OMG... where did you get that?
Awesome.

 

Yeah, I have a small one (belt drive) that I got at either Harbor Freight or Northern Tool a few years back. It works fine for what I need it for... but there IS some play in the shaft... so it will wander a bit if you're not careful and you need to be precise...

 

lotsie- thanks for that info. i will look into that as well.

shopping for tools is so much more fun than shopping for clothes.

 

Speaking of tools and drinking water from the hose....here's something new I'm carrying in my store along with a video showing how it works for washing your MINI. Why and who would want it??

Apartment dwellers without access to a water hose
Prepping for car shows
Vacationing MINI owners who must have a clean car
You're so OCD you gotta wash everything in sight

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...78#post2155478

Part 1 of 2


Part 2 of 2

 

OG- you really stretch your soap per app... is that mystique you are
using? almost no suds.

is there a way to make that thing not spray and just stream?

 

so 6gal for wash bucket
3gallons for sprayer
3gallons for sheeting

that's a lot of water to carry outside, but if you can make that rinse
stream you can maybe go less gallons for rinse?

when i wash my car i use plenty of water but the run off is not enough
to make my neighbors comment 'ken's washing his car again.. '

i still use the firemens' nozzle to rinse, but put it on the stream mode.
almost all the water just sheets off.

 

I don't like suds. They can hold debris and dirt that's rinsed off the mitt and get transferred back to the paint. I prefer to put the soap into the bucket after it's filled with water---you can put the soap first and hit it with water and get more foam.

You think I stretch the soap per app? I do it by feel. As long as the mitt is sopping wet and slipping and sliding on the paint, I feel comfortable.

re: Stream
If you're talking about it flowing without a spray pattern like from a hose--you could potentially remove the nozzle. I've tried this during testing, not washing though, so not sure how effective it would be as the pressure is a LOT lower without the nozzle.

Did you watch the video to see the adjustable spray??

Richard

 

I saw your earlier posts on the Nomad - but very cool to see it in use. That thing's SLICK... beats the heck outta my ghetto washer...



3.5 gals is about right... that's about what I use to rinse when using the pump sprayer... how much volume will the battery pump between charges?

 

Well 6 gallons if you're using two buckets, I used one.
For Sheeting I used 2.5 gallons (this is an optional step)

The point is that for those that don't have access to washing their car, and a local car wash isn't an option...what do they do?? This is one very viable option. You can purchase distilled water from the grocery store in 2.5 gallon jugs.

 

Richard the Nomad looks like a great thing. But I think you could use one of my bucket buggies

Mark

 

i see. yah, i have suds but minimal. you washmit was almost suds free.

im not sure if im over app'ing the shampoo, but typically i only do one
pass on one panel, flip the mitt one pass on another panel, back in
the bucket. i guess it depends on how dirty the panels are too.

yep, i did watch the video where you were showing the different
spray patterns. i suppose you need to spray since you're running
on a limited supply. kinda stretch the water, sort of.

 

One charge is rated for 3 tanks fulls or 10.5 gallons of water. It takes an hour to recharge the battery, but you can run it off a 12volt source as well.

In practice, you don't use more than one tank to fully wash the MINI, so you don't need to charge very often.

I'll also be posting a short clip on washing your wheels with the Nomad using a technique to minimize/eliminate run off.

re: Ghetto Washer
Haha, I've tried so many variations of those, but you just can't get enough pressure from those. Pretty much the limit is around 35 psi, and it's just not enough to wash a car. They are great for rinsing engine bays though, lol. The Nomad uses 90psi of pressure. Most household hoses are rated for a max of 140psi.

Richard

 

This is an interesting side topic...

I usually do about half a panel with one side of the mitt, flip it and do the other. Like OG, I'm not into lots of suds... though I like a little.

But I think a huge driver should be how dirty the car is... if you have a car that's just a tiny bit dusty, you could stretch one mitt-full of shampoo across a lot more car. If my doors or boot are truly dirty/gritty, I might literally do one SWIPE per side of mitt, then rinse/dunk and do another swipe. And doing that my boot will still get swirly over time.

