20 May 2006

Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash

One of the perks I was looking forward to when I moved earlier this year was the free car washing area available for tenants. In addition to being able to wash my car more often, I happily envisioned being able to rinse the salt, dust, or pollen off my R32 as the mood suited me, without having to do a full wash. Much to my disappointment I was visually reminded of the annoying existence of hard water. I'd forgotten this little tid bit because for the past 2-3 years I'd been forced to use DIY places, i.e. Flagship. Hand wash, only, please!

Preventing spots is easy enough, all I needed to do is hand dry the car. This is no biggie. I hand dry the R32 whenever it's washed. This didn't solve the problem when I wanted just a rinse, though. Fortuitously, I saw a fellow tennant using Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash, something I'd seen in stores but never taken a close look at. For those that haven't seen the ads, this system is simply a device, with a soap reservoir and hard-water filter, that screws on to the end of a hose and is supposed to make hand drying unnecessary and spot-free. Anywhoo, I promptly went out and bought this thing simply for the filter--I'd read some things that made me extremely reluctant to use the provided soap. I downloaded the official manual and FAQ if you'd like more detail.

Anywhoo, the filter certainly worked--no more spots! The drawback, though, was that the water pressure when using the filter is fairly minuscule. It took me some time to rinse off the R32. But wouldn't you know, I bought this thing four months ago and have only used the darn thing once. A day or so after I picked it up the hose broke in half so it's impossible to screw on a nozzle.

2 comments:

Stargazer (original profile) said...

When I bought mine, I started to use the soap but quickly found out that I didn't like it. I bought extra filters, but you're right, it takes a long time to rinse.

Have you ever tried the California Water Blade? I've been using it for years now and it's the fastest way to dry the car without getting spots. I use it to get the upper parts and then I don't worry too much about the rest because if there are spots it's not that noticeable. But the water blade with a micro-fiber cloth works really well.

r32argent said...

Yup, I have one but I haven't used it for a while. I guess I'm a little worried about the possibility of having one moment of forgetfullness and causing a scratch because I fogot to make sure the blade was clean.