Dilutions dilutions oh goodness

[stephen.details]

TL;DR anyone had luck with “weaker” dilutions of Opti-Clean such as 5:1, 10:1 similar to other OPT off label dilutions, or mixing it with ONR to stretch the product out?
 

Has anyone ever tried diluting Opti-Clean down 5:1-10:1? I’m wondering if it’s one of those OPT products similar to power clean or fabric clean where the label says 3:1 but you can find great success still with weaker dilutions. 
Im also wondering, and may try this, mixing a spray bottle of 50% QD ONR and 50% Opti-Clean 3:1.
 

The reason being for both questions, is I want to stretch my Opti-Clean far enough to be able to use out of a iK sprayer but I don’t wanna just burn through 50oz in the container every wash. Those sprayers tend to be a good high pressure, but with a product only dilutable 3:1 even in the gallon concentrate you’re looking at 10~ washes from a half gallon sprayer.
The pressure on these sprayers has you burn through product quicker than say a trigger bottle. I’m looking to add waterless “fleet” washing to my business and really would like to stay within the OPT system so that I can know when I use opti-clean and then spritz some OCW on to buff dry and wax it easily, that everything is working together perfectly.

straying to the dark side and picking a product like N914 with a waterless dilution of 128:1 is last resort because I enjoy the synergy. 
if I must I’ll use a trigger sprayer but the pump sprayers just make moving around the car quicker. I also JUST bought some more ONRWW and have about 1/3 gallon of blue ONR still so not exactly an economic decision to buy *another* rinseless product haha.  
 

i had tried some waterless washes with ONRWW 16:1 and had decent success but the towel didn’t always feel lubricated enough if I flipped to a side that wasn’t particularly damp from previous panels. Maybe I just needed to soak the panel more but I’m looking to work in parking garages and the appeal of waterless is I can wash with virtually no run off, including wheel faces. 
 

any tips, comments, or advice? I really wanna find a way to make this work and do it as safe as I can relatively speaking. I’ll try the OOC + ONR mix soon, I can only imagine the synergy will do its thing since these products play well together, just not sure how long they’d “last” mixed together. Might try it 50%  ONR 64:1, 50% opti clean 3:1

i know at $10 a gallon once mixed the gallon of Opti-Clean is still a great deal, just don’t wanna burn through product. Because in the sprayer that makes for roughly $4 a wash where as ONR can be as little as .37 a wash in a bucket of 2 gallons of water. 

[Redgrandam]

I’ve been doing waterless washes this winter on my personal cars. I liked Opti clean but unfortunately I had the same issue - it’s just too expensive for the dilution you use it at. I ended up using another waterless wash concentrate that works well and is more economical unfortunately. 
 

I’ve certainly seen people using ONR as a waterless but as you know it’s not designed for that. 

Would rinseless washing be an option? Pre spray with ONR, then have a bucket with towels or sponge. You would just need that small amount of water then.

[stephen.details]

3 hours ago, Redgrandam said:

I’ve been doing waterless washes this winter on my personal cars. I liked Opti clean but unfortunately I had the same issue - it’s just too expensive for the dilution you use it at. I ended up using another waterless wash concentrate that works well and is more economical unfortunately. 
 

I’ve certainly seen people using ONR as a waterless but as you know it’s not designed for that. 

Would rinseless washing be an option? Pre spray with ONR, then have a bucket with towels or sponge. You would just need that small amount of water then.

Yeah I can do a rinseless but waterless allows me to potential go places where no water is allowed. Also I just enjoy the process haha. 
with ONR as a waterless the amount of product you end up using makes you just wanna go rinsless for sure. 
 

opti-clean as a DIY product is honestly relatively affordable once diluted. 4 gallons for $10 a gallon is cheaper than any RTU waterless out there, and honestly I was doing the math and a lot of other waterless wash products end up about the same cost as OOC (see shine supply eco shine) but you also have other products that are 128:1 for a waterless, which I honestly don’t understand how ONR isn’t able to do so, especially after the reformulation supposedly adding slickness. 
 

I think a small part of my problem also came from using the OOC bottle that comes RTU to apply product. The trigger starts getting weak about half way through the bottle so you have to use more sprays per panel if that makes sense. 

