Dumb question, why use buckets?

O

ocdwasher

New member
If you didn't care about your water bill couldn't you simply just have like 20 or 30 wash mitts, and every time you would normally place the mitt in the bucket to agitate it against the grit guard, simply toss it aside (to be washed later and reused for the next wash) and grab a new mitt?



I realize it would be expensive to buy that many mitts, but wouldn't that truly eliminate any chance of any dirt scratching?



Granted I only drive a Mercedes so this is probably overkill, but if I had a Ferrari or Lamborghini, I would imagine doing something like this.



Would this method work? How many times can mitts be rewashed?
 
Well this would be like the Garry Dean wash method. YOu gather up a few wash mitts or microfiber towels and you use one and all its sides and then place it in a bag or bucket then grab a new one and repeat. You never introduce city particles back into the wash water.
 
I do use multiple mitts when doing a big wash: one for horizontal surfaces and two for vertical. Makes plenty of sense to me. I only use buckets for using my wheel woolies.



I exclusively wash with a foam gun.
 
If you learn to pre rinse properly, you won't have to worry about reintroducing dirt back onto the paint surface. No amount of mitts, towels, buckets etc will stop you from inflicting swirls if there is still grit on your paint when you start to wash.
 
Amen brother!

I rinse with an electric power washer first, do the wheels and tires and then take a soft brush around the rocker panels,wheel wells, lower bumper area, - then rinse again. I used a grout sponge, 5 gallon bucket (1) with a gritt guard and never had an issue.
 
JuneBug said:
Amen brother!

I rinse with an electric power washer first, do the wheels and tires and then take a soft brush around the rocker panels,wheel wells, lower bumper area, - then rinse again. I used a grout sponge, 5 gallon bucket (1) with a gritt guard and never had an issue.
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And I thought it was only me--could never see any advantage using the 2 bucket method. Always rinse with the pressure washer, do the wheels, rocker panels and lower bumpers with an inexpensive older sheepskin mitt, wheel wells with various brushes, pressure washer rinse again then wash the paint with a sheepskin mitt (Carpro in last couple of years) and one bucket. My car was 6 years old when I first polished it and was able to remove light marring with HD Speed.
 
If you have sufficient water pressure, you can wash with a BHB/foamgun combo without necessarily needing buckets. The foamgun can, *with sufficient water pressure*, constantly flush the BHB clean.



I use my wash buckets to hold my various wash media and my rinse buckets are primarily for my peace of mind (and to make *certain* that I don't contaminate my wash buckets). Two wash and rinse buckets on each side of the washbay. Each bucket holds one regular BHB, another small "paintbrush"-type BHB, one sheepskin mitt, and one MF towel or mitt.



Yes indeed, whatever method you use (pressure washer, BHB/foamgun, etc.), it's important to get the "big stuff" off before you start washing with the conventional "medium moved across the paint". For this reason, I consider washing to be a two-part process. Even *with* that big stuff off, I simply won't move a mitt/etc. across the paint unless I'm flushing the point of contact with the foamgun.



Heh heh, IMO if your rinse buckets have dirt in them, that might be a clue that something's not right; how did that dirt get there? From your wash media. Did that dirty media get moved across your paint before you rinsed/replaced it? Hmmm...maybe the dirt caused some marring.



Note that, just FWIW, I use the same wash media for all the different areas of the vehicle. Same things that just cleaned the filthy rear bumpercover might next be used on the hood (just depends on the natural work-flow of that vehicle). It's been a long, long time since any of those mitts/towels got so soiled that I had to replace it (or even really clean it out thoroughly) during the course of a wash, and as I keep saying, my vehicles get *DIRTY* between washes.



Eh...whatever works for ya! If you have to polish every year or so then IMO you're doing something wrong. If the marring you have to polish out is longer than...say...an inch or two then you're *REALLY* doing something wrong.
 
After I rinse, foam, rinse, I begin to wash with a MF mitt, I rinse my mitt with the hose before dipping backing into soap and water bucket. So I only use 1 bucket.
 
Or, if you use ONR, you can use one bucket, quality MF wash pad and 500-600 gram weight 16 x 16 MF towels and have a swirl free car.
 
Scottwax said:
Or, if you use ONR, you can use one bucket, quality MF wash pad and 500-600 gram weight 16 x 16 MF towels and have a swirl free car.
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do you pre-treat for bug / tar removal? how? thx
 
ybajwa said:
do you pre-treat for bug / tar removal? how? thx
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99% of the time I just "clean the tar off my LSP" with Sonus SFX clay. Yeah, it trashes the clay but I don't have to reLSP. I just keep a blob of clay and a spraybottle of lube on the wash bucket and spot-clay stuff like that as needed while doing the wash.
 
I never use 2 buckets ... no need to .. even if the car is dirty when you rinse your mitt in the bucket ( swish it around ) a good sheepskin mitt will release all the particulate that could possibly do any damage. If it doesn't release it its not going to release it in a rinse pail or the wash pail. Get a better mitt. And as far as rubbing the mitt over the grit guard .. that makes no sense at all , why put the mitt that deep in the water? And rubbing it won't make dirt release from the mitt. The idea of the grit guard was to keep any of the particulate that is of size enough to do damage in the bottom of the pail so swishing the mitt around doesn't re- suspend the particulate in the wash water.



Any cloudiness in the water from dirt is only color .. not sizeable enough to do damage. The stuff to worry about already sank into the grit guard.



Key is to soak the car and then hose off any course particulate , use a good quality mitt , a soap with good lubricity and suds to help carry away what you washed and what doesn't leave on the mitt.



Rinsing methodology is also important ... never use high pressure to rinse the car .. flood everything off with a flow of water, High pressure just blows things around or dislodges other particulate and leaves it on the surface to be rubbed in by the drying towel.



JMTC.
 
Jesstzn said:
Rinsing methodology is also important ... never use high pressure to rinse the car .. High pressure just blows things around or dislodges other particulate and leaves it on the surface to be rubbed in by the drying towel...
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I don't follow :confused: I'd think that any rinsing powerful to dislodge particulates would also flush them off. Not that I'd expect them to still be there after the washing anyhow (yeah, in a perfect world :o ).



I rinse at a pretty high pressure and volume, if only to get all the suds (and anything else) out of nooks and crannies.



Eh, "different strokes..." etc. etc.
 
Accumulator said:
I don't follow :confused: I'd think that any rinsing powerful to dislodge particulates would also flush them off. Not that I'd expect them to still be there after the washing anyhow (yeah, in a perfect world :o ).



I rinse at a pretty high pressure and volume, if only to get all the suds (and anything else) out of nooks and crannies.



Eh, "different strokes..." etc. etc.
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That's my point .. a powerful flow can dislodge stuff and just move it around .. the final part of rinsing should be flooding so everything is carried away.
 
Guess what.. they all can probably work with a good technique. Clearly, a good pre-rinse is important.



Of course, many guys are washing reasonably clean cars that has good protection on it so the extra measures (multiple buckets, 60 towels, 5 rinses, foam soak, during wash foam soak) may not be as critical.
 
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