Huge thank you to those that take the time to comment (good or bad). Its adds a lot of value to all the videos and still to this day reading comments as well is one of the coolest things.
Lightbulb moment for me was using an Adam’s wash pad, not because of the product itself but because they are cream coloured and show up every bit of dirt that you pull off the paintwork. Transfer that to your rinse bucket and no matter how thoroughly you rinse it, you can still see dirt, which then goes back into your wash bucket and back onto the paintwork. Now I only use microfibres noodles because they rinse better, whether you use a rinse bucket or a hose.
I have been using ONR for over a year now, haven’t used the pressure washer in a long time. I’ve got a small sprayer that I fill with a higher concentration and ‘pre wash’ the panel with that. I use multiple microfibres for the wash itself, but the marring that is introduced is very very minimal (if any!). Very impressed with the product!
Exactly the same as I do it, 5 years washing my Polo GTi from new with this method and paintwork still great. Can't be doing with hoses, pressure washers and all the drying involved in traditional wash methods.
Tried all of those options over the years and as I do a weekly wash I have stuck with the 1 bucket multi mitt method as the car is never to dirty. Sometimes foam the shampoo on 1st but found I had to get a but of a rush on before the shampoo dried.
I've been using method 4 ever since your video a few years ago. Cheap short pile ebay mitt and the multi spray Hozelock attachment. Yes, the downside is the extra time to spray the mitt clean and the constant switching of the spray tool from the pressure fan spray and the normal jet to rinse the car. However, it uses less water ands there is only one mitt to wash. If I was going to change methods, it would be to the multi-mitt one. I have tried foaming the wash solution as well but not my preferred method as it needs to be cold enough to be able to do the whole car before switching to some sort of rinse flow.
Recently used method 4 as I wanted to give the car a quick clean in the evenings after work ....I found it quicker than my normal 2 bucket method . I only used a hose and not a pressure washer for this , so my opinion may change when I try that
I use the AG polar blast, followed by polar wash...one bucket to rinse the mitt which is never too dirty. It does the job quickly which is the main thing, as rain is never too far away.
I switched to 1 bucket recently. I just spray my wash mitt with the pressure washer to clean it out and go back into the soap bucket. The multi mitt method seems too much work for me lol. Plus like you said before it doesn’t matter if you use multi mitts cause your making contact with dirt on your cars paint each time anyway.
The grit guard is great for trapping dirt and so is the mitt itself. It saves time from having to pick up the hose to rinse it all off just discard and keep going. Especially for mobile detailers where time is money.
Long time two bucket user here. Recently I've swapped to the NO bucket system though! Dilution of soap in a spray bottle to spray on the car or mitt then follow up with a high pressure mitt rinse off with my pressure washer or hose. The less stuff I have to clean up after I'm done washing the more likely I am to do it.
I've completely switched to the multi mitt method. Regardless of the debate of which method is better for the paint, in my case, I've noticed no difference, but there is a dramatic difference in the time saved. I was pretty thorough in rinsing with the grit guard wash board. With this method, I can now wash 2 cars in 1.25-1.5x the amount of time it used to take me to wash 1 car. I don't have much shade, so really helps in regards to soap drying before a rinse.
On a lightly soiled vehicle and after a thorough pre wash, I’ve even done a no bucket wash.. foam it up again with contact wash solution and keep rinsing the mitt.. Great tips as always, thanks!
Gosh I'm glad the two bucket method has alternatives, I was never a fan. Now I enjoy the process a lot more either multi mitts or rinse less, hooray👏👏👏😊😊😊
I use a good pre wash and contact wash in a foam cannon. Rinse bucket with a grit guard, and if the vehicle is large (or a hot day) to avoid it drying out, do half the vehicle at a time.
Only in the depths of winter do I use method 4. Rest of the time I use an Autobrite Direct foam Lance with 200ml Bilt Hamber Autofoam plus 100ml of either Magifoam or CC Ultimus, leave it to dwell for 15 mins and then rinse thoroughly. Dry with Klin Korea Duo and if necessary GTechniq QD as I have CS Ulltra / Exo on the car. Works every time and minimal contact with paintwork.
You didn't miss anything that I know of. I actually use Alternative Method #2ish and it has been flawless! Another great video! I love these vids and I'm hooked!
You would think in this day and age there would be a cheap simple solution to filtering hard water to get rid of all the deposits first before washing, great video, really enjoy your content.
