California Water Regulations

[SuperbShineDetail]

I'm curious as to how the rest of you hurdle all the strict water regulations. Although each city and county have their own regulations, ultimately the state does not allow any water runoff from vehicles to enter the storm drain.

I understand there are options such as rinseless and waterless washes, and I have no problem using them. However, sometimes those products just won't cut it with a seriously dirty car. How about engine bay or complete wheel cleaning? I can't see any profitable methods of cleaning your wheels or engine bay without a traditional hose. I also know there are options such as mats you roll the vehicle over so you can trap the nasty water, suck it up, and dispose of it to a safe area later, but seriously, who wants to do that?

As a new detailer trying to get a business going, I'm very interested in hearing what some of you detailers do to navigate these restrictions.

 

[GSKR]

With those water regulations is going to be tough.maybe buy a wash berm.A wash berm is a tube that sucks up waste water then its recovery is from a wet vac,but what do you do with all that water.Im not a fan of Rw washing or ww washing good luck investigating a remedy.

 

[vanev]

Several options.

- A cheap steam cleaner is great for both cleaning and blowing out cracks and crevices.
Good for engine cleaning as well.
Look into McCullloch 1385.

- Air Tools (Requires Air Compressor).
Air guns and The Tornador are pretty much a necessity for interiors.
They are also great for blowing out external cracks and crevices, and assisting with engine cleaning.

- Water sold by the gallon.
You can always purchase water at the grocery store by the gallon.
Yes it will cost you a few bucks, but you will have water.

- Trigger Spray Bottles filled with water.
Easy to over look, but a very useful way to have water on demand.
The trigger sprayers can displace decent water pressure when placed on jet setting.
You may be surprised how capable this approach is.

- Pump Gallon Sprayers.
I have find that the 2 gallon pump sprayers to be most useful.
Once the canister is compressed, you can get a good amount of working time , as well as good water pressure.

 

[JustJesus]

...

As a new detailer trying to get a business going in CA, I'm very interested in hearing what some of you detailers do to navigate these restrictions.

California guy here. I've had to deal with those issues.

So as a new detailer....have you identified your target clientele? I'm not a pro, but have seen/done enough to know there will be a difference between a daily driven soccer mom mini van, and a car guy's muscle car, exotic, etc. The latter will likely be less grimey overall (generally speaking). This will make it easier to do waterless or rinseless.

For engine bays, twice I've used a method similar to what Mike Phillips shows in the video as shown on this thread: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-videos/107033-how-clean-your-cars-engine-both-cosmetic-engine-detailing-engine-degreaser-water-detailing-new-video-series.html


For wheels, I've used a method similar to what they show on a youtube channel from a certain rag company. I haven't seen all of Autogeek's videos, so I'm not sure they have one that addresses that.

With the wheels I've done, i'll sometimes place some of my worst MF towels around the tire to soak up any soap, dirt, water, etc. If I want to keep the ground clean. If the area where I'm working, such as some crummy complex where there's all kinds of oil stains, dirt, etc, then I won't bother with the towels.

I'll do similar to a rinseless wash on the tires and wheels. The water gets nasty really fast, if you're not using a 2 bucket method. For the wheels I've done, it didn't matter. The owners just wanted a clean car. (Get to know your clients).

Of course, doing that isn't as efficient or cost effective. I'd much rather take a hose to them after spraying them with like Poorboy's World Spray and Rinse or Sonax.

Someone mentioned sprayers, spray bottles, and I've used that too. Sprayers, like garden sprayers, can go through water quite quickly, depending on how dirty the wheels/tires are.

For washing a complete car, I've gone ahead and bought a 26 gallon tank, a 12V water pump, and a smaller diameter hose. I'll drive down to a car wash supply store, and buy DI water for about 7 cents a gallon. The last car I did this way, an EVO 9, I used about 20 gallons to do a QUICK pre-rinse. I then did chemical decon, and followed up with a regular wash, and finally rinsed and dried. This car was due for a 2 step correction, so I only planned on doing ONE car with the water available to me in the tank.

