Another Car Washing Question

I am trying to come up with a better way to wash my car. One thing that appeals to me is the idea of a deionized rinse water to eliminate the drying required. I need to wash my car several times a week to keep it in best form. I looked at the various deionizing products, but the cost seems to be out of line for the amount of water you get and my water is fairly hard. So I have a crazy idea. I was thinking of using RO water from my sink. I need to get an RO system for drinking water and GE makes a nice tankless unit. I was thinking of getting one of those hand pump up garden spray bottles you can buy at Lowe's and use that for the final rinse. Anyone tried this? Any other thoughts? Thanks in advance,

I think the garden sprayer is going to mist the water too much for a final rinse and you'll have millions of tiny droplets to dry up. Car cleaning gurus recommend a final rinse of water that sheets over the car, which leaves the least amount of droplets. Like when you let water gently pour over the car straight out of a hose with no nozzle. The few droplets that will be left behind are also larger and easy to dry up. Sorry... I know that doesn't really help you much in your softer water creative quest.

Good point.

I bought the Mr. Clean system and am not very impressed. The glass especially did not respond well and did have spots. Also, in the door jam and other more hidden areas I never got enough good water in there to make the system work. The other problem is me after more decades than I want to admit of hand washing and drying my cars I cannot keep my towel off the car.....I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks. If you use a towel of any kind on the car after using this water it basically smears streaks on everything.

I was married to my towel until I got a leaf blower. Now I never touch the car or wheels after washing and the drying process take less then 5 minutes.

I do the same thing. After washing the car I use my leaf blower to basically dry off the car. You would still need a small towel for a complete dry, but it is still better than the old fashion towel dry and faster.

Give Optimum No Rinse a try as well. Works very well for limited areas of water. Other than that, most use a two bucket method, one for the soap, another to rinse the mitt of debris. Use a grit guard, and only quality sheepskin mitts. Dry with leaf blower as long as the area is fuly wet. On the end of my Toro, I installed a PVC reducer with some Armorflex HVAC rubber insulation just in case it gets too close or bumps an area. Follow with a good WW MF towel. Then, check your paint for surface debris that did not get removed. If it needs to be clayed, use the ultra-fine versions. Regards, Deanski

Left blower would work well or if you want to just use detailing tools, a clean Cali water blade is hard to beat. Just need a towel to run over the car and pick up the 5% left behind. Just make sure the water blade is free of dirt or it can scratch the paint. Personally I just keep it clean and have used it on multiple black cars before with no scratches.

Yes water blades are nice, but all it takes is one very small amount of debris, and you have marring all over. Even if it's rinsed after every pass, you run the risk of knocking something loose that was not removed during a wash or has to be removed via clay and there you have the marring. Seen this often. As soft and plyable these blades are, it's always that risk that you'll knock-off or pick-up something. Even though these are softer than toweling, I stay away from these. Towels also can P/U debris and have to be inspected after each pass. DO NOT use an air compressor unless you have dryers inline that can support painting automotive finishes. The oils from the compressor crankcase are always atomized into the air so you end up with an oil film that may be hard to see, but if you try to apply a sealant, it will streak like mad. Wax will not be as effected as most are compatable with glazes that contain oils and most waxes have oils in them anyway. Porsche paint is very soft, so take as much care in trying to lift-off dirt. Another item for washing I use is a foam gun. Soap goes in the container and with the water supply attached, I can dispense a small or large amount of foam on the finish which helps loosen and lift-off debris. Several websites have these and they work very well. Always use seperate mitts for finish locations. I have one for upper body, one for lower body and another mitt for just wheels. The upper mitt uses the two bucket setup. Lower mitt I have another bucket with grit-guard and rinse in running water, same for the wheel mitt. The better you finish is protected by wax or sealant, the easier it is for a soap to float-off dirt. If it's getting close for another application, take the time do wash it correctly and feel the finish if it needs to be clayed, then apply your LSP (Last Step Product). Future washing will be very easy. Regards, Deanski

Sorry to suggest such a low-tech, non-gadget solution to your problem. Just take the hose nozzle off for a final rinse of the car, letting the water sheet off smoothly. This removes 99% of the water spots from your clean car. What remains I can soak-up with a MF towel simply laid on the paint, no pressure applied, just drag off with the remaining few drops of water. You don't need special water, or blades, or a $70 leaf blower. You just use some Physics to save you $$$ and minimise contact with the paint, leaving you swirl free. Of course, if you're a 'Pro detailer' - you'd want to impress your client with a big loud gadget, and maybe save yourself 5 mins per car.

+1 for the Foam Gun - best way of getting suds onto the car with minimum contact, and max suds to float off grit and grime. You can see mine on the ground to the right here: Actually came from AutoGeek Saves you having a suds bucket as well, you just need the rinse bucket to rinse out your mitts.

I like the foam gun idea! Then use a mitt to get anything that remains after rinsing the foam off, which should get he loose stuff off. I was also going to use RejeX to make life easier. I was just hoping that I could do a final rinse with deionized or RO water and skip the drying step altogether. The faster I can get the process done the more likely I will have time to wash it and keep the salt spray and road dirt off the car.

Actually, I suds up a panel or area at a time, and use the mitt to wash, in a straight line only, no circles, and lift the cr@p off the car. Rinse mitt often to release grit, at least once per panel, maybe more if the car is dirty. Then rinse off the remaining suds and move to the next panel. Working top down on the car. When all panels are done - rinse off the whole car without hose nozzle. You'll have so little left to dry, takes just 2 mins for the whole car, and one MF towel. Wheels have their own mitt, and bucket - brake dust is nasty stuff!