Hi all,
I bought a Makita jetwash earlier this week and have yet to do a car wash with it. It has an in-line bottle for detergent. It seems a great little unit for £70. Makita, HW 101, unanimously good reviews and a trusted brand so I thought I would give it a go. So far I have just been using it to "damage" garden and house stuff I mean "clean" not damage.

So, when I use this detergent bottle with the detergent I bought (some kind of car shampoo), how much do I put in the bottle? Do I fill it and it just "lasts" for many washes, or do I fill it with a mix of water and detergent? Or do I just put a little bit in there?

Sorry to ask, i got really really bored of reading websites all telling me the same stuff about how to clean my car with a jetwash, but nothing about this particular topic. The worst thing about the Makita is the instructions, there is no mention of how to go about adding detergent.

What do you folks do with yours?

I learned the hardway years ago about too much power and paint and gave the roof of my lovely new GTV a number zero, i.e. it looked balder than it's owner (at the time).

Thanks
Mark

Hi,

Am not familiar with the model, but it should say on the side of the bottle what the dilution rates are.

The Karcher ones are usually "self mixing / diluting" in that it draws the shampoo through with the water as it flows. IN my experience, they can be quite aggressive shampoos, so i have always pre diluted them by at least 50% and only used them if i want to strip any of the existing paintwork protection i have on the car. Some of them can be a bit like truck wash - which is heavy detergent often used in the hand car washes for a tenner type thing.

Worst thing you can do is try some over diluted stuff first - if it doesnt shift anything, use a slightly stronger mix

You might be better trying to find a snow foam adapter and getting some snow foam. Its far less aggressive, loosens the dirt on the car, you wash that off with the pressure washer then wash as normal.

I do a bit of detailing so it also depends on the colour of your car. Mine is black, so it shows every swirl in the paint and is on the agenda to do some paint correction when we get a decent run of good weather.

Have fun. Never trust a skinny chef

Thanks Flintstones. I have yet to look in detail at the detergent bottle, but will do tomorrow and see if it offers any clue. I will certainly dilute it based on your comments as the car has just been polished and had a coat of G Tech C2V3.

I still have a little demon tweaks shampoo that I know could be used for snow foaming, but I'm not sure about the replacement 5lt I bought some months ago and haven't looked at it yet. I believe when I bought it I read that it is supposed to be kind to wax/polish etc, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it, but I wont go OTT with it and will definitely dilute.

Usually it rains every few days, esp when I have cleaned the car. I cleaned it last week, no rain yet. No reason to clean a car that is already clean