Car Wash Problem Solved

[BruceK]

At our house we depend upon a well for our water needs.  Unfortunately the well water is very hard - full of calcium and other minerals - from the limestone aquifer.  This makes washing a car very difficult because not only does it not allow car wash soap to foam well but it is just about impossible to dry the clean car without leaving water spots.  I've tried natural chamois, artificial chamois, fluffy cotton bath towels, and microfiber towels.  But they all leave just a little coating of water on the surface that dries and leaves streaks or spots.

Then I got an idea to try creating my own "spot-free" rinse.  I bought a gallon of distilled water and put it a clean garden sprayer.  After I washed and rinsed off the car with well water to remove soap residue, I pumped up the garden sprayer and methodically sprayed each section of the car top to bottom. The distilled water successfully rinsed off the well water and dried without any spots at all.  Success!   

Next step was to go a bit bigger and automate the spraying by purchasing a battery-powered backpack garden sprayer and filling it with distilled water.  I just tried this new setup this afternoon after washing my wife's car.  I can rinse the whole car with distilled water in about five minutes - less time than I would've spent trying to dry it only to end up with spots and streaks.    Sure there is a recurring cost with this method but I only used a gallon of distilled water and that's just 98 cents.

[MPlayle]

Have you thought about collecting rain water and doing a basic filtering on it to use as the rinse instead of distilled water?

[BruceK]

I hadn't thought about that.  Sounds like a good idea.

[Willie_B]

I use my leaf blower to get most of the water off before hand drying.

[BruceK]

I've done the leaf blower thing too.  In this case a lot of the water on the car was blown off it but what remained had to be dried and that left steaks and spots.

[94touring]

The soap I use has wax infused in it, I've found it eliminates streaks over using regular car soap.  I'll wash a car, go for a drive to air dry it, then come back and wipe down by hand with spray detailer.

[ve9aa]

We use snow to rinse off our cars.

Works 9 months a year !

;-)

[Jims5543]

Just an FYI, I know it will take 100 washes to realize a profit. Except the entire process will be gantler on the car.

https://www.autogeek.net/waterfilterkit2.html


Also look into Ceramic coating the cars, I did my Bini and was amazed, I have a kit to do my E30 and someday I will have the time to do it. Right now 70+ work weeks keeps me on one task, running my business. Once the economy tanks, either next year or in 5 years, I will have time to finally do all the little projects I have on hold.

[BruceK]

Hmmmm.  I looked at similar filter/de-ionization setups on Amazon and other places for car washing but the general consensus of reviewers seemed to be the products worked well, but it wasn't too long before they needed expensive replacement filters or new media - sometimes as soon as after 4 washes.  I even looked at de-ionization units marketed to owners of large aquariums.  But they had the same problem of recurring expensive consumables. 

Ceramic coating sounds great.

[Jims5543]

In that case I would look into catching the rain water as suggested.  That would be your best bet.

The ceramic coating makes the car look like it was just waxed, all the time, when dirty not much more than a foam cannon and rinse and it looks like you just waxed it again.

I really need to do the E30, the process to apply it correctly takes all day.

- Wash with dishwashing detergent (Dawn)

- Claybar the car

- Prewax the car to remove any further imputies.

- Compound any scratches etc...

- Rub down entire car with rubbing alcohol

- apply ceramic coating in small 2'x2' areas.

- buff out multiple times after drying

- throw all materials away used to apply and buff (it will have glass in it)


When I did the Bini it took me all afternoon Saturday to do the wash, clay bar, prewax and compound, then on Sunday morning I did the rest.

Washing it after that made all the hard work worth it. I wish I had done the rims.