I am obsessed with keeping my Mini/cars clean. I use some of the best products and am always looking to improve my car washing. Over the weekend i washed my Mini and for the first time since i can ever remember i noticed water spots this was on the Bonnet where I dried last and i was shocked to see the spots already forming.

my Towns water Parts per million always used to be around 225ppm when i last checked it 3 or so months ago and now its up to 390

I understand the importance of washing with pure water and 225 is nothing to joke about but 390?!? im going to have to do something about it. So, my question is, what are some good filters/de-ionizers/distillers out? i am seriously willing to pay the $$$ for a system that can get me to zero or near it. Any help and product suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

A distiller is the only way you're going to consistently get 0ppm whether you filter 1 gallon or 1000 gallons. But they are costly and not worth it for most people. Especially because once the water is processed, you need to store it, then pressurize it to use it.

Mr. Clean or CR Spotless from Costco are consumer/prosumer level products that will give you what you want for spot free rinses. There are inline filters you can purchase as well, but they all suffer from the same issues..frequent resin/crystal changes to keep the water at acceptable levels, and unless you have an inline TDS meter, you will be making compromises with the water...one day you'll have 10ppm, the next 30ppm for a few days, then 50 to 80...at what point do you decide to refresh the crystals? Whenever you decide you've gotten enough value out of your resin investment, lol. Atleast that's how it worked for me.

I don't know if you will get much out of using pure water in your wash bucket though. I can see using it in the rinse, but even with pure water, the soap and any contaminants in the soap water will leave spots on your paint regardless.


Richard

 

^wow that was a nice response.

I guess I never thought of this. At what point does it become a diminishing return? I mean the minute you drive your car out, dust/grime/crap gets all over it. I like keeping the car clean, but if it's your daily driver I don't know I would go to this length.

 

Octaneguy always gives good advice. He is a great resource on car detailing.

Another thing you can try is changing your wash shampoo to something like Optimum No Rinse where the wash really won't sit on the car long enough to leave spots. Another option is to use a quick detailer as a drying aid. It will aid in keeping water from sitting long enough to leave spots. It's not perfect, but helps.

 

Stock up on Wallymart distilled water less than a buck a gallon?

 

A unit like the CR Spotless is about the only way, besides distilled. It's an expensive unit to buy & maintain.

Rince the car with the hose running full, with out any nozzle. Start at the top of the car, & work your way down, this will help sheet the water off the car.

Then you must dry it, it might help to spray a little quick detailer on the towel, & the car as you dry. Again, work top to bottom. If your towel touches the ground, get a new one.

Due to your water, you will need to keep a good coat of wax on the car, & a cleaner wax, will help remove/cover the water spots. Just don't let the spots bake in the Sun, after a while, you will need a pro to use a rotary buffer on the car to remove them. Worst is when they get all over the glass!

 

Here are some SERIOUS water spots on a BMW I just worked on, courtesy of the neighbors sprinklers.



And as Stealth mentioned...


I had to buff the spots off the glass and on the paint, started with liberal amounts of vinegar, followed by compounding. Lots of work, and then I could begin polishing the paint to correct it.

Richard

 

Ive got one of the 18V Nomad washers. I suppose it could just be used for a final rinse, even if you use your house hose to wash with.

I have found that I use one tank (3 gal) of tap water to wash my MINI, and then I use one Gallon of distilled for a final rinse. As said above the stuff is like 0.87 per gallon



and you can pretty much wash it in your garage

 

Here is the order i do washing my Mini/Cars:
1)Tires
2)Wheels
3)Pre-Rinse
4) immediate foam cannon (let sit for 3-5 minutes)
5)Rinse
6)Foam Cannon (let sit for 2 or so minutes)
7)Wash car with high quality Mit using two bucket method with grit guard's
8)Rinse
9)Take nozzle off and and carefully hose car down from top to bottom with a laminar flow of water
10) Immediately spray entire car down with Adams quick detailer
11) Use large CLEAN Adams waffle towel constantly folding working from top to mid then switch to 2nd clean towl to dry mid down.
12)Dry Door Jams
13)Clean Windows
14)Dry Tires
15)Add Tire Dressing

This is my routine, I work as fast as I can but its amazing how quick the water spots set in. The Weather needs to break so i can get a really nice coat of polish/wax on her. The swirls the D@%* dealer put in are killing me, i dont even want to look at her in the sun...Funny how what looks "impressively" clean to 80% of the population is just plain unacceptable for me among a few other on here/ you Richard. Everytime i pull up somewhere someone is commenting how clean my Mini is and i just nod and say thanks when its not clean to me at all

Weighing my options and the cost's of things for now i am going to invest in the nomad washer that IWASHMYCAR posted (Thanks BTW! thats awesome!) and just stock up on some distilled water. Thanks guys! if there is anything in my list you question and want to comment that you think i should change im all ears Like i said in my original post im always looking to find ways on improving my washing skills.

I am looking at building a small custom home in the next few years and am going to have a garage with a "Car wash bay" factored in. Just so i can wash and detail my vehicles in the garage no matter the weather conditions. I think at that time ill invest in a distillery or some sort of water purification system. Octaneguy: if you dont mind me asking how much was your distillery or where did you get it? I know it sounds silly to need something like this for personal use but i am very **** about my washing and cars

 

Here's the Nomad video that basically launched the product for automotive use. All of the Nomad reps used this for their training...although it didn't start that way. I was one of their first California dealer and made the video for my customers.

Part 1


Part2

 

haha Thanks man, i was actually JUST watching your videos! you actually sold it for me, the vid came up as i was searching prices.

 

good to hear. you wont be disappointed. Once you are used to it, you get a really good system down for washing with the Nomad.

I have found it easy to start with the roof/windows...wash and rinse. then periodically hit it with some rinse sprays every now and then to keep the spots off. I suppose you could even dry the roof paint after washing that part. Then move to the whole front, then sides, and lastly rear, since its usually the dirtiest. By the time I hit the end of the rear, im usually out of tank water. Ill add a gallon or two of distilled and then do a final rinse, and clean the wheels, because will the car covered in distilled, it doesnt really start to spot at all.

Also i have found that its good to get the orings on the hose connections lubed up before connecting it all (i just use a little spit lol), as its possible to have some tiny spritzing leaks under the pressure of it.