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I don`t even bother washing my car in this little sh*thole town because we have town water and it spots my car almost instantly. My mother lives about 20-25 min away, but she has well water and it doesn`t leave embedded water spots on my glass etc. I don`t want to get a deionizer pressure washer because (from what I understand) the filters don`t last very long and they aren`t cheap. If I could figure out the most common minerals that cause the problems though I could buy the appropriate filters for each mineral, etc. I had a water test done by my plumber a while ago, but I don`t know what the results were. I just wanted to make sure it was safe for the dogs to drink. I hadn`t been here long enough to realize how junk the water was here for cars.
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Hard Water
Hard water has high concentrations of Calcium (Ca2+) and Magnesium (Mg2+) ions, common calcium containing minerals are calcite and gypsum. A common magnesium mineral is dolomite (which also contains calcium). With hard water, soap solutions form a white precipitate (soap scum) instead of producing lather. This effect arises because the 2+ ions destroy the surfactant properties of the soap by forming a solid precipitate (the soap scum). A major component of such scum is calcium stearate, which arises from sodium stearate, the main component of soap
Here’s a way to minimize the effects of hard water when washing your vehicle.
If you are using tap water that contains high levels of minerals such as calcium hydroxide, magnesium or silicates, some of the polymers will bond to these minerals and take them out of solution therefore more product might be necessary to compensate for this effect. By adding Optimum (OPT) No Rinse Washâ„¢ & Shine New Formula (ONR).to a regular car wash soap will improves the results when using tap water (0.5 oz / gallon) always add it to the water to remove the minerals before adding your soap. This will maximize the benefits of using No Rinse in this manner.
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How about implementing a waterless or rinse-free wash? Reserve going to the coin-op/self-serve (using the spot free rinse) for when there`s excessive dirt. Just a thought.
