2 Bucket huh????
- Thread starter W.S.
- Start date
W.S. said:
It's simple. You use two 5 gallon buckets preferrably with grit guards attached to the bottom of each. One holds plain water for rinsing your wash mitt. The other holds water and car shampoo for washing the car. You dip your mitt to the shampoo bucket and wash your car. Then, before dunking it back in, you rinse your mitt first using the rinse bucket. This way the dirt/grime picked up is released in the rinse water rather than being introduced back to the shampoo water.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
W.S. said:
It's for severe OCD detailers who think that it's makes a difference in eliminating marring/swirling in washing a vehicle. :grinno:
docker
New member
On one of the boards last summer I posted a thread about this subject... here is a pic of the 2 buckets after the suds died down...
The wash bucket remained clean. Without the rinse bucket you'd be recycling the dirty water back onto the car.
The wash bucket remained clean. Without the rinse bucket you'd be recycling the dirty water back onto the car.
docker
New member
David Fermani said:
David - Don't know how much marring/swirling will be saved by using the 2 bucket method, however, I think you'd agree the cleaner the wash water the better, eh? Especially considering it adds less than a minute to the whole auto wash cycle.
A better preventive measure, IMO, is to rinse the wash mitts exceptionally thoroughly before and after using. Getting small bits of sand, dirt, etc, lodged in the mitt will do damage right now.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
docker said:
One of the philosophies behind the 2 bucket system is to rinse/shake off the contaminants into the 1st bucket thus eliminating/reducing the chance that they marr the finish. If you properly pre-rinse your vehicle in the 1st place, this won't occur anyways. Dirty water(light dicoloration) won't harm your finish. It will decrease the sudds.
docker
New member
David Fermani said:
The 2 bucket method is just another precaution. It's a minor addition to the wash routine that may provide some benefit, even if you do 'properly pre-rinse your vehicle'.
BlackElantraGT
New member
David Fermani said:
I would have to disagree with that statement. I pressure wash and do a pre-rinse also on my car, but that doesn't mean my car is 100% dirt/grit free. If that was the case, many more of us would pw pre-rinse, spray some foam, rinse, dry and walk away but that's usually not the case because you need some kind of agitation to get the dirt off. Anyone who's taken their car to a one of those high pressure, automated car washes can probably testify that their car doesn't come out as clean as they wanted it to be.
Despite doing a pressure washer pre-rinse, I still get some grit in my rinse bucket so that alone shows that a good high pressure pre-rinse will not solve all your problems.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
BlackElantraGT said:
This tells me that you're not doing a good enough job. There's a difference between having a film of dirt( from road oils and rain) and grit. Grit washes off, the road film doesn't. I have no problem getting all the grit off of the vehicles I prep/wash.
My 2 bucket method is a little different. I use one 2 gal shampoo bucket per side. I rinse the mitt with the hose now and then, since I think that releases the dirt better. And I don't have to drag around the same bucket. I start with the wheels, tires and lower parts with a separate bucket, rinse. Then I wash one side, top-down, rinse. Then the other side, rinse it all, dry.
ConglomrationAL
New member
I usually just rinse my wool off after each panel. I like it better than hauling two buckets around.
Accumulator
Well-known member
Noting that I'm a bit, uhm...extreme about my wash technique 
a few ~random thoughts follow:
No matter how well I pre-rinse/pre-wash, I can't get all the grit off; it seems that some of it sticks to the roadfilm/etc. If I could use a pressure washer with more power than my compressor-fed siphon feed sprayer, things might be different.
BHBs are incredibly free-rinsing compared to any mitts I've ever tried. Used with a foamgun you can almost eliminate wash media rinsing, but used properly they're awfully gentle and will often require a follow-up with a mitt.
With pre-rinsing/pre-washing, BHBs/foamgun for the initial passes, the rinse bucket's water can be mighty clean at the end of a wash, even when dealing with winter-nasty vehicles. I'd still use the 2-bucket approach though as my wash solution is always *perfectly* clean at the end of a wash and avoiding cross-contamination sure can't hurt.
Filling the mitt with wash solution and letting it seep out of the mitt while it's moving across the panel can provide lubrication and flushing. And it generally makes for more gentle contact with the paint than you'll get when wearing the mitt like a glove.
