Two Bucket Wash Method
Why 2 buckets?
The last thing that you would want to do on your route to getting the perfect finish, or maintaining the new paint work on your car, is to use one bucket – trust me!
In bucket one you have your usual car shampoo and warm water and in bucket two you have ordinary warm water. Firstly you’re going to dip your wash mitt in bucket one and then proceed to start washing down the body work on your car. Now your wash mitt is dirty and you want to rinse it off so this is where bucket two comes in. Since its normal water you have a chance you wash your mitt off and if you have a grit guard in the bottom you can rub your mitt against it to remove grit that might be embedded deeper into the wash mitt. The main reason for the two bucket wash method is so that bucket two becomes full of grit and dirt and bucket one is kept clean and grit free minimizing swirls and scratching.
Now that is done you’re free to put your wash mitt back in to bucket one and wash down the bodywork again and keep repeating the process until your car is clean.
You haven’t mentioned a sponge and keep going on about wash mitts.
Due to the natural flat surface of your sponge as soon as it picks up grit or anything that is likely to mark your paint work there is nowhere for it to go so it just sits on the surface of the sponge and happily and unbeknown to you starts to mark your paint work.
Wash mitts have been developed to aid a better washing technique and reduce swirl marks. When you run your fingers through a lamb’s wool wash mitt your fingers disappear due to the deep pile so the same in theory happens to the grit and dirt particles.
Another thing that you can always bear in mind the more pressure you apply when washing the car the more risk you have of inflicting swirls or scratches.
Since the bumpers and lower half of the car will always be more dirty than the roof and top half of your car, it’s also an idea to have 2 different wash mitts one for lower panels and bumpers and then another for roofs and top half’s of panels
While this doesn’t guarantee you won’t get any swirl marks or scratches it does reduce the risk of any damage to paint work. When using a wash mitt with the two bucket wash method the more you wash your mitt in bucket two the more dirt you will remove.
admin on October 23rd 2008 in Car Washing Guides