amount of product used concern

[txranger22]

Just finished both, my wife's Optima and my Accord, on a wash and dry. I'm concerned about the amount of product I used for two cars and wanted to know if this sounds about average or not.

 

DETAIL SPRAY: After a two bucket wash, I used a little more than half of my bottle, 16oz, misting the panels and glass before drying.

 

GREEN WHEEL CLEANER: Eight wheels with the foaming nozzle, half of my 16oz bottle

 

UNDERCARRIAGE SPRAY: I did my wife's wheel wells only and still managed to use 1/3 of my 36oz bottle. (smells fantastic!)

 

I realize this is a moderately expensive form of therapy, but does everyone else use this much product? I guess I should invest in a few gallon refills..

[txranger22]

I found another thread with the same question once I submitted this, sorry for the duplication.

[Marylander]

That's probably a bit more DS and gwc than I use for two cars, but not dramaitically more. I seldom use Ucs so I can't really weigh in on that. I do tend to buy the stuff in gallon refills, and that dramatically cuts down the cost per detail.

[camaro2ssblack]

Less is more so use less sprays per area next time. Stay away from the foaming sprayers as they will almost double your product usage. If you keep the wheels clean often you shouldn't really need the wheel cleaner, just use soap and water. Undercarriage spray does seem to go quickly so I only use it every other wash.

[Holder]

you'll find the more you maintain your vehicle the less product you'll be using.

[tony97gt]

A trick I found on here is buying an empty spray bottle and putting water in it, then drop a few ounces of car shampoo into it. Seal and mix. I use this to clean my rims, especially because I used quick sealant on them so it doesn't degrade the sealant.

[07RS4]

Just finished both, my wife's Optima and my Accord, on a wash and dry. I'm concerned about the amount of product I used for two cars and wanted to know if this sounds about average or not.

 

DETAIL SPRAY: After a two bucket wash, I used a little more than half of my bottle, 16oz, misting the panels and glass before drying. If you did both cars, that's just a tad bit too much. Remember to pool rinse. All you need to do is walk around the car briskly, and mist as you go. A few half trigger pulls for the roof, two for the hood, one on each panel and your good. Swipe as you go for more coverage.

 

GREEN WHEEL CLEANER: Eight wheels with the foaming nozzle, half of my 16oz bottle. Two cars, 8 oz. That's actually very good. Look at is this way, if you keep up the same products usage, you'll be able to get 32 washes out of a gallon of wheel cleaner, just over a $1 a car. Not bad IMO.

 

UNDERCARRIAGE SPRAY: I did my wife's wheel wells only and still managed to use 1/3 of my 36oz bottle. (smells fantastic!) That's a ridiculous amount to be honest. If you swipe when you mist (meaning a good 12" in coverage for one pump), 3-4 pumps per wheel well. You can spread the product with a dedicated foam block sponge, but I don't and it comes out fine.

 

I realize this is a moderately expensive form of therapy, but does everyone else use this much product? I guess I should invest in a few gallon refills..

 

Work cheaply and it will be just as fun...you shouldn't be going broke keeping your car clean, because sooner rather than later, you won't enjoy spending the money. Just perfect your technique.

[Marylander]

Work cheaply and it will be just as fun...you shouldn't be going broke keeping your car clean, because sooner rather than later, you won't enjoy spending the money. Just perfect your technique.

 

Great breakdown on usage.

[THE Mook]

The more familiar you become with the products, the easier it will be for you to dial in your "per wash" usage. I go heavy handed on everything, just by nature.

 

07RS4 GREAT advice man!

 

Remember also, Adam has two kids to feed...

[Team Adam's]

DETAIL SPRAY: After a two bucket wash, I used a little more than half of my bottle, 16oz, misting the panels and glass before drying.

 

Seems a bit heavy, but you will go thru DS faster than any other product given the number of things its used for. Everything from simple wipe downs, to pad priming, drying, claying... it gets heavy use. I'd say for what you have listed thats a bit on the high side. You don't have to use much in the drying process, just a light mist on each panel as you go. Max of maybe 1-2 trigger pulls per area.

 

Hold the bottle farther away and spray with a sweeping motion to get a fine mist on the area.

 

GREEN WHEEL CLEANER: Eight wheels with the foaming nozzle, half of my 16oz bottle

 

Wheel cleaning definitely eats up product in a hurry. Keep in mind GWC shouldn't be needed for EVERY cleaning if you stay on top of things. A diluted mixture of car shampoo/water with a foaming nozzle makes a cheap, effective, and gentle cleaner for light cleaning. Then you can preserve your GWC supply for times when you have more serious stuff to break up.

