Mr. Clean AutoDry spotless wash system review....

imported_Katera · 07-07-2008, 10:51 PM

Where I live the water is so hard you get your daily supply of Vitamins and especially minerals just from one glass of H20. Add that to the incredible heat, and it's a recipe for water spotting disasters. The last two times I washed my car, I was literally running around it trying to dry it off before the hard water permanently mated with my paint. I looked at lots of online water softeners and spotless wash systems. They all had one thing in common...freaking expensive! So last night I stumbled across an interesting little thing made by Mr. Clean...yea the one and only bald guy with an earing. At least it's in his left ear

. Anyway, I decided to give it a try today. Walmart had it on sale for a whopping $15 bucks so I said what the heck.

It comes with a giant nozzle gun looking thing, a starter filter and a starter amount of car wash suds. After popping the filter in and filling up the car wash soap reservoir I decided to...read the directions! It goes out of it's way to say not to use other soap in the gun as it might clog it. That, and the soap that it uses has polymers in it that essentially lets the water "slide" off the car.

There are 3 settings on the gun. The top setting is just a pass through from the hose "rinse". Just typical hose water. The second setting is "suds". It mixes the water with the soap in the reservoir and gives you a nice sud filled stream of water. Pretty cool actually. The last, and most useful setting is the "deionized water rinse". It comes out in a fairly low flow misted demineralized water rinse. I originally thought that you were suppose to rinse the car's suds off with this setting, as it is the "no spot water" setting. Not true, and if it was I would of taken it back as the flow of water going through the filter is just to low.

So the process I used went like this:

Steps:

1.) Reg Rinse setting to wet car and blow off loose dirt with higher pressure.
2.) My good old Griot's car wash soap in bucket with two microfiber mitts...wash the car.
3.) After the car is good and washed the old fashion way, I then click the Mr. Clean gun from Reg rinse to "Suds". Hose down the whole car this time with the Mr. Clean suds setting with the polymers...it goes on extremely well so it only took me about 30 seconds to do the whole car. I never even bothered scrubbing the car down again as I had already did it with the Griots car wash.
4.) This is the step that people can mess up on...you would think that now you rinse off the Mr. Clean suds with the "no spot ionized water" setting, but you don't. Wash it off with a click back to the high powered reg rinse setting. Once all the suds are off, click back to the "no spot" rinse setting and simply coat the car with the ionized water. All you are trying to do is replace the reg water sitting on the car with the no spot water. That took about a minute to do once I realized the no spot water was not meant to actually rinse off the suds...again not enough pressure.
5.) At this point it was 95 degrees and the wind was blowing...the car was drying faster then we could move. I was able to get the windows, hood and most of the side panels done before some of the standing water on the car just simply dried on me........Not one spot.

My wife came up to me after we were done <she was helping>, and said "man that thing worked great"! She was right, the water just dried with no spotting on the areas we didn't get to.

Basically, you need to use their soap to have the polymers on the car to aid in the deionized water not spotting, but you don't have to use it as your main wash soap if you don't want to. This was my concern because I like Griots soap. The simply answer was, use my soap while washing then just rinse the car with their soap and then the deionized water. I will keep this thing and use it with every wash. For the money, and using it the way I did I think it worked fantastic. Considering every other deionizer I saw was $275+++, I think this is a steal.

I don't have enough faith to let the whole car just "air dry" which it says you can do, but I can attest that it did a fantastic job of not spotting on the areas I was not able to dry fast enough. That to me is worth it.

/wave

hitthemark41 · 07-07-2008, 11:24 PM

awesome write up!! I am not a huge fan of washing my cars by hand typically...but after reading some posts about touchless car washes (my normal mode of cleaning vehicles lol), water spots etc...I was figuring I would have to try something new...glad Mr Clean works so well!! :w00t:

btw...my girlfriend lives in Kingwood!...I'm planning a move down there later this year...not sure exactly which side of Houston yet lol...but somewhere 'round those parts!

hbiscuit · 07-08-2008, 12:39 AM

you can buy a RO/DI filter for your house for ~ 100 from airwaterice.com ...

not 275+

warmtoes · 07-08-2008, 10:57 AM

Nice review. I had somebody tell me that I should use this product just yesterday. What a coincidence.

