Actually mine got more suds than usual. Weird. Because we use a water softener on the main water line here, we actually have to use half the detergent when washing clothes or dishes or it over suds.

Six hours later and it's still not dry. Could it possibly be any more humid in FL?

 

He was joking about the tropical storm that came through here this weekend. It rained cats and dogs for a while there.

 

OK, second try today. I am not so happy with the results. Spots everywhere and especially on the windows. I think the body color hides them better. I will give it one more try and than I may return it. I made the flow very slow also, so I don't know why the bad results. Basically I have to rewash when I get home.

 

how slow is slow? you almost need to run it so slow it just barely rinses. do you know your water quality is? mine is relatively good. if yours really sucks, you may have to run two DI's inline.

i did find that it has taken two days for the water on the flat surfaces of my car to almost dry. it isn't spotted per se, but there are still little flat moisture areas. humidity i guess. i'm sure if i let it sit longer, but they would eventually evaporate away. they're for sure not hard water spots as even after two days, they're still wet and wipe right away. i'm thinking that even with the DI water, you should probably wipe the flat surfaces with a MF. i don't think you need to dry it, but rather smooth it out to get rid of the small puddles on the hood, roof, and trunk. i'm very pleased so far. it for sure made cleaning the car much easier. the dirt on my wheels and lower panels came right off with no effort. all of the horizontal panels and wheels are clear and spot free. a good procedure would be to wipe it down with some quick detailer after it's mostly dry. i find that i have a bunch of dead bugs (well they started out live) drinking the water pooling on my car. a light wipe should take care of that.

 

I ran it as slow as possible. Any slower and I would be there all day. It wasn't real sunny, so it wasn't completely dry when I drove it to work. This of course means the road dust is now sticking to it, which makes it worse. I don't know, I may go back to the usual drying with mf towel.

 

Any updates on the build your own?

 

It's not what you're doing neil; it's the limitation of the unit you have. As I mentioned before with the equation and output numbers; that tiny unit cannot produce that much DI water since there isn't enough resin in the chamber. This is why CR Spotless is the leading unit on the market right now. I wonder how kayman's unit is working out? I think you should return the unit and get your money back. I can't stand it when companies make products that they know won't work unless under IDEAL lab conditions. This is why I, and some of my fellow colleagues, have made a point to tell you guys facts and do the homework. But the great thing about forums is that it's our modern day "word of mouth". If you do good work or make good products, you'll be rewarded by referrals and compliments. And if you don't, well....

 

mine worked great. however, i am using a giant single cannister like the one CR spotless is using. i've only used it once so far. i just can't imagine washing my car more than once a week

i need to mess with the teflon tape some on the fittings and decide if i want to do a bypass valve. if i don't decide to market it, which i just may not have time for, i will give you guys the name of the company where i bought my stuff. if you just want a turnkey unit, even though it's really expensive, the CR is probably the way to go. I agree with Moe. the little one in this thread is just too small. my single unit works well, but i can't imagine trying it with a 2.5" resin. for those that want to duplicate the CR system, you can just buy two of the cannisters i purchased and run them inline. that actually works out pretty well. i use the same type of setup on my reef tank. as the first resin wears out, you switch them and always put the fresh resin last in the system. you can pretty much guarantee super pure water running two at a time. my single works well, the double is a nice guarantee if the first unit starts to the wear out, the second unit will pick up the slack.

i still think you need to at least wipe the flat horizontal surfaces on your car. you don't need to dry those surfaces completely, but the water just takes forever to evaporate. i would just wipe it so that the moisture is a film and i'm sure it would dry much more quickly at that point. the standing water just won't go away quick enough for me. that is my next experiment this weekend. use my big blue MF and wipe the horizontal surfaces.

two weeks and two car washes. my 996 will think i have a new owner

 

IMO - 100% DI (CRspotless) water for wash and final rinse - then use a leaf blower to dry it off. Quick detailer (Z6 for me) to fix any drools or spots you missed.

easy

 

Ditto. The leaf blower is a great idea. The less you touch the car the better. I am a freak about what I use on my car and how it is cleaned and dried and I still get swirls/light scratches. I'm not sure how it happens, but I can't imagine what my car would look like if I took it through a gas station car wash or let someone at one of those car wash places do it. I almost cringe when I take my work car down to one and I watch these guys using skanky dirty towels to wipe down brand new cars.

 

Yes, I am gonna return the unit. The other issue is, if you are gonna let it air dry than it better be sunny out and not humid. Or be ready to wait a long time for it to dry. I washed and rinsed my car and left it out to dry on a cloudy day. Two hours later, still wet in some parts. Than I drove it and the dust and road dirt stuck to the wet parts. What a PITA. So today i rinsed it with regular water and dried it as usual.

 

It's amazing how quickly something bad can happen - many people make a bigger problem without even realizing it.

But that's really the key - the less anything touches the surface the better - and when something NEEDS to touch the surface, you be very particular about what that something is

 

Kind of like toilet bowls? You need to be very particular about what and HOW MUCH you put in there. Right John? I think poor Luis lost about 10K when he sold his house due to the damage you did to his plumbing

 

I have a well and would need a sediment filter as well. So 3 Large canisters 1 sediment 2 DI and I should be set. Ohand a TDS Meter to check my water. Where is a good place to buy bulk media?

 

might as well throw a carbon filter there as well. any of your water treatment places can get all this stuff. check for soft water stores in your area. if they don't have the equipment, they will tell you who can. just don't drink that DI water. it's really not good for you. get the tds as well. they're cheap it and it makes it easy to check how your doing.