Optimum Opti-Clean first time


hag6

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Overall I am impressed with the results. It cleans well and leaves a nice glossy finish. The final result is similar to ONR which I have been using for several months but wanted to try the waterless version for convenience.

 

The car a 2007 black Mini covered in a week's worth of road dirt. I mixed up 500mls into a spray bottle (3:1 - 375mls of ionized water to 4fl oz of opti-clean).

 

I used 2 good quality mf cloths (one side has a plush pile the other short pile) to clean the bodywork and I needed all of the 500mls to clean the bodywork.

 

Working on one panel at a time I used the plush side of the cloths to wipe the opti-clean across the car's surface. The cloths became saturated very quickly so I used the short-pile side of the cloth to wipe across the windscreen, rear and side windows and used another dry mf to dry and buff the glass. I also used the saturated short-pile to wipe down the plastic trim. The cleaning power of opti-clean was sufficient to get the trim clean - it seemed a waste to use up any more of the solution.

 

I had just enough of the original 500mls to lightly spray all four wheels but as they were quite dirty with dust. I needd to add a further 1oz of OC to my remaining solution to provide a bit more cleaning power. I used three more (general purpose short-pile) MF cloths to gently wipe the wheels clean. This is the same technique I use to clean the wheels when using ONR mixed up as 1.5 ltrs of water to 1oz of ONR.

 

The end result is good but it is a more expensive option when compared to ONR as I need to use about 5oz of opti-clean for one wash.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I havent been able to clean my car for two weeks so it was fairly dirty. I sprayed the entire car with onr (1oz diluted in 2 litres of water). I then sprayed one panel at time with oc (diluted 3:1) and wiped the dirt off with a plush mf cloth. The cloth moved very smoothly across the bodywork and left behind a clean surface with only a slightly smeary residue which I buffed away with a dry plush mf. So I am impressed with the cleaning abilities of oc. The onr pre-spray helped the oc solution go further and may have assisted with the dirt removal.

 

The alloy wheels were almost black with dirt. I soaked each wheel with onr spray followed with oc. I then gently wiped away the dirt with short piled mf cloths. I used three cloths in total. The end result was impressive the softened dirt was easily removed by the cloths.

 

The windows were wiped over with the second push cloth which I used to buff away the residue from the body work. The cloth had beome damp with oc/onr and when wiped across the glass cleaned away the dirt. The smears where buffed away with a short pile general purpose nf cloth.

 

Finally the only negative; the plastic trim. No matter how many times I wiped the wheel arches and lower sills I could not remove the dirt it seems to be too ingrained its only muddy road dirt. I may need a brush or harder medium to get the onr or oc to shift this dirt.

 

Overall I am still confident that oc is very a good product and can be used during the more difficult winter time.

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  • 2 months later...

As noted above, has anyone else pre-sprayed with ONR and then used the OC? Did you find it any better than just using OC?

 

I also wanted to ask how many MF towels people are using (or what's recommended)? I would imagine that after one panel a towel would be quite dirty (even folding into 8 sides). I would think that after each wipe I'd want to use a new section of the towel so that only a clean section is touching the paint each time.

 

I also wanted to ask if there is any advantage or disadvantage to diluting OC less than recommended (i.e. using it 1:1 or some strong ratio like that?) Would it provide any better/safer cleaning ability? Or perhaps pre-spraying with ONR (or QD strength ONR) and then regular strength OC would be best? At the moment I only have the 17oz pre-made, but once that runs out and I order a larger size concentrate I'd like to know if I should mix it any stronger.

 

And finally, how bad is it if I don't use de-ionized or reverse osmosis water when mixing OC from concentrate (as is recommended in the wiki)?

 

Thanks!

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.... Most people are reporting having to use it 4:1 instead of 3:1 on dark colors because it's so concentrated...

 

Just to confirm, if I have an existing 18oz spray bottle of OC and once it's empty I want to refill it with my OC from concentrate, it would go as follows:

 

if using 3:1 it would be: 13.5 ounces of water to 4.5 ounces of OC (13.5/4.5 = 3) (or simply 12 oz water and 4 oz OC to make measuring easier)

 

if using 4:1 it would be: 14.4 ounces of water to 3.6 ounces of OC (14.4/3.6 = 4) (or simply 12 oz water and 3 oz OC to make measuring easier)

 

Thanks again!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am still experimenting with ooc to find the best dilution ratio for cleaning ability, non-marring and smear free-finish on a metallic black car.

 

I am using the suggested 3:1 ratio so I mix 500 mls of distilled water with 4 ozs of ooc. I have just tried onr as a waterless wash mixing 2oz of onr with 1lt of distilled water. By dragging a plush mf cloth across the paint work, rather than rubbing or putting any pressure on the cloth, this method works as well as ooc.

 

My main question is why can ooc not be

diluted into a weaker mix if it is stronger than onr if used as waterless wash

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  • 1 month later...

Going to throw my first impression on here instead of start a new thread. Used it on my car for the first time for a 'full wash' this evening. Used large PakShak fluffy MF's and used about 2/3 bottle (10-12oz). Took about fifteen minutes and was very happy with the results. Been about a week or week and half since I ONR'd it but a combination of dust and rain had it slightly dirty. Lower panels did have a lot road splatter on them and the Opti-clean had no problems with it. :)

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Going to throw my first impression on here instead of start a new thread. Used it on my car for the first time for a 'full wash' this evening. Used large PakShak fluffy MF's and used about 2/3 bottle (10-12oz). Took about fifteen minutes and was very happy with the results. Been about a week or week and half since I ONR'd it but a combination of dust and rain had it slightly dirty. Lower panels did have a lot road splatter on them and the Opti-clean had no problems with it. :)

Awesome man glad to hear, i love the stuff :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just an update. Had a large birdbomb on the wife's car I noticed today. It was huge (condor?), spread out, and well dried. Had some Opti-clean in a pump sprayer. Shot it on the area and it's like the bomb disintegrated and rolled down off the car. Wow.

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