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.
I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I liked this picture so much I just had to post it here :o) It's just a close-up of the Aristos, but what I like so much is how the Reflex silver appears. I can't really describe it, but something about it just makes it go 'pop' in my mind. Maybe I'm just weird--or I drank too much soda.
I'd requested and received some free samples of Metallic Polish Wax and Glanz Wax from Einszett earlier and today was the day I decided to compare it to the Blackfire stuff I've been using recently. The R32 had been polished with Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish followed by four coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. This morning I washed and dried the car, and on the passenger side of my hood I first applied the Metallic Polish Wax, followed by the Glanz Wax. Unlike the acrylics I'd used before, Glanz Wax is a synthetic wax so it can not be layered. Adding another layer would merely remove and replace the previous coat. Anywhoo, the Einszett stuff was the easist to apply out of all the waxes/sealants I've tried, and personally I couldn't tell the difference between the left and right side of the hood. I found it a little difficult to accept the fact that in this case four coats of Blackfire equaled one coat of Glanz Wax.
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.
I found another review of the 2004 R32, originally published in Ride & Drive, in October 2004. One thing that makes this article different than most others is that this reviewer felt the front seats were uncomfortable due to excessive lumbar support. Other than that, this is another positive review of the 2004 R32. See the link on the right for more of the reviews I've collected. 
