Car washing Water softeners

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
Loz, we have very hard water in our area and its a constant bug bear, so if anyone can test it and prove it does work, I will be up for that like a shot.
 

safrane

Member
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16,746
Washed my 4200 with Vittal mineral water ...OK I was in the town and it does come out of the taps in the street...but no white marks!
 

Peter

New Member
Messages
168
That looks just like the water filter connected to our fridge. Except we pay £6 for them.
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
Washed my 4200 with Vittal mineral water ...OK I was in the town and it does come out of the taps in the street...but no white marks!

I must have lived in the country too long...Vittal by tap on the streets......Really..
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,746
Andy,

Drove to Vittal in France on my way to Colmar 2 years ago...the Vittal water is free from the side of the street, just put your empty bottle under the tap and fill em up. I did get some funny looks from the locals and Sophie hid herself in shame...nice finish though! and it is a special car.
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
Ah, now that explains it.......for a min there I though you had it on the streets of Bristol....
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Just raising this thread from the dead. We have pretty hard water here and it is a nightmare to wash, rinse, dry and polish the car without getting any water spots. Has anyone used anything like these in-line water hose filters to get 0ppm and thus alleviating this painful issue?
 

highlander

Member
Messages
5,214
Luckily I live in soft water area so not a problem but rather than add to your water supply, I would look to take away. Fit an RO or HMA filter to your water supply and store in a large container, a small in line pump will do the jet wash bit for you. Added benefit, HMA filtered water makes the BEST coffee!
 

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
The best advice I had one this was from my detailer. Wash and dry as usual (two buckets etc) and when dry go over with quick detailer. It finishes it off a treat, no water spots.
 

jayblue

Member
Messages
452
Just raising this thread from the dead. We have pretty hard water here and it is a nightmare to wash, rinse, dry and polish the car without getting any water spots. Has anyone used anything like these in-line water hose filters to get 0ppm and thus alleviating this painful issue?

I use pure water to wash my car. It's great, once you have washed the car with your chosen car shampoo just use a hose pipe with a pure water supply to rinse and leave the car to dry. No spots, no drying, no fuss.

I use an RO and a De ionising resin to get the water pure.
 

RobinD

New Member
Messages
84
We live in a very hard water area and have used Raceglaze for a while, it really does work, yes you have to refill which can be done via courier (we are lucky as they are based in Stamford)
 

VMSRTI

Member
Messages
1,704
The best advice I had one this was from my detailer. Wash and dry as usual (two buckets etc) and when dry go over with quick detailer. It finishes it off a treat, no water spots.

Agree. Although if there is no sun out and I can dry it before it dries itself, I don't usually get any marks from the water.
 

Slowly

Junior Member
Messages
327
Just raising this thread from the dead. We have pretty hard water here and it is a nightmare to wash, rinse, dry and polish the car without getting any water spots. Has anyone used anything like these in-line water hose filters to get 0ppm and thus alleviating this painful issue?

Originally looking for the long poles/brushes to clean windows I discovered the "pure water" systems which many of the commercial window cleaners use and, especially as we are in a very hard water area (near Safrane), got one of these http://www.windowcleancentre.co.uk/cleaning-products/Pure-Water-Kits/HydroPower-Di12-Kit.aspx [our house is fairly tall and I couldn't justify the cost of carbon fibre poles, so went for aluminium - my puny frame can only just handle them on full 9m] - anyway, today I decided to try the water for washing the [Black/NC] GS.
Amazing! I used the brush head with the water coming out of it for the car windows but didn't touch the paintwork, just watered that a fair bit from the brush head before using a microfibre mitt with the same deionised water in a bucket with a detergent / wax mix, then washing the whole lot off with the same deionised water sprayed from the brush head and wondered about drying it but decided against - no marks at all.

I'm certainly not a detailer but was very pleased with the lack of water marks and if you can do the man-maths to save on window cleaning and, incidentally provide <1ppm water for the Maserati....
 

voicey

Member
Messages
660
Originally looking for the long poles/brushes to clean windows I discovered the "pure water" systems which many of the commercial window cleaners use and, especially as we are in a very hard water area (near Safrane), got one of these http://www.windowcleancentre.co.uk/cleaning-products/Pure-Water-Kits/HydroPower-Di12-Kit.aspx [our house is fairly tall and I couldn't justify the cost of carbon fibre poles, so went for aluminium - my puny frame can only just handle them on full 9m] - anyway, today I decided to try the water for washing the [Black/NC] GS.
Amazing! I used the brush head with the water coming out of it for the car windows but didn't touch the paintwork, just watered that a fair bit from the brush head before using a microfibre mitt with the same deionised water in a bucket with a detergent / wax mix, then washing the whole lot off with the same deionised water sprayed from the brush head and wondered about drying it but decided against - no marks at all.

I'm certainly not a detailer but was very pleased with the lack of water marks and if you can do the man-maths to save on window cleaning and, incidentally provide <1ppm water for the Maserati....

I use water from a commercial window cleaning filter to rinse everything from cars to wine glasses. You can buy them used for super cheap on eBay - search "window cleaning vessel". You will then need to buy the stuff that goes in it but it's easily available - just search "window cleaning resin".

The resin comes in big bags so if you can get a few people to chip in together you could be up and running for £50...
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
Thankfully we live in a very soft water area, zero scale buildup, so don't suffer from any dried deposits on cars, and two of our cars are black too!
 

Sommi

Member
Messages
430
I have a water softener system at home. So i get soft water to jet wash the car. I also use distilled water from the clothes dryer for finishing mixed with 10% detailers. Great results!
 

Slowly

Junior Member
Messages
327
I use water from a commercial window cleaning filter to rinse everything from cars to wine glasses. You can buy them used for super cheap on eBay - search "window cleaning vessel". You will then need to buy the stuff that goes in it but it's easily available - just search "window cleaning resin".

The resin comes in big bags so if you can get a few people to chip in together you could be up and running for £50...

Without having to clean the windows!