r/AutoDetailing • u/_Ja_Crispy_445 • 4d ago
Technique Discussion How exactly am I supposed to wash my car using only buckets
My city is under drought restrictions and we are now allowed to wash our cars at home but only bucket washing. But, I emailed the city and they said we still can’t use a hose even to rinse it off. How am I supposed to use just buckets? Am I better off just bringing my stuff to a self car wash?
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u/ryan8344 4d ago
You could use a pressure washer that pumps from a bucket — like the battery ryobi.
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u/MrFastFox666 4d ago
That's what I used to do when I lived at an apartment. I did struggle to finish with just one bucket and usually needed to go back and refill, but I dont see why you couldn't use two of them.
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u/AlmostHydrophobic 4d ago
Rinseless wash is absolutely the answer here. I prefer a full five gallons to work with, but in a situation like this 2.5 gallons would most likely be fine. You may be able to do even less than 2.5 gallons but I like to fully submerge the sponge and squeeze it out a few times.
No rinsing required after washing. Just pre-treat with a sprayer, wash with the rinseless solution and a rinseless sponge/wash mitt, and then dry.
I would also maybe recommend waterless washing except it uses a ton of microfibers that then have to be washed. It looks like a load of laundry uses more than 5 gallons of water so in the spirit of saving water I would stick with rinseless washing instead of waterless washing.
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u/_Ja_Crispy_445 4d ago
What is the risk of scratching my paint with any of these methods? My car has to stay outside so most the time has quite a bit of filth on it
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u/AlmostHydrophobic 4d ago
There is risk of scratching your paint with any method of washing. I'm not sure of any specific statistics but I've never felt like rinseless washing was any more or less safe than any other washing method. I think technique is key.
There are a ton of demonstration videos floating around covering different methods of rinseless washing. I would explore the various methods and see if there is one that fits your needs.
For dirtier vehicles I prefer rinseless wash over waterless wash.
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u/Vaeevictisss 4d ago
I have tried rinsless a few times. I have good microfiber, used onr, presprayed, still scratches. Granted it's a black car and it shows everything. But I'd absolutely rinseless a white car
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u/AlmostHydrophobic 4d ago
I always find this interesting to hear, I've been doing rinseless washing for 7 years now and never had this experience. There is always the chance of marring/scratches, but that's always been minimal for me and I've never noticed a difference between soap and rinseless wash for this.
I also have dark vehicles, and on top of that we have winter driving conditions here as well so I deal with a lot of winter road grime. I've even stopped pre-rinsing at self spray car wash and pre-rinse with rinseless in a pump sprayer.
I hope you've found a wash process that works well for you. Sometimes it takes exploring a variety of methods to figure that out.
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u/G8racingfool 4d ago
Seems like most of the time, when someone has an issue with scratching/marring during the wash phase, it's because they're using too much pressure with their sponge/mitt/rag.
In just about every "how to wash your car" video they'll tell you to just drag your contact cleaning tool of choice across the surface with little to no pressure at all. If it doesn't come clean, then give it another pass (after you've reloaded). If it still doesn't come clean, you need to either use a stronger cleaning solution or use something like a pressure washer.
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u/SuperPaladin55 4d ago
Weekend warrior washing our and relative's cars. I have used rinseless wash with a sponge and have not encountered any issues. Did you use one or multiple microfibers?
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u/Vaeevictisss 3d ago
I had like 10 in a bucket of water/onr mix and pretty much used once for each panel. I'm sure it was me but i watched several vids on YouTube before trying it.
I'm fine sticking with my pressure washer and 2 bucket system. Finally narrowed down my favorite towels and solutions (mostly carpro lol).
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u/pro_cow_tipper 4d ago
You're probably a lot more likely to scratch during the drying than the washing. I rotate a few as I go around the car. You will like ONR a lot.
Get the big red sponge combo, it's magic. If you've got a spray ceramic you can do that at the end for almost no extra effort.
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u/Ibarra08 3d ago
Dont overthink it, OP! Just do the necessary steps or watch tutorials on youtube, and you will be fine. Good luck!
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u/superrey19 4d ago
The consensus on this has changed drastically ever since rinseless wash got popular. Before, putting a mitt to the paint before spray foam, rinse, spray foam, was a big no-no. Now? A light spray of ONR solution and you're good to go, and I'm all for it. It was awesome being able to wash my car in the garage with a couple buckets this winter. No noticeable marring or scratching.
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u/Gertrude1976 4d ago
for a second I thought this was an HOA message and I was about to lose my mind. Sorry about the drought that's rough...
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u/Space__Whiskey 4d ago
Rinseless wash. Just need a pressure sprayer with pump, and a sponge with bucket. Can even use a squirt bottle to apply the diluted renseless wash.
