I spoke to companies like Meguiars as they have one in the US and Australia, but they simply told me they will REFUSE to bring it to the UK (bet they are kicking themselves now with that idea!). I had previous spoke to Dom from Dodo Juice when working at the Fast Show with them, he was telling me about them using "Time to Dry" to clean up their van, so i thought if they use it for a spot waterless cleaning (even though there is water in the contents of the product), i would try it on a full car. The car in question was my fathers BMW 330i which was slightly dirty, but after watching various videos from the US, used the technique of applying the product, wipe in one direction, then buff with a second cloth. I have a video showing the very first testing of this method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AilZwFSCi04
This seemed to work well, but with the nature of time to dry, this product stops beading, so then used Red Mist to protect again. But the size of Time to Dry is very little and a lot of product was being used it was not economically viable as a solution, but it gave me an insight into what to do.....
So i came back to Scotland (was in England when trying the Time to Dry), and as Chemical Guys are close by to me I spoke to David about one of their products (cant remember the name), but he recommended to use Ecosmart EU. So i thought i would give it a go and see how it worked. I was given some instruction on how to use it. So i got home and decided to try it on my van, after travelling 1000 miles through all weather conditions I opted to use a yellow euro microfibre, and i was not happy with the results, it cleaned, but there were light scratches......I corrected the van again and tried again, making sure my technique was fine tuned. Using a more deeper piled Microfibre, folded over a few time to produce a cushioning buffer, i got the technique down well. Again apply the product, leave to dwell a minute or so, then wipe in the same direction, then buff with a second deep piled MF. The results were good. The only downside to this product is has clay within the product which will strip away previous protection layers, but there is some carnuba in the product. Here are a couple of videos of the product being used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mRzCL5qu28
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8oYY7ru8po
I have used this product now for about a year (i think) and still happy with it, even on professional work im using it like when i did the Ford Focus RS, but i used the product and steam to help remove dirt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT2NatCYgb4
There are companies out there, who state they only use Steam without chemicals, i have watched videos on youtube and it surprised me that they claimed it would not inflict any damage, so i should i would put their statements to the test. So using a Nimbus 1300 steam cleaner and a microfibre (like i watched in their videos) I cleaned my old van, here is a video of the results:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FLpO9cHmDk
These are only the products i have used, I know of others and other products out there. One which man recommend is ONR, which seems to work very well, but you still need a bucket of water, which technically is not a waterless or an eco friendly wash....when i spoke to Meguiars they did state their product in the US and Oz is based alot around Last Touch which is available in the UK, Dodo Juice after hearing about the PPG13 document product Basics of Bling detail spray which can be used an a eco friendly wash. Autogylm have their own and there are many more out there.
What i would state though, you really need to use common sense, if you car is very very dirty, with a lot of road salt, and mud etc I would use a conventional wash method (water/bucket/etc) but if the vehicle is not too bad then these options should be considered. Steam cleaner is a fantastic tool, as you can use to clean the interior, door shuts, engine bay and more.....
anyway thanks for reading, again hope its of interest to some people
Robert