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aerog
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Yes it's true. This week I succumbed to advertising, internet hype, and my own curiosity - and bought a Mr.Clean "AutoDry" kit at Sams Club.
Some background: I never worried about water, or car-drying before I moved to Florida seven years ago. The water I had in Virginia was such that I just left the car and it would dry ok without any big problems. When I was in the mountains I used the corner do-it-yourself car-wash stall and would drive away, never saw much spotting.
Florida on the other hand, has been horrible. Left to dry without towels or a water blade the car would be drenched in mineral deposits, sometimes hard enough that polishing was the only solution. This was true with a functioning water softener, and later they switched us over to a community-wide double reverse osmosis treatment system (tons better, but still not very good on the paint).
Over the years I've come up with my own solution to washing my cars. The MG gets a careful wash, tons of water, and to remove the bulk of the rinse water a gentle brush with a fresh California Water Blade (soft silicon). Remaining water is softly blotted and wiped away with a Fieldcrest Royal-Velvet towel. I've never had a problem with spots or streaks, or scratches - but it takes forever.
The Miata gets dried with "water", using a gentle stream from an open hose to sheet the bulk of the water off the car. Remaining spots are taken care of with the towel.
Even with diligent effort any spots left to "air dry" will leave a slight and annoying mineral deposit. A few years ago I toyed with trying to build a dedicated filtration system just for washing the car, using filtered water in tanks as a final rinse...
Enter "Mr.Clean": I washed the Miata using the Mr.Clean directions; in their system handle you fill a small reservoir with their "special" soap (probably similar to the other self-dry washes found in the autoparts store), and load up a good sized double-filter cartridge - then go to work!
The system isn't any different than the typical washing process: you pre-rinse the car (with unfiltered water by the way), then from top to bottom you soap up one section of the car at a time using the "soap" setting on the handle and a good quality sponge or mitt. When the car has been completely soaped up you rinse it down good - again with unfiltered water. When all the suds are finally gone you switch to the special "filter" position on the handle and are greeted with a very fine "fan" of spray. The instructions say to wash all the rinse water off the car using the filtered water spray (from top to bottom), then sit back and watch the car dry.
The Results? Well, I wouldn't exactly say the car "dried before my eyes" like the instructions say...but then again it's sopping-humid outside and the afternoon-sun was already well behind the trees. After 10 minutes the edges of the body panels were starting to show dry areas as the water was slowly sheeting off the car. Unwisely I decided to run around the block to dry the wheels (and brakes), and when I got back from that short 1.5-mile 30mph jaunt, the water went from a flat solid sheet to beads and spots!
I was kicking myself! I'd ruined it! Time to rewash!
Not so fast... I started looking at the paint really closely (the Miata is a very dark green), and as the beads were drying they weren't leaving even the slightest hint of a spot. None! So I left it - spotted with water beads and streaks that would normally require a good polishing and waxing for me. Amazingly there were almost no marks on the paint at all once it all dried up. I'll admit there were one or two small spots around the bottom, but overall the results were impressively good!
Comments
Pros: I think the brute-force advertising claim of "AutoDry" misses the point with this product. Although they mention it in the TV spots, the real charm is the filtered water...which was exactly what I was looking for in the first place. No spots - even after accidentally eliminating Mr.Clean's special "sheeting" action. My goal was to have a spot-free finish and I got it, without much effort. I'm happy with the results!
Cons: The obvious first detractor for this product is that you obviously need to keep replacing filters and buy their soap (although I'm going to try other soaps too). The handle is well made, but the spray-pattern for the non-filtered rinse is a hard narrow jet. I usually use a high volume flat fan pattern that pushes suds and dirt off in a controlled manner and don't care for the "jet" approach. With that in mind I think you could easily use their soap in a bucket in a "tradition" manner (or use another soap with experimentation), and your favorite nozzle on the hose - just switching to the Mr.Clean handle for the filtered water. That's probably what I'll do next.
Some background: I never worried about water, or car-drying before I moved to Florida seven years ago. The water I had in Virginia was such that I just left the car and it would dry ok without any big problems. When I was in the mountains I used the corner do-it-yourself car-wash stall and would drive away, never saw much spotting.
Florida on the other hand, has been horrible. Left to dry without towels or a water blade the car would be drenched in mineral deposits, sometimes hard enough that polishing was the only solution. This was true with a functioning water softener, and later they switched us over to a community-wide double reverse osmosis treatment system (tons better, but still not very good on the paint).
Over the years I've come up with my own solution to washing my cars. The MG gets a careful wash, tons of water, and to remove the bulk of the rinse water a gentle brush with a fresh California Water Blade (soft silicon). Remaining water is softly blotted and wiped away with a Fieldcrest Royal-Velvet towel. I've never had a problem with spots or streaks, or scratches - but it takes forever.
The Miata gets dried with "water", using a gentle stream from an open hose to sheet the bulk of the water off the car. Remaining spots are taken care of with the towel.
Even with diligent effort any spots left to "air dry" will leave a slight and annoying mineral deposit. A few years ago I toyed with trying to build a dedicated filtration system just for washing the car, using filtered water in tanks as a final rinse...
Enter "Mr.Clean": I washed the Miata using the Mr.Clean directions; in their system handle you fill a small reservoir with their "special" soap (probably similar to the other self-dry washes found in the autoparts store), and load up a good sized double-filter cartridge - then go to work!
The system isn't any different than the typical washing process: you pre-rinse the car (with unfiltered water by the way), then from top to bottom you soap up one section of the car at a time using the "soap" setting on the handle and a good quality sponge or mitt. When the car has been completely soaped up you rinse it down good - again with unfiltered water. When all the suds are finally gone you switch to the special "filter" position on the handle and are greeted with a very fine "fan" of spray. The instructions say to wash all the rinse water off the car using the filtered water spray (from top to bottom), then sit back and watch the car dry.
The Results? Well, I wouldn't exactly say the car "dried before my eyes" like the instructions say...but then again it's sopping-humid outside and the afternoon-sun was already well behind the trees. After 10 minutes the edges of the body panels were starting to show dry areas as the water was slowly sheeting off the car. Unwisely I decided to run around the block to dry the wheels (and brakes), and when I got back from that short 1.5-mile 30mph jaunt, the water went from a flat solid sheet to beads and spots!
I was kicking myself! I'd ruined it! Time to rewash!
Not so fast... I started looking at the paint really closely (the Miata is a very dark green), and as the beads were drying they weren't leaving even the slightest hint of a spot. None! So I left it - spotted with water beads and streaks that would normally require a good polishing and waxing for me. Amazingly there were almost no marks on the paint at all once it all dried up. I'll admit there were one or two small spots around the bottom, but overall the results were impressively good!
Comments
Pros: I think the brute-force advertising claim of "AutoDry" misses the point with this product. Although they mention it in the TV spots, the real charm is the filtered water...which was exactly what I was looking for in the first place. No spots - even after accidentally eliminating Mr.Clean's special "sheeting" action. My goal was to have a spot-free finish and I got it, without much effort. I'm happy with the results!
Cons: The obvious first detractor for this product is that you obviously need to keep replacing filters and buy their soap (although I'm going to try other soaps too). The handle is well made, but the spray-pattern for the non-filtered rinse is a hard narrow jet. I usually use a high volume flat fan pattern that pushes suds and dirt off in a controlled manner and don't care for the "jet" approach. With that in mind I think you could easily use their soap in a bucket in a "tradition" manner (or use another soap with experimentation), and your favorite nozzle on the hose - just switching to the Mr.Clean handle for the filtered water. That's probably what I'll do next.
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