Great video! I have gone waterless. I use ONR or McKee 37 Rinseless/waterless wash. I first pre-spray the vehicle with either solution using a large sprayer. At this point I can use a pressure washer to get the solution and dirt off, but I rarely need to do that. Most of the time I use a 256:1 in my wash bucket with an Optimum red sponge. I wipe the car with the sponge and dry with microfibre drying towels. It never leaves any scratches or luv marks. It’s the fastest, most economical and safest way to wash vehicles IMO.
Great video jon. The fifth method is the zero bucket method. Pump pack of shampoo or rinseless wash. Pre soak with onr. Rinse, spray the mitt and panel then clean it, flip towel over and do another panel then replace the mitt. Using more mitts is faster too
I have to say, I washed mine and my wife's car today using the two bucket method. I used bilt hamber pre wash on both first. At the end of the wash the rinse bucket was clearly dirty, mainly from my wife's car. The soap bucket was still completely clean which says to me that two buckets still works well
More than one mit is a great idea if washing with x1 bucket+guard. I love the Dooka wash pads I've x3, one dedicated for wheel faces, one for top half of the car and one for the bottom half & bumpers. Your second method is the same as 'Car Cleaning Guru', applying shampoo though your snow foam glance to act as extra lubricant, which is a great idea in the dark winter months,either 1 or 2 bucket method it's great! I used this technique last week and it worked really well, the car felt very 'slick' to work with👌🏼.
ONR done with a PROPER PRE WASH with thorough use of bilt hamber products... you will never go back to the two bucket method due to the extra effort with little or no benefit in some cases
When I first started Two bucket method, I found car washing such a drag! I'm now pre spraying car with rinseless wash, hosing it off, then Ultra Black Sponge into a bucket of rinseless wash and drying each panel as I go. Much quicker and better lubrication! Thanks so much for doing your bit to suggest alternatives 🤩🤩🤩
I was using the hosepipe foam cannon and one bucket method for quite a while. Foaming a panel at a time but I found it was a bit cumbersome at times and occasionally I would hit a car panel with the foam cannon nozzle. I have since gone over to the 2 bucket method, one with a Chem Guys Cyclone Filter and the other with a Detail Guardz filter (the 2 best grit guards on the current market) and I’ve not had a problem. I’m a huge advocate for spending the majority of the time pre-washing and prepping the car so when it comes to the contact wash it’s like wiping down a clean car 👍🏼
I have been using the multi mitt method. One mitt per panel. Fast and every panel gets a freshly laundered mitt. No bucket just the rinseless wash formula.
I double wash pad and rinse the wash pad with my pressure washer between dunks. I also pre rinse all vehicles and even double pre rinse some (apc rinse then snow foam rinse) I find this the best balance of speed and safety
Personally I think a good single bucket with grit guard is more than enough. You can just get silly with car washing methods. I’ll also use contact wash shampoo in the snow foam Lance after snow foaming along with extra contact shampoo in the actual wash bucket if the car is very dirty. Just do what you feel like there’s no real right and wrong.
Agree, i prewash the car thuroughly, and then use the one bucket with gritguard and washmitt, i´ve never come across a scenario where i would have inflicted any scratches (visible).
@@AlfaGiuliaQV I like how you say “visible” , I think the most cautious car wash enthusiast will cause some sort of imperfection to the paint. It would be interesting to see a car washed with these extra measures that is known to have flawless paint then throughly examined afterwards to see if it’s still the case.
Paul, try the Dirt Lock out instead of the Grit Guard. The Source Garage made a good video comparing the two. The Grit Guard does almost nothing in terms of keeping dirt at the bottom of your wash bucket. Pretty eye opening
I use a mix of 1 and 2. After the pre wash i just snow foam the car again for the contact wash with multi mitts. I prefer the extra suds you get from snow foam over car shampoo for the contact wash. Feels so much slicker when your moving the mitts over the paint work
Thanx mate. IMO there is very little difference between multi-mitt and 2-bucket assuming that you haven't done an effective pre-wash. Even a fresh mitt will have dirt on it just before it is put aside for a fresh mitt. All things being equal, the main difference between 1 and 2 bucket methods is that the 1 bucket saves the time of rinsing out and wringing out the mitt after each use, which, if you are a professional or pressed for time, is a real advantage.
