I was thinking about buying Mr. Cleans Auto Dry for the filter, when a light bulb went off in my head. My Girlfriend has a water softener in her house. It is located in the garage.

I ran a hose directly from the water softener out to the drive way and washed my G. What a difference, it was so easy to dry and no water spots. If any of you have water softner in your homes I highly recommend washing your Gs with them.

 

what exactly is a water softener?
does it attach to ur hose or something?

 

its like one of those big *** water filter.....supposely take out the hard water spots and stuff.....its good...

i was washing my car couple days ago..and it was so hot that the water dried right after.....left some BIG water spots on there...and i can't even wipe it off anymore...(i think some of them are detergent dawn)...don't know what to do....

 

Don't water softeners use salt? I'm not sure I'd want to use a saline solution to wash my car.

RainMeister
'04 G35C 6MT, diamond graphite, premium, nav, aero

 

ya..most of them use salt....soooo...i dunno if its gonna hurt the car...i think it should be ok...

 

A water softener in fact removes hardness from your city or well water.....It flows the water through a "resin" bed which will trap most minerals, calcium,certain types of iron etc, that cause hardness.....

Part of the regenerizing of the resin bed is where the salt comes into play....it actually demagnetizes the resin bed to release the minerals which are in turn flushed out of the softener every couple of weeks....

Thats not to say that there is some residual salt in solution in the tank......so, there will always be a slight amount of salt in solution in the water you may use to shower, drink, etc.
Thats why they do not recommend you use the softener when watering gardens etc.....

I think the small amount of salt in the water will pose no threat to the cars finish.....It would also take less soap to wash the car because of the soft water, the car wash soap would not be neutralized by the hardness of the tap water....

my .02


04 cpe IP/willow/5at/prem/18's/JDM clear corners/Piaa's/MTEC H4 Super White fog/highs

 

When water softeners are installed, they run a separate line to the kitchen that doesn't pass thru it because of the salty water issue.

The water in my area is so $hitty and hard. I put soap in the bucket w/ water, but the suds don't last very long and fizzle out. It's gross....when I make ice cubes, they are all white w/ bubbles and when they melt there are all these little white flecks that sink to the bottom of your glass.

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2004 6MT DG/G Coupe | Premium | Aero Kit | See bio for pix

 

oh..damn...it sounds pretty bad =)....come on p.diddy...u been around the world ahyahyah and stuff...u gotta find some better water with ma$e coming back and stuff

 

GR8TG35, how about a reverse osmosis system, does that use anything like salt? A couple of years ago, I inquired into a deionizer unit, geez, when I found out the price, I quickly said goodbye!



Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

I don't believe reverse osmosis involves using sodium chloride like the water softeners......But if I'm not mistaken, I think it takes something like 5-8 gallons of water to make one purified gallon of water..... it requires 3-4 step filter meduim filtration which traps a lot of particulate matter and removes many harmful substances from our tap water...it also involves replacing the filter mediums/membranes from time to time.....Charcoal, etc......it seems more chemical filtration than the more common Biological filtration used by most municipalities

So I don't know how cost effective it would be......I know a lot of people in the Marine aquarium hobby like to use them so the water is as neutral and pure for the marine fish....but other than that I just buy bottled water....and my G has to take its bath in regular city water......but the loving bath I give it each week more than makes up for the water abuse.....[img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]


04 cpe IP/willow/5at/prem/18's/JDM clear corners/Piaa's/MTEC H4 Super White fog/highs

 

LOL, takuyaah!

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2004 6MT DG/G Coupe | Premium | Aero Kit | ClearBra | See profile for pix

 

I use de-ionized water to wash my car, buy it in the gallon jugs, use a garden sprayer to wash, usually use about four gallons, I wash the tires and wheels with tap water, but final rinse them with the de-i, works great, been using that for about 6 years now, not one spot!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

Water softner is practically a big bag of industrial salt. It could be bad for your car.

Thanks - Joey Avino