What is the two bucket method
Written by: Vinnie van Rooij
The two-bucket method is possibly to most known and most used technique used by detailers and professionals, to wash a vehicle. It is one of 3 different types of washing a vehicle that are widely considered to be safe and correct ways of cleaning a surface.
Contents
What is the 2-bucket method
The two bucket method revolves around using 2 buckets to wash a vehicle. 1 bucket is filled with a shampoo/water solution, the other bucket is filled with clean water. The tool that is being used to wash the surface (washmitt, MF sponge etc.) is submerged into the bucket with the water/shampoo solution and used to wash the surface. When you are done, you rinse out the used tool in the bucket with clean water. When the tool is clean again, it can be submerged in the bucket with water/shampoo solution again to wash the next area.
Why use the two bucket method
If you would skip the rinsing step, the dirty tool (after washing the surface) will make the water/shampoo mixture dirty. The dirt it picked up will now be in the water. The next time to put that piece of equipment in the bucket, it will not only contain water with shampoo, but it will also contain small particles of dust and dirt. The longer you keep doing this, the more dirty the water will get. The more dirty the water is, the more dirty your tool is getting. Eventually you will be washing the surface with dirty water. Which can cause swirls and other surface imperfections.
To minimize the risk of swirls or other surface imperfections, it is important to rinse out the tool you are using. Only if it is really clean, it can move safely over the surface without scraping the dust and dirt over the surface. After having spend many hours polishing a vehicle, trying to make it look as perfect as possible, you don’t wanna create the swirls you jut removed.
Panel wipe is a specific product that is designed to remove polish residue in order to prepare the surface for protection. This often means it has to remove oils and silicones. Most panel wipe are also good glass cleaner....
Steam cleaning is the act of using evaporated and heated water to clean a surface. Steam has to benefit that it interacts with oils and grease without the need for an emusifier. This means it can clean dirt and grease without soap. Which leaves less residue. Steam cleaning can be used on the outside of a car as well as on the interior....
A traffic film remover is a product that is specifically designed to remove "traffic film". This is a very fine layer of dust, grime and even oils that cover your car and are notoriously difficult to wash off. A traffic film remover can be wax-safe, but many ar not. This is not a product for the weekly wash, but more to be used once every couple of months. "Traffic film remover" is often shortened to TFR....
The DA (Dual Action) polisher is considered by many to be the machine to use if you are new to machine polishing, though as discussed elsewhere, this is not always the case - rather, you should try wherever possible to try both styles of machine (DA and rotary) and see which suit your style the best as many will find the vibrations of DA polisher unsettling and this struggle with the control of the machine can actually make it more dangerous than the smoother rotary....
So, you've got all the gear, you know how to handle the machine polisher - but how do you choose what pad and polish combination to use to achieve correction on your paint finish? This thread tackles that very question. It is not brand specific, so the basics here apply to all polish ranges....
The expression "weekend warrior" is a common term used on social media and fora when detailing is discussed. It's not very clear who come up with the expression, but it's been around for a while. It's a informal way of describing a person who only irregularly details as a hobby. Most of the time this is done in weekends because most people have 2 days off....
Washing your microfiber towels with a fabric softener is a very bad idea. It will clog up the microfibers, and make the microfiber loose its special properties. This guide might help you to restore them as much as possible. Even though this guide has helped several people, keep in mind that it is very likely that you'll need to replace the towels....
When removing paint defects, like scratches or water spot etching, the Kevin Brown Method uses a Finishing Polish instead of the traditional heavy-cut compound. This is done via a combination with a microfiber polishing pad and a random orbital polisher....
Links to this article
There are no external links to this article. Yet.