 

that's pretty good. 10gallons spray water should be more then plenty to
do 2 cars.

 

yah, i think so too.

 

Hmmm what's that??
Well, to be honest, my gallon bottle of Mystique was on the low side (read empty), and I was running out of time--so I probably used a bit less than I normally do. For a 3.5 gallon bucket you are supposed to use a couple of ounces of product.

re: one pass per panel
It definitely depends how dirty the car is. My car was mostly dusty with some stuck yellow bug poo spots. Like I said, I pass the mitt based on how it feels against the paint. With a very dirty MINI, I would likely do one pass as well.

 

Yeah... I actually washed my car with the thing four or five times over the winter here - we've had severe drought, and a ban on home car washing. With the pump-up sprayer, I could limp by and use rainwater from my rain barrel. But it took a LONNNNNGGGG time because the volume from those sprayers is so low. I woulda killed for the Nomad in that situation. Luckily, we got tons of rain the last few weeks and I can was the car now... but a few months earlier and you woulda sold me a Nomad.

 

By the way - this is STUPID - when we had car washing restrictions - it was ILLEGAL for me to wash my car at home using city water - and I estimate that I use 15 gallons MAX when using the hose. But I could go to an "approved" automatic car wash and pay to have it washed. Wanna know how much "approved" car washes were allowed to use per car? 55 gallons. Not recycled. Down the drain. 55 gallons. That's INSANELY STUPID. City government SUX.

 

Speaking of mitts, who here wears the mitt, and who holds the mitt. I usually wear the mitt. I can move my hand around in it to switch sides easy. My 2 concerns about holding it are keeping the cuff off the paint, and by wearing it, it's almost impossible to drop it. Just how I do it, how about others?

Like Richard, I put the shampoo in the water after the bucket is full. I read somewhere years ago that you want the soap in the water, instead of all foamed up floating on top.

Mark

 

in such conditions, you can also use a large spray bottle using tap?

i use to clean my car in the garage the winter using like 6-7 spray bottles
of warm water and one bottle filled with dilluted car shampoo.

was like a wet QD app. only problem is you have to go real slow.

 

I wear the mitt, for the exact same reason. I rinse by sticking my hand in the bucket and "twirling" (agitating like a top-load washer) the mitt aggressively - that seems to rinse/sling all the dirt out pretty effectively... which then settles to the bottom of the grit guard...

 

i dont wear my mitt. i want to get the griot's MF wash pads
next time. the main reason why i dont wear the mitt is because
i like to use both sides of the mitt before hitting the shampoo bucket.

speed is one thing too for me. i personally do not like washing cars.

 

I noticed you didn't wash from top to bottom. Your video told me to do my rims first. i'm so confused. . boy i hope i figure this all out soon.

HAHA i'm j/k with you. the product looks awfully cool especially if i was going to do a mobile detail business.

my only question is what if you run out of water while doing a detail?

also i wear the mitt. i can spin it and use both sides pretty easily. i do the blimey move where i twirl it aggressively in the rinse bucket and then move to the soap bucket with onoly slight twirling to pick up new soap.

 

i do roof and all glass...rinse. rear of car..rinse. driver side...rinse. front...rinse. passenger side...rinse. then i do the passenger side wheels...rinse. driver side wheels... rinse.

then...
dd's hit it with Hydro and wipe dry using waffle weave.

-or-

hobby car's blot dry only using waffle wave.... SprayOn wax later using
fresh DP PlatinumMF towels. very very very minimal swirls this way.

 

I tried a variation of this and the bug sprayer a year ago when I went to Vegas for another non MINI show. I used QEW (rinseless) for the soap solution, and scratched my paint like heck. I'm just not sure that a spray bottle has enough "force" to knock the contaminants off.

re: Bug Sprayer
Years ago, there was a company called Action Hydro that marketed a large capacity bug washer. I purchased one, and tried to wash my '03 Cooper with it--and it was PAINFULLY slow...I mean, it took 3 times longer to wash using that system and I kept wishing for a "real" hose..so you can see that when I use the Nomad, it's a huge day and night improvement.