# stardrops dilution ratio?



## tjclark92 (Feb 10, 2011)

Just got 2 bottles, whats the diultion ratio? Cheers


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

1 part stardrops : 3 parts water - for grimy jobs (1:4 dilution)
1 part stardrops : 9 parts water - for light wipes (1:10 dilution)

Hope that helps.


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## tjclark92 (Feb 10, 2011)

Thank you!


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Tips said:


> 1 part stardrops : 3 parts water - for grimy jobs (1:4 dilution)
> 1 part stardrops : 9 parts water - for light wipes (1:10 dilution)
> 
> Hope that helps.


I'd second that, and it's the two mixes I use :thumb:


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

tjclark92 said:


> Thank you!


If you want to be uber careful, or you are using the APC solution on paintwork - then mix with distilled water (no impurites etc) wilko's sell a litre for 69p or use brittas filtered water - but don't tell anyone in my household!


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

stick diluted stardrops into a spray bottle works best when sprayed on and diluted just make sure its well mixed


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## Ninj (Mar 22, 2011)

Viper said:


> I'd second that, and it's the two mixes I use :thumb:


Third that 
Same mixes but I use 50:50 stardrops and Daisy APC as the concentrate before I start diluting - just done the sink and the missus is lost for words :argie:


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## adi1 (May 4, 2010)

I mixed stardrops 4:1 and put it in the foam lance to do the dormer windows wouldnt try it on paint work in that dilution as it easily lifted seagull s..t stuck on the windows.......BTW was a thick foam too


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Tips said:


> 1 part stardrops : 3 parts water - for grimy jobs (1:4 dilution)
> 1 part stardrops : 9 parts water - for light wipes (1:10 dilution)
> 
> Hope that helps.


Confused here.

1:4 is 1 part produch to 4 parts water is it not? 1 IN 4 is 1 part product to 3 parts water.

Am I having a blonde moment how do we dilute things again? :S


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## adi1 (May 4, 2010)

Spoony said:


> Confused here.
> 
> 1:4 is 1 part produch to 4 parts water is it not? 1 IN 4 is 1 part product to 3 parts water.
> 
> Am I having a blonde moment how do we dilute things again? :S


No blonde moment spoony your totally correct


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Spoony said:


> Confused here.
> 
> 1:4 is 1 part produch to 4 parts water is it not? 1 IN 4 is 1 part product to 3 parts water.
> 
> Am I having a blonde moment how do we dilute things again? :S


Hi Spoony - Below is an explanation to understanding the principles of diluting to correct ratios.

1ml of solution A to 3ml of solution B is a 1:4 dilution, as this results in 4ml total.

Here's some blurb from answers.com

Hope that helps


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

adi1 said:


> No blonde moment spoony your totally correct


Hi adi1

Here's an explanation from answers.com

Hope that helps.


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Tips said:


> Hi Spoony - Below is an explanation to understanding the principles of diluting to correct ratios.
> 
> 1ml of solution A to 3ml of solution B is a 1:4 dilution, as this results in 4ml total.
> 
> ...


Meh, on my zymol bottle the measue has 1:2 at a stage where it is 1 part product to 2 parts water.

I always thought if I was making a litre at 1:4 it would be 200ml product to 800ml water.

From Wikipedia:
"In other areas of science such as pharmacy, and in non-scientific usage, a dilution is normally given as a plain ratio of solvent to solute."


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Spoony said:


> Meh, on my zymol bottle the measue has 1:2 at a stage where it is 1 part product to 2 parts water.
> 
> I always thought if I was making a litre at 1:4 it would be 200ml product to 800ml water.
> 
> ...


Hi Spoony - you are correct, when you apply your 1:4 to fractions as you broke down so eloquently in making a litre.

However in the world of dilution ratios, it takes on a whole new meaning altogether.

Here comes the science bit:-

_Ratios are often used for simple dilutions applied in chemistry and biology. A simple dilution is one in which a unit volume of a liquid material of interest is combined with an appropriate volume of a solvent liquid to achieve the desired concentration. The dilution factor is the total number of unit volumes in which your material will be dissolved. The diluted material must then be thoroughly mixed to achieve the true dilution.*

For example, a 1:5 dilution (verbalize as "1 to 5" dilution) entails combining 1 unit volume of solute (the material to be diluted) + 4 unit volumes (approximately) of the solvent to give 5 units of the total volume*. (Some solutions and mixtures take up slightly less volume than their components.)