2AD Tanker · 07-08-2008, 11:42 AM

I have used that in winter (40+ degrees) and it works good.

Have you tried a "California water blade?" It's a silicone blade for sweeping the water off of the car. It is fast and gets most of the water off. I use that and then go over with a chamois to get the small detail areas.

imported_Katera · 07-08-2008, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle

I have used that in winter (40+ degrees) and it works good.

Have you tried a "California water blade?" It's a silicone blade for sweeping the water off of the car. It is fast and gets most of the water off. I use that and then go over with a chamois to get the small detail areas.

I have the California water blade :biggrin: I use it on all my windows, but having Jet black which scratches if you look at it to hard, I will not use a squeegee on the paint.

buckwheat986 · 07-08-2008, 02:27 PM

Good summary.

I would just add that you need to change the filters in the system when needed.

holo777 · 07-08-2008, 03:32 PM

Nice writeup. I've used the Mr Clean for a while. Never occured to me to spray the car down with the Mr. Clean soap after really washing it though. I've been using McGuires Gold Class soap and find that just doing the filter rinse works fine for me.

warmtoes · 07-08-2008, 07:59 PM

Just picked up the pro version for $29.99. Supposedly it's high pressure setting is 6 times more powerful for what that's worth.

FD911 · 07-08-2008, 08:18 PM

We have the hard water here in Kentucky also.. I bought the expensive solution through Griot's.. It does work well.. I have used both. I like the ease of the Griot's filter but you need to decide is it worth the bucks.. For me it was.. But I must say the Mr.Clean does just as well..

Robert · 07-09-2008, 01:09 AM

Yea I am using the Pro version of Mr. Clean and I have to say for its worth the unit works pretty well.

JTdrivin1 · 07-09-2008, 06:19 AM

good review... sounds like something i need to go buy. thanks!

warmtoes · 07-12-2008, 09:45 PM

Okay, tried it today. How fast does it sheet and dry?

imported_Katera · 07-13-2008, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warmtoes

Okay, tried it today. How fast does it sheet and dry?

Depends on temp, wind and humidity. I still dried my car the normal way, but the areas I could not get to quick enough dried without water spots, and those dreaded lines of water that run down the door crack 30 min later? No water spots.

warmtoes · 07-13-2008, 08:12 PM

Okay, thanks Katera. I think I was expecting it to completely sheet and dry in tens of seconds which is probably unrealistic.

I did find that within 10 minutes or so it was pretty well dry and spot free although spots are hard to see on TiAg.

ARES45 · 07-13-2008, 08:18 PM

I know what your saying Katera, those piss me off so much.

roldan · 07-16-2008, 12:52 PM

Tried this out the other day - the "Pro" version of the kit was only $8.72 at my local Target! (Somerville, MA)

It did indeed work as advertised - no spots so long as you're fastidious with making sure you rinse off all the non-deionized water with the filtered water. The "jet spray" mode worked well on brake dust, too.

JME · 07-18-2008, 04:51 PM

Picked up the "Pro" version of this system today and tried it out the first time. Overall it worked as advertized, although I was annoyed at the quick-release type mechanism where the hose connected. Not the mechanism itself, but where it screwed into the sprayer kept coming loose, despite firm hand-tightening. I finally said screw it, and screwed the hose directly on, worked like a charm. Also, it took a very long time to dry (which is probably because it is 55 deg and overcast here.)

I am not sure how much more powerful the filtered water spray is, but for me it was more than adequate. Is it worth spending 20 bucks more than the regular system, though? It did come with a wash-mitt (didn't use) wheel scrubber (didn't use) and swiffer car duster (not going to use) which is probably the source of the extra price more than any advanced sprayer.