 

Even then as 07RS mentioned above... you could stretch that usage a ways.

 

 

UNDERCARRIAGE SPRAY: I did my wife's wheel wells only and still managed to use 1/3 of my 36oz bottle. (smells fantastic!)

 

I have never been able to understand it, but it seems like UCS goes fast no matter how you use it. It seems that regardless of having the same sprayer as other products the amount used "per trigger pull" is huge with UCS... maybe the viscosity plays a role here. Not sure.

 

I'd still say that 1/3rd of a bottle is on the heavy side. Keep in mind the product is designed to 'run' a little, so a heavy application up top means it will coat the lower section as it settles. Also it shouldn't take multiple pumps to cover one area... the product coverage is pretty darn good with this stuff.

 

I realize this is a moderately expensive form of therapy, but does everyone else use this much product? I guess I should invest in a few gallon refills..

 

Gallons are always a good economic decision. When you do the per oz math they're a bargain compared to smaller bottles.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Dylan@Adams

[mattpiper]

I found the foaming sprayers were using far too much product. Had Ashley include some regular sprayers on my next order and the problem was solved for me.

[Tim]

5 Gallon DS FTW!

[Black out - Anthony]

for now I only have the travel kit and I think the sprays are very economical 4oz. I used only 1/3 of detail spray 4oz for 3 cars. Product spreads really well. I also noticed that the under carriage spray it empty faster.

I had the 16oz soon and I would save less. lol

[fito]

One bit of advice that was left out is that you can dilute some of the products, but not all. Somethings I dilute are:

APC (50%)

GWC (50%)

Microfiber Revitalizer (50%) when spraying from a bottle to wash a towel by hand. Still suds & lathers like crazy. Awesome and effective product. Unfortunately, I still have to rinse a million times to get all the soap out because it's so good.

VRT (80% vrt to 20% water) to make VRT milk only

LIC (50%) almost a must because it can take color off leather or bleach vinyl if not careful. Still good stuff since you can get by with a few pumps on damp towel and wipe away. This really makes it go a long way.

 

Of course you go full strength whenever you need to. I was the same way in the beginning. I quickly jumped to gallons, but even then I realized that there had to be a smarter way to use product thanks to people here and sometimes just common sense. The above is actually all I dilute, I don't know about others. I guess you can dilute DS for claying or substitute soapy water, things like that, but those are things that I simply won't do out of personal preference. On the other hand in fact, I'm almost wasteful with DS and the Car Wash Shampoo. With these I figure I buy the stuff by the gallon and if it makes me enjoy the process, who cares? I just have at it. I use a foam cannon in my wash routine. When I start the 2 bucket wash I usually at some point dump the one with soap and make a new one. I give it a good squirt too, not a cap full like some car shampoos say to use. More lubrication, plus Adam's doesn't strip what ever protective coating you have so all is good.

Edited March 4, 2013 by fito

[mc2hill]

Good advice Cesar!

 

I also keep a gallon of pre-mixed car wash shampoo and pre-mixed foam gun solution at the ready too. I put the car wash shampoo in 36 oz. bottle with a foaming sprayer for wheels and pre-treating bugs & such.

 

One bit of advice that was left out is that you can dilute some of the products, but not all. Somethings I dilute are:

GWC (50%)

 

I used to dilute GWC 50/50 too, but Dylan said 60% GWC is about as low as you want to go. When you go below that there is not enough concentration of the cleaners to do good work.

[fito]

Good advice Cesar!

 

I also keep a gallon of pre-mixed car wash shampoo and pre-mixed foam gun solution at the ready too. I put the car wash shampoo in 36 oz. bottle with a foaming sprayer for wheels and pre-treating bugs & such.

 

Do the gallons of pre-mix work the same work the same as if you had just mixed them? In other words it doesn't seem to go flat? I know in a bucket wash, if I'm taking my time the soap seems to go flat.

 

 

I used to dilute GWC 50/50 too, but Dylan said 60% GWC is about as low as you want to go. When you go below that there is not enough concentration of the cleaners to do good work.

I missed this piece of advice on the GWC. Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. When I'm diluting and just eyeballing the amounts I try to err on the side of making the product more concentrated rather than more diluted anyway. (Sorry, I don't post a whole lot and don't know why some things are highlighted yellow and others are not)

[tony97gt]

I wouldn't dilute the GWC myself, just buy a gallon refill. If whelks aren't dirty enough to go full strength GWC then I use my pre mix spray bottle of Adams shampoo diluted with water. Preserves the sealant and still gets my wheels clean. Then I use diluted APC on the tires with a wheel scrub brush. Removes dirt and old VRT