*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***
- Thread starter wassap
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It was about 120 quid for the RO unit plus a TDS meter, bulkhead fitting for the RO outlet pipe to IBC connection, some extra RO tube and about 20 quids worth of 20mm MDPE fittings.
I used some spare 20mm OD underfloor heating pipe to span the walls but garden hose would have been fine also and then no need for the extra fittings.
I got the IBC for free from a farmer friend along with the extra pallet and a few blocks to raise it up.
You can find them on ebay though and if I was buying one I would have got a 600L to save a bit of space.
Have a look around and see if there is anyone local to you and save on shipping.
It does take about 30 seconds to prime the air bubbles out of the pipe so the jet washer starts working properly but after that its no different to mains pressure.
If you go ahead with it and have any questions just let me know!
Caporegime
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- 8 Jan 2004
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- 32,623
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- Rutland
Over 3 days I've managed:
Wash
Touch up stone chips
Clay
Wash
Bilberry wheel cleaner
DA polish all the swirls out
SRP
Collinite 426 to the bodywork
Poorboys wheel sealant to the wheels
Wipe down the interior with wipey things
3M glass polish
What a mission, not sure it's worth all the effort, its an 8 year old hatchback!
Wash
Touch up stone chips
Clay
Wash
Bilberry wheel cleaner
DA polish all the swirls out
SRP
Collinite 426 to the bodywork
Poorboys wheel sealant to the wheels
Wipe down the interior with wipey things
3M glass polish
What a mission, not sure it's worth all the effort, its an 8 year old hatchback!
Soldato
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- 14 Dec 2005
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- Bath
I haven't really got space for a tank to store water from Reverse Osmosis, so was instead thinking about a DI Resin Vessel. Costs about £100 for the vessel, and then £50 every so often to replace the resin.
I have DI pods on my other RO system for my fish tank to polish the water down to 0 TDS before adding salt.
Do you know what the TDS is of your water?
Calculator here to work out the costs of doing it that way: http://www.gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/Resin Calculator.htm
If its high then you will run through resin very fast!
Even a small 200L waterbutt could be used for storing RO and attaching to a jet washer.
Nice set up there JP 
I don;t know how long it's been since I last washed my car 
I live in wales so the weather normally does a pretty good job 364 days of the year 
this past week and for the next week it's been blissful sunshine!!! went down the beach the other night and the water was crystal clear!!! looked like we were in Spain or somewhere hehe ofc this means that my car is now rather dusty and those pesky seaguls are playing hell!!!
When I lived with my parents I used to wash my cars when they needed it.... how ever.... living over a mile or dirt track... the car would look amazing and gleaming! but then as soon as I got over the track to go anywhere there would be a thin brown film of dust over the entire thing xD
problem is now I live in 3 story flats and I'm on the top floor not exactly easy to run a hose down from the kitchen window (seeing as my space is about 30ft from the main door too). think in the garage (communal one for storage of bins mostly ) there might be a hosepipe tap i could attach a pressure washer too and just park up in front whilst I clean it Think I'll have to see if the pressure washer still works and possibly bring it up....it's about 6-7 years old now though hehee....actually... maybe a few more....damn how time flies!
I don;t know how long it's been since I last washed my car I live in wales so the weather normally does a pretty good job 364 days of the year this past week and for the next week it's been blissful sunshine!!! went down the beach the other night and the water was crystal clear!!! looked like we were in Spain or somewhere hehe ofc this means that my car is now rather dusty and those pesky seaguls are playing hell!!!
