There has been a lot of people buying that Mr. Clean Autodry thing and if it works for ya great. But for most people, including myself, there are certain things with it that I can't deal with such as the oily film it leaves on the car, the fogging up of windows due to the film, the very low pressure rinse, and filters lasting a couple washes.

Here is my solution to it. I have been talking about doing this in most the Mr Clean threads and finally went and did it to show people how. Before anyone jumps on my case and says this isn't a true spot free wash, I know. The only way to get a true spot free rinse is with a reverse osmoses deionizer but most of us don't have the $400-$800 to drop on one. My way will filter water as good as any other filter and a lot better than the Mr Clean one at a fraction of the cost.

Here is all it takes and can all be purchased at Home Depot. The Filter unit itself was $14.97, actual filters were $10.97 for 2, and about $6 in fittings to make it attach right to the hose.

The filter cartridges are a activated carbon lined weave of sorts. Filters down to 1-5 microns and lasts about 15,000 gallons. It is made for a whole house so just washing cars it will be good for all summer. You can get less efficient cartridges for a little less or get one that filters down to .5 micron for $40 each.

The other thing I picked up is a 1 gallon pump sprayer for $10. I fill this with actuall deionized water which is less than $1/gallon at most grocery stores or about $.30 a gallon if you have your own 5 gallon jug. After I finish washing my car I rinse the whole car with the sprayer. A gallon is a little more than I need to do my whole car. In fact I did my car and cleaned my motor on a gallon tonight. By spraying the car down with the deionized water after washing it displaces any water on the car with "spot free" water. I then dry my car with my California Water Blade and hooray, no spots.

So for about $40 I have a filter system that will wash cars all summer if not longer without having to replace filters, and will filter better than the Mr Clean setup.

 

nice...

how about some pics of the finish?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid Racer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice...

how about some pics of the finish?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I will have some tommorrow. I waited till late to wash the car to make sure there was no evaporation like I always do and it is dark outside now. Doing a poker run with a bunch of friends so hopefully will have lots of pics and vid tommorrow evening from the event. Should be nice since it is going to be sunny. We are heading out at 6am for it.

 

i guess thats cool , but all in all if its not 100 spot free it aint worth it , you still have to go over the car with a towel....

 

Very cool idea, of course, some more picture of the experment would be helpful.

My house happens to have one of the water filter thing installed, but a much bigger set.

I wash my car every two years, most of the time i wash both of my car at the same time, i never get water spots. Shade+fast hand, i guess

anyway, let me try when it stop raining.

and by the way, thank you for testing this for the love of honda

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hella_JDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i guess thats cool , but all in all if its not 100 spot free it aint worth it , you still have to go over the car with a towel....</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, but it still removes about 98% of all sediment from the water. Will produce almost no spots at all. Besides, even with a true spot free wash you should still dry your car. Impurities in the air and things such as pollen will get attracted to the drops of water and then dry onto your car.

And instead of a towel I use a water blade. Less chance of scratching and seems to work better and easier.

 

....jeez just dry the car off already We spend so much time and effort in this country figuring out ways to become lazier and lazier. Drying off car = "semi"-exercise. Why does everyone wonder why we are such fat bastards?

 

water blades is all you need for a spot free rinse.

I got a Wal Mart Rota type for 9 bucks.....best thing I've bought for my car

 

But the water blade doesn't get all the water. I use it every time but there are always places I can't get to. Filtering the water just helps insure a spot free result. And more pure water insures a better wash as soap will work better and stay sudsier longer.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">water blades is all you need for a spot free rinse.

I got a Wal Mart Rota type for 9 bucks.....best thing I've bought for my car </TD></TR></TABLE>

Walmart here I come...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TwistedSI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">But the water blade doesn't get all the water. I use it every time but there are always places I can't get to. Filtering the water just helps insure a spot free result. And more pure water insures a better wash as soap will work better and stay sudsier longer.</TD></TR></TABLE>

true....around creases, mirrors, etc....I just water blade it in 1 minute, and drive. My car wouldn't look any better/worse with/without water spots anyways

 

Patiently waiting for pics...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxagogo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">....jeez just dry the car off already We spend so much time and effort in this country figuring out ways to become lazier and lazier. Drying off car = "semi"-exercise. Why does everyone wonder why we are such fat bastards? </TD></TR></TABLE>


you can't "Just dry it" when you live in the south. Hell, it's hard enough washing the soap off your car before it dries out on your paint .
Plus, my water is impure like a ****, so a filtered water system (WITH PRESSURE!!) would be awesome for me

Though, i may throw an R/O Deonizer unit, but that would require a larger reservoir since the R/O / Deionizer / UV system take awhile to purify...

 

ive used the mr clean system for a while now and I havent noticed any recidue left on my car.

 

Please keep us updated, sounds like a great ideal!

 

props to you for finding a better way
I was about to buy that mr. clean auto wash, but looks like I might just do it your way
thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sam P 27 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Walmart here I come...</TD></TR></TABLE>

same here!
nice tutorial (kinda?)

 

good idea maybe ill try it out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">water blades is all you need for a spot free rinse.

I got a Wal Mart Rota type for 9 bucks.....best thing I've bought for my car </TD></TR></TABLE>

Definately. When I washed my crx I used the regular water/soap deal and used the blade thing and it looked cleaner than if I had spent 10-15 minutes going around the drying with a towel.

Very thorough write up dude I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will find this helpful.

 

What about the Mobile 1? did it help on the spot free wash?

Great writeup
I then dry my car with my California Water Blade and hooray, no spots.

You did this for a spot free wash, but you used the blade to dry
I thought the whole point of the autodry was to wash and let it dry without wiping it down.
when i picked up the autodry, i thought of the same thing. I was going to buy something similar at home depot, and attach it to my front faucet (hard piping). put a *** on it. one little turn and im on my way to rinsing my car

Now if i wanted a no spot car wash plus the work of drying it (like you did with the blade) i could've done the same as i normally do with my chami.

The autodry works great. but i think half of the job relies in the soap. When i first applied the soap from autodry on my car.. the water was flat.. it wasnt beaded up like normal dish soap. So to my knowledge, any car wash soap + basic filter water would just cause no spot auto dry.

I washed my car with auto dry, around 5pm and the sun was almost setting. Worked on my friend's evo, and 20mins later, checked out the car and it was perfectly spot free and dryed.

 

can we get a detailed parts list please. i wanna do this.

you say you fill the sprayer bottle up with deionized water you get from the store? then whats the point of buying the filter? to re-filter the filtered water? with all the stuff you bought, couldnt you just hook it up to a hose and rinse? i was confused when you threw the supermarket deionized water in there.

 

Interesting...

 

and of course, usually a nicely waxed car... Water will flow off smoothly, leaving you almost a complete sPotless dry car. Always rinse with the water gliding slowly through your car, and not spraying it down.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by iam7head &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Very cool idea, of course, some more picture of the experment would be helpful.


I wash my car every two years, most of the time i wash both of my car at the same time, i never get water spots. Shade+fast hand, i guess
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did you say you only wash your car only once every two years? If so maybe its just late and I am reading it incorrectly over and over again

for the write up man

 

aaa the joys of not haveing a nice paint job, id go crazy if i had to do all this **** you guys do