Suds or lack of in soap?

[Ford500SE]

Good morning all. When I prep my bucket of suds, sometimes I get poor results. I start with a clean bucket put in meguiaes gold class or similar product and fill with warm to hot water with an aerorated stream. The bucket fills with suds nicely and when I use my wash mitt (which is clean), the suds disappear and the wash mitt provides no suds at all when on the car. I can use the same bucket water soap etch and sometimes it works fine. This has been one of the most difficult things for me to grasp in detailing. Please help!!

[Garage Troll]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

It seems that the first issue is that you're prepping your bucket backwards. You should fill your bucket with water first, then add the shampoo. So say you're using Gold Class and a 5 gallon bucket and you put 4 gallons of water in. You would then measure out four ounces of shampoo and add it and gently mix. The appearance of suds really isn't what is important but rather the correct balance of water to shampoo in order to provide the lubricity required to provide a safe barrier between the mitt and your paint. Give it a try. It'll make a huge difference for you.

[Murr1525]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

Yeah, make sure you are using the right amount (for Gold Class, 1 oz per gallon of water), and you are good. No need for lots of suds.

[jfelbab]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

If you have very hard water, sudsing is often minimal with Gold Class and many other soaps. NXT Tech Wash is better at staying sudsy in hard water. You might try that.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

It seems that the first issue is that you're prepping your bucket backwards. You should fill your bucket with water first, then add the shampoo. So say you're using Gold Class and a 5 gallon bucket and you put 4 gallons of water in. You would then measure out four ounces of shampoo and add it and gently mix. The appearance of suds really isn't what is important but rather the correct balance of water to shampoo in order to provide the lubricity required to provide a safe barrier between the mitt and your paint. Give it a try. It'll make a huge difference for you.

This really is as close to a perfect answer on the subject as you'll find. Suds play much more of a psychological role here than anything else - they aren't what gets the car clean, it's the emulsifiers, lubricants and other things in a proper dilution ratio that actually get the job done.

We know plenty of people who add water first, then the correct amount of soap, then just stir with their hand to evenly mix the solution and get to work. There's almost zero suds in that case, and it all works exactly the way it should. Still others will do this and then give one last blast with the hose, just to bring up some suds because........ they like the suds.

[Car Potential]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

How do you measure the amount of ounces of car wash you pour into the bucket of water? I have been just pouring it straight from the bottle and using the eyeball test. Also, I would not want to pour it into a cup first because then it seems like product is wasted.

[Murr1525]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

You could buy a pump that puts out ~one oz per pump.

Or go to a kitchen store and buy a little measuring cup to keep with your wash supplies. If you dunk the cup into the water and swish it around, or a little splash from your hose, the solution will wash right out into your bucket.

[SVT Lightning]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

Or if you have a shot-glass...they are usually a little over an ounce at the rim.

[STRIFE]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

I bought a few 1oz measuring spoons, only $1.
You could just use a clear plastic cup, measure out 1,2,3,4...etc oz and mark each with a black marker. Pour the appropriate amt of soap, dunk & swish around the bucket of water.
Not really rocket science

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

A one ounce measuring cup, or even better, a 3 ounce, is a great thing to have next to your bottle of car wash soap. It's rare that anyone actually fills a 5 gallon bucket to the top with water; a little over halfway or roughly 3 gallons seems to be more the norm. You could also take a plastic cup (I suppose a nod to Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" might be in order here, though I'm not a country music fan by any means) and make a mark with a Sharpie at the 3 ounce line and then just keep that with your bottle of car wash. How to determine that 3 ounce mark in the plastic cup? Take a measuring cup from your kitchen, fill it with water to the 3 ounce mark, pour that into the plastic cup and voila, a 3 ounce measuring cup that never puts car care products into your wife's kitchen tools. Win-win.

[Blueline]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

I never really thought about this much, I usually throw the soap in first then add water. I did know it really is a matter of taste, and it probably works well both ways, but I do have a question. I really don't care about the cost, or waste of the product, (certainly would NOT use my good shot glass to measure) and just eye ball the amount of Gold Class I put in the bucket (probably way too much) so my question is....is there anything such as too much soap? Too much in the sense that the resulting soap to water ratio doesn't work as well.
Thanks.

[Murr1525]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

Well, if the soap gets too strong (undiluted), it will wear the wax away faster. People can also start to have more of an issue with the soap not rinsing off as easy.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

Well, if the soap gets too strong (undiluted), it will wear the wax away faster. People can also start to have more of an issue with the soap not rinsing off as easy.

Those are the two major issues with over using a car wash soap. There is simply no upside to overusing a car wash soap, and the potential for streaking or for leaving a film is increased.

[Ford500SE]

Thank you. I guess I never thought about too much soap. Its just easier for me to see with suds where I washed and where I didn't. I just think of chemicals needed to be mixed thoughly to create a solution which sometimes requires the product to be put in first. I write documents to create a batch of product xyz (or whatever else) and there usually are specifics to which product must be put in at what time.

If this where powered soap I would assume a lot of mixing would be required if soap was put in after the water.

Thank you

[Murr1525]

Re: Suds or lack of in soap?

The soap is pretty easy to disperse.