How to mix your car wash solution

[Mike Phillips]

How to quickly, easily and accurately mix your car wash solution (http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25261)



You know, when it comes to washing our cars, we know most people don't measure their car wash soap because they don't have a system to measure the car wash solution for their wash water bucket.

So what most people do is fill their bucket with water and then remove the lid from their car wash solution and start pouring car wash into their bucket of water like this,

Glug, glug, glug glug glub...

Their system relies on the Guesstimation Technique.

Am I right? http://www.showcargarage.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

(Yeah I'm right)

Most serious enthusiasts use a 3-5 gallon bucket of water for their car wash solution, with most people using some type of 5-Gallon bucket with anywhere from 4 gallons of water to 5 gallons of water in the bucket.

Just a guess but probably pretty accurate as far as serious enthusiasts are concerned.


The KISS system
Everyone's always talking about the KISS philosophy, well here it is applied to washing your car. This is a Bubba-proof method of measuring your, Car Wash Solution to Water ratio using inexpensive common household items you probably already own and have lying around the house.


First, you need to read the directions for the car wash solution you use and find out what the manufacture recommends for product usage. In this example, we're using Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash and Shampoo (http://www.meguiars.com/?car-washes/Gold-Class-Car-Wash-Shampoo-Conditioner) and according to the back label, they recommend using,

1 ounce of car wash solution per gallon of water.

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup2wLine.JPG


Old Style Math
This means if you're going to fill a 5-Gallon bucket with approximately 5 gallons of water you're going to want to add 5 ounces of car wash.

Developing a Repeatable Routine
The idea with mundane simple tasks is to make it easy on yourself to do the task quickly and easily without any obstacles or hassles. So what you need is a system approach.

The Dixie Cup Method
To make things fast and easy each time you want to wash one of your cars or one of your customer's cars, and to insure you don't use to little or too much car wash soap, use a Dixie cup or some similar plastic cup to pour your car wash soap into and measure out just the right amount of soap.

What to do
Use an ordinary kitchen measuring cup to measure out 5 ounces of water, and then pour this water into a 16 ounce Dixie cup.

Next, carefully marked the inside of the cup in a couple of places where the water level filled to with a permanent black marker and then pour the water out and finish drawing a line around the inside of the cup to match the marks you made.


http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup1.jpg



This will enable you to simply pour the car wash solution out of the car wash bottle and into the Dixie cup until it fills to the mark you've made inside the cup.

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup3.jpg


Quick, simple and accurate.


Next, simply pour the car wash solution to the water... note the bucket is contains about 4.5 gallons of water.

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup4.jpg


Because car wash solutions like the Gold Class Car Wash and Shampoo are very thick in their consistency, in order to remove all of the car wash out of the cup and into your bucket of water so as not to waste any car wash and to leave your Dixie cup rinsed, clean, (not coated with car wash solution), and ready to put away, dip the Dixie cup into the bucket of water and swish it around.

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup6.jpg


Then after swishing it around, pour the water/soap solution back into the bucket...

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup7.jpg


When you're through, you can store the Dixie cup and use it again the next time you wash your car.

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/DixieCup9.jpg


You can store your Dixie cup upside down over the top of a jug of car wash to help prevent dirt from accumulating in the cup. Be sure to rinse the cup out before using it again for future washings. You can never be too careful.


Now we're ready to wash any car using the 2-Bucket Method with one bucket filled with clear, clean rinse water and the other bucket filled with our car wash and water solution mixed at the correct dilution level.

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/2BucketMethod1.jpg


Here's a little insight...

Fill your soap solution bucket with water first and then add the soap and mix it around with your hand. Why? If you measure out enough soap for 4-5 gallons of water, then you need 4-5 gallons of water to dilute the soap into, follow me?

If you pour the soap into the bottom of an empty bucket and blast it with water, you will get a bucket with about 1-2 gallons of water and the rest will be suds. Now your dilution levels are all whacked-out and you're using too strong of a soap solution.

The goal is to have a full bucket of water with the soap equally dispersed into the water. If you can accomplish this, you can easily create suds after the fact with a quick blast of water or by using your fingers to agitate the soapy water.


Hope this helps to some level...

:)

[lecchilo]

Very good info Mike! And I know many many people using the guesstimation method haha

What I do is fill about 4-5 8oz. dispenser bottles full of GC wash, then simply add half of it to a 5 gallon bucket with about 4 or so gallons of water... every 7-8 washes I just grab all 4-5 bottles and re-fill them.

