Washing with Hard Water?

K

koko_b_ware

New member
I normally wash my truck using city water, but the other day I decided to wash at home which uses a well. We have hard water, and use a water softner, but the hose outlet for washing doesn't cycle through the softner.



When washing, I noticed that I had to use double, or triple the amount of soap I would normally use just to get some suds. Also, the wash water didn't feel slippery like it normally would.



Anyone got any tips for washing using hard water? Its a pain in the *** since it can leave some nasty water spots if you miss a spot when drying.
 
Had the same problem I MOVED..:) but if you cant move and you dont mind spending a little money get a spot free water filter from detail king the spot free 100 works great its about $ 350 or just use the mr clean spot free water cleaner works good for the money....
 
koko_b_ware,



Unfortunately, I too have hard water. And when they "shock" the system, it gets even worse! I don't have the option of a water softener, so I've had to adapt and overcome.



Here are some things I do...

1) Use just slightly more soap. Keep in mind it is not the suds that clean or that are the most important. Lubrication is a key element, and car soaps I use (Gold Class and NXT) clean equally as well without as many suds.



2) Wash and dry in the shade! This is extremely important. As I wash a panel, I not only rinse it, but the ENTIRE car. This keeps it wet, and also cool so it doesn't dry as quick on its own.



3) If your hose is kept outside, run some water through it until the water coming out is cold. My hose sits in the sun, and the first minute or so of water is extremely hot. If I were to use this water, it would dry extremely quickly. I don't even rinse the car with it, let alone fill my wash bucket with it. Not to mention that it may contain even more minerals and gunk from just sitting in the hose for however long.



4) Dry very quickly. Master your drying technique. I personally use the sheeting method to rid the car of most water. Then a quickie with a waffle weave. Follow that with a leaf blower for cracks, handles, mirrors, TIRES, rims, wheel wells, etc. (my water will even spot tires, so they get blow dried). Then go around with the waffle weave again to get blown out water off the body panels. I seldom need to, but a QD with MF may be needed in spots if these steps weren't done quick enough. Or if you're so unfortunate to not have ANY shade to work in.



5) Own a white vehicle. They don't spot nearly as quick as a dark color!



I've been contemplating the Mr Clean thing, but have heard some bad reviews. If anyone has a good review of it, please post it. It gets exceptionally hot here in Louisiana, so any help in preventing spots easier than my current method would be appreciated.



Dave
 
I have the same problem. It is just impossible to dry fast enough not to get water spots. The best thing I've found so far is to (a) keep the car wet at all times (as mentioned earlier), (b) if it's hard enough to stain the glass, dry it first, and the big one (c) dry about 75% of it and then start in with WAUD over every inch of every panel. I use to just dry & then try to remove them with a QD, but the WAUD really does the trick!
 
There are two things to keep in mind about "hard" water and soap:



1) SUDS and bubbles DO NOT do the cleaning, the surficants in the soap do the work. Hard water simply cuts down on the suds, not the cleaning ability. There is no reason to think that your car will not get clean if you have less bubbles. Also, suds are usually caused by additives in the soap, usually coconut oil, which are only there because people THINK they need lots of suds. In fact, cars cleaned with low sudsing shampoos actually stay cleaner longer because of the lack of oils which cling to the surface.



I once used a no sudsing car wash, it was very weird using it as it was like washing with plain water BUT the car came out super clean and stayed cleaner longer.



2) The one bad thing about hard water is that it can more easily create water spots so you need to dry immediately or use a filter to filter out the minerals.
 
Like the rest of you guys, I too have hard water. I'd love to try out that water softener mentiond earlier in the thread but if it's anything like that stupid Mr. Clean thing, I'll pass. It takes way too much water pressure away to do any good. So far, the only remedie I have found is to either be completely out of the sun or use WAUD all over the place.
 
QEW solves my hard water woes. When I do a hose wash I have to work very quickly to avoid spotting. Gotta keep spraying down the side that faces the sun too.
 
Before we built the "new garage" I had to use hard water. Besides the previously mentioned tips, use compressed air to blow water out of the nooks and crannies.
 
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