Let’s just say I switched to one bucket with 4 plush microfiber towels when I discovered Bilt Hamber Touchless & Auto-Foam thanks to Forensic Detailing 🤘🤘
When I use multiple mitt method on normal soap or rinseless, I save the bucket when I'm done for a few weeks until water is low. I normally snow foam the can after a rinse, and use 1 mit, or Multiple, and wash each part. If it's one mitt I use the pressure washer and clean the mitt between panels. Great video. 2 bucket is considered "best practice", but that doesn't mean is right for everyone or that other methods are wrong. Another option is doing the hose cleaning method, and than use a spray bottle with 1:10 with soap and water and spray the mit between cleans
Really interesting, so glad you returned to this topic Jon. When Autoglym Polar Wash launched, I did find it would dry out in the summer months, so I merged option 2 & 4, i.e. apply soap on a panel, agitate with a mit, rinse off the panel and then rinse off the mitt. As you can imagine though it can be quite cumbersome, and have switched to using Bilt Hamber or Garage Therapy car shampoo using 2 bucket method. I've been toying with the idea of applying the shampoo using a snow foam lance, and after watching your video though I'm going to give it another go with a few tweaks.
I went from 2 bucket wash to zero bucket. I use a quick method of the usual snow foam to start, then rinse. Then just a hose a mitt and a 2 litre pressure container with shampoo and water. I spray wash mix on panel and mitt, wash and rinse mitt with hose on the go. Fast and safe i own a black car, no marring, swirls all done and towel dry in less than 30 minutes.
Great Channel Jon, your expert Knowledge is amazing, thanks you for sharing your passion with us. and you missed one, WATERLESS wash :) just use CarPro Hydro2 or the Optimum Opti-clean and 2 different Microfiber Towels
Hi John, for the last 6 months I've changed to APC bottom half if it needs it? Bilt hamber snow foam @ 2% pir, good rinse & ONR & dry. Paint work is better 6 months on than when I used 2 buckets, I keep my van in good nick, decon & light machine polish every 12 months & keep lsp up, not for everyone but works for me. Thanks for your help and advice.
I’ve started to only use 1 bucket now but only when doing my car, my car is washed every week plus my prewash stage is so good, my car is more less clean before the contact stage..
i only use the 1 bucket with grit guard, but use a citrus pre wash, then a snow foam, then the contact with a single mitt, but do rinse it off before i do the second part of the car so 1st is Above Waist height and 2nd is below waist height
@@DavidC1 I wash our cars every other day David so they're never really dirty, both my buckets have grit guards too. Plus, I just think its what I'm used to doing 😂😂😂
Having my carwash with Pressure Washer, 2 Buckets method was nice when I was living my parents house.. since I got married and living in apartment I have to tried various car washing techniques, carrying 2 buckets to the parking lot is quite difficult. Rinseless, waterless method I tried seemed too risky for me. Your idea about multiple wash mitts with just 1 wash bucket may be a good alternatives I might try.. Thank you..
I use a hose pipe for pre wash and finish, in between I use one bucket of water with a quality shampoo and microfibre mit and the finish is good when washed regular, my cars are sold on when three to four years old and the dealer most times doesn't even look at the car, sometimes a little bit of a walk round, then we have the bad weather, wash it and a few days later it's dirty again, it's just not worth all that detailing especially in winter.
Haven't tried yet but water rinse first then APC prewash rinse again then foam, rinse and only then contact wash. Several washmitts makes sense in my World.
Today I used BH Autofoam, 2 buckets 1 with BH wash, Krenzle pressure washer. Rinse bucket was filthy, soap bucket was dirty. Maybe my PIR was out? My VW van did look clean after autofoam though. I was thinking of trying 3 buckets! But will give the multiple mitts option a try instead.
As an American, most people I know who use a foam cannon do a pre-wash so I'm not sure where the idea that we do it differently came from. Another point, and maybe this is an American thing, is that I'd MUCH rather have the detergent temporarily dry on the car than water. If I rinsed after each panel I'd have spots on my glass by the end where detergent prevents that and still rinses away. Overall method 4 makes the most sense to me and I think I'm going to switch (I combine this with method 1 where I have a mitt for the flats and a mitt for the sides). It's nice to have a visual indicator (the rinse bucket) the process is working but really we shouldn't be sticking the mitts in dirty water.
every detailing UK brand has a prewash snow foam and a contact wash shampoo... most american brands dont have prewash.. they just have a car soap that you can choose to foam the car with. Case in point. Meguiars released a snow foam product, but did not give it to the USA market only the UK.
