I want to be able to give my car a decent wash by hand but I haven't got a hose.

How can Iget round the problem of rinsing without a hose?

The wheels & arches are also going to be a pain but is there anything I should be doing to maximise my chances of getting a decent effect without a hose for before and after rinsing???

cheers

Best thing I have found so far is a watering can......2 gallons of water and it will spray into the wheel arches

OK Sounds silly but wash it in the rain, dilute the shampoo in a washing up bottle & then squirt a bit on the sponge each time you sponge an area, then leave it in the rain to rinse, if you live in a hard water area you will get less water marks than you get with the tap water, for the wheels use a watering can as the rain wont get these.

If you want to shammy the car then do it in the garage or if you time it right you can do it between showers.

I often clean the car in the rain anyway as our water is very hard & always leaves chalky deposits

So do I - gets some funny looks, but free rainwater, no rinsing - who cares

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32078

http://www.protectall.com/qelg.htm

Until very recently I'd never washed a car using a hose. Actually, I prefer not to.

2 cans of water over the car to start with followed by a spounge wash then 4 cans of water to rinse.

Its easy.

Ok, so I'll give the watering can idea a go.

I don't understand how you would use a watering can to get at the wheel arches though.

Surely to get at them you need to spray upwards whereas a watering can will only spray downwards???:confused: Could anybody enlighten me???

Cheers for the help so far.

I'm going to have a go on the Civc later to try and get the wax application sot on before I haven another go on the fabia vrs!!!

I never realised people depended so heavily on a hose to wash the car :eek:

I just use the 'fill the bucket up till its full then chuck it over the car - repeat until rinsed'. Its a royal pain and involves lots of visits to and from the kitchen tap.

I never realised people depended so heavily on a hose to wash the car :eek:

Used to use a hose and pressure washer to clean the car, but I still haven't got round to putting an outside tap in my new house so I just wash the car with a few buckets of water now. Ended up washing it in the rain the other weekend and that did seem to work quite well too

Chris

I never realised people depended so heavily on a hose to wash the car :eek:

It's not too bad as far as rinsing is concerned. Although, it's annoying that you need to keep running back and fore to the tap. Also, I'm always a little worried that chucking water at the car doens't privde the same level of consistent pressure that a hose does when trying to loosen initial grime.

Furthermore, I still haven't heard of an easy way to risne wheel arches in preparation for a scrub without a hose. This is what I'm desperate to know!!!

Do you go off roading in the SKoda then?? I've never found the wheel arches to be dirty enough to warrant anything more that a wipe round with a second (dirtier, older) spounge and the grubby water that I used on the body work.

I have an old dustpan brush in my bucket that I use for wheels and any underbody parts my enthusiasm will stretch to - it has to be said it doesn't often stretch to wheel arches but they've got plastic liners in anyway so the dirt tends to just fall off.

Do you go off roading in the SKoda then?? I've never found the wheel arches to be dirty enough to warrant anything more that a wipe round with a second (dirtier, older) spounge and the grubby water that I used on the body work.

No, but I do in the Civic

Seriously, I've just been reading the advice on here and the other forums mentioned and they all make reference to rinsing the wheel arches etc.

I shall use your advice and just give them a good scrub / rinse with my water this afternoon.

I've just got myself a nice big 7litre watering can from Wilkinsons so I'm ready for action!!! I'm just waiting for the sun to go over a bit so I can find a spot of shade.

Saw this in another thread: Thinking of trying it myself due to water shortages:

http://www.miracledrywash.com/

Wouldn't have thought it'd be much use on wheel arches though. They're a bit beyond the call of duty on my car

Regards

Mo

I often clean the car in the rain anyway as our water is very hard & always leaves chalky deposits

Not applicable with the hosepipe ban we've got at present - but to avoid deposits from tapwater I've been using Ionic filters in the hosepipe for over a year with great success.

Roger M

I have used a sly option for cleaning cars when I did it for a dealer for a few months, and have started using again at the moment as have no hose.

I have a vileda shamy, fill this with a LOT of water, and gently wipe over the body work. Do a few panels and then rinse the cloth properly and just wipe the excess and do the rest. Doesn't take very long, and uses 1 bucket. Obviously the wheels are a different matter. This only works on normal road grime, make sure you aren't rubbing a lump of rock under the cloth.

i've just used optimum no rinse for the first time. and it was so easy.

One four gallon bucket of water 4 capfulls of ONR wash away and dry!!!!

no hose no pressure washer and no hassle. took me 20 mins to wash the car including wheels!! now to do the same again tomorrow once the pollens sat on it again (or bird ****, or rained!!!!!)

Scott

Polished Bliss supply (usually next day but are close as of saturday for 2 weeks)

OK Sounds silly but wash it in the rain...if you time it right you can do it between showers.

Any tips for timing it right? :confused:

drive to scotland, use power washer in a garage then drive home......no hosepipe ban here....... yet....

Take mine to the carwash. Way too hot to do anything outside here.