Most importantly: I tested the soap that it came with out on a small part of my bumper and it did NOT take off any Zaino, so I felt comfortable rinsing it down with their soap after washing it with Z-7.

Overall I am very impressed.

warmtoes · 07-18-2008, 05:07 PM

You'll notice that the quick connect does have two flat sides on the spout that sticks out so you can use a wrench to tighten.

JME · 07-18-2008, 07:04 PM

Yes, but being plastic I didn't want to overtighten. Trust me, I'm going to go tighter next time.

07-07-2008, 10:51 PM	#1
imported_Katera Captain 42 Rep 890 Posts Drives: Join Date: Nov 2007 iTrader: (0)	Mr. Clean AutoDry spotless wash system review.... Where I live the water is so hard you get your daily supply of Vitamins and especially minerals just from one glass of H20. Add that to the incredible heat, and it's a recipe for water spotting disasters. The last two times I washed my car, I was literally running around it trying to dry it off before the hard water permanently mated with my paint. I looked at lots of online water softeners and spotless wash systems. They all had one thing in common...freaking expensive! So last night I stumbled across an interesting little thing made by Mr. Clean...yea the one and only bald guy with an earing. At least it's in his left ear . Anyway, I decided to give it a try today. Walmart had it on sale for a whopping $15 bucks so I said what the heck. It comes with a giant nozzle gun looking thing, a starter filter and a starter amount of car wash suds. After popping the filter in and filling up the car wash soap reservoir I decided to...read the directions! It goes out of it's way to say not to use other soap in the gun as it might clog it. That, and the soap that it uses has polymers in it that essentially lets the water "slide" off the car. There are 3 settings on the gun. The top setting is just a pass through from the hose "rinse". Just typical hose water. The second setting is "suds". It mixes the water with the soap in the reservoir and gives you a nice sud filled stream of water. Pretty cool actually. The last, and most useful setting is the "deionized water rinse". It comes out in a fairly low flow misted demineralized water rinse. I originally thought that you were suppose to rinse the car's suds off with this setting, as it is the "no spot water" setting. Not true, and if it was I would of taken it back as the flow of water going through the filter is just to low. So the process I used went like this: Steps: 1.) Reg Rinse setting to wet car and blow off loose dirt with higher pressure. 2.) My good old Griot's car wash soap in bucket with two microfiber mitts...wash the car. 3.) After the car is good and washed the old fashion way, I then click the Mr. Clean gun from Reg rinse to "Suds". Hose down the whole car this time with the Mr. Clean suds setting with the polymers...it goes on extremely well so it only took me about 30 seconds to do the whole car. I never even bothered scrubbing the car down again as I had already did it with the Griots car wash. 4.) This is the step that people can mess up on...you would think that now you rinse off the Mr. Clean suds with the "no spot ionized water" setting, but you don't. Wash it off with a click back to the high powered reg rinse setting. Once all the suds are off, click back to the "no spot" rinse setting and simply coat the car with the ionized water. All you are trying to do is replace the reg water sitting on the car with the no spot water. That took about a minute to do once I realized the no spot water was not meant to actually rinse off the suds...again not enough pressure. 5.) At this point it was 95 degrees and the wind was blowing...the car was drying faster then we could move. I was able to get the windows, hood and most of the side panels done before some of the standing water on the car just simply dried on me........Not one spot. My wife came up to me after we were done <she was helping>, and said "man that thing worked great"! She was right, the water just dried with no spotting on the areas we didn't get to. Basically, you need to use their soap to have the polymers on the car to aid in the deionized water not spotting, but you don't have to use it as your main wash soap if you don't want to. This was my concern because I like Griots soap. The simply answer was, use my soap while washing then just rinse the car with their soap and then the deionized water. I will keep this thing and use it with every wash. For the money, and using it the way I did I think it worked fantastic. Considering every other deionizer I saw was $275+++, I think this is a steal. I don't have enough faith to let the whole car just "air dry" which it says you can do, but I can attest that it did a fantastic job of not spotting on the areas I was not able to dry fast enough. That to me is worth it. /wave __________________ 2008 BMW 135i Vert! -Jet Black -6 speed Manual <Who says Vert's are for girls!