My neighbors already think I'm nuts due to the amount of time I spend on my car, the time of day I do it, & garage organization etc. The number of mitts I use wouldn't faze them. 1 vote multiple mitts.
I've been using method 4 for a number of years now and under inspection of the wash bucket, there is very little dirt in the water and very little debris at the bottom.
I have had them looks from detailers when they see one Wickes bucket with no grit guard. My method has always remained the same, similar to your multi mitt method, if the car is really dirty, jet wash first, normal maintenance wash on car that is pretty clean and done once a week, 1. Snow Foam, 2. Jet wash 3. One bucket shampoo with MF mitt over top 2 thirds of the car, 4. 6 - 8 MF to do individual panels around the bottom third of the car and wheel arches, 5. Jet wash 6. Drying towel, 7. Blower with MF to clear trapped water, no swirls and car comes up well. It will need cut back soon it's had, turtle rinse and shine, meguiars ceramic rinse and BSD hopefully the KKD citrus magic will do the job.
If using the pressure washer to clean the mitt out, PLEASE be careful with your hands in the line of fire. I have previously caught my finger in front of the nozzle at a very close range of maybe 1cm (under half an inch) away and it actually cut my skin open in a nice line and that was only on a little Karcher K2. I was blasting out some window channels, not rinsing out a mitt, but I would still be wary of putting my hands within a few feet / 0.5m of the source of the water jet now.
I think if your car is heavily soiled, you should start with a foam cannon pre soak then pressure wash the bulk of the dirt away. Then use multiple wash mitts if using the one bucket method. Two bucket method can be seen as a waste of time because the idea of you rinsing into dirty water defeats the pupose. NOT entirely. If you drop a little ONR into the rinse bucket, the dirt will seperate from the water and drop below the grit gaurd so the rinse water remains reasonably clean. If you are still worried, then just change the water in the rinse bucket half way through the wash and ONR it again. There is no ONE way of doing it really. Everyone has their own way. Some even prefer to just hit the mitt with the pressure washer and then go back into the soap bucket. Good if you have a lanceless gun, like the MTM gun. Jon, you should really invest in a wireless mike so we can hear you better. We have to turn up the volume to high to hear you clearly and it's still sounding echoey.
I always call the foaming pre-wwsh a "pre-wash". As far as the multiple wash mits go, yeah it works and yeah it's excessive🤪 I do use multiple plush, edgeless mf towels in 1 bucket when doing a rinseless wash though. I also use a quality grout sponge when doing a RW and use 2 buckets AND grit guards. The grit guards have already been bought so they're in use.
Wow excellent advice and you know what Jon after 15 years of doing the 2 bucket wash 3 weeks ago I changed my technique to method 2 , I prewash with bilt hamber touchless then I foamed my car in parts eg roof +glass with chemical guys GlossWorkz auto wash and used those same noodle mitts then rinse then foamed the bonnet then rinse then sides etc etc and it felt so much better as I didn't have to take out all the other bits and bobs for 2 bucket wash just seemed easier 🔥😎💪🏾 I really wanna try bilt hamber auto wash in snowfoam lance but unsure what ratio to use what you reckon ?
Think I'll stick to the 2 bucket method, as long as you have a good prewash technique it doesn't matter which system you use. Plus we need to think about microplastics, the more mitts you use the more you're polluting the environment. What's everyone's opinion on plastic pollution for detailers?
Interesting video for debate John. The ONR method you’re missing the instructions on the bottle, that you just said to read. You’re suppose to wipe and dry every panel single step by step so not give the panel a chance to dry with detergent on. I love the ONR method but all the detailers who promote it as so superior and advanced, next week are doing the multi stage 2 bucket method so what do they not trust Rinseless? I scratch my head with that. Even the rag company shows a lot of soap washes. These aren’t overly dirty cars either.
Foam is for the honey, rinseless is for the money (Levy RTC). They use foam to attract viewers and they are quite open about it. When it's about getting the job done, it's always rinseless.
ONR does not degrease, so like I find in the summer the car has like a slimey feel to it and its not really clean after waterless wash. ONR's like a back up for me. yer I think you are right, the natural order with waterless would be if it was so obviously superior we would simply all be using it. But the results of cleaning with detergents are just so much better the car is squeeky clean.
