Last Friday the state of Georgia banned all outdoor watering (with a few commercial exceptions) due to the ongoing drought. Of course, I intend to abide by the ban, and I'm pondering my options for vehicle cleanliness. I think my only real option is to carry my half filled buckets of water to a wand wash, and use the wand water for wetting and rinsing only. The down side is that I don't really want to live at the wash, so I'll drive back home before doing any detailing, meaning some degree of dirt will get on the car (especially the rear).

What do you guys think? For those that don't have access to a hose, what is your solution? Anyone else faced this issue and come up with a better solution? This is frustrating, but hopefully not insurmountable.

Its doable. Use the wand water to fill your buckets and for both rinses. Then dry and head home to do the rest.

However you get it clean I'd spend a little more time quick detailing and maybe car dusting (if it isn't too dirty and the paint is cool) so you won't have to repeat the process as often.

i'd probably wash inside the garage with the door closed... late at night.

you can always go to the NO RINSE wash option. You can either purchase Protect-All's Quick and Easy wash (QEW) or Optimum No-rinse. You will be amazed at how effective it is. Leave no streaks or spots.

Build up a big tent al the way down the garage as a permanent annex

I second QEW - it was invented for this scenario. I've used it for a few years now and it's great stuff. Makes washing my car in the cold a lot more tolerable.

Use bottled water.

Is QEW compatible with DP's wax products, or is it too aggressive and will remove them? Sounds like a good idea so long as it doesn't remove waxes.

It is compatible with DP stuff. It should be fine with synthetic last step products (LSP) (ex. EPIC).

Check out this link to get an idea on how it used.

I bring my own bucket to a wand wash. Since the wands put out very little water (maybe a gallon a minute at the one I go to), I fill up a gallon jug with water at home, use that to halfway fill my small bucket at the wash, add my soap, and use the wand to fill the rest. Some wash places post signs saying "no bucket washing," but my place doesn't. I go early in the morning so I don't have to worry about anyone lining up behind me and objecting to my methods.

Also, after getting a tip from Octane Guy, I started bringing a second jug of water to use after rinsing. The poured water sheets off the car, leaving much less standing water to dry off later.

delete

Small bucket of soapy water and a hand-pump garden pesticide sprayer to rinse off. I wash my MINI in the winter this way. I can do it with my 2 gallon sprayer, but 2.5 to 3 gallons would be better.

http://www.shopping.com/xFS?KW=gilmo...y+tank&CLT=SCH

Well, I ordered a bottle of the Optimum No-Rinse, hope to get it this week. Minimk3, thank you for the link showing how to use these products, that one's now bookmarked!

well, by the time you get it your area will be raining and your ban would be
lifted.


jk

Please update this thread on how you like this product. We are also under "exceptional" drought conditions. The city is doing what it can to keep from going to Stage 2 water restrictions - which includes commercial car washes! . But I am expecting it to happen at any time now. I am hoping to at least get one more wash in this weekend while we are still allowed to do so.

Well, I would get the car washed somehow once, no matter what. I cant imagine the fine would be equal to 25K dollars, a price of a regular mini

I would then, right after that, claybar it, and put on Klasse's two stage system. It is the absolute strongest system to protect your car. This would me happy knowing that it has a big assed glaze acrylic all over it that is like armour.

I would never use a duster as they scratch. they are meant for pristine cars. I have SOOO few swirls in my car and I keep it in a suburb of Manhattan outdoors 24/7. Dont touch the paint unless it is fully washed clean is number one rule for a happy car. I dont care what anyone says. Quick detailing after a drive also scratches.

Never cover the car either unless it is pristine and you JUST washed it. this is what I would do for you. wash it against the law/rule once, klasse twins it, car cover locked on tight, rent a car

youll be happier!

62Lincoln, did you find a way to keep your MINI clean? I live in Georgia too, and mine hasn't been washed for weeks. I have been using Slick on it every day. I figure as long as it doesn't get really dirty, I can keep doing that. It only takes a few minutes.

I'm running out of Slick though. (off to DP...)

Pick up a rinseless wash. There are some how-to videos you can look up on the internet that show how it works. Good stuff. I use optimum no rinse.

if you're going to be doing the whole care repetitively, get a
better spray bottle that can spray in larger amounts.

Target has these larger spray bottles with the same nozzles as
the Griot's nozzles. it sprays very nicely...wide with lots
of product. dont go cheap on QD when you are doing your
daily drivers...otherwise you will end up with lots of swirls.

here's wat the Griot's nozzles look like for reference (www.outmotoring.com)

I got a bottle of Optimum No-Rinse and finally got up the nerve to use it this evening. I was admittedly pretty scared :impatient, but I must say, I'm impressed. So I thought I'd post.

I took the MINI through a spray down wash about a week ago to get some bird crap off, so it wasn't horribly dirty, other than that layer of scum that a spray down just can't get off and the obligatory boot grime. Since we haven't had much, if any, rain other than a sprinkling, it was mainly just dust that had been accumulating since the last time I hand washed.

I like ONR. I followed the method minimk3 linked to and it seemed to work just fine. We'll see when the sun comes out tomorrow if any swirls were introduced, but I did my best to avoid that, and the ONR solution really seemed to draw the dirt away from the paint quite well.

the first time I used ONR I was shocked at how my orange mitt turned black, and my rinse bucket was so black I couldn't see the bottom. I've used ONR quite a few times now and have really enjoyed it. I havne't noticed any significant marring and we have two black minis. So long as you didn't press down hard when you washed, and just glided the mitt over the paint, you'll be ok.

glad you liked it.

It's my turn to use my QEW as it just got colder this week. We've been having spring like weather in NJ making it easier to hose down the car.

I was also really shocked at how my sheepskin mitt turned black along with the rinse bucket. I was comforted by the fact that my wash water didn't even turn the slightest shade of grey, so the rinse bucket seemed to be getting the grit and such off the mitt very well.

I took it nice and easy, thankfully I didn't have much stuck on there. Unfortunately where I park there is some sort of winter-resistant tree that still has all its leaves and these little purple-black berries. Birds like to sit up there and eat the berries and then poop on the cars, so sometimes we have berry-laden bird poop to contend with. Yippee! I make sure I took care of that as soon as it gets on there at the recycled-water wand wash (which, by the way, makes me cry). I guess at this point in the drought, I am lucky that even that is still available.

UGHHHH, you too? I just washed my car on Saturday and drove it in to work yesterday morning. When I got outside to go to a meeting around 2, I noticed a nice covering of what appeared to be berry tree mix and bird poo. I was distraught. I went to my meeting and found an excuse to go home early and wash it all off my car.

Thankfully there's no water ban here, as I tired to hose the majority of it off before I attempted to scrub it. Everything came off pretty well with just water and a few spots needed a little love with the mitt. I'm avoiding trees like the plague now.