Lesson learnt (I hope)

[Flynn]

It all very well reading about avoiding a particular problem but it's not until you experience it that you really learn your lesson.



I usually clean my cars at night. It may be dark and cold but that's when I get time to do it. Yesterday morning I managed to grab a couple ofdaylight hours to clean my Land Cruiser. So I start my usual cleaning routine and I very soon realise that "Rule 1 - Do not clean your car in direct sunlight" really is worth worrying about.



You see I live in a hard-water area and washing the car in the sun meant that water spots were appearing in a matter on seconds. I couldn't keep enough water on the car to avoid them whilst I cleaned the rest of the car.



It was hugely frustrating knowing that I was getting the dirt off but the finish was going to be awful because of all these water spots.



I usually complain about having to clean the car at night but perhaps it's for the best. OK, I can't see as well as in the day but I get a much better finish than doing it in the daylight and getting horrible water spots everywhere.

 

[Big Leegr]

A thought just popped into my head. (Yes, it hurt. ) If you were to use a water softener in the dispenser of a power washer (Thoroughly dissolved), and spray through that when rinsing, would that lessen the hard water spots?

Just wondering. (On topic, I feel your pain. )

 

[Flynn]

That's not a bad plan. We have a water softener for the house and my pressure washer has a feed for adding in soap and stuff. I'm sure a water softening solution would work.

 

[Suasexed]

I'm going to try that Flash car wash thingy and use the 'Auto Dry' function to make sure i don't get water spots, it basically de-ionizes (?!!) the water leaving a lovely spot free finish!

 

[White95Max]

My neighbor was rinsing his new black F150 in the direct sun 2 days ago. He had one of those hose filters hooked up to it. I've never actually seen him wash the truck, just spray it down with the hose. :nixweiss

 

[Bill D]

I have a deionizing filter, seems to do OK, but I now always wash and dry the car in sections, Takes a little getting used to and sometimes a little overspray on the area I just finished is unavoidable, but it sure seems to help me keep any spotting at bay.

 

[joerockt]

I have this same problem when washing...However, using a quick detailer while drying works for me...

 

[kompressornsc]

Are you rinsing while you're washing? If so, don't. I have very hard water and the only solution I've found (until I get an outside faucet hooked to my softener) is to let the soap and water dry until you're ready for a final rinse. The soap seems to keep the water from spotting so badly. I had always rinsed a few times while washing, but found this trick by accident one day when I didn't.

 

[Mikeyc]

Maybe you could try some kind of in line water softener like this:



http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_1000&L2=L2_1001&SKU=37244



This one is from Griot's Garage, but usually I can find products they sell on other websites for a bit cheaper.

 

[Flynn]

Are you rinsing while you're washing? If so, don't. I have very hard water and the only solution I've found (until I get an outside faucet hooked to my softener) is to let the soap and water dry until you're ready for a final rinse. The soap seems to keep the water from spotting so badly. I had always rinsed a few times while washing, but found this trick by accident one day when I didn't.

That's not a bad idea. The soap softens the water anyway and that'll help reduce the water spots.



I actually probably made the problem worse as I tried to keep the area wet and put so much water over it.

 

[White95Max]

Soap doesn't soften water. Hard water refers to dissolved minerals in the water. A soap can't magically make the minerals dissapear from the water. It will slightly lessen the concentration of minerals in the entire solution (water and soap), but you still have hard water.