Any progress on a spot free wash system?

[Rockpick]

Originally posted by Rockpick
Which forum?

Hey Tim/Mike -- I never heard back from you guys on this and thus, I placed the thread in Detailing 101.... wasn't sure where else to stick it...

THREAD LINK HERE

[356driver]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

I found this old thread out of curiosity over alternative forms of spot free rinse systems. There are some expensive units targeted at professionals, and there is Mr. Clean. I think Meguiars might want to dust off their marketing studies and take another look at this opportunity.

We have two classes of cars in my family - the ones I fuss over and the family cars. Similarly there are two classes of car washers - me and two teenage boys. We use the Mr. Clean unit but with a twist. And it helps to have the right expectations.

First of all the bottom line. For a gimicky, poorly constructed product the darn thing works better than you would expect. When it comes to spot free, it is actually pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good. So how do we make use of it?

For the boys, it is better to put the Mr. Clean unit in their hands then a conventional hose, bucket and drying cloth. They will get better results from the Mr. Clean spot free spray, simply because they don't use the drying cloth as well as I do. Eventually they will get it but right now they are too busy being teenagers.

I conclude that Mr. Clean's target market is the average family guy who wants to get the car washed as painlessly as possible and go back to watching the game on TV. (See Mike, I did listen to your lecture.) It cleans well enough to satisfy the average user and the effort-to-reward ratio is favorable.

But I also use the Mr. Clean unit. I don't use the soap dispenser or the regular water sprayer. Instead I use a bucket (with Meguiars Gold Car Wash) and hose to wash the car. Then I use the Mr. Clean spot free setting to do a final rinse. Why? Because the spot free rinse gives me a better starting point before I start to dry with cloth or chamois. A lot of the rinse sheens off, and what remains has lower TDS (total dissolved solids). In a perfect world I wouldn't worry about any of this because of my excellent drying technique. But in my imperfect driveway the spot free rinse leaves less water to remove and if some of it dries before I get to it, the spotting is dramatically reduced.

I believe there is room for both the Mr. Clean product, and a spot free rinse unit under the Meguiars brand. Is it possible that Meguiars could leverage the work already done by Proctor & Gamble? Maybe by license or OEM relationship. Maybe build a unit that uses the same filter cartridges? A smaller, better constructed, single-purpose spot free sprayer might be very popular amongst the enthusiast crowd.

Thanks for allowing me to add my $0.02.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

I
I believe there is room for both the Mr. Clean product, and a spot free rinse unit under the Meguiars brand. Is it possible that Meguiars could leverage the work already done by Proctor & Gamble? Maybe by license or OEM relationship. Maybe build a unit that uses the same filter cartridges? A smaller, better constructed, single-purpose spot free sprayer might be very popular amongst the enthusiast crowd.

Thanks for allowing me to add my $0.02.

Thank you for sharing your $0.02


Marketing reads this forum so we can assure you that your feedback will be read.

[insp23]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

I saved some money on not buying Mr. Clean auto dry. Thanks for the reviews.

[cafemoc]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

well...this thread started Aug 05, and its Jan 07.

I am wondering if there's way to use Mr. Clean AutoDry Refill Filter alone with generic filter canister for spot free rinse purpose?
If I can find a canister, refill filter is less than $8 at Amazon

[356driver]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

well...this thread started Aug 05, and its Jan 07.

I am wondering if there's way to use Mr. Clean AutoDry Refill Filter alone with generic filter canister for spot free rinse purpose?
If I can find a canister, refill filter is less than $8 at Amazon

If only some creative geniouses at a leading car care products company would design such a cannister, I'd dispense with my bulky Mr. Clean unit.

[d.mopar]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

i tryed the mr.clean and i hated it..stripped of all my wax protection and rainx. i dont trust 3x concentrate

[356driver]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

i tryed the mr.clean and i hated it..stripped of all my wax protection and rainx. i dont trust 3x concentrate

So the answer is to wash with Mequiars, rinse with the Mr. Clean unit as I described above. I do it all the time with excellent results. I don't trust Mr. Clean concentrate either. But I also don't like spraying mineral-laden tap-water all over my nicely washed car, no matter how well I dry.

[elmagoo]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

So it's now 2008 and I know this is an old post, I found it while doing research on water filters for washing the car. I have the Mr. Clearn system and I wanted to share how you can use any soap you want with it as I do (meaning you don't have to use the Mr. Clean soap).

The first thing I did was specifically measure how many ounces it took to fill up the chamber on the unit. I poured 2 tablespoons at a time (because 2 = 1 ounce) and figured out that it holds 6 ounces of water. Then what I did was take the original sample bottle that came with the unit (although any kind of clear bottle with a small spount cap will do), and then slowly filled it up an ounce at a time and then for each ounce I marked the water level on the bottle (did this all the way up to 6 ounces). Then I just experimented with the ratio of how much car soap to water worked the best as the whole point of how the system works is that you just need a concentrated amount of soap for it to dispense. I've been using Zaino Z7 soap, but Gold Class or NXT or whatever can work just as well. For Z7 I found the best results are at 2 ounces of Z7 to 4 ounces of water (I only mention the Zaino so people have a point of reference for those that have used it compared to other soaps and how lathery they both are so they can make a judgement on how much to mix). So I mix everything up in the bottle and shake it, then squeeze it into the unit and voila (this is why you want a clear bottle with a small spout cap, and also why the original Mr. Clean sample bottle works perfectly), you can now use the soap dispenser in the unit and go bucketless. I have an Infiniti G37 and can get about 3 washes before having to re-fill the dispenser.

So I use a washmit on my left hand, then use the Mr. Clean on the right. Spray a section of the car with the soap setting, put the unit down and then aggitate with the mitt. Then I switch over to the regular rinse water setting on the unit and clear off the panel on the car, and I also rinse off the mitt on my hand to get out all of the dirt that was picked up. I do half the car with one side of the mitt, and then reverse the mitt to do the other side. Works like a charm . One key though is I do the tires first using the tire brushes and special wheel cleaning solution. Finalize the whole wash with the spot-free setting and then do a hand dry because I still find that it doesn't do a good enough job being 100% spot free. Hence why I'm looking for a system to hook up to the hose .

Anyways, I wanted to share the info as it does make washing the car MUCH easier as there's no bucket hassle.

Benson

[sneek]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

I guess I am pretty late on this too.

I now have a CR Spotless DIC-20 with cart, and I am happy to report it works very well. I can't help but dry some spots off though, I am not the type to wait! I plan on trying it on my metallic black accord sometime within the next month. I haven't driven my accord in 3 weeks so it is just dusty.

[Megafast13]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

I have the Mr. Clean and love it. But nothing like this is for the true detailer.

It is for the slightly above average person that wants to keep their car clean with very little work involved.

Mr.Clean is a P&G Product. All they do is rip you off with the stupid refills of soap and new filters. Definitely not worth it. Also, there is no way to rinse off your Mitt that comes with it.

I would rather see Meguiar's come out with a Foam Gun, than a product like this...

Just my opinion...

[Megafast13]

Re: Any progress on a spot free wash system?

I would like to see a Meguiar's Foam Gun