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How to mix your car wash solution

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  • How to mix your car wash solution

    How to quickly, easily and accurately mix your car wash solution



    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?

    (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 and according to the back label, they recommend using,

    1 ounce of car wash solution per gallon of water.




    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.






    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.




    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.




    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.




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




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




    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.




    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...

    Mike Phillips
    760-515-0444
    showcargarage@gmail.com

    "Find something you like and use it often"

  • #2
    Re: How to mix your car wash solution

    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.
    Ivan Rajic - LUSTR Auto Detail
    Chicago, Illinois

    Recognized as One of the Top Nine Auto Detailers in the US by AutoWeek Magazine!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: How to mix your car wash solution

      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....)
      2017 Subaru WRX Premium - WR Blue

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      • #4
        Re: How to mix your car wash solution

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

        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.

        Scott

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        • #5
          Re: How to mix your car wash solution

          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.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: How to mix your car wash solution

            I use an old baby bottle.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: How to mix your car wash solution

              Originally posted by BlueZero View Post
              I thought each 'glug' was an ounce?!?!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                Originally posted by spence82 View Post
                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
                You repair things with tools. You fix things with a hammer.

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                • #9
                  Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                  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.

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                  • #10
                    Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                    I thought a glug was bubba proof .

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                    • #11
                      Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                      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...

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                      • #12
                        Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                        Guilty of blasting the bucket leaving tons of suds.

                        (Slaps wrist.)
                        1998 Supermarine Blue Pearl Honda CR-V

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                        • #13
                          Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                          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.
                          2005 Trailblazer LT Majestic Red Metallic
                          AutoGeek's 6th Annual Detail Fest & Car Show
                          1st Place-Best Overall Detail
                          3rd Place-Best of Show
                          March 26th, 2011

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                          • #14
                            Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                            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?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: How to mix your car wash solution

                              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

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