The dilution factor is frequently expressed using exponents: 1:5 would be 5e−1 (5−1 i.e. one-fifthne); 1:100 would be 10e−2 (10−2 i.e. one hundredthne), and so on.

There is often confusion between dilution ratio (1:n meaning 1 part solute to n parts solvent) and dilution factor (1:n+1) where the second number (n+1) represents the total volume of solute + solvent. In scientific and serial dilutions, the given ratio (or factor) often means the ratio to the final volume, not to just the solvent. The factors then can easily be multiplied to give an overall dilution factor.
_

Taken from answers.com

Hope that helps.


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## adi1 (May 4, 2010)

There is often confusion between dilution ratio (1:n meaning 1 part solute to n parts solvent) and dilution factor (1:n+1) where the second number (n+1) represents the total volume of solute + solvent. In scientific and serial dilutions, the given ratio (or factor) often means the ratio to the final volume, not to just the solvent. The factors then can easily be multiplied to give an overall dilution factor.
In other areas of science such as pharmacy, and in non-scientific usage, a dilution is normally given as a plain ratio of solvent to solute.
So can be both but for every day use 1:4 means 1 part to 4 :thumb:


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Tips said:


> Hi Spoony - you are correct, when you apply your 1:4 to fractions as you broke down so eloquently in making a litre.
> 
> However in the world of dilution ratios, it takes a new meaning altogether.
> 
> ...


I know the science bit that you copied and paste from a wikipedia page I had read seeing as I quoted from it...

What I'm trying to thrash out is what do we go by in the detailing world. As 1 parts water to 9 parts stardrops to me is still fairly strong...


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## Chufster (Nov 21, 2010)

Spoony said:


> Meh, on my zymol bottle the measue has 1:2 at a stage where it is 1 part product to 2 parts water.
> 
> I always thought if I was making a litre at 1:4 it would be 200ml product to 800ml water.
> 
> ...


I'd go with that description personally as I'm not working in a lab, I'm washing my car. I find the plain ratios more intuitive.



Tips said:


> There is often confusion between dilution ratio (1:n meaning 1 part solute to n parts solvent) and dilution factor (1:n+1) where the second number (n+1) represents the total volume of solute + solvent. In scientific and serial dilutions, the given ratio (or factor) often means the ratio to the final volume, not to just the solvent. The factors then can easily be multiplied to give an overall dilution factor.


As people on here tend to ask what is the ratio and not what is the factor, I'll use the 1 part product to n parts water. eg, 100ml of bilberry and 400ml water makes for a 500ml spray bottle of wheel cleaner.


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Spoony said:


> I know the science bit that you copied and paste from a wikipedia page I had read seeing as I quoted from it...
> 
> What I'm trying to thrash out is what do we go by in the detailing world. As 1 parts water to 9 parts stardrops to me is still fairly strong...


Hi Spoony - Its the other way round - 1 part stardrops to 9 parts water make 1:10 dilution for light wiping solutions.

Hope that helps.


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Chufster said:


> I'd go with that description personally as I'm not working in a lab, I'm washing my car. I find the plain ratios more intuitive.
> 
> As people on here tend to ask what is the ratio and not what is the factor, I'll use the 1 part product to n parts water. eg, 100ml of bilberry and 400ml water makes for a 500ml spray bottle of wheel cleaner.


No worries Chufster at the end of the day it's safer to overdilute than underdilute.

Your example of billberry dilution is 1 part bilberry to 4 parts water = 5 parts in total, therefore it is 1:5 dilution not 1:4

Here's another easier explanation from answers.com

Hope that helps.


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## Ninj (Mar 22, 2011)

Interesting - I've not actually considered this properly until now!

When I think about it, I tend to use a ratio ie 1 *to* 4 rather than 1 *in* 4 for my products but in reality does anyone actually measure most stuff accurately anyway? I just eyeball it in the bottle


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## Chufster (Nov 21, 2010)

Tips said:


> No worries Chufster at the end of the day it's safer to overdilute than underdilute.
> 
> Your example of billberry dilution is 1 part bilberry to 4 parts water = 5 parts in total, therefore it is 1:5 dilution not 1:4
> 
> ...


