Waterless cleaners

[DerekBrad]

Hello all,
Has anyone tried the "waterless cleaners" ? Do they work ? Do they do what it says on the tin ? Do they not scratch the paintwork ? I'd like to hear from anyone who knows how good (or bad) these products are.

Thanks
Regards
Derek

 

[Wolfie]

Derek - I was recently cleaning our 'van at its storage site using the wet & messy method, got chatting to the guy next to us who was using "Greased Lightning Showroom Shine". He swore by it - It removed black streaks, gave a brilliant shine and he was using a lot less elbow grease than me! He used two old towels, one to apply, one to shine. I can't comment on if it scratchs but the guy was a proud owner type so can only assume it does not damage paintwork. He got his from a motorist stall at a local market but it is available on ebay or google it. Although I haven't used it myself yet, I was well impressed and it is on my list to Santa.

Good luck.

 

[emmerson]

Yes these cleaners do work, but only if the van is reasonablty clean to begin with! I took some with me to the European Classic caravan rally this year, but the van had got very dirty due to heavy weather on the trip. The cleaner did take the muck off, but only by using lots of it to sort of "float" the dirt off. I found it much too expensive to use this way, so reverted to water I'm afraid. I can't remember what brand it was, but the initial kit including towels and pump was £25,00.

 

[Mel]

I would agree with the above. The miracle dry wash one did a good job but it was labour intensive and you had to use a lot on the really muddy bits like the front panel. If you have access to hose and water, I'd go with the old fashioned way. Would be OK if you got the van quite clean and then use it for maintainance cleaning in storage.
mel

 

[Robtel]

I've tried the "Greased Lightning Showroom Shine" and it does work.
My wife went on for ages about trying it after she had seen it demonstrated on satellite t.v. Initially I was very reluctant and, to be honest, thought it couldn't work without scratching the vehicle surface. As usual I was ignored and she bought some and tried it out on her own car (black in colour). Car came up gleaming with a really good protective coat on the bodywork and no scratches. I was still reluctant to try it on the van but after seeing it applied to the car several times without any apparent damage gave it a go. Same result, shiney caravan, good protective coat which seemed to almost repell dirt. I was due to have one of the caravan front windows changed under warranty due to the known problem of the marks inbetween the panes so gave the Showroom Shine a try on that one acrilyc window. Again no scratches, no smearing or streaking just very clean window. I have since cleaned the other windows with it and found it does exactly as it says on the tin. You can get away with using it direct on the vehicle but I think if your car/caravan was really dirty it might be easier to give it a quick hose down first just to get rid of any loose dirt.
I notice the better half has bought another container of it.

 

[Steve L]

I've just ordered a pack off the TV.

Where I'm stopping presently, the warden won't let you wash your car or caravan with water, but will moan if they are dirty. I can understand a hosepipe ban but a bucket ban I think is ludicrous.

At least with waterless technology, I can wipe the van over and not use water or buckets. So a covert clean of the van is gona be much easier.

I might even offer the warden a bottle of it next sunday when he does the weekly wash of his car on site with a bucket sponge and hose pipe! He ain't hard to spot as he uses the motorhome water point to do the un allowable deed. Just gota love wardens haven't you?

If it's half as good as they reckon on TV then I will be able to give up polishing the car in the supermarket carpark after going through the half a job car wash.

 

[Sedo]

I've used the Armor All tissues, Miracle Dry Wash and One Dry Wash since they first came out and were tested in motoring mags..
I don't use them all the time but do find if the car/caravan isn't too messy or grunged up they're brilliant(pardon the pun).
If used correctly as per instructions they do a great job.
Where we store the caravan it can be a real pain trying to wash the caravan carrying buckets of water, so these products really do the job especially with the black streaks, they seem to give a really good watre-repellant finish as well.
When the caravan is really messed up after arriving say on site, I tend to wash the thickest of the dirt off and then use the waterless cleaners.
In fact I've had people admiring the results on both caravan and car on occasions when arriving on site, unfortunately when told some folks tend to lecture on the danger of scratching without water. So now we tell them it's had hours of carefull washing and then carnuba wax, they seem more pleased after that.
Sedo

 

[DerekBrad]

Sedo!..Like the last sentence!...When you wash with hose first, do you have to dry the van off before using the waterless cleaner?
Regards to all and thanks for the helpful answers
Derek

 

[Sedo]

Yes, if it's really mucky either clean off with bucket and sponge or use on of the garden sprayers.
It's usually just the front with travelling the side are rarely that mucky.
Then just carefully dry off with a microfibre, must admit the one dry wash can be a bit difficult if there's dampish air.
Having said that I've read that the new Care-avan waterless cleaner addresses this issue, have to try it.

 

[DerekBrad]

I've just received a couple of spray bottles of Pro-Shine which I bought off tinternet. I've cleaned my (black) CRV and it looks great. The beauty of it is that I can wash the car in the garage and not end up crying with hot-aches

. I will still need to use the hose when cleaning the wheel arches and mudflaps etc but for speed and ease, will happily use the Pro-Shine.( other makes of waterless cleaners are available) Next job is to give the van a good going over but will need to pick my day as it is in storage 13 miles away. Seems to do the job anyway...well pleased.
Thanks for all the replies to my question.
Happy caravanning
Regards
Derek

 

[carashine]

I do not mean to come across in the wrong way here but in my line of business I do not recommend any waterless cleaners !! As good as they sound the damage they cause to the paint work is shocking. here is an example "would you have a bath with a dry towel and no water ?" Please be carefull when cleaning your caravan or motorhome.

 

[Steve L]

Each to their own as far as use and method concerned.

A lot of caravan sites have a no car washing policy and I can understand that because of water waste and nuicense.
Our site has quite a contradictive policy though. No washing of car or caravan, but you must have your static van cleaned annually using their approved contractor, also if a car or caravan is too dirty on arrival at reception the owner is asked to take it away and clean it.

As I said earlier, I bought a pack of showroom shine as seen on tv. I tried it out yesterday on the nearside of the caravan where we have a couple of spider camps. As you might know, spider deposits stick like the preverbial. But after a 60 Sec soak all was easily removed.
The product I have says it has a diluted petrolium distilate and canuba wax as it's main ingredients.
My Abbey has GRP side panels which seem ok with the cleaner. The only painted panel is the aluminium roof, which I'll tryout the cleaner on soon. If it removes the green grime off there, I'll be chuffed.

I do agree that if you don't remove the loose deposits of soil etc with a watering can of water first, then there could be potential for scratching to occurr. But taking into acount the pros and cons it seems a good product for light cleaning to remove say a long drive to the destination.
Technically it is a waterless cleaner so as such, you could be deemed to NOT be washing your car or caravan.