Washing the car without easy access to a tap/hose

Washing the car without easy access to a tap/hose

Author
Discussion

parabolica

Original Poster:

6,703 posts

183 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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Any suggestions? I'm fed up relying on hand car washes and to be honest, I miss washing my car as I like to take care of it, especially as I just had it fully detailed. However I don't have access to an outside tap where I currently live; I see Karcher do a mobile cleaning kit that is essentially a 4 litre tank with a low pressure spray gun - does anyone have experience of these (or similar)?

Car doesn't get filthy filthy, just grubby from street parking and road spray so something like the above (plus the old 2-bucket method) would suffice.

I've tried doing a quick shampoo at the local jet wash but it's not ideal; would prefer to do this at the roadside outside my flat.

ETA; obviously at 4 litres the Karcher option isn't ideal... would probably take a couple of refills to do the whole car (6 series).

Edited by parabolica on Tuesday 25th April 22:23

gretsch-drummer

622 posts

156 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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I fill up my bucket that has a lid with hot water and shampoo and load my car up with the rest of my cleaning gear and use a BP petrol stations cleaning bay. It's £1 for 2:30mins to use the pressure washer lance.

TFR - pressure wash - shampoo - pressure wash - dry - p*ss off the people waiting behind me - DONE.

itcaptainslow

3,694 posts

135 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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I've got a Sealey battery pressure washer with a 17 litre tank. It produces pressure similar to a normal garden hose and the tank is enough to do a complete car-pretty handy bit of kit. Around £90 on Amazon.

JimbobVFR

2,679 posts

143 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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Williams waterless cleaner and 2 microfiber cloths is very effective, it seems wrong to jot use water but it does work well.

highway

1,928 posts

259 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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I faced this issue a few years ago when the council imposed a hose pipe ban. I plugged in my Karcher placing the hose that usually connects to the tap, into a bucket of water. Placed the bucket on another bucket to give some height. Works fine.

parabolica

Original Poster:

6,703 posts

183 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
quotequote all
gretsch-drummer said:
I fill up my bucket that has a lid with hot water and shampoo and load my car up with the rest of my cleaning gear and use a BP petrol stations cleaning bay. It's £1 for 2:30mins to use the pressure washer lance.

TFR - pressure wash - shampoo - pressure wash - dry - p*ss off the people waiting behind me - DONE.
I've tried that but it wasn't ideal; most of the stations around me didn't have a lot of space for their wash bays and the only one that was ideal (BP at Hammersmith flyover) had a queue of cars behind me. Would prefer to take my time and not get in people's way, hence doing it at home.

Codswallop

5,250 posts

193 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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I use a 7 litre hand pumped pressure sprayer bought from amazon to rinse the car off, and a bucket and sponge for the soapy stuff.

7 litres is just enough to avoid having to refill when washing my Monaro (so similar size to a 6 series).

The sprayer head can be adjusted from a mist to stronger jet, so it does okay at rinsing the suds off. Not as quick as a hose obviously, but better than using the local hand car wash and their gritty rags.

parabolica

Original Poster:

6,703 posts

183 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
quotequote all
Useful replies folks - will check all of these out.

JimbobVFR - I've tried the waterless solution as well, I found it quite streaky but the car was pretty grubby. Took two attempts to get a decent finish.

parabolica

Original Poster:

6,703 posts

183 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
quotequote all
itcaptainslow said:
I've got a Sealey battery pressure washer with a 17 litre tank. It produces pressure similar to a normal garden hose and the tank is enough to do a complete car-pretty handy bit of kit. Around £90 on Amazon.
This one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-PW1712-Pressure-Wa...

itcaptainslow

3,694 posts

135 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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parabolica said:
That's the one. Gone up a bit in price by the looks of it but it's pretty effective. Works well off the 12v too if the battery runs out.

51mes

1,498 posts

199 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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JimbobVFR said:
Williams waterless cleaner and 2 microfiber cloths is very effective, it seems wrong to jot use water but it does work well.
I use this regularly on the s2000 and it really brings up a shine, if it's too dirty after a roadtrip I do wash it properly but to keep on top of things it's great. Works well on the fibreglass gelcoat on the boat as well...

Bought a job lot from the bookseller - 3 bottles and a hand spray cap - it didnt ship with the pipe for the hand sprayer, so they shipped me another job lot complete.. Very pleased with the result ;-)

S.

General Fluff

478 posts

136 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I use the Triplewax waterless stuff and it's great. If you find it streaky it's because they contain a wax which hardens pretty quick so you need to be buffing as you go.

The detailers will recoil in horror but I've not seen any negative impact on the paintwork and certainly think it's preferable to letting the local hand wash place do it.

Slushbox

1,484 posts

104 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I use one of these pressure bottles. Brush effective and doesn't leave scratches. Price has doubled since last year, my last one was £8.99. Car about 50 metres from the house.

I don't rinse but use two microfibre cloths to dry, then a coat of AutoGlym Super Rein polish/whatever. Takes about 30 minutes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Streetwize-SWPW-Portable-...

paintman

7,669 posts

189 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Another vote for the waterless type with microfibre cloths, although I would give any thick deposits a rinse with water first.
Was sceptical about it before using it but was given a bottle free & was very surprised at how good it was.

funkyrobot

18,789 posts

227 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Before we moved house, I used to have to park my car down a street around the corner from our hold house. It was a minute or so walk to get to it.

I used to fill up two large plastic watering cans with water and carry them to the car. I'd then go back and fill up two buckets, one with hot soapy water and another with a bit of cold, clean water (for the two bucket method). This used to be enough to wash my old Mazda 3, which is a bit smaller than the OP's car.

Worked a treat though and I think I only had to go back and refill the watering cans once each time I cleaned it.

scratcher_

127 posts

89 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Optimum No Rinse is your friend here smile

You add a cap to a little garden pump sprayer as a pre wash. And a cap to a bucket of water.

Spray a panel with the prewash, let it dwell for a few moments, then dunk a wash mitt into the bucket, wring some solution out over the panel. Wash as you would (rinse the mitt in the bucket and repeat if it's very dirty) and then dry it with a nice towel.
There's lots of helpful videos on YouTube.

parabolica

Original Poster:

6,703 posts

183 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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So I might have a cheap fix here; whilst I have no outside tap, my bathroom sink tap is only a metre or two from the front door. I've never been a fan of these tap-to-hose adapters however in the interest of Occam's razor I thought I'd spend the £2 to buy the adaptor and see if it would be suitable, knowing I could just junk it if it didn't work. Adaptor went on without any issue and seems to hold well when you block off the outlet (ie doesn't spray the inside of my bathroom). So that + a length of hose and problem solved for a few quid. We'll see how it goes.

sospan

2,469 posts

221 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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If the bathroom tap method doesn't work how about making up a trolley.
Get a sack trolley.
Put a large container on the bottom ( 25l drum or similar) with straps to secure.
Fit a shelf/that you can place a smallish pressure washer on with more straps. Bingo!
Trolley holds enough water and easy to move, pressure washer has a reservoir supply.
It works for oxy-acetylene set ups that you wheel round.

parabolica

Original Poster:

6,703 posts

183 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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Nice idea but no where to keep said trolley.

Got everything hooked up today as a test fitting. Ended up taking the shower head off and using that as the connection - works awesome and any leak ends up in the bath. £10 elastic hose that expands from 5m to 15m (easy to store) and a simple nozzle. All I need now is for the parking space outside my flat to come free and I can get stuck in.