> -Boston Grey Leather with Black High Gloss Accent -Moonlit Black Top -Comfort Access -Premium P. -Sport P. -Premium Stereo -IPOD/USB -BMW Performance Pedals -BMW Windscreen -Sat Radio Meet Kat! [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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07-07-2008, 11:24 PM	#2
hitthemark41 Second Lieutenant 7 Rep 282 Posts Drives: Join Date: Feb 2008 iTrader: (0)	awesome write up!! I am not a huge fan of washing my cars by hand typically...but after reading some posts about touchless car washes (my normal mode of cleaning vehicles lol), water spots etc...I was figuring I would have to try something new...glad Mr Clean works so well!! :w00t: btw...my girlfriend lives in Kingwood!...I'm planning a move down there later this year...not sure exactly which side of Houston yet lol...but somewhere 'round those parts! __________________ 2008 (Year 1 of the One ) 135i Black Sapphire Metallic/Savanna Beige/ Gray Poplar/6MT/Sports & Premium pkgs/CA/Heated Seats/HD/PDC Mods:35% tint / clear bra / Perf. pedals
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07-08-2008, 12:39 AM	#3
hbiscuit First Lieutenant 11 Rep 319 Posts Drives: 2008 M3 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Baltimore, MD iTrader: (0)	you can buy a RO/DI filter for your house for ~ 100 from airwaterice.com ... not 275+
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07-08-2008, 10:57 AM	#4
warmtoes Lieutenant Colonel 31 Rep 1,917 Posts Drives: EBII 435i xDrive Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (1)	Nice review. I had somebody tell me that I should use this product just yesterday. What a coincidence. __________________ *2014 EBII 435i xDrive M-sport* Gone: 2011 TiAg F25 X3 xDrive35i M-sport Gone: 2008 TiAg w/Coral Red E88 135i Cab M-sport
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07-08-2008, 11:42 AM	#5
2AD Tanker Second Lieutenant 7 Rep 242 Posts Drives: 135i Black Sapphire Metallic Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Beer town USA (Milwaukee) iTrader: (0)	I have used that in winter (40+ degrees) and it works good. Have you tried a "California water blade?" It's a silicone blade for sweeping the water off of the car. It is fast and gets most of the water off. I use that and then go over with a chamois to get the small detail areas.
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07-08-2008, 02:27 PM	#7
buckwheat986 Lieutenant 12 Rep 468 Posts Drives: Join Date: Mar 2008 iTrader: (0)	Good summary. I would just add that you need to change the filters in the system when needed.
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07-08-2008, 03:32 PM	#8
holo777 Private First Class 1 Rep 162 Posts Drives: 135i Conv Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: NE TN iTrader: (0)	Nice writeup. I've used the Mr Clean for a while. Never occured to me to spray the car down with the Mr. Clean soap after really washing it though. I've been using McGuires Gold Class soap and find that just doing the filter rinse works fine for me.
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07-08-2008, 07:59 PM	#9
warmtoes Lieutenant Colonel 31 Rep 1,917 Posts Drives: EBII 435i xDrive Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (1)	Just picked up the pro version for $29.99. Supposedly it's high pressure setting is 6 times more powerful for what that's worth. __________________ *2014 EBII 435i xDrive M-sport* Gone: 2011 TiAg F25 X3 xDrive35i M-sport Gone: 2008 TiAg w/Coral Red E88 135i Cab M-sport
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07-08-2008, 08:18 PM	#10
FD911 Private 3 Rep 64 Posts Drives: Join Date: Mar 2008 iTrader: (0)	We have the hard water here in Kentucky also.. I bought the expensive solution through Griot's.. It does work well.. I have used both. I like the ease of the Griot's filter but you need to decide is it worth the bucks.. For me it was.. But I must say the Mr.Clean does just as well..
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07-09-2008, 01:09 AM	#11
