# Two bucket/grit guard results/conclusions



## Epoch

Hi, so some of you may have seen i recently purchased a set of buckets with grit guards. Well today the sun came out (well it didn't rain any way) and i washed the car.

I decided to conduct a little experiment as to the effectiveness or need for two grit guards.

My previous wash routine was conducted using a Megs bucket and grit guard and another bucket (Both black so difficult to see the colour of the water). I would always fill the Megs bucket with shampoo mix and use the other for rinse. So today i only really added a second grit guard to the routine.

The test car - my Audi A4 1.9 TDI. A 2000 W with 116K miles on the clock. The car was waxed with Zymol Titanium 3 weeks ago and has covered about 800 miles in that time. As you will see from the pictures its not very dirty but needed a wash.














































So the scene is set. 
The whole car was soaked in water first to soften up the muck. I always wash the wheels first, so the bucket combo was filled with water and a squirt of Megs Hyperwash then added to one of the buckets. The usual suspects were collected together in prep for the wheel wash

Megs Wheel Face brush
Megs Tyre brush
Megs Spoke brush
Zymol horse hair brush
Megs APC 4:1 (for arches)
Megs Safe D Greaser 4:1 (for arches)
Zymol Wheel cleaner
Hose sprayer
Male to Male hose connector (for sheeting off later)
and lastly the Turtlewax wash mitt










I went about my routine as usual rinsing the brushes and then loading with soapy wash solution and rubbing the mitt against the rinse grit guard and then against the wash solution grit guard

*The Results*

Rinse bucket










and the bottom










Notice the scum line around the rinse bucket top. I presume this is old tyre dressing i scrubbed off

then on to the wash bucket










and the bottom










Then both buckets were washed out and refilled with water and Zymol Clear added to the wash bucket and out came the regular wash mitt (which is a funny colour due to soaking it with the black wheel mitt last weekend)










The car was again hosed down and the wash rinse routine completed, rubbing the mitt against both guards in turn

*The Results*

The rinse bucket










At this point i realised i should have removed the grit guard from the previous bottom pictures as it shows up better!










and the wash bucket










and the bottom










I will post the finished car in the show it off section in a while as that isn't really the point of this post.

*The conclusion and observations*

After having two black buckets previously, and now with white being able to see the water, i was amazed at how much of a difference the two bucket technique can make. I have used it for about a year or so but never seen how good it is. Just by looking at how much foam was left on the wash bucket even after i had finished cleaning.

The brake dust from the wheels was mainly held in suspension in both buckets although a lot more in the rinse one and grit mainly appeared in the rinse bucket. So i need to rinse the brushes more after a use

The car wash buckets showed more of a difference, the rinse one as expected dirtier, but grit did also appear in the wash one although not as much as in the rinse one.

The biggest thing i have learnt today for the development of the two bucket technique is if you only have one bucket with a grit guard use this as the rinse bucket because scrubbing the guard with the mitt is better done in that one. This may be obvious to everybody reading this but i have always used this one as my wash bucket.

Does having two grit guards make the process more efficient?

Yes, marginally but using one the other way around would have made 90% of the difference.

I still love my new buckets though!


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## Brazo

Another tip is to change the rinse water regularly the wash water should remain clean throughout:thumb:


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## Epoch

Brazo said:


> Another tip is to change the rinse water regularly the wash water should remain clean throughout:thumb:


Thanks, Im always learning and today was very interesting for me.


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## nifreaky

Epoch, great report! Any chance you could turn the 2 bucket/dollies upside down and take a photo? I would like to see how the are joined together.

I have a blue Gritguard/bucket/dolly/lid/bad and a meguiars black gritguard/bucket and am trying to source another dolly and join them together.


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## Epoch

nifreaky said:


> Epoch, great report! Any chance you could turn the 2 bucket/dollies upside down and take a photo? I would like to see how the are joined together.
> 
> I have a blue Gritguard/bucket/dolly/lid/bad and a meguiars black gritguard/bucket and am trying to source another dolly and join them together.


This is the bit i'm least impressed with, it's a flat metal plate with holes in that you attach by putting the wheels on. So its only the wheel pins that hold them together.

I'll try to get a picture tomorrow


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## GlynRS2

Brazo said:


> Another tip is to change the rinse water regularly the wash water should remain clean throughout:thumb:


What I do if the car is really dirty is have two rinse buckets ready at the start. Once one is looking dirty I swap over to the clean one. Luckily I have three grit guards, but it would be easy to take the grit guard out the dirty bucket give a quick blast with the hose and put it in the clean one. Another good tip when rinsing your mit is to rub it against the grit guard at the bottom of the bucket as that helps to dislodge any dirt from the mit. Then give a quick squeeze to ring it out when you take the mit out again - you can do this quite well even with your hand in the mit. This stops you transfering the dirty rinse water to the wash bucket.
My wash bucket always stays clean.


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## hissinsid

Where can I purchase these buckets please?


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## myxa

Quality write up mate :thumb:


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## Detail My Ride

hissinsid said:


> Where can I purchase these buckets please?


You can get sonus one's from [URL="http://www.autopia-carcare.com]Autopia[/URL]

Gaz :thumb:


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## Epoch

hissinsid said:


> Where can I purchase these buckets please?





13yearoldetailer said:


> You can get sonus one's from [URL="http://www.autopia-carcare.com]Autopia[/URL]
> 
> Gaz :thumb:


Agree with Gaz, Autopia do the same buckets in better colours in singles also some of the traders on here do the buckets with grit guards; Davidg at carwashnwax and serious performance. I got this pair from Mike at the polishing company.


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## hissinsid

I now know i have got it bad due to the fact that I am asking the missus to get me buckets for christmas.


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## SteveO

Interesting write up. Well done.


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## Epoch

Wow, digging deep in the archieves for this.

Quick up date: if i were to buy them again i'd definatley get two different colours, so you can identify the rinse one more quicky


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## insomniac

I'm now using the 2 bucket method too (with a grit guard in the rinse bucket) but wonder if a hosepipe rinsing the mitt would be even better than using a rinse bucket?


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## Epoch

insomniac said:


> I'm now using the 2 bucket method too (with a grit guard in the rinse bucket) but wonder if a hosepipe rinsing the mitt would be even better than using a rinse bucket?


I currently use a ShMitt, which clears completley when submerged, so I think the rinse buckets works beter with that. With a lambswool mitt the power of the hose might be better to clean the pile!


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## enigma1992

A good write up and a good thread revival! :thumb:


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## ron burgandy

just bought a grit guard and bucket and was thinking can i not use this bucket with the grit guard as a rinse bucket as well, or is it better to use two


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## Epoch

The use of a grit guard does help to keep the muck in the bottom (the fins used as legs stop the water swirling and lifting the bits up into the water above the guard). it is safer and fine to use as long as your careful. A second bucket for wash (with no guard) will be safer again etc.

You can go on and on, some people having multiple rinse buckets!


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