If you plan on doing more than one wash a day with that small a tank, you might want to keep doing rinseless or waterless.

Another thing I've done with a couple of cars was to drive it down to the nearest coin-op. Do my wash and chemical decon there, and take it back to where I'm working on the car to finish it off (assuming paint correction here)

 

[SuperbShineDetail]

For wheels, I've used a method similar to what they show on a youtube channel from a certain rag company. I haven't seen all of Autogeek's videos, so I'm not sure they have one that addresses that.

What rag company/video?

 

[SuperbShineDetail]

California guy here. I've had to deal with those issues.

So as a new detailer....have you identified your target clientele? I'm not a pro, but have seen/done enough to know there will be a difference between a daily driven soccer mom mini van, and a car guy's muscle car, exotic, etc. The latter will likely be less grimey overall (generally speaking). This will make it easier to do waterless or rinseless.

For engine bays, twice I've used a method similar to what Mike Phillips shows in the video as shown on this thread: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-videos/107033-how-clean-your-cars-engine-both-cosmetic-engine-detailing-engine-degreaser-water-detailing-new-video-series.html


For wheels, I've used a method similar to what they show on a youtube channel from a certain rag company. I haven't seen all of Autogeek's videos, so I'm not sure they have one that addresses that.

With the wheels I've done, i'll sometimes place some of my worst MF towels around the tire to soak up any soap, dirt, water, etc. If I want to keep the ground clean. If the area where I'm working, such as some crummy complex where there's all kinds of oil stains, dirt, etc, then I won't bother with the towels.

I'll do similar to a rinseless wash on the tires and wheels. The water gets nasty really fast, if you're not using a 2 bucket method. For the wheels I've done, it didn't matter. The owners just wanted a clean car. (Get to know your clients).

Of course, doing that isn't as efficient or cost effective. I'd much rather take a hose to them after spraying them with like Poorboy's World Spray and Rinse or Sonax.

Someone mentioned sprayers, spray bottles, and I've used that too. Sprayers, like garden sprayers, can go through water quite quickly, depending on how dirty the wheels/tires are.

For washing a complete car, I've gone ahead and bought a 26 gallon tank, a 12V water pump, and a smaller diameter hose. I'll drive down to a car wash supply store, and buy DI water for about 7 cents a gallon. The last car I did this way, an EVO 9, I used about 20 gallons to do a QUICK pre-rinse. I then did chemical decon, and followed up with a regular wash, and finally rinsed and dried. This car was due for a 2 step correction, so I only planned on doing ONE car with the water available to me in the tank.

If you plan on doing more than one wash a day with that small a tank, you might want to keep doing rinseless or waterless.

Another thing I've done with a couple of cars was to drive it down to the nearest coin-op. Do my wash and chemical decon there, and take it back to where I'm working on the car to finish it off (assuming paint correction here)

Thanks for the great info.

I'll probably just have to resort to doing something similar to that video for engine detailing.

As for wheels I'm curious to what video you are referring to. I'm thinking of just starting on the wheels first, placing cheap rags around the wheel like you said, spraying down with meguairs wheel brightener, then using a bug sprayer filled with water to rinse. I can't imagine there being enough leftover water to make it to the storm drains.

I initially planned on hooking up to the customer's water, now I think I'll just use my own water in jugs and sprayers, but still use the customers power.

 

[JustJesus]

Thanks for the great info.

I'll probably just have to resort to doing something similar to that video for engine detailing.

As for wheels I'm curious to what video you are referring to. I'm thinking of just starting on the wheels first, placing cheap rags around the wheel like you said, spraying down with meguairs wheel brightener, then using a bug sprayer filled with water to rinse. I can't imagine there being enough leftover water to make it to the storm drains.

I initially planned on hooking up to the customer's water, now I think I'll just use my own water in jugs and sprayers, but still use the customers power.