That's the whole point. To me it is 1:4 not 1:5 as I prefer to use the simple dilution ratio, not the scientific dilution factor.

It appears that DW has been here before a few times.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=1326631

This link provides a handy spreadsheet to calculate volumes of some products for you, although the age of the spreadsheet means the product list is a little out of date.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=16313&highlight=dilution

And other detailing websites

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-charts-graphs/31925-dilution-ratios-32oz-bottles.html

The trend appears to be that the 1:4 notation is used for the laymans approach of 1 to 4, not 1 in 5, regardless of what might be more mathematically correct.

At the end of the day, the whole beauty of standards is that there are so many to choose from! So long as there is consistency and the meaning to the reader is clear, it doesn't matter whether you use 1 in 5 or 1 to 4, as long as when using the x:n notation it is made clear which is being used.


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## toomanycitroens (Jan 14, 2011)

robtech said:


> stick diluted stardrops into a spray bottle works best when sprayed on and diluted just make sure its well mixed


^^+1^^ for that.:thumb:


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## Chufster (Nov 21, 2010)

If there is any interest, i can update the spreadsheet in the second link above and add new products, ratios and product categories.

If there is enough interest I'll start a new thread and canvass product and ratios suggestions.


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## Captain Pugwash (Mar 23, 2011)

Chufster said:


> If there is any interest, i can update the spreadsheet in the second link above and add new products, ratios and product categories.
> 
> If there is enough interest I'll start a new thread and canvass product and ratios suggestions.


oh now there is a man making a rod for his own back lol

but it would be a fantastic thing to do :thumb:


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

To avoid confusion in the future, I will quote dilution rates as :-
1 in 4 (one part solution A in four parts total)
1 in 10 (one part solution A in ten parts total)

The other notation will be formally used as :-
1:4 (one part solution A to four parts solution B)
1:10 (one part solution A to ten parts solution B)

Hope that clears everything up.


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## Bel (Mar 1, 2011)

Interesting stuff. I'd never thought about the grammatically subtle but ultimately very important difference between 'one in' and ' one to'.

Like others here, I've always read dilution ratios as 'one to'.


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## Paddy_R (Jan 10, 2007)

Ninj said:


> in reality does anyone actually measure most stuff accurately anyway? I just eyeball it in the bottle


I'm with you on this one, for me it's just an approximate amount of 'A' into an approximate amount of 'B'. And I'm sure it's close enough.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Like a good chef doesn't measure out to the gram, I often just go by 'eye' when mixing stuff up  Not that I'm suggesting I'm a great detailer.....or a good chef for that matter (_definitely_ not the latter  :lol, but you can get too anal about this sort of stuff imo. and I've never come a cropper over the years for only being 10% out with dilutions


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Paddy_R said:


> I'm with you on this one, for me it's just an approximate amount of 'A' into an approximate amount of 'B'. And I'm sure it's close enough.


It depends on what the solution is and its use.

For APC, and cleaning tasks, an approximate amount is good enough as you say.

However, when using Optimum No Rinse, the mixing is crucial as the wrong dilution could end up with more swirls on your car.

So, in conclusion, the new mantra is 1 in X or 1 to X - your honour, I rest my case.

Hope that helps.


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## Ninj (Mar 22, 2011)

I'd say by convention the vast majority of guys on here use x to y, otherwise, quotes of diluting a product at 1:1 would be fairly pointless or a fairly strong "dilution"


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## nick.s (Dec 21, 2009)

Ninj said:


> I'd say by convention the vast majority of guys on here use x to y, otherwise, quotes of diluting a product at 1:1 would be fairly pointless or a fairly strong "dilution"


I like your thinking  Point well presented!


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Ninj said:


> I'd say by convention the vast majority of guys on here use x to y, otherwise, quotes of diluting a product at 1:1 would be fairly pointless or a fairly strong "dilution"


We got there in the end, 1 to x is the popular mixing rate used here, although 1 in x is the correct way to dilute solutions in a chemical/pharmaceutical sense.

So long as we state which format we use in our dilution rates, that should keep us as happy bunnies.


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