[Redgrandam]

58 minutes ago, stephen.details said:

Yeah I can do a rinseless but waterless allows me to potential go places where no water is allowed. Also I just enjoy the process haha. 
with ONR as a waterless the amount of product you end up using makes you just wanna go rinsless for sure. 
 

opti-clean as a DIY product is honestly relatively affordable once diluted. 4 gallons for $10 a gallon is cheaper than any RTU waterless out there, and honestly I was doing the math and a lot of other waterless wash products end up about the same cost as OOC (see shine supply eco shine) but you also have other products that are 128:1 for a waterless, which I honestly don’t understand how ONR isn’t able to do so, especially after the reformulation supposedly adding slickness. 
 

I think a small part of my problem also came from using the OOC bottle that comes RTU to apply product. The trigger starts getting weak about half way through the bottle so you have to use more sprays per panel if that makes sense. 

When I used Opti clean in a pump sprayer I used a fair bit of product as I like to put it on pretty liberally. It cost almost as much as a touchless wash around here. The rinseless concentrates I use are usually diluted  around 44:1 or 48:1. In that range. I wish there was a version of Opti clean in that range. I find the pump sprayer uses more product and I could probably use less if unused a trigger sprayer as it makes a finer mist, but at a cost to my hand lol.   A pump sprayer for me seems to use around 40 or so oz I think. But like I said I’m liberal with it and that is probably overkill. 
 

in canada here a gallon of Opti clean is around $60. I would never consider the RTU options, when comparing to any of those I’ve seen opti clean is a deal. 
 

if it were me doing a business, I would probably have waterless as an option when I needed it, but if I can use rinseless somewhwere I would use it case by case as that will always be way cheaper. 
 

I agree there is something nice about using waterless though. 

[stephen.details]

I just enjoy the process of grabbing a couple towels out of my back seat, spraying on opticlean, wipe, add a little car wax and buff to a high shine. It may not be much faster than a rinseless wash but I can keep a nice to-go car wash right in my back seat and even wipe down the interior safely. I enjoy washing my car as a decompression activity so it usually only gets dirty enough to need a dusting, hence waterless. (I know touch=swirl but I enjoy shining my car more than I care about a few swirls that I can just polish out once a year.)

I think a valid method to try would be drop 1/2 ounce to an ounce of ONR into a 50oz sprayer (iK multi pro, idk how many Canadian ounces that is) and pre treat the panel with 64:1 ONR just enough to break down salt and grime but not enough to have it dripping wet. Then you can use Opti-Clean as your lubrication for the wash. 
what I have also tried, and you make enjoy, is mixing up about 1/2 to 1 gallon of ONR at 256:1, throwing some towels in there but ringing them out hard so they’re just damp and not dripping. Spray on your waterless of choice and the ONR let’s you glide a little smoother across the paint without getting the floor wet so like a rinseless wash but with waterless technique?

[A&J]

I once did a test if I can use Opti clean as a rinseless wash and what I found out was that if I put 45ml (1,5 ounces) in a bucket with 7 liters (2 gallons) of water it was actually very good as a rinseless wash...now I reckon that if you put a bit more Opti clean...say 60 ml (2 ounces) in 2 gallons of water you could use it as a waterless as well...at my dillution it was strong enough to emulsify and add better lubrication under my sponge then what ONR could.

I dont know...give it a go. 30ml or 45ml in 1 gallon is quite cheap isnt it?

[stephen.details]

1 minute ago, A&J said:

I once did a test if I can use Opti clean as a rinseless wash and what I found out was that if I put 45ml (1,5 ounces) in a bucket with 7 liters (2 gallons) of water it was actually very good as a rinseless wash...now I reckon that if you put a bit more Opti clean...say 60 ml (2 ounces) in 2 gallons of water you could use it as a waterless as well...at my dillution it was strong enough to emulsify and add better lubrication under my sponge then what ONR could.

I dont know...give it a go. 30ml or 45ml in 1 gallon is quite cheap isnt it?

I certainly will experiment! I’ll be sure to post my findings as well. I have a hunch that much like power clean, fb&p, and so on that the 3:1 dilution is just a recommendation and not a hard rule.
I’ll try it 10:1 in a spray bottle  also 128:1 or maybe 64:1 in a pump sprayer. I had actually seen your post on the rinseless dilution (and also factoring in it’s the same polymers as ONR but *more*) it may just work. I’d imagine maybe with the 64:1 a higher amount of product per panel would be needed but that’s fine by me. 
raining today,which will give my car a chance to get a little dirty,  will report back when I get the chance to wash it. 

[Redgrandam]

It has been discussed somewhere in here about using Opti clean as rinseless and the formulation is optimized to be used with less water than ONR. Diluting it down makes it work not as well. That’s what I recall.