I'm in the navy stationed in san diego and dont have a place to hook up a garden hose to wash with. the car washes won't let me use a bucket and hand wash it they say i have 2 use thier equipment. No way in hell is that "foam brush" goona touch my truck. I'm lookin for ideas. PLEASE HELP Thanks BM3

 

qadsan
Member Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 82

You can also use a rinsless wash product like QEW (Quick Easy Wash), or Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine, or or DP 4 in one Wash & Shine to wash & dry one spot at a time.

They're easy to use and they allow you to wash one spot or one panel at a time. If done correctly, it won't marr or scratch your paint as hard as that might be to believe. If your vehicle is absolutely filthy dirty and caked with crud, then this isn't the product to use, but it works very well in many applications. These products aren't just limited to vehicles with light dust. You can clean a surprisingly dirty vehicle without any marring or scratching if you use the product correctly and work smart.

Basically, you pour a few ounces of this product into several gallons of water. Then you place your microfiber or sheepskin or foam wash mit / tool into the solution so its thoroughly wet. Start with one panel and make one light pass on that panel. Then thoroughly rinse off your wash tool in the wash bucket if it has a grit guard or rinse it off in a seperate bucket of clean water, but make sure your wash tool is clean before using it again. Then dunk your wash tool into the wash bucket and wipe down that strip again if needed or start a new strip on that panel. Then rinse off your wash tool. Once you have a strip or two of clean paint or glass, etc, then wipe that clean section dry with a clean soft microfiber towel and use as little pressure as possible. You simply keep repeating this process until your vehicle is completely washed and dried. Some people have different ways of using these products (pre-treating the panels, one bucket vs two buckets, etc), but this is just a quick summary of the basics. You can find more on these products and how to best use them via google.

I run into a lot of skeptics on this process, but they're always amazed when I demonstrate this method in front of them. There's definitely the potential for problems (scratching / marring, etc), but if you're careful and work smart, then there's no reason why these products and methods won't work well for you.

 

take your own wash water, and a couple of buckets to the car wash. pump quarters in the machine, and leave it on rinse while you are working on your car .. as long as you are pumping money in the meter, and paying them for their time, most of them will allow you to use their bay.

By leaving it on high pressure rinse, you won't be wasting any of their chemicals.

 

I was in the same situations for a while. I used to go to the last spot at a car wash and pay the minimum to get my car wet and spray the underside. Then I would back it straight out of the bay and wash with a bucket in the shade. When I finished I just drove it back in the bay and rinsed it off. The manager of the car wash was fine with this as long as I wasn't bucket washing while I was in his bay.

 

how about going late at night during off peak times? I did that once or twice when I wanted to wash the underside of my truck then the rest of it. Mississippi was too hot to do it during the day so I took it up at night. Took my buckets, brushes, sponges, soap, creeper, etc.... and did it all up there. Didn't use their chemicals and only used high pressure for blasting the gunk on the underside. Then I just used their low pressure rinse for everything else.

 

Sounds like you need to find yourself a girlfriend so you can go over to her place and "mooch" her hose off of her.......

 

I'd check around on base...if there is one check near the Auto Hobby shop...all the Navy bases I've been had some sort of place you could hand wash your car.

R/
Craig