You're welcome.

Keep in mind that Wheel Brightener is acid based (I think it is!). Not good for bare aluminum wheels, and maybe others. (read the labels carefully).

 

[SuperbShineDetail]

You're welcome.

Keep in mind that Wheel Brightener is acid based (I think it is!). Not good for bare aluminum wheels, and maybe others. (read the labels carefully).

Yeah you're right, but even if you do happen to use it on some aluminum wheels, you can polish it back to a lustrous shine with a good aluminum polish.

 

[JustJesus]

I got half way done with one before I was out of time. Good thing it was for my own car. And good thing I was planning on polishing them anyway.

I knew it would have that effect going in, just wanted to confirm

 

[Mantilgh]

I'll do something similar for wheels like above. Do the wheels last if you are rinseless washing.

I rinseless wash just about anything. I haven't done a muddy one yet, but many that haven't seen a wash in year.

I did these wheels the other day in the customers garage after doing the whole car first. Slung an old terry towel around the bottom, then sprayed them heavily with D114. Agitated with a couple of brushes, then rinsed with my wheel wash mitt dunked in my leftover rinseless bucket. Tires were cleaned at the same time, the same way.

They came out pretty good doing them this way. Not perfect, but very good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mantilgh]

Oh, and I personally would not use a strong acid wheel cleaner if you do not have the means of rinsing well. This is how wheels get messed up.

If the acid cleaner does not get rinsed out of areas around the hubs and center caps and off of the backside of the spokes, it can start to deteriorate the finish.

You could try neutralizing it with a "basic" cleaner, but I think a good rinse would still needed.

If I do a stronger cleaning with an APC type cleaner, I try to give the wheel a couple good swabbing rinses with water or my rinseless solution.

 

[SuperbShineDetail]

For anyone still interested, I've spoken with several people from several different agencies within California.

Each person I spoke with gave me essentially the same answer, which was "we don't handle that in this department, you need to speak with this other department."

The state told me it ultimately depends on first whether CA is in a drought. If the drought is lifted then it depends on your local county. He told me that he used to work for the county water division, and the action of a mobile detailer allowing wastewater to flow into the storm drains is not really regulated. He said that the mobile detailers were a concern for his department at one point but they decided that it was too difficult to track these businesses down, and they concluded to just issue a warning of "don't do it" with no real enforcement of regulations.

After speaking with the county environmental management division, I spoke with someone who said that essentially no water is allowed to go down the storm drains and that my options were to use a reclamation mat, waterless/rinseless product, or I could even somehow block the drains with sandbags or other means and let the used water evaporate (a good tip for this is to get a firehose, cap one end, fill with sand, cap the other end. I got this idea somewhere on these forums). He actually told me that even if his team were to catch one of us allowing too much wastewater to go down drains (highly unlikely) they would just issue us a warning (no fine).

In conclusion it seems that it really is just not an issue. Yes I assume there are some hefty fines out there if you were to excessively abuse the storm water quality of your town. But in reality, most car detailers are not going to use a ton of water to detail a car, and even if you do there is not really a whole lot of enforcement going on. In addition, I would say maybe half of the areas you are detailing vehicles at either have landscaping that the water would flow into (perfectly legal), or the wastewater would not even be significant enough to make it into a storm drain. With all this being said, each city or county may be different, so I would still contact them directly.

I may have been excessively thorough on finding some concrete answer regarding this, but there isn't really a concrete answer on it, and I don't want a lawsuit on my hands. So all in all, I wouldn't worry about it.

Side note: If any of you solo CA detailers are wondering if you need the CA Car Washing and Polishing Registration, you don't. I spoke with someone directly with that department and she told me you will need it (along with $150,000 surety bond) only if you plan on having any additional detailing help with your business (including a friend helping). Which again, is probably not strictly enforced in my opinion. But if you are solo, don't need it.

Good luck all.