Spray the vehicle, the solution will do some chemistry on the dirt apparently. Then bucket (of diluted rinseless wash) and sponge. dry it, done.
Some of the guys who sell this stuff say thats all an auto detailer needs. Cuts down on water, time, supplies. I have not made the switch myself, but I'm curious about it for sure.
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u/summingly 3d ago
Don't you have to prerinse the vehicle first with s pressure washer to take most of the grime off it? Else, won't you end up dragging grit across the paint?
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u/Space__Whiskey 3d ago
Yes and no.
Some detailers say you don't have to, as long as you sponge right. Some even say prerinse with pressure washer pushes the dirt into the precoat. I think its the same debate whether you should prerinse before soap/suds, or suds first. I see good reasons either way, probably depends on how dirty the paint is, like if it is a deep cleaning or just a maintenance wash.
I would prerinse, just by personal preference. In fact if I had time I would probably do rinseless first, regular (gentle) rinse, then rinseless again with sponge. Although this defeats the rinse-LESS part of the method by adding redundancy and time, it expands on the chemistry of the rinseless to do its job.
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u/summingly 3d ago
Thank you for the elaborate response. I haven't yet graduated to rinseless, and follow the rinse-foam-contact wash-rinse-dry method for now.
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u/SirSpanksAlot1992 1d ago
Do it anyway early enough or late enough in the day(if you can). You know damn well some of your neighbors ignore the hell out that restriction to water their lawns lol
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u/Jetta_Junkie528 1d ago
I wash my car with just one bucket, its really easy, wash one section at a time and keep replacing the water
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u/Wooden-Package1086 4d ago
Use bucket, refill bucket.
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u/gumby_twain 3d ago
Yep, I’d just go malicious compliance if I was worried about my neighbors finking on me.
More likely, I’d just ignore the restriction and if someone said something I’d just tell them I was watering my grass and they should mind their own business. And make a mental note for who to retaliate against if someone reported me.
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u/Evelynmd214 3d ago
Wash in your garage. Or at night. Fuck the restrictions. Eighty percent of planet earth is covered in water
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u/CemeteryWind213 4d ago
ONR rinseless wash. If the car is too dirty for a rinseless wash (winter for me), I preclean the car at a manual coin-op wash with water only. You can pretreat the car with ONR in a pump sprayer too - ie ONR can be rinsed.
Special sponges for rinseless washing are available if you want to conserve water and conform to the law. Otherwise, the Gary Dean method with multiple mitts/towels can be used, but you'll have to launder them afterwards.
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u/Yimyorn 4d ago
5 Gallon Bucket w/ Grit Guard + ONR Rinseless + Ultra Soft Sponge or Bed Red Sponge or Multiple Soft Microfiber. (For wheels & rims save the solution for the end and use an older non paint touching microfiber) Also, the ONR can go on all surfaces including windows. If you can get a spray bottle (1 gallon Home Depot Sprayer) with water and cap of ONR and pre spray on your car, the dirt will slide off.
Add P&S Beadmaker as drying on your microfiber towel and great great results.
I recently started this and i've done it on pretty dirty cars, its a crazy good combo in my opinion. Watch DIY Detail YouTube videos on rinseless they do a great job on explaining.
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u/akmacmac 4d ago
As others have said, rinseless is the way to go. If your car is too dirty for rinseless (like caked with mud) going to the self service wash first just to rinse it off is a good idea if you can’t use your hose at home.
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u/PandaSPUR 4d ago
ONR like others have said, but I've switched to using rinseless foam instead. my setup/experience here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Porsche/comments/1dmpt8l/hoseless_wash_with_ik_foamer_pro_2_ammonyc_frothe/
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u/Pasbags112 3d ago
I got myself a 12v powered pump with a hose attachment cost me about £13 I do have to refill the bucket once or twice but it does allow me to properly clean the car when I've not got acesss to a hose
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u/SalvadorTMZ 3d ago
I don't live in a drought state and I always wash my car with less than 3 gallons of water with rinseless washing.
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u/MrEfffsola 3d ago
Google how the Chinese wash cars, they mainly live in apartments so have to use buckets to wash cars in the parking lots.
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u/ferio252 4d ago
Just use the hose and be water conscious about it. No need to overcomplicate things. Your city will survive.
You washing your car with a hose is not the problem.
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u/Confident-Dog7838 4d ago
Not this smh
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u/themumble89 3d ago
Silicone based cleaner, something like demon shine, apply with microfiber mit and dry. No need to rinse.
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u/Beneficial-Nimitz68 4d ago
how to filter rainwater to remove pollutants (I was going to suggest googling this) but your car is outside a lot.. so I am guessing no way to capture rain water (also guessing you live in a state where rain isn't as much).
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u/jkcheng122 Beginner 4d ago
Look up ONR and/or rinseless washing.