My Mr. Clean AutoDry Experience w/ VIDEO

The inline mechanical water filters wont do much at all in making water dry streak free. All they do is filter out sediment the same way your cars fuel filer filters your fuel. On average your potable water shouldnt have any noticable sediment in it anyway. The only real and effective way to remove dissolved minerals is by softening your water, which requires a regenerative softener, mechanical filters arent good at this at all. I wouldnt think it can filter out much chlorine either unless it has a activated carbon imbedded filter media. All in all I would say the inline filters are just a little extra insurance.



Thanks for the explanation and debunking the in-line filter myth for spot-free rinsing. There's always the placebo effect for those who still think it works. :)



Dean
 
Avalanche said:
The only real and effective way to remove dissolved minerals is by softening your water, which requires a regenerative softener, mechanical filters arent good at this at all.



Water softeners work on an Ion-replacement process. That's why you have to add salt to the water softener periodically. To remove dissolved minerals, you would need a resin impregnated filter, or a reverse osmosis machine. Both of those would produce de-ionized water, with the reverse osmosis process producing purer water at increased cost.
 
The Mr. Clean commercial got me back in Autopia after a long absence. I remember seeing this from months ago. What's everyone think of this as an alternative?



www.ionman.com



Its pretty much de-ionization with medium (?) pressure
 
okay I just tried out this Mr. Clean Auto Dry product.



Impressions:

1. soap-- it was good, and it has very good sheeting action. I think there may be soaps out there that are cheaper by volume that does the same job. The dispenser uses alot of soap. The starter kit came with a small bottle, 8 oz I think. I filled the dispenser completely which is plenty of soap needed to wash the car properly. It was warm weather, so I had to switched to soak mode to keep the car wet the whole time, but had to add soap when I needed more. In the end I used about 85% of the soap in the dispenser.



2. The spray was very weak on the final rinse mode. The water was a fine mist that took about 7-10 minutes to thoroughly soak the car, washing out the regular water. This is a disappointment, because I can dry the car in about the same amount of time with better results, using a combination of the california water blade and a couple of large microfiber towel. After the car dried, I saw some slight water spots were the water accumulated at the bottom of the front windshield. I hadn't soaked the winshield enough and I thought. Everywhere else, there was no water spots. Or so I thought. Upon closer inspection, there was some slightly translucent dried spots on my rear windshield. It wasn't white, so I couldn't see it from afar, but looking closer I can see it reflect the sunlight.



Overall the product does what it was supposed to do, but how well depends on how you rinse the car down with the deionized water it produces. And with the current flow rate, it will take a while if you want good results (5-10 minutes). Deionized water and hard water look the same. You have to keep close track of which areas you've soaked. Miss or undersoak even a small area and you'll get those nasty waterspots.



The entire job, including wheels, took about 30 minutes.



I usually spend about an hour doing it the old way but it's also more thorough, since I also use a spray wax detailer (Wax-As-U-Dry) after drying the car. That means I wipe the car down three times, once to dry, once to apply was as you dry, and once for the final buffing. Alot of work, yes, but the best results, absolutely no spots and its smooth to the touch.



Still, I think Mr. Clean Auto Dry is a good product because it achieves 90% of my "regular job" in half the time.



I'll post a long-term review after a few months of using this thing...
 
I also gave the mr clean a try. I didnt use the soap that it came with because I didnt bought the unit. Still, it uses a lot more soap that I would use with the regular bucket method. I used it to pre-soap the pannel and soap/rinse the wash mitt. It would be a great unit to replace the bucket if it didnt use so much soap. Regular sprayer is nice, soap sprayer is nice too. Purified watter sprayer is a mist. I only used the ionized water on those areas that I know it will spot, like the fron grille, and the side view mirrors. At the end, it still did spot, but only a little, compared to not using purified water at all.

I decided not to use it because I can use a lot less soap using the bucket, I can sheet-dry the car by unplugging the hose sprayer and sheeting the water, and just soak whats left with a WW towel.
 
has anyone thought of mixing the soap and water in the soap container so it doesnt use so much soap? Just spray some of the ionized water into the polymer soap and give it a good shake.



As for my setup I did buy the GE in-line filter and the Autodry system. I do like like the my setup and only wish the final rinse was a little stronger but I wont complain too much. Now after I rinse down the car I pull it in the garage begin cleaning the interior as it drys. If I notice any beading I dab it with a MF and it drys itself.



As for the GE inline filter and water pressure only minimal pressure is lost. I think it was worth the $25 dollars and it might extend the life of the Autodry filter.
 
technically the soap gets mixed with water automatically. It just uses a lot of water when mixing. If you use less soap you will run out of it and will have to add more.
 
vapore0n said:
technically the soap gets mixed with water automatically. It just uses a lot of water when mixing. If you use less soap you will run out of it and will have to add more.



I know that it is mixed in the Autodry system, Im talking about mixing water in the bottle before pouring it in to the nozel. This way when you use soap instead of saying using 50/50 water soap (not exact) you are using 50/25/25 water/soap/water the last two being what you put in the soap compartment just for example.
 
Bringing this one back from the dead since it was the longer of the Autodry threads. These kits are on clearance all over the place, I got my kit for $3.99.



This product takes the cake for the biggest dud in consumer level auto detailing products I have ever purchased. Gone is TW ICE as the worst crap I've ever purchased.



Aside from being a very crappy hose nozzle and poor soap that seemed to remove the slickness from the paint and sucked on bug guts, it left waterspots everywhere. Granted they were much less apparent than if unfiltered, but they were still there. It took much longer to wash the car with this thing, so I ended up actually taking more time. Don't waste you time on this thing. If anyone wants two (one used, one not), its yours just pay shipping.
 
....I bought one to try when they first came out. The stream/pressure for the final rinse was a complete joke and I retired the thing after just 3 uses. I heard the later versions were improved and that others have had good success with them, but I never looked back (I started using soft water and sediment filtration). ....a few years later I decided to go for it and I purchased the CRS DIC-20 (deionization) system. ;)
 
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