@@ForensicDetailing right on the money John. It’s easier but it’s not as powerful in stain removal like quality soap surfactants! Rinseless does little for that yellow bee poo. It’s superb on bird mess though as you demonstrated in an old video like 5 years ago. Still ONR is so versatile it’s a must have in the garage.
@@roadhouseguy absolutely, I wouldn't do a rinlesss before a prewash with something like Surfex HD and a blast with a power washer first even if the panels are grubby or muddy.
Hey, brilliant job! For a future video is it possible you could do one about rust? Removing rust and protecting against it as well? Being on a motorcycle everything is badly exposed to the elements so it would be extremely useful. I've looked at acf 50, xpc techcote, but also recently seen the many products that bilt hamber have as well, which I'd very much like to know just how good they are, already got many products from them.
@@ForensicDetailing or have 2 different videos, one about rust preventative using xpc, acf50, techcote, BH Atom Mac etc with normal washing routines like you do on the bonnets. And another one about rust remover and rust converter. Bilt Hamber have lots of these products which I'm probably gonna get soon as well, not sure on quality but knowing them they should be fantastic. Bennett's insurance also has a RU-vid channel where they did extensive testing using rust proofing which went on for over 7 months I think it was before they called it off. It was pretty interesting, I can't seem to find any other comparisons apart from that one really so would be fantastic to have another person getting involved.
I always wondered if I could add that same waterless wash to my reg soap? Will it help with lubing the paint while washing? I use 2oz of reg soap so should I use 2oz of this waterless also for a 4oz total? I use the left over soap in bucket to do the wheels, tires, wheel Wells at the end so the more the better I think?
How would you suggest that you clean your car without having access to a hose? I might be wrong, but all your videos seem to assume people have a water supply and a power washer. There must be 1000's of people who might live in houses where they have no outside tap! People might live in terrace houses where they have a limited water supply but they still want to wash their car to a high standard! Can you apply snow foam and rinse it properly without a hose etc?
well you either need to fill water in a container or use a waterless wash. I would take the car to a local car wash with a pressure washer peronally. in my 20's I had a flat I was in the same sort of predicament I would just clean mine at my parents.
You could buy a 5 litre spray bottle with a apc mix, spay one panel at a time then use a rinse less wash such as ONR or Wolfgang Uber rinse less which will give brilliant results . I do this most of the year now and I’ve a kranzle k10 , Blo gt ,electricity ect ect and a nice off road parking. Also use an old bucket drilled with holes as a grit guard for the rinse less wash. Finish off on the dry ( yes dry) car with Turtle wax dry&shine applied sparingly to a damp ONR / Wolfgang impregnated microfibre cloth the wiped with dry microfibre . Works brilliantly. 👍
Pound washer or 5l pump sprayer. Spray Surfex HD at 5 to 7% first. Let it dwell for 3 minutes, rinse with the pump sprayer and follow up with a rinseless wash. Works great.
No bucket for me at all. Wash mitt is rinsed out after every panel with the hose (cleanest in comparison to any bucket as water is always fresh). Then sprayed with adequate amount of shampoo, this applied to surface. Repeat until done. All you need is a garden hose and a wash mitt (and a sprayer for the soap). Dead easy. And effective concerning the amount of soap used. A four-door saloon takes about 15 ml (1/2 fl oz) of shampoo to perfectly clean. Compare "taking a bath" with "taking a shower"! Pre-rinse and rinse-off as usual.
Sorry Jon, you’ve probably done this before but can you post a link to those noodle mits in the vid, the existing link below seems to be different and a touch more expensive. Thanks Si
that yellow mitt one thats square is the product in the description. it comes from autofiber in the USA its the only one of its kind, like a cuffless one. I review it soon in a video. expensive to get here but thats what it is.
Just a point, a ‘lubricant’ soap will do nothing on anything sharp like sand and grit, the contact patch is to small. They feel nice in use but do little to lubricate in any meaningful way. Lifting dirt with out contact is always the best method. Basically don’t get hung up on it.
Snow foam, blast off, repeat, shampoo with one bucket. If you're getting dirty water then you're not prewashing correctly. It's as simple as that really.
@@ForensicDetailing can’t wait will any of them suit a big Kärcher 6/12c power washer as I can’t find any that work that are decent as I need one to wash the tractors any tips?
