How to Dilute Citrus Pre-Wash Without Losing Your Mind (Or Blowing Up Your Foam Lance)
There are several thrilling ways to describe watering down your favourite car-cleaning potion. The three most common methods, apparently, are: quoting a dilution ratio, giving a percentage, or doing a 1-litre example like a recipe (e.g. "200ml of product, 800ml of water," garnish with a slice of lemon).
Today, since I'm sure you woke up desperate to do maths with your morning coffee, we're following up on our video "Dilution Ratios – What Are They?" by taking a closer look at how to work out a ratio correctly, Clarkson-style.
If you've ever stared at a ratio on a bottle and felt your eyes glaze over, you're not alone. 1:8? 1:4? 10:1? It can look more like a Wi-Fi password than an instruction.
Information on this is oddly hard to find, and when you do find it, it's often as wrong as putting pineapple on a pizza. Sure, there are tons of online "dilution calculators" that promise to do the thinking for you, but trust me, many of them are about as accurate as a politician's promise. In other words, not very.
So, to clear things up and to ensure you don't create either a uselessly weak cleaner or a mixture that could dissolve the Eiffel Tower, let's use our Citrus Pre-Wash as an example. The label says its dilution ratio is 1:8. Great. But what does that mean in practice?
What is a ratio, then? In simple terms, a ratio is just a fancy way of telling you how much product to mix with how much water. They could just say "use one part product for every eight parts water" – which is literally all 1:8 means – but that would be too straightforward, wouldn't it? Instead, we get a cryptic pair of numbers with a colon.
1:8 means 1 part product to 8 parts water. Easy, right? Actually, yes. Even I can figure that out, and I once counted zero O-levels in mathematics.
Right. Here's how to work it out without throwing your bottle out the window.
Step 1: Add the ratio numbers together
This is the bit where you pretend you're good at maths. For 1:8, take 1 + 8. I'll wait while you find a calculator. Got it? 1 + 8 = 9. This magical number 9 represents the total parts when you combine the product and the water.
Step 2: Know your container size
Next, you need the size of the container you're using. Most foam lance bottles or spray bottles hold around 1 litre. Why 1 litre? Because we went metric in 1965 and it's a nice round number. Also, 1 litre of anything is about what I spill on myself while trying to use it.
1 litre = 1000 millilitres.
Step 3: Calculate the product amount (the 1 part)
Take your total container volume – let's use 1000ml – and divide it by that total parts number we got earlier (which was 9). So, 1000 divided by 9 is roughly 111ml. That means 111ml is the amount of Citrus Pre-Wash concentrate you need.
Clarkson commentary: 111ml of product, really? Not 110, not 112? No, it must be 111 on the dot. If you're as OCD as a German engineer, you'll measure exactly 111ml. If you're more like me, you'll slosh in roughly "a bit over 100ml" and call it a day.
Step 4: Calculate the water amount (the 8 parts)
Now for the water. Subtract the 111ml of product from the total 1000ml volume. 1000ml minus 111ml is 889ml of water. That’s the rest of your mix.
Think of it this way: if your whole bottle is full, only a small fraction of it (111ml) is the actual cleaner, and the rest (889ml) is water to dilute it. Science, eh?
Step 5: Mix it together
Finally, pour your 111ml of product and 889ml of water into your bottle. Try not to spill it on your shoes like I did. Give it a good shake – firmly, like it’s a Polaroid picture – and there you go. You've got your perfectly diluted Citrus Pre-Wash, ready to unleash upon the grime of your car.
Just remember: 1 part product, 8 parts water, and zero parts nonsense. If I can manage this without calling for an engineering degree, so can you. And if all else fails, do what I do: find someone else (perhaps James May) to mix it for you while you supervise with a cup of tea in hand.
How Not to Overdo It With Car Cleaning Products (Yes, You Can Use Too Much)
Let’s clear something up before you go mad with the trigger bottle. More product does not mean better results. This isn’t steak. It’s chemistry.
Take spray-on sealants, for example. Many of them contain silicone. Lovely stuff when used properly. But treat it like salad dressing – a light drizzle is perfect, but pour the bottle on and you’re in for a slippery, blotchy nightmare. Apply too much and you get silicone spotting. Which, in layman's terms, means more faffing about later trying to clean up your cleaning.
Now, to be fair, most excess residue can be wiped off with a bit of detailer. No drama there. But there are tougher products out there – not all of them are gentle little pH neutral angels. Some are more aggressive. Alkaline cleaners, for instance. Brilliant on lacquered wheels. Like a caffeine shot for brake dust. But if your wheels aren’t lacquered and you go in too strong, you're basically inviting trouble to tea.
So, here’s a rough guide:
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If the product contains silicone or isn’t pH neutral, stick to the dilution advice. Not close. Bang on.
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If it is pH neutral, you’ve got a bit more wiggle room. A slightly stronger mix might even help. Just don’t start free-pouring like you’re behind the bar at a hen party.
Should You Stick to the Manufacturer’s Dilution Ratio?
Yes. In most cases, absolutely. The suggested ratios aren’t made up by a chimp on a sugar rush. They’re there to balance performance with value. You don’t need to bust out the lab equipment, but try to keep within the ballpark.
Sure, there’s a bit of flexibility here and there. But don’t treat that as a green light to make it up as you go. Know what you’re using, know what it does, and your results will thank you. Plus, you’ll get more mileage out of your gear. Which, let’s be honest, means more money left for beer and tyres.