Robert Major General 414 Rep 6,968 Posts Drives: 135i -> is350 -> Tesla M3 perf Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Socal iTrader: (1)	Yea I am using the Pro version of Mr. Clean and I have to say for its worth the unit works pretty well. __________________ - There's nothing in my pocket other than knives and lint
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07-09-2008, 06:19 AM	#12
JTdrivin1 1 Love 5 Rep 255 Posts Drives: 2011 135i 6MT Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: NY iTrader: (0)	good review... sounds like something i need to go buy. thanks!
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07-12-2008, 09:45 PM	#13
warmtoes Lieutenant Colonel 31 Rep 1,917 Posts Drives: EBII 435i xDrive Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (1)	Okay, tried it today. How fast does it sheet and dry? __________________ *2014 EBII 435i xDrive M-sport* Gone: 2011 TiAg F25 X3 xDrive35i M-sport Gone: 2008 TiAg w/Coral Red E88 135i Cab M-sport
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07-13-2008, 08:12 PM	#15
warmtoes Lieutenant Colonel 31 Rep 1,917 Posts Drives: EBII 435i xDrive Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (1)	Okay, thanks Katera. I think I was expecting it to completely sheet and dry in tens of seconds which is probably unrealistic. I did find that within 10 minutes or so it was pretty well dry and spot free although spots are hard to see on TiAg. __________________ *2014 EBII 435i xDrive M-sport* Gone: 2011 TiAg F25 X3 xDrive35i M-sport Gone: 2008 TiAg w/Coral Red E88 135i Cab M-sport
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07-13-2008, 08:18 PM	#16
ARES45 Major 34 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: Join Date: Oct 2007 iTrader: (0)	I know what your saying Katera, those piss me off so much. __________________ "Don't run, you'll only die tired" ~ Gunship Pilot
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07-16-2008, 12:52 PM	#17
roldan Second Lieutenant 8 Rep 238 Posts Drives: '08 135i Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Somerville, MA iTrader: (0)	Tried this out the other day - the "Pro" version of the kit was only $8.72 at my local Target! (Somerville, MA) It did indeed work as advertised - no spots so long as you're fastidious with making sure you rinse off all the non-deionized water with the filtered water. The "jet spray" mode worked well on brake dust, too.
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07-18-2008, 04:51 PM	#18
JME Second Lieutenant 3 Rep 239 Posts Drives: Join Date: May 2008 iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 135i [0.00]	Picked up the "Pro" version of this system today and tried it out the first time. Overall it worked as advertized, although I was annoyed at the quick-release type mechanism where the hose connected. Not the mechanism itself, but where it screwed into the sprayer kept coming loose, despite firm hand-tightening. I finally said screw it, and screwed the hose directly on, worked like a charm. Also, it took a very long time to dry (which is probably because it is 55 deg and overcast here.) I am not sure how much more powerful the filtered water spray is, but for me it was more than adequate. Is it worth spending 20 bucks more than the regular system, though? It did come with a wash-mitt (didn't use) wheel scrubber (didn't use) and swiffer car duster (not going to use) which is probably the source of the extra price more than any advanced sprayer. Most importantly: I tested the soap that it came with out on a small part of my bumper and it did NOT take off any Zaino, so I felt comfortable rinsing it down with their soap after washing it with Z-7. Overall I am very impressed.
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07-18-2008, 05:07 PM	#19
warmtoes Lieutenant Colonel 31 Rep 1,917 Posts Drives: EBII 435i xDrive Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (1)	You'll notice that the quick connect does have two flat sides on the spout that sticks out so you can use a wrench to tighten. __________________ *2014 EBII 435i xDrive M-sport* Gone: 2011 TiAg F25 X3 xDrive35i M-sport Gone: 2008 TiAg w/Coral Red E88 135i Cab M-sport
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07-18-2008, 07:04 PM	#20
JME Second Lieutenant 3 Rep 239 Posts Drives: Join Date: May 2008 iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 135i [0.00]	Yes, but being plastic I didn't want to overtighten. Trust me, I'm going to go tighter next time.
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