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+1 on the RV filters. The first time I washed my 911 at home I was stunned at how quickly water spots developed and how bad they were, even though I did not wash it in direct sunlight and I tried to dry it off as quickly as possible.
I was looking into water filters specifically for car washing/detailing but they were very expensive and most were designed for wall mounting in a shop or garage. I came across a YouTube video with the RV filter hack and figured it was worth a shot. The RV filter probably isn't as good as one of those units that costs hundreds of dollars, but I will say it's probably about 80%-90% better than straight tap water coming out of my hose.
I bought the slighter larger unit but the filters are replaceable. I haven't tried the smaller, disposable units, but I read this one has a bit more flow for a car washing application.
Years ago I had a switchable filtered nozzle and it had a low pressure flow when in filter mode. The process was to use unfiltered water with regular flow to wash and rinse the car then switch to filtered. The low pressure filtered flow was only used to rinse the car from top to bottom to flush the residual hard water left over from the wash/rinse. This worked very well.
I would imagine if you try to put a high pressure flow through these filters they won't be as effective. My filters are coming tomorrow so I'll give it a try this weekend and post results.
I never take my 911 through a car wash. I rinse the car well then hand wash with a very soft mitt. I wash the wheels with a separate cloth. I wash in sections and rinse often. I dry the entire car with a soft fiber cloth and clean the door sills. I keep the car garaged when not in use.
on a recent road trip I went to a hand pressure wash car wash a couple of times primarily to remove bugs.
Holy cow - looks like you drove thru a chicken coop.
Was a big fan of this product. Worked really well so sorry to see it dropped by P&G.
Yup, that was exactly the product I was referring to in my comment. Worked beautifully. The filter had a window that would darken as the filter was used up. As I recall the filters were pricey and didn't last more than ten washes or so, which was why it made sense to only use the filter mode for the final rinse.
I never take my 911 through a car wash. I rinse the car well then hand wash with a very soft mitt. I wash the wheels with a separate cloth. I wash in sections and rinse often. I dry the entire car with a soft fiber cloth and clean the door sills. I keep the car garaged when not in use.
on a recent road trip I went to a hand pressure wash car wash a couple of times primarily to remove bugs.
I try to avoid using a pressure washer - particularly under higher pressure. Sometimes when it comes to removing bugs as depicted above, you have to use pressure, distance with the wand, and duration of of exposure of the pressurized water to completely remove the accumulation. If you have PPF - high pressure is definitely not good as it can cause the PPF to lift at the edges. Even without PPF, I think the high pressure is not good for the paint.
One thought about techniques to get rid of heavy build-up of bugs like this that I use -
Wet down the area first with water. Then use a foam gun - shooting down the car with a soap that has a high degree of lubricity. Then let it sit for 5 minutes. Then shoot the area down again with the foam gun. Let it sit for 5 more minutes. The water and soap combination will emulsify the bug junk. You should then be able to remove all of the bug material without the need for a pressure washer - or - if you use the pressure washer, you can do so with much lower pressure.
Seems like you can spend ridiculous money on foam guns and other detailing paraphernalia. The foam gun that I like is very similar (I actually think it's the same one without the branding) that the Chemical Guys sell. Here it is on Amazon:
I had a soap gun but it did not hold up very long. The paint color makes a difference in how I washed my vehicles. I used to own a black mercedes and no matter how soft the mitt or cloth it is going to leave hairline scratches. I used the soap gun and really lathered it up and used a soft lamb skin to wash it. I rinsed it very, very well with a hose without any spray, just right out of the hose so the water would not bead up. Then I dried it with a master blaster air dryer. Minimal wiping with a new clean fiber cloth. Never used the same cloth twice. Those clothes would then be relegated to be shop clothes. I stored the car in the garage with a cover on it. No matter how hard I tried I still had hair line scratches.
My gray car is much more forgiving. I love black when it is clean but a pain to take of. I have a black GMC AT4 pickup and it is dirty within minutes of washing.
Years ago I had a switchable filtered nozzle and it had a low pressure flow when in filter mode. The process was to use unfiltered water with regular flow to wash and rinse the car then switch to filtered. The low pressure filtered flow was only used to rinse the car from top to bottom to flush the residual hard water left over from the wash/rinse. This worked very well.
I would imagine if you try to put a high pressure flow through these filters they won't be as effective. My filters are coming tomorrow so I'll give it a try this weekend and post results.
The pressure isn't all that bad using the RV filter. I leave the filter installed throughout the process, although I know its' really just needed for the final rinse. I think the fact that I have two, 50ft hoses connected and run it from the opposite side of my house to reach my driveway is more a contributing factor to the water pressure I get from the nozzle. Thankfully I have PPF on the front and a ceramic coat, so I don't need high pressure to get bugs off, etc.
I think fussing with all the hard water stuff is unnecessary on these small cars that are pretty quick to wash and dry. Even with hard water / spots popping up on something you don't catch, if you go over the car with a detail spray, you'll be fine and you're adding another layer of protection.
Looking good, I'm planning to polish and c quartz in the next month or two myself. What do you do with the small areas around the decklid, do you have a 3" polisher?
Looking good, I'm planning to polish and c quartz in the next month or two myself. What do you do with the small areas around the decklid, do you have a 3" polisher?
07-21-2020, 01:16 PM