I'd rinse mitts out more often than after every panel. I simply won't move a soiled wash medium across the paint if I can help it. And I'd really *clean 'em out*, not just dunk them in the bucket or even just spray them with the hose. And I don't hesitate to switch to clean mitts if I feel it might be necessary (I keep a lot of 'em on hand).
It can be hard to tell the rinse bucket from the wash bucket after a while, both can look mighty sudsy. To differentiate between them, I keep a spring-clip on my rinse buckets.
Using redundant systems, i.e., having wash/rinse buckets and even hoses on each side of the car, can be very convenient. But yeah, it's a bit extravagant.
Whatever wash media/technique you're using, I'd "jiggle" the media across the surface of the paint rather than "scrubbing" or even just making broad, sweeping motions. Jiggling breaks up the length of the cleaning swath, and if you're gonna get marring, it's better to get a 1/4" long scratch than a 4" long one. It also lends itself to interuptions of the contact pressure, providing greater opportunity for wash media to release abrasive [stuff] and the wash solution to carry it away from the point of contact with the paint. If you see any long scratches/swirls, it means you got something between your wash medium and the paint and *kept* it there throughout a long swath, and this is easily avoidable.
a few ~random thoughts follow:No matter how well I pre-rinse/pre-wash, I can't get all the grit off; it seems that some of it sticks to the roadfilm/etc. If I could use a pressure washer with more power than my compressor-fed siphon feed sprayer, things might be different.
BHBs are incredibly free-rinsing compared to any mitts I've ever tried. Used with a foamgun you can almost eliminate wash media rinsing, but used properly they're awfully gentle and will often require a follow-up with a mitt.
With pre-rinsing/pre-washing, BHBs/foamgun for the initial passes, the rinse bucket's water can be mighty clean at the end of a wash, even when dealing with winter-nasty vehicles. I'd still use the 2-bucket approach though as my wash solution is always *perfectly* clean at the end of a wash and avoiding cross-contamination sure can't hurt.
Filling the mitt with wash solution and letting it seep out of the mitt while it's moving across the panel can provide lubrication and flushing. And it generally makes for more gentle contact with the paint than you'll get when wearing the mitt like a glove.
I'd rinse mitts out more often than after every panel. I simply won't move a soiled wash medium across the paint if I can help it. And I'd really *clean 'em out*, not just dunk them in the bucket or even just spray them with the hose. And I don't hesitate to switch to clean mitts if I feel it might be necessary (I keep a lot of 'em on hand).
It can be hard to tell the rinse bucket from the wash bucket after a while, both can look mighty sudsy. To differentiate between them, I keep a spring-clip on my rinse buckets.
Using redundant systems, i.e., having wash/rinse buckets and even hoses on each side of the car, can be very convenient. But yeah, it's a bit extravagant.
Whatever wash media/technique you're using, I'd "jiggle" the media across the surface of the paint rather than "scrubbing" or even just making broad, sweeping motions. Jiggling breaks up the length of the cleaning swath, and if you're gonna get marring, it's better to get a 1/4" long scratch than a 4" long one. It also lends itself to interuptions of the contact pressure, providing greater opportunity for wash media to release abrasive [stuff] and the wash solution to carry it away from the point of contact with the paint. If you see any long scratches/swirls, it means you got something between your wash medium and the paint and *kept* it there throughout a long swath, and this is easily avoidable.
Accumulator
Well-known member
W.S.- Heh heh, don't worry, this thread didn't get all that contentious and the folks here are pretty open-minded when it comes to the sometimes extreme differences in wash techniques.
And it's a legitimate query on a good topic; I'm glad you started the thread. Hey, ljporter might not've run across my mitt-filling and jiggling advice for a while had I not decided to post it on this thread (I mention such stuff now and then, but not everybody sees every thread).
And it's a legitimate query on a good topic; I'm glad you started the thread. Hey, ljporter might not've run across my mitt-filling and jiggling advice for a while had I not decided to post it on this thread (I mention such stuff now and then, but not everybody sees every thread).
azenthusiast
New member
I just did the two bucket method for the first time today. It DOES make a difference. I had to change out the rinse bucket water three times. I can't believe I kept that much grime in the mitt for the whole Jeep before!
docker
New member
azenthusiast said:
Exactly! And it doesn't take that much additional time to help assure the cleanest wash process possible, eh?