My CR Spotless...

[usdm]

Approx. 10:30 am
Outside temp about 75 deggrees

Hoseline to outlet
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0866.JPG

hoseline to inlet
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0867.JPG

I went through a variety of nozzles to try and get the
right setup. Stick with the multiple spray pattern nozzles if you
can, otherwse, you will have to modulate the pressure that
comes out of the outlet garden hose by another means. One
method that seems to work is to time how long it takes to fill
up a one galon bucket. If you can modulate the flow on
your hose or nozzle to supply either 1, 1.5, or 2 gpm, then that
is where you want to be; anything more will result in water that
is not DI`ed.

First, I used the DI water for the wash. Although there were very
tight and thick suds stating out, they faded kinda fast. I was not
too excited about this, but i figured let see what happens from there.
After the wash, I proceeded to do an initial rinse off to remove
the soap. I don;t have a good multi pattern nozzle, so I had to
play around with the settings for my POS "Fireman" hose.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0870.JPG

Not helping things was the fact that I also had one of the POS ribbon
type garden hoses connected to the outlet side of the CR system.
This made trying to effectively rinse everything off a nightmare,
but i still managed to rinse off the soap.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0869.JPG

So now, I just wait to see if the car dries spot free..

Approx. 12:00 pm
Outside temp about 85 degrees...

So, how did it work?
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0872.JPG

Well, the car is almost all dry, save for the lower sections like
the bumpers and below the trim molding line. Theres still some
runnoff from the trim, mirrors, and door handles, but no signs
of the residue. The side panels above the trim line appear to be
spotless for th emost part,, however, there are small patches
here and there that have water marks. On the hood, there are
very slaigh water marks in one area, while the rest of the
hood appears spotless. The roof, on the other hand, looks terrible.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0877.JPG
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/748002/000_0880.JPG

I suspect it is more user error than anything else so far, as most
if not all the rest of the paint looks spotfree.

Approx. 6pm
Outside temp now about 89 degrees.

I did some quickee washdown after polishing up some swirled
up sections i noticed after doing the wash. Really bad stuff, and it
looks like a cat managed to slide off the hood again. So I started out
OCP with the PC this time. For the record, OCP will work with
the PC, but you`ll need to step up to an agressive pad to get the
same kind of affect you would if you used rotary with a polish pad.
It also works quite well when used in sunlight, but the panel
needs to be so working in a shaded area will help. It took a little longer
than I was expecting, so I went back to the rotary with a Megs
polish pad. Would have stepped up to a Megs finish pad, but there
was no time.

Anyway, the next time I did the wash, I used the DI water again,
followed with a lower amount of car soap. As before, the suds were
think and tight initially, but faded off as I ran my mitt into the mixture.
It ifted all the OCP off easily. When time to rinse off again, I removed
the fireman nozzle, and just let the water run free out the hose. Ths
sun was no longer directly overhead so it took a little longer for the
paint to dry. But this time, there were absolutely no spots to be found
at all. Even the windshield and side glass and mirrors wer
virtually spotlfree (i missed a corner of the side mirror, so I could see
some light spotting there).

It`s going to take a while for me to get the right setup for this, but
I can already see that this is going to be a regular component in
detailing regimen fora long time.

[joyriide1113]

how much money does a set up like that go for? im interested.

[Focusedonsound]

We have a whole house water filter on my house so as is I generally do not get any water marks however I can tell when the filter needs to be changed. Its a great investment not only for the car washing but also because You would be suprised how much more water you drink when you like the taste of it! Even your coffee in the morning tastes SO much better!

Just some food for thought!!!

[usdm]

how much money does a set up like that go for? im interested.

Total came to about 300.00 thereabouts. That`s because
I wanted expedited shipping, and I got another pair of filters.
Otherwise, it should run about 200.00 for just the kit with
regular shipping. I am sure somewhere there is a more
cost effective system in the making. But until then, I am
really liking this CR Spotless.

As for drinking the DI water, the sales rep did not recommend
it, so I am inclined to follow his lead. Aside from quenching
thirst, pure water has no nutritional value. So for my drinking
water, I am going to look into getting a Britta filter system for
sediment, and maybe also something to remove some of
the chlorine taste.

[joyriide1113]

that system almost sounds like a dream. imagine just washing u`re car, and rinsing well. it would be an awesome time saver and give us all a chance to quickly douche out vehicles.

[chml17l]

usdm-- You should probably consider a pressure washer instead of the garden hose. It would limit the amount of DI water needed and perform better than the hose. The PW gives a better contact time of supplied water with the filter so essentially the DI filters could do a better job. The PW is better at flushing water out of the cracks and crevices, too.

[usdm]

Geting a PW is definitely on my to-do list. But that will have
to hold off for a bit until I pay off my bills this month.

[usdm]

Used the CRS again, but time was against me as the sun
was starting to set. Ran into some more problems, though,
as there was a leak in the hose i was using (working at my
dad`s shop this time. Cool thing about the CRS is the portability;
If you don`t mind lugging 30lbs of filter, and you can find a
place to put it, then you should have no problems. I think,
however, if my deal with the shop owner goes through, I will
invest in another system, so i can have one at my house, and
one ready to use at the bodyshop.

This time, I did 2 washes; first with my new favorite car shampoo,
and a second with a "wash n` wax" shampoo (I`ll poost details later).
I did the initial car rinse, and the 2 washes with the regular water,
then did the final rinse with the CRS. Instead of a fireman hose,
I used a 6-pattern spray nozzle. As per a discussion with one of the
CRS reps, I skipped using the restrictor palte, and just set the pattern
for "flat" spray. I also adjusted the amount of water coming out of the
nozzle with a switch that is located on the back end of the nozzle.
This a cool feature, but not all multi-pattern nozzles have it. I would
suggest looking around to see if you can find one with the adjustment
knob. This feature could very well help reduce the immediate need
for the low volume that a pressure washer would give, just that you
would not have the same cleaning power that a pressure unit would
offer.

By the time I finally got around to doing the rinse, the sun was already
behind the appartment building, so there was no longer any direct
sunlight to help dry the car with heat. I had an errand to run, so
I left the car to dry out.

By the time I came back (almost an hour later), the car ws still covered
in water beads. I couldn`t wait, so i had to pull out the ww and start
wiping the car down. What I did notice while doing the wipe was that the
water didn`t "jump" into the towels as menthioned by some others.
However by the time the car was wiped off, I could not find any water
spots. Even the mirrors and windsheild which are always the hardest to
get spots off were absolutely clean. I drove the car that night so i
could see if there were any spots that might have remained, but even
under street lightling, there were none to be found.

So what did i learn? Well, if you want a hands-off, quick drying, you
need to do the rinse in sun light or a very hot part of the day. I`m sure
a blower would also help in this respect, but this is just speculation
as i don`t have one of these yet. In any case, even if you are forced
to hand-dry (which is in direct contradiction to the purpose of the
CRS), you`ll be pleased to find that you won`t have any water spots
to chase after.

So far, the CRS looks to be a keeper :bigups