Water Used during diy car wash

[Anarcy21]

Okay, so I was thinking tonight about how much water it would take to wash our lovely Tundras.. I know that I am getting addicted more than ever, so washing it once a week doesn't bother me at all. However I am lucky to do that, usually twice a month at best. My mother-in-law (yeah, gotta love em) won't even let me wash the truck at her place, because I will use too much water.. haha, she said that I was parts of the truck that no one even sees.. I was washing out the engine bay at that time she saw me washing. The only reason that I was my truck at her place, is that I didn't a hose, or a faucet on the outside of my apartment that worked.. Well now I do, finally. She would complain about the water that I used saying that I wasted so much water on my truck, so she told my wife not to let me wash it over there anymore.. My wife even gave her 20$, which is about 1500 gallons of water, and sewer. As you can tell, I am still a little pissed she won't let me use the hose over there, after we were more than generous with her.... back to my main point of the post...

How much water do you think we use to wash our trucks.. Starting with a rinse, buckets of water, and the final rinse off, along with all the water we use between. I am thinking between 25-40 gallons.. I try to be stingy, because my bill is getting higher now that I am married. Any thoughts anyone? Brandon, Jumbo? You guys seem to wash a lot of cars, or have a lot of experience, maybe you have thought this out..

Thanks,
Erik

Btw, I used some mothers synwax tonight, dang that stuff is great!

[cwise]

two buckets - a gallon of water in each - ONR in one bucket - plain rinse water in the other. So I guess 2 gallons. Don't let it get too dirty and this waterless method works fine.

[schaf921]

None Drought - can't do any car washing at home. YEs, it is illegal to wash your car at home right now in GA. I have to take it to a car wash as they allow businesses that use water to continue.

[Anarcy21]

You don't rinse your truck at all? I mean 2 gallons is nothing.... That would be lucky, I think to only use 2 gallons.. Normal driving still creates enough dirt near fenders to require quite a bit there on its own.. Anyway, to rinse certain parts of truck, and then wash, and then rinse again, would add up significantly over the process of the whole vehicle...

[Brandon1]

Yeah, you can get a product called "Optimum No-Rinse" and it will only use about 2-4 gallons for the whole wash. It will handle any kind of grime, as long as it isnt mud. You must rinse off bigger particles first at a self serve wash.

[dawgdays]

I wonder if they would let us use that product here in GA so we could actually wash ourselves.

I usually take it to the brushless car wash place, $4.

[HobieDude16]

since i dont have a hose/spicket here at my apt in gville, i go to one of those ones where they have a pressure washer, and i put in the required 2 bucks, put it on water only, fill my wash bucket, then rinse the whole truck till the water turns off. then i scrub everything till i'm happy, then do another 2 bucks and use the water to rinse the whole truck. so it doesnt use that much, i dont think....

[Boosted27606]

I try to save as much water as possible here in NC where we have had a persistent drought for the last year or so.

I found a way to really get the car ( or truck ) washed well and thoroughly with very little water used.

1. Use a pressure washer to wet the car. Make sure the water steam is at least 2 or 3 feet away or you might strip the paint off.

2. Fill a small bucket with water and soap and use a wool glove or other kind of cloth to wash the truck all over

3. Use another dirty rag or glove to wash the wheels, tires, under fenders areas. Use a brush or whatever is necessary to remove the really dirty and sticky crap.

4. Use the pressure washer again to rinse off.

5. Voila ! Admire your work and rejoice, you only used about 5 gallons of H2O at most.

Depending on the hardness of the water you may have to dry with a chamois and towel the car, I usually do that real quick then use compressed air to get the water still in the door jambs and gas door
and lights, grille ..etc

[Bluethundra]

Originally Posted by dawgdays

I wonder if they would let us use that product here in GA so we could actually wash ourselves.

I usually take it to the brushless car wash place, $4.

I have been using it at my place to wash my Tundra. You could always go pick up a few gallons of water at the grocery store and use it.