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This may sound crazy...

5K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  lyonsroar 
#1 ·
Has anyone used like a garden sprayer (for like weed killer, etc) and filled it with distilled water and then used it to spray the car down after a thorough rising as a way to get a spot free rinse? My idea would be buy distilled water (or maybe it has to be deionized which would suck cause it's expensive) and use the sprayer only for water. It would seem that the spray would be similar to spot free rinses in autowashes.

Tell me how nuts this is and why it won't work. Because if you don't, I might just go waste my money to find out.
 
#6 ·
#10 ·
I don't know; haven't look it up yet but I have the chance to get a free never used one.

Are you wanting this because you don't want to dry the car? If you're drying the car off, paying anything to achieve 'pure' rinse water is a waste.

When I wash in the driveway, I remove the spray nozzle from the hose and let the water run freely over the entire car. The stream of water takes most of the standing water with it, so there's very little water left on the car itself. Cuts drying time way down.

After towel drying, I use the leaf blower to get the water out of all the seams & joints, then do a final wipedown. This prevents hard water deposits from accumulating in the hard-to-reach areas. A tip for the blower: I place a used dryer sheet over the air intake grille to prevent anything from being sucked in and blown onto the car.
Ya, I am trying to avoid drying the damn thing. I had drying it. I've got a bunch of large microfiber towels and they seem to be good for drying one door and then they start pushing the water around. I also never seem to be able to get to all places before some water has started to dry (I wash in the shade in the evening). I'm sure it's my technique but I'm blaming the towels for now, heh.

I've tried just using the hose to sheet it off and it doesn't work at all for me (next time though I am going to try a slower flow rate and see if that helps). Just seems to get more water on it and my driveway is even slightly sloped.

As for the leaf blower, I've thought about that too. Pretty cheap investment and I may look back to it. I have a HB and the most frustrating part is that water gets underneath the high brake light and then leaks out for the next 10 minutes, ruining the dry job on the hatch.

I don't know if I'll go through with any of this; just wanted to start up some discussion and see if anyone has tried it before me.
 
#9 ·
Are you wanting this because you don't want to dry the car? If you're drying the car off, paying anything to achieve 'pure' rinse water is a waste.

When I wash in the driveway, I remove the spray nozzle from the hose and let the water run freely over the entire car. The stream of water takes most of the standing water with it, so there's very little water left on the car itself. Cuts drying time way down.

After towel drying, I use the leaf blower to get the water out of all the seams & joints, then do a final wipedown. This prevents hard water deposits from accumulating in the hard-to-reach areas. A tip for the blower: I place a used dryer sheet over the air intake grille to prevent anything from being sucked in and blown onto the car.
 
#13 ·
When I wash in the driveway, I remove the spray nozzle from the hose and let the water run freely over the entire car. The stream of water takes most of the standing water with it, so there's very little water left on the car itself. Cuts drying time way down.
This.

You watch any professional detailer and they will do the exact same thing.
 
#11 ·
I use a air compressor also to blow water out of the seams but when i;m drying I use the Absorber synthetic chamois in one hand to suck up most of the water and remove spots then I go over the same area with a microfiber towel in the other. It even works on getting the water spots off of windows and I haven't used any window cleaner in weeks after the main wash and just wipe the windows off using both items. Been working great so far.
 
#14 ·
Drying is extremely easy....

Sheet the water off the car as mentioned by removing the sprayer.

BLOT dry the car with something like this:



Blot drying is MUCH safer for the paint, as you are not dragging a towel or shammy across the paint. With "the absorber" it will not trap any dirt or debris, so if any dirt gets onto the car while youre drying, you will be smearing it across the paint if you wipe instead of blot.


At that point, the car is 95% dry... Spray some quick detailer over each panel, and wipe dry with a microfiber, and its spotless.

Drying takes a while to do, if you can pull the car into the shade while you're drying, it makes life a lot easier..
 
#21 ·
What is so dangerous about it?
It slides right across clean, wetted, paint like a wet bar of soap.
Have you ever used one?

You are doing it to a just washed car, there should be no loose debris that can get picked up and scratch the paint.

Towels, microfibers, and traditional chamois are worse at holding onto particulate debris, if that is the concern.

I first saw them at a high-end auto painter, that guy swore by them and I doubt he is a fan of ruining his own work.
 
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