touch the rims.

 

ah,

so you pesoak the car a little with more moisture/water and then spray the car down with ONR and the lubricant/wax? not sure how the steam would apply to that situation if all you have to do at that point is wipe it all off.

that is a nice lookin clean job on that car and only 5 minutes. how much water did you use? did you use up the whole 3.5 gallons? I imagine if you mix onr and the lube in that preasure washer that it would use little water to spread the whole car and wipe it down

godoman

 

I just used my nomad on an suv that wasnt to dirty yesterday. I put two cap fulls of onr in the nomad and would mist the vehicle one pannel at a time and wipe off, used about 8 microfibers and about a gallon of water. This was a smaller mercedes suv. Im just very reluctant to do this process on a real dirty car, would the optima steamer be any better? If so how?

 

ok

I hear you now jose. sorry for the late reply. had to get the freshly polish ford mustang back to the tiny dealership that has taken me on, it is official now.

ok, so I understand your process and I actually like it. problem is two things. one, you are using too many towels if you are going to do this method in bulk and that will raise your expenses for washing the towels all the time and buying the correct detergent made just for MF towels.

next problem I have is with using the steamer with this method. if you pre-soak the car with the mix you mentioned that will be great but then following it up with the optima or other steamer with the same preasure (air) output you are going to find that yes it does help you ensure that you are losening stuff up alot more to reduce friction but.....the air output is also going to push the lubricant/soap/wax mix you have out of the way, away from you and away from your towels which will mean it just runs off the car, away from you where it should be right there being picked up in the towel.

I will say this. if you use this method you have something going for you. alot of times spraying the car down with the towels that I mentioned before (I am pretty sure we spoke on the phone recently) you wipe everything down will get 95 percent of the car looking so clean that it just looks flawless. at this point, once it is wiped down I would put the optima on "low steam setting" and go around penciling out all the car logos of the wax and plaque build up on the car. hit the lower panels near the ground with the steam on "high moisture" setting and this will wipe out all the tar spots on the car. takes a little time to do it but if you already have customers paying you 140 dollars for a wash and wax using something like this, trust me it is well worth going the extra step to nick pick all the little blobs on the car that normally would be removed with 3M adhesive remover or clay and lube.

follow?

hope I answered your question in full and please let me know if you have anymore questions or concerns with what I am mentioning above.

good luck!

godoman

 

Jose, why not prepare another onr wash bucket and do something like tihs?
YouTube - Washing With 'Optimum No Rinse'

 

Godoman, ive never had a chance to talk to you, i actually just really started posting on here a couple weeks ago when autopia was down. Since you own the optima steamer i really would like to talk to you about it.604, ill give that a try, thanks for that video!

 

Jose, if you haven't had a chance to talk to Godoman, shoot him a PM. He's a real friendly and knowledgeable guy. He spent a couple of hours just talking w/ me and answering questions.

 

ic3dt3

I already hit jose up. he actually lives in my neck of the woods and gave him the low down on the optima.

thanks for putting a good word out

godoman