Anyone else live in an apartment? Does your complex allow you to wash/detail your car in the lot? Mine doesn't, I'm curious if anyone else is in the same situation and what you've come up with to keep your landlord happy.

I'm curious about using Hydro but I guess I'd have to do it at a coin-op place and they seem to frown on using outside products at their stations. Plus I'm worried the water would dry too quick before I finish.

Do you think the coin-op owners would chase after me with a pitchfork if I brought a clean bucket with me and filled it with water after I did a wash?

 

I live in an apartment too and my landlord isn't a problem. My problem was that I don't have a water thing on the outside. So now I unhook my washing machine and hook the water hose (100 footer) up to that...run it out the front door to my parking spot and wash Stella. Since I use my water, and I pay the water bill, my landlord has never complained. Just talk with your landlord and see if you can work something out.

 

when i use to live in an apartment back in the days before i bought my
house, i just took my car (pre-MINI) to a touchless wash and wiped
down using QD. the trick was to do it at a gas station wash without
an attendant so he/she wouldn't come around the back to dry your car.

i would do the same, except use Hydro instead.

 

I go to the coin-op wash and do a bucket wash there. (I make sure to go to a place that doesn't have the "no bucket wash" signs)

I basically bring everything that I need to do a thorough wash and dry: bucket, grit guard, mitt, soap, 2 waffle weaves, tire brush, wheel brush, tire foam stuff, black wow, and hydro. When I get home I let the car cool down and then I use QD to get rid of the dust that got on the car during my drive home. If I'm planning to wax my car I skip the hydro at the car wash place and just wax after I've QD'ed.

It sounds like a lot but I have no other choice. It's also a 7mi drive from the car wash to my apt but the car wash is right by my workplace so I think it works out well. The only problems I've run into involve creepy old men trying to talk to me while they're washing their junkmobiles at the car wash. Anyone know if Prima products would be as effective as pepper spray?

 

Product name for that could be "Repel"

 

i used to have to fill up a bucket in my bathtub, lug it down 3 flights of stairs, and run accross a busy 4 lane road (Mission Street in San Francisco). Once I got to the Alley where I parked my car, I used a pitcher to wet the car down, then I tried to wash it quickly while conserving as much water as possible. I usually had to make 3 trips back up to my apartment before I was finished. Playing frogger with a Muni bus with a 5 gallon bucket of water would get a little stressful, but I kinda had to do what I had to do to keep the fallout off of my car.

If I wanted to claybar my car, I had to hang out with some local crackheads for the several hours that it usually took to finish my whole car. (talk about some interesting conversations)...

 

wow, that's insane.

 

I wash and wax my car at work. If I didnt do it there I imagine I would use a friend or family members driveway.

 

When I travel (like if I'm at the cabin or somewhere that's not conducive to washing), I find a do-it-yourself wash bay place, pack up my stuff and head over. Make sure it's not during a busy time and no one will bother you.

 

ML- i think you are the only one that washes their car while traveling.

 

I have the same situation and a tight condo (so I don't have a lot of storage space). So what do I do?

1. I fill up a bucket in my bathtub
2. Rinse the car off with my $10.00 pump bug sprayer/chemical sprayer
3. use my sudsy water to wash the car
4. Repeat Step 2
5. Dry off the car with my chamois
6. Rinse wheels
7. Use alloy wheel cleaner - spray it on
8. Wash off brake dust
9. Repeat Step 2 for wheels
10. Done!

 

Well it's not going to wash itself! And it gets dirty the more you drive, so it's gotta be done!

And that's not true, my dad does it too

Either way, the concept itself still applies!

 

Thanks guys, you gave me some good ideas. I'm going to see if I can sneak things in at the coin-op place.

 

krut- change #5 to

wipe down car using Hydro with DP's waffle weave.

everything else looks okay.

you can wax your wheels using Hydro. Just spray
over clean wheels and wipe off with a paper towel.
will make your cleaning next time much easier.

 

ahhh, the craziness () runs in the family.

 

I also wash while travelling. Staying clean while travelling is harder.

I found a new local coin touch-less place. Just go at really odd times and use one of the empty bays to re-rinse and wipe down in.

 

so it appears like im in the minority.

 

I shopped around to find a coin-op place that didn't have signs posted saying "no bucket washing." I bring a bucket, grit-guard, mitt, and all the drying stuff. I use their spray water to wet down the car and fill my bucket. Then I use the mitt and bucket. After that I use another spray cycle to rinse off the car and bucket. They it's off to dry.

I used to live near an old-school coin-op car wash that actually had a water faucet...for free!!! I loved that place.

At my complex I'll QD and clean my wheels now and again. The only problem is that the neighbors think I'm nuts.

 

My neighbors watch me do the whole wash thing in the drive while the snow flurries fall. Hey, if it ain't freezing on the MINI it isn't TOO cold!

 

+1

Get 2-gallon hand-pump pesticide/garden sprayer from Home Depot. A bucket of soapy water and two fill-ups for the rinse down (4 gallons) is plenty to wash the MINI. I wash my MINI this way after I've stored the garden hose for the winter.

 

If you can have 2 buckets of water, QEW (Quick Easy Wash or Optimum No Rinse) are good products. They might encourage swirling though, so best if you plan to polish eventually.

I recently tried this at Chemical Guys and thought it was interesting. Didn't seem to scratch my paint though the carnuba may have just masked it. Haven't done extensive testing yet.

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Waterles..._p/wac_100.htm

There's a company in the UK that makes a portable pressure washer with a built in water tank for around $150. I can't remember the name but it looked interesting.

Richard

 

^^ be interesting to try, but on a MINI the boot is so soiled/sanded/dusted
that it has to have quite a bit of water for the initial rinse... no?

that chemical guys stuff will probably just swirl it.

 

i m new here..

Whats hydro? And I did my wash last weekend and i think i have swirls.. they might be from the dealer as well.. can't say for sure.. i m sure detailing can get it out..

my question is .. i have access to coin-op wash.. what should be the preferred method of wash?

 

All these no water washes like chemical guys and protect all - are they any good?

How can they not swirl, I m assuming the fine particles are still on the car when you wipe?

 

I used to use a pump up sprayer as well and it did the job. Two buckets of water also worked pretty good when it was super dirty but I tried to keep her as clean as possible to avoid that.