Two Bucket Method

TLReaves

TLReaves

New member
Okay so I've been searching for about 45 minutes and cannot get a description of what the two bucket washing method actually is/entails, only that it exists and people do it. What exactly is it? I'm dying to find out. Thanks for the help.

-Tim
 
One bucket for soapy water, one bucket for regular water. After dipping your spunge/mit/shmitt into the soapy water and cleaning the desired panel on the car, you dip your sponge/mit/shmitt into the regular water to shed any large pieces of contamination(bugs, dirt, tar, etc...) you might have cleaned off of your paint. This essentially keeps your washing tool and soapy water cleaner and will produce less contamination based scratches during the wash. I hope this helped. Let me know if you had any more questions.
 
This is a little off-topic, but still about washing and buckets.:)

I also use a separate bucket and wash mitt for the wheels and wheel wells.
I also use two wash mitts for the main body of the vehicle. One for the top down to the beltline and another for the lower panels.
IMO, those 2 things are even more important than the "two bucket" wash.

Charles
 
I'm a firm believer in the multi bucket & multi wash mitt routine. I use at least two rinse buckets and one for soapy water and use separate wash mitts for different sections of the car.
 
Dont forget the grit guard insert in the bottom of the rinse bucket. To keep the large dirt particles in the bottom of the bucket, and away from your paint.:yay
 
No, I've got a handful of small rocks I thought might really bring out the sheet metal on my whip.















LOL, just kidding. Now that I know about this I can't do anything but!
 
Washing in general

One thing that lots of people are careless about.
Be sure the vehicle is clean before you start to dry it!
If your drying towel gets dirty, you didn't get the car clean when you washed it, and you probably just marred your paint.
My personal feeling is that many/most swirls are caused by poor drying technique.

Charles
 
I can't wait until I get home so I can hear the sound on that video. And charles I will be sure to remember your words of wisdom the next time I am drying. I think on top of what you said, if you happen to catch some dirt and then dry anywhere else you're boned. I don't like my drying towel any other color than white/yellow. What do you guys think are a good drying towels/cloths/methods? I had been using a chamois and a meguires microfiber towel.

Thanks for all the help!
 
TLReaves said:
I can't wait until I get home so I can hear the sound on that video. And charles I will be sure to remember your words of wisdom the next time I am drying. I think on top of what you said, if you happen to catch some dirt and then dry anywhere else you're boned. I don't like my drying towel any other color than white/yellow. What do you guys think are a good drying towels/cloths/methods? I had been using a chamois and a meguires microfiber towel.

Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
The best thing you can do when drying your car is minimize how much you touch the paint. There are several ways you can do this.

1. Dry the car with an electric leaf blower. Don't use a gas powered one as many of them exhaust through the blower and will spray your paint with unburned gas and oil. Dry any remaining water with a high quality drying towel.

2. Before drying the car take the nozzle off your hose. Then using a steady stream of water to rinse off your car from top to bottom. This is called the "sheeting method" and will leave less water on the surface of your car. Dry any remaining water with a high quality drying towel.

As far as what drying towel to use IMO waffle weave microfiber is the way to go. WW's are very absorbent and have a knap which can hold dirt away from the paint. A chamois (natural or artificial) or a squeegee do not have knap so they have much more potential to cause marring. Among all WW's that I have tried the Cobra Ultimate Guzzler is my favorite. It's very soft and absorbent. Plus, it's so big I can use one to dry an entire car.
 
"Electric" leaf blowers ain't got enough power to pull a greasy string outta a cat's rear end. Get a RedMax backpack blower, and note it has a muffler that is separate from the air it blows - never seen one where the exhaust went into the tube. I used to do lawn care, - Professional Lawn Care, OK, trust me on this one.
 
This method leaves a hell of alot less imperfections in my finish. I lightly dry each section as its washed. and then I'll go over the finish with a product like PB's S&W to remove water spots and such before applying anything else.
 
Junebug said:
"Electric" leaf blowers ain't got enough power to pull a greasy string outta a cat's rear end.
Click to expand...

LOL, where did you get that from?

But seriously thank you guys for the insights, I really appreciate it. I'll have to hit up the abbreviation key and do some trials. Not sure how wierd my apartment neighbors would think I was for taking a leaf blower to my car. And I never knew that about chamois, this has been very informative. Thanks! I will hopefully be puttin in an order to Poorboys before the end of the year. Can't wait.
 
Junebug said:
"Electric" leaf blowers ain't got enough power to pull a greasy string outta a cat's rear end. Get a RedMax backpack blower, and note it has a muffler that is separate from the air it blows - never seen one where the exhaust went into the tube. I used to do lawn care, - Professional Lawn Care, OK, trust me on this one.
Click to expand...
Why are you going around putting greasy strings in cats' rear ends?

Seriously though, I know several people that use electric 200 MPH blowers to dry their car. The idea is not to get it 100% dry with the blower just to get most of the water off and out of the cracks.
 
Hey Mikey, it's an old southern expression to indicate anything weak. First time I heard it I cracked up, that was probably 30 years ago and like Larry the Cable Guy says, " I don't care who you are - that's funny!" The reason I rag on electric leaf blowers was based on watching a dude spend all afternoon cleaning up a little 1/4 acre yard, as I was knocking out 3 acres across the road from him. I sold my commercial Z mower, but kept the blower, trimmer, a couple of chain saws and the spreader. I don't miss the lawn biz, an I feel sorry for anyone trying to make it in that line of work. Whoever whines about buffing with a 6-7 pound buffer, never ran a pole saw!
 
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