When I lived with my parents I used to wash my cars when they needed it.... how ever.... living over a mile or dirt track... the car would look amazing and gleaming! but then as soon as I got over the track to go anywhere there would be a thin brown film of dust over the entire thing xD
problem is now I live in 3 story flats and I'm on the top floor
not exactly easy to run a hose down from the kitchen window (seeing as my space is about 30ft from the main door too). think in the garage (communal one for storage of bins mostly ) there might be a hosepipe tap i could attach a pressure washer too and just park up in front whilst I clean it Think I'll have to see if the pressure washer still works and possibly bring it up....it's about 6-7 years old now though hehee....actually... maybe a few more....damn how time flies!Just moved down to a new flat and looking to wash the car. Has anyone got much experience with the rinseless shampoos? I saw Optimum No Rinse on Amazon and wondered if anyone had any proper experience with it. I have a big space in front of a garage so washing with a couple of buckets is more than doable, but there is no water tap outside for rinsing.
Caporegime
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- 22 Oct 2002
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- Boston, Lincolnshire
Im a fellow east anglian and the water here is stupid. Every time I use my washer all my glass gets covered in dry water marks. A quick wash always turns into a marathon when drying. On a budget I can get a 27 litre DI vessel and a some resin for around £50 or is it really worth splashing out on the system you have?
That will work just fine, 27 litres will last a good while, just depends how much water you put through it and what the TDS is.
I guess your TDS will be at best 300 out of the tap.
1 Litre of DI resin will take out around 20,000 TDS so at 300 TDS, 27 litres should give 1800 litres of clean water before you need to replace the resin.
A cheap TDS pen is a good investment to work it out better.
That is essentially what I have setup. I guess he has pumps and things also to pressurise the water through the membranes and into the window cleaning poles.
Definitely a good investment for car cleaning OCD
I'm in East Anglia, my gf lives in St Ives and the water is silly hard, I can't even wash my hair there as it feels horrible, but 5 miles away at my house is quite nice and reasonably soft (in comparison) so it depends on the provider
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Today we attacked the 850 T5 and the 330Ci with a DAS-6 Pro. The Volvo went from pink to red quite nicely and seemingly nothing happened on the BMW as it's silver and you just couldn't see a difference. This made geekman laugh at me lot.
A quick 50:50
I also decided to tackle some stone chips on my bonnet, so filled them in with a touch up stick, the colour match was terrible on the one the seller gave me with the car, despite being from BMW, will most likely go and buy a new one and make sure it's a perfect match.
After filling in, it was time to attack them with the wet and dry. Initially I tried 2500 grit and it didn't make any difference in the hard BMW paint, so had to dive in with the 1500 grit.
Forgot to take a proper after shot, but took this after applying Collinite 476S:
Also forgot to take finished pics, shall take some soon.
A quick 50:50
I also decided to tackle some stone chips on my bonnet, so filled them in with a touch up stick, the colour match was terrible on the one the seller gave me with the car, despite being from BMW, will most likely go and buy a new one and make sure it's a perfect match.
After filling in, it was time to attack them with the wet and dry. Initially I tried 2500 grit and it didn't make any difference in the hard BMW paint, so had to dive in with the 1500 grit.
Forgot to take a proper after shot, but took this after applying Collinite 476S:
Also forgot to take finished pics, shall take some soon.
Here's a couple I took as well, really pleased with how the volvo turned out, although my phone camera made it look a lot more pink than it actually was.
Callum's 330ci reflected in my door
Then decided to wash it again to get rid of all the paint residue
Did the same to the BMW and it made absolutely FA difference
Next up is the Jag which should be fun as it's covered in swirls and has a few scratches we're planning on wet sanding. Will probably take a whole weekend to do though...
Callum's 330ci reflected in my door
Then decided to wash it again to get rid of all the paint residue
Did the same to the BMW and it made absolutely FA difference
Next up is the Jag which should be fun as it's covered in swirls and has a few scratches we're planning on wet sanding. Will probably take a whole weekend to do though...
Great job!
You're not far either...you can come do mine too
We clearly need to organise a kent detailing meet
I'd love to have someone take a look at my paintwork. The car is parked in an underground compound at home, and the lights show up swirls, etc
We'd happily take a look at it for you if you wanted
Probably best we do the Jag first though to make sure we're definitely doing it right as I wouldn't want to **** up a member's car!- Status