[Sudarshan]

I really dont know where to put this.
anyway, I was thinking for so many days about this issue,
It is about cleaning of our Cars with water.
I have three cars,& four 2 wheelers to maintain.every time I wash my vehicles I feel sort of Guilty, I feel its Wrong to waste water for cleaning vehicle ,We all know how serious the water issue is in our country.
I reside in Pune city,so far we do not have problames with watersupply(Lucky we live in the western part of Maharashtra & Pune is surrrounded by dams ). But soon in comming years the water shortage will catchup with us.
So my Question to everybody is: Is there any way to clean our Vehicles without water ?
I am aware of severe water shortages in majority of places in our country, so what do people do to cleanup cars without water?
Note for the moderatores: I havent searched on forum about this issue(sorry lack of time) there may be a thread existing on this issue,so please inform (if you can ) or move this thread to an appropriate place (including trash) pl excuse I am a newbe.

[quadmaniac]

Yes there is. Use a car duster to remove simple dust (read up threads on Jopasu car duster)

Even I've bought this duster from ebay and planning to use this in most cases (exceptions could be when there's a lot of mud or something).

For plain dust removal, that product apparently works wonders

[condor]

Sudarshan, appreciate the thought. Apart from what @quadmaniac has said, you can also restrict how much water you use : eg, I use about 60% of a bucket to clean my Sumo. Half a bucked for the car is sufficient most of the time.

And you can clean your cars in a sequence - not all cars everyday. If you will use the dusters like Jopasu, then Waxing regularly also helps makes the dusting easier.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by condor

Half a bucked for the car is sufficient most of the time.

And you can clean your cars in a sequence - not all cars everyday. If you will use the dusters like Jopasu, then Waxing regularly also helps makes the dusting easier.

Ditch the pipe, use the bucket.
And as quad said, dust your cars more than washing them.
Of the 3 cars you have, the one which is rarely used, wash it once a month, for rest of the cars, a fortnightly wash will do.

[aargee]

I use two small buckets of water (1 with car shampoo & other one plain) to clean my car & both my two-wheelers. After washing, I pour the remaining water on to the soil & not on cement floor to evapurate, thus Mother nature can help clean the water.

Edit - Oh!!! I wash the car & two-wheelers not more than once a month. Sometimes twice, but only for car & that too only if dirty. Otherwise a simple dusting with cloth & colin for glasses.

[comfortablynumb]

I really don't get why people wash their cars daily. Is their daily commute full of muddy swamps or something? Or do they like to use the body of their car as a mirror?

IMO, daily washing of cars is not at all required. Like quadmaniac, I too use a car duster for removing superficial dust on the car. A wash once a week and a wax job once a month is more than enough!!

Cheers,
Vikram

[srishiva]

I wash once a week. I need one bucket of water for each car. Guess if you cant stop doing something, at least we can try to use lesser amount of water.

[ph03n!x]

I guess all of us have air conditioners at home - what are we doing with the water than condenses from it?

I have the hose carrying the condensed water to a 40 liter bucket, which gets filled in about 2 or 3 weeks' time. For a shampoo wash, I use about 10 liter of water (5 liter for the shampoo, another ~5 for the wash over).

The benefit - am using water that is going to go wasted. And the water is not hard water, chlorinated, salty etc - which could be the case with ground water / corporation water. Good for the car

[PhiGolden]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan

I feel its Wrong to waste water for cleaning vehicle

bathing would be the next casualty.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by PhiGolden

bathing would be the next casualty.

Yep, it isn't necessary to bathe every day.

On a serious note, a bucket for a car is not exactly wastage. If you still are concerned about spending that bucket of water, some of the tips have already been discussed here:

1. Rotate the car washes so you wash one car a day. Specially useful if you park all the cars indoors or are away from dust and dirt. Keeping the cars under covers will help to a great extent.

2. Use the AC drainage water or such other water to wash the car, so you are sort of recycling the water

3. If you can, wash the car on ground (instead of on tar/concrete roads), where the water may seep into the earth below. This way you are making sure the water you use doesn't just go into the drainage.

4. If you are in a position to, implement water harvesting. In a gist, this means the water that's used in your household will be carried through a series of natural filters (stones and pebbles, sand etc) and stored in an underground reservoir. This water is typically used for non-drinking purposes (such as use in toilets). You could use it to wash your vehicles. Also the water used for washing would again go through the harvesting process. So in effect you would be saving almost all the water.

And most importantly, unless you are wasting gallons by using running water (a hose connected to the municipal tap), don't feel guilty about using a bucket for your car.

[ampere]

In our apartment complex water is rationed (as is the case with most places) for cleaning. Half to one bucket. And twice a week, there is no cleaning.

[ajmat]

Unless it is dust, my black car needs lots of water to clean so during the current rains, i have not bothered. Too little water will sandpapaer the car so I have let the car be filthy for the past two weeks

[condor]

@Sachinj, yes - missed that part about ditching the pipe.

And importantly - do it yourself. I have rarely seen the car-washing guys (like apartment complex watchmen etc) being conservative with water. They will almost always use the hose, and use far more water than is required.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

I guess all of us have air conditioners at home - what are we doing with the water than condenses from it?

I have the hose carrying the condensed water to a 40 liter bucket, which gets filled in about 2 or 3 weeks' time. For a shampoo wash, I use about 10 liter of water (5 liter for the shampoo, another ~5 for the wash over).

The benefit - am using water that is going to go wasted. And the water is not hard water, chlorinated, salty etc - which could be the case with ground water / corporation water. Good for the car

Thats a brilliant idea - I shall try to implement that.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Yep, it isn't necessary to bathe every day.


What????

On a serious note, a bucket for a car is not exactly wastage. If you still are concerned about spending that bucket of water, some of the tips have already been discussed here:

1. Rotate the car washes so you wash one car a day. Specially useful if you park all the cars indoors or are away from dust and dirt. Keeping the cars under covers will help to a great extent.

2. Use the AC drainage water or such other water to wash the car, so you are sort of recycling the water


agreed

My thoughts captured inline!

[honeybee]

@blackasta, the thouhts about bathing every day (rather, not bathing every day) were in a lighter vein.

Anyways, I think if we are serious about conserving water, the best option is to think of recycling and harvesting the water that we consume, instead of trying to save a bucket of water here and there. It would amount to cost cutting that doesn't give you any benefits in the long run. On the other hand if we were to go for water harvesting and recycling, it would certainly be better for everyone around.