three bucket method?

Adam's posted a three method wash earlier. I for one believe two buckets with grit guard is enough, but I am curious. What do you think of the three bucket method? overkill?

link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cj9fELKAKKg

 

Watch at the 7:41 mark for the synopsis:

http://youtu.be/Cj9fELKAKKg?t=7m41s

In my mind, it's overkill too; but I can see it working for really dirty cars. But I'm curious to see if soap was in each bucket. I mean, it makes sense that the 'clean' bucket is bright if that is the bucket that contains the soap, and not just the rinsed out (and diluted soap).

 

the adams soap is red(ish) so the water being red indicates soap

 

I use 2.........but always have 3, for tools and such, but not knocking what dylan is doing, its a little overkill for a daily driver. Maybe an exotic or something that sits in a garage all day I can see value in doing this.

Why stop at 3 buckets. Seriously , use 4, and two wash pads........... one set up for the top of the car, and one for the lower portion.

I use two wash pads, and a boar's hair wash brush on a broom. same principal since my truck gets very dirty and get very good results with just two buckets.

one for the top half, one for the lower and the broom for the roof. Been using multiple media on vehicles for ages, maybe as far back as 1999 since I have always had trucks.

To me that makes more sense then 3 buckets.......

 

why not do 4 bucket method? That's just stupid, IMO. 2 buckets are enough...That's why I have and use a pressure washer with a foam cannon...

 

The reason for my move to a 3rd bucket came after washing my last truck all the time (the blacked out avalanche) and noticing that (as usual) the 1st rinse bucket was very dirty, but I was still ending up with a fair amount of grit in the bottom of my soap bucket. The easiest solution was to introduce another bucket w/ grit guard.

I realize this translates to 'over the top' for some people, but washing a truck that size and that black I wasn't going to risk it. Now I can let the wash buckets settle out and every time be left with no grit in the 3rd bucket... its a small investment of additional time and water for my piece of mind and my Avalanche remained very much swirl free until the day I turned it over to the new owner.

 

It's easier (For me, and I think it's fun to do) to just foam the car 2 or 3 times LOL

 

I don't buy much into the foaming, rinsing, foaming thing. No soap I've used is an 'active' cleaner... its not lifting dirt from the surface (IMO) without some kind of mechanical agitation, at least not anymore than just straight water is. I'm relying more on the soap to provide lubricity and keep the grit in suspension once its been removed from the surface.

If foaming worked that way, then in theory you could foam and rinse your car repeatedly and after a few dozen rounds it would be clean without touching right?

(I do agree that foaming is fun though )

 

Nice for dirty vehicles, what you can also do instead is half way through your wash dump out and rinse your rinse bucket and fill it with clean water that is if the vehicle your washing is that dirty. I do that in the winter with my ONR washes. I still think snowfoaming then pressure rinsing and following with a TBW is good enough.

 

Agreed. Another way to approach it is to also rinse the mitt directly from the hose as I've seen some people do at a midpoint in the wash.

I'm not suggesting my method is a replacement for anything anyone else is doing - stick with what works for you, but I think you can agree that having to empty and refill a rinse bucket isn't anymore efficient than an extra dunk/scrub motion when you're refreshing the mitt.

 

*If* you were to have an Opticoated car, you could utilize a foam gun to apply soap at a strong enough strength to remove a lot more dirt and contamination chemically. There have been videos and demonstrations on other forums with CC safe soaps that could almost completely clean the vehicle but they would compromise the LSP, which would not be the case with OC.

 

It never hurts to take extra precaution, I think as enthusiasts and professionals we can all agree on that. Obviously the two bucket method just wasn't cutting it with swirl prevention, so why not take it an extra step? It seems like it worked in his favor in the end to add the extra bucket.

 

Dylan, how dirty does your truck gets before you wash it? How often do you wash it? Snowfoaming idea really landed here from UK, those guys use pressure washer/foam cannon religiously. I thought it was just for fun. But once I tried it, I realized the benefit of it, and never looked back...

 

Idk Im still using the one bucket method. And my cars look great... Who knows it almost seems like their trying to sell the 3 bucket method so people will buy more product.

 

I don't see how buying a 3d bucket = buying more product.

I don't think there is such a thing as overkill when washing a car. Nothing will ever be perfect to the point that we cannot improve on it. Even this 3 bucket method probably still induces micro marring with time and will therefor eventually need a light polish. So the more we do to keep it swirl/marring free, the better. That's how I see it anyways.

 

The video does show the basic concepts of a good wash process.. The fact that others have done it with 2 buckets and get swirl free means a third bucket is not necessary. It could be for the poster and he has found something he likes. The bucket comparison does not prove anything with certainty.

However, everyone's wash process is different (like pressure wash vs hose rinse, foam, wash/dry media, wash/dry technique) to achieve swirl free results so even a 3 bucket by doing something else may cause problems.

Since I have a pressure washer now that I use sometimes, I can tell my pre-rinsing has improved a lot and this can really improve the safety in my opinion but again it is more safety than certainty.

 

Really depends... my trucks get used "as trucks" so for example that black avalanche despite being really low and on 22" street tires pulled a trailer load of sod down a half mile of dirt road leaving a sod farm, was a regular fixture at home depot on weekends bringing home bed-loads of stuff for projects at home. I just find myself less motivated to drag out a pressure washer to do my regular washes when grabbing a 3rd bucket which I already have and adding an extra 'dunk' to my process is so easy as it is.

Oh you mean like CG having 10 products that all do the same thing?

 

CG does that? Why? LOL................


anyway, I am like Dylan, my trucks get used, dirty and I do everything I can to keep them swirl free. I can tell you with certainty using mulitiple wash pads, etc has worked for me for 15 years, none of my trucks I have owned has ever had excessive swirls. Not to say they don't get marred, but I do what I can and found a system that works. Pre washing is key, as is keeping the wash media free of debris, however you choose to do it is personal preference.

 

Thank you! A voice of reason... this is a video I put up on my personal YT channel... its not something we're 'selling' just a video I was asked to do by a customer with a black truck who was working with 2 buckets and a foam gun yet still getting swirl marks. He saw my truck at an event and wanted help on how I was washing swirl free. Easiest way was to show him with a video from start to finish. Not trying to convince anyone to change their process if it works for them, and I'm not masterminding a plot to corner the bucket sales market (LOL) simply an uncut video of my personal process that works for me. Take it or leave it... it is what it is.

 

makes me want a 3rd bucket hahaha