Rays B4U Posted May 9, 2004 Report Share Posted May 9, 2004 I have been using the Mr. Clean AutoDry system on my Black SS for about the last 10 washes and love it....BUT....it's kind a pain in the keester to use, and I think it uses way too much soap. I think the most critical part of the system is the filtered water rinse. I don't see why we couldn't just put a filter on our hose and use it for the final rinse. Is anyone doing this? Google did a little research for me and came up with this filter, it claims: "to provide spot-free water for washing your car": Garden Hose Filters Garden Hose Filters Ray-->Always Looking For a Easier & Cheaper Way to Keep My Toy Clean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSminneapolis Posted May 9, 2004 Report Share Posted May 9, 2004 that would probably clean out the water better than the AutoDry system. i use RO water myself, works like a charm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdss Posted May 9, 2004 Report Share Posted May 9, 2004 I have just been rinsing with the auto dry and using my normal soap and water for the wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shopman1 Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Great idea - let us know how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakas187 Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 I think it uses way too much soap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshift Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 I never thought about a filter for the hose. Daymn.... Some smart people out here. WW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deezel Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Good idea Rays SS. You could probably put together a similar filter at home depot. The trick is finding the garden hose fittings for the filter housing. I haven't looked, but I'd guess you could find a suitable fitting. Being a chemist by training and a process engineer by trade, I know a little about water treatment. I agree that the water-softening filter is the key to spot-free drying. A good car wash soap and a homemade water softening filter should provide results similar to the autodry system. One point to note... the location of the filter and length of hose may affect performance. If you put the filter at the faucet and then a 50' hose to the driveway, it will take a little while for the filtered water to flush the hose out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rays B4U Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Good idea Rays SS. You could probably put together a similar filter at home depot. The trick is finding the garden hose fittings for the filter housing. I haven't looked, but I'd guess you could find a suitable fitting.Being a chemist by training and a process engineer by trade, I know a little about water treatment. I agree that the water-softening filter is the key to spot-free drying. A good car wash soap and a homemade water softening filter should provide results similar to the autodry system. One point to note... the location of the filter and length of hose may affect performance. If you put the filter at the faucet and then a 50' hose to the driveway, it will take a little while for the filtered water to flush the hose out. Yea, I thought about where the filter would be attached and having to purge the non-filtered water from the hose. I looked at some filters on the Internet and they have some called “Whole House” filters. If all the water for the house is filtered, then the filter would have to have a fairly good life span. If that’s the case, then why couldn’t you use the filtered water for washing the SS as well as rinsing it? One filter that I looked at had a 3-month life span, so it might last a lot longer if you only used it for washing the SS. If I can get the proper fittings I think I might give it a try. I sure hope it works, we have real hard water here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deezel Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Yes, that type of filter cartridge should last a long time if only used for truck washing - maybe a year. The filters are pretty cheap, too - just shop around (grainger, mcmaster-carr, etc.). If I were going to try this, I would hook up the filter before washing the truck to purge the hose during the wash. Then it should be all filtered water by the end of the wash. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rays B4U Posted May 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 Well, yesterday I bought the necessary filter and parts to make the system. But wouldn't you know it, it started raining and I haven't been able to test it yet! Probably the earliest I can try it will be this weekend. Will keep you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakas187 Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 Well i got tired of "Mr.clean" really fast imo it sucks,I didn't really like how it made the truck's finish feel so I found a new home for it the trash can and now i'm back to hand washing,and blow dryng the truck man blow dryng the truck OWNS "Mr.clean" (Thanks for the tip off guy's) After that a real quick wipe down with my absorber,and it leave's a spot free shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rays B4U Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Well I washed the SS with the filter system that I put together. As you can see from the pictures below, it was a FAILURE! The pictures are of the hood of my Black SS, the top of the cab was the same way. All of the vertical surfaces dried streak/spot free. The Filter System I used was the OmniFilter The filter that I used was the OmniFilter CB1 Filter Cartridge. I washed it in direct sunlight (no shade available) and it was about 65 degrees outside. The car wash soap I used was: Blue Coral High Foam Concentrate. Could be I need to buy the CB20 filter they have, it is suppose to filter a lot more stuff out, but it also costs about $30 compared to about $13 for the CB1. (maybe I got what I paid for!) I still might go buy the good filter and give it a try. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WisconsinSS Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 For what it is worth , I use my leaf blower to dry the truck after a wash and it really helps eliminate spots and streaks. I bought a small one made by Toro just for the job. I learned about this trick during my MC days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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