[Murr1525]

2 other ideas that involve buying measuring devices....

If you use the Professional or Detailing Line soaps, the hand pumps put out one ounce per pump.

I have also purchased some very nice plastic 8oz measuring cups from a Bed, Bath, and Beyond type store. (Watch out for the Beyond section....)

[BlueZero]

I thought each 'glug' was an ounce?!?! :chuckle1

My local Sherwin-Williams Automotive has mixing cups that work great for measuring too. They come in different sizes, I like the 8 oz ones. They are about $0.29 each so it's not a big deal if you lose it. I just keep one in my wash bucket at all times.

http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/images/products/sw_mixing-cups_group.jpg

[spence82]

i still think meguiars should have a cup cap 1oz. on their car washes.take the cap off fill it up and,you got 1oz. right then and there.

[02CAMSS]

:DI use an old baby bottle.

[yalerd]

I thought each 'glug' was an ounce?!?! :chuckle1


:chuckle1:chuckle1:chuckle1

[dvtldav]

i still think meguiars should have a cup cap 1oz. on their car washes.take the cap off fill it up and,you got 1oz. right then and there.


I agree. That would make it real simple. The detachable measuring cap on a Roundup bottle, is graduated in 2, 4, 6, & 8 oz. So when my roundup is gone I know where the measuring lid is going. I will wash it out, into my wash bucket it goes.

Dave

[Wolf-Strong]

I use the Dixie cup method as well at work! At home though I have a little measuring cup I have for all my solutions.

[SD DIESEL]

I thought a glug was bubba proof .:scratchhead1

[somarr]

I think if you have kids, you can use one of those plastic cups that the baby food comes in or a fruit cup. I think they are 4 oz. if you fill it to the brim...

[techjazz]

Guilty of blasting the bucket leaving tons of suds.

(Slaps wrist.)

[Mark McGuire]

My wife uses liquid laundry detergent that comes with the measuring cap. When they are empty I just wash them out real good, pour in soap, and label it. Then you have a container, measuring cap, that work together and you don't lose anything. When you are through washing the container goes into the bucket for the next time you wash.:thinking1

[Ben_P1]

This is a very useful topic, ever since I've been cleaning cars I have always glugged in a good amount of soap then blasted the water in the bucket, suds over flowing. I use either NXT or Hyper wash, usually far too strong judging by the pictures, so is this stripping the wax off my finish or am I just wasting shampoo in the process?

[CivicTypeR]

But don't u guys find it hard to wash car if not enough suds?? By pouring water first then car shampoo,i belief the mixture is more of a watery shampoo without suds :scratchhead1

[J. A. Michaels]

At our wal-mart, they have plastic measuring cups. I believe they were $0.89. It is clearly marked out in ounces. I just go over the 4 ounce line and it is a good ratio.

[mongo]

Good topic and info.

I useally put one ounce of product in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket then fill with water and I get one gallon of water with suds up to the top.

I have tried putting in 3 gallons of water then add 3 ounces of car wash and swirl around but got no suds and resulting wash was not as good.

Next time will try adding 3 gallons of water then 3 ounces of wash then blast it with sprayer to activate more suds to see if it works better

> I could see where the extra water would provide better lubrication and cleaning.

[eric96ser]

I found some buckets at Home Depot that have the measurements on the side, so I can easily see how much water I have. I also picked up a cheap measuring cup at WalMart. I tried using the Dixie cup method, but this is easier, for me. :) The HD buckets also fit the GritGuard, but unlike the standard white buckets, the guard falls out when I rinse the bucket out.

[Murr1525]

I like the suds/foam to cling, so I know my soap, and thus lubrication, isn't all running off.

But other than that, lots of suds don't serve a major purpose. The agitation from the mitt is going to do a lot more than the little foaming action to remove dirt.

[Mr Mustang]

that's a great tip!

[Iam4st8]

Simple and accurate i love it!

[ColonelCash]

Just found this thread, didn't ever expect so many comments about putting soap into water!

Anyhow, I'm a glugger myself. I put about 1.5 glugs of Gold Class wash into my bucket and then fill with warm water.

For the precise types, a shot glass is 1oz exactly. Easy enough. I also use a shot glass when cooking, it comes in very handy. There are some at Bed, Bath and Beyond that have different cooking measurements marked on side. Highly recommend this item, your wives might even think you were thinking of them when you bought it!