Greatest Car Wash Ever!

trafficalert · 09-17-2013, 01:11 PM

I finally solved my dilemma of finding a home spot free car wash. This solution runs about $400 so I would only recommend it for those who are super OCD about keeping their car flawless. The product is a Northstar Tree Sprayer. I am not affiliated with them in any way. You simply buy the sprayer and fill it with distilled or purified water from the store. The water from the store costs under $1/gallon and I usually use less than 6 gallons on a wash and/or rinse. The sprayer is rated for 200psi, but I have it set at 150psi and that is more than enough for the car and will hopefully increase pump life. You can wash your car normally and then rinse with this or wash+rinse with the distilled water for absolutely spot free result. Car wash spot free water is not entirely pure, but it is close enough for some. My local car washes have around 20-40 ppm spot free water. Distilled water from the store is completely pure. I found that most of the very fine swirls on my cars have been from drying the car rather than washing. Now I just wash carefully, rinse and walk away. Even if I miss rinsing a few spots of soapy water, the resulting dried soap spots wipe right off. Hopefully this will help some of you perfectionists out there or anyone who doesn't have a car wash nearby.
Cheers

Freon · 09-17-2013, 02:30 PM

Sounds like your solution is using distilled water, not a $400 water sprayer.

I don't see why you couldn't just dump distilled water in a $20 hand pumped sprayer that you keep nice and clean. If it is just for rinse then there probably isn't a lot of need for pressure.

trafficalert · 09-17-2013, 03:03 PM

Freon, I spent the first 25 years of my life in Indy. I'm curious how the M Sport susp handles the horrible roads around I465. In response to your hand sprayer suggestion, I've used $20 hand sprayers, pumping backpack sprayers, and an 18v electric sprayer. None of them met my standards of car rinsing at home. High pressure (1000+ psi) is certainly not needed, but hand sprayer low pressure (-30psi) is simply not enough to remove hard water from trim, side skirt, rims and other tight places. Also and respectfully, the post title is "greatest car wash ever". Your suggestion would be closer to "cheapest and barely acceptable car wash ever"

09-17-2013, 01:11 PM	#1
trafficalert Private 110 Rep 80 Posts Drives: TTRS, M2CS Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Jacksonville iTrader: (1)	Greatest Car Wash Ever! I finally solved my dilemma of finding a home spot free car wash. This solution runs about $400 so I would only recommend it for those who are super OCD about keeping their car flawless. The product is a Northstar Tree Sprayer. I am not affiliated with them in any way. You simply buy the sprayer and fill it with distilled or purified water from the store. The water from the store costs under $1/gallon and I usually use less than 6 gallons on a wash and/or rinse. The sprayer is rated for 200psi, but I have it set at 150psi and that is more than enough for the car and will hopefully increase pump life. You can wash your car normally and then rinse with this or wash+rinse with the distilled water for absolutely spot free result. Car wash spot free water is not entirely pure, but it is close enough for some. My local car washes have around 20-40 ppm spot free water. Distilled water from the store is completely pure. I found that most of the very fine swirls on my cars have been from drying the car rather than washing. Now I just wash carefully, rinse and walk away. Even if I miss rinsing a few spots of soapy water, the resulting dried soap spots wipe right off. Hopefully this will help some of you perfectionists out there or anyone who doesn't have a car wash nearby. Cheers Last edited by trafficalert; 09-17-2013 at 01:26 PM..
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09-17-2013, 02:30 PM	#2
Freon Major 81 Rep 1,051 Posts Drives: 2009 135i Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Indianapolis iTrader: (3)	Sounds like your solution is using distilled water, not a $400 water sprayer. I don't see why you couldn't just dump distilled water in a $20 hand pumped sprayer that you keep nice and clean. If it is just for rinse then there probably isn't a lot of need for pressure. __________________ 2009 BMW 135i 6MT Sport, AFE intake, Cobb AP, Apex 18x8.5+9.5, 255/275 PSS
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09-17-2013, 03:03 PM	#3
trafficalert Private 110 Rep 80 Posts Drives: TTRS, M2CS Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Jacksonville iTrader: (1)	Freon, I spent the first 25 years of my life in Indy. I'm curious how the M Sport susp handles the horrible roads around I465. In response to your hand sprayer suggestion, I've used $20 hand sprayers, pumping backpack sprayers, and an 18v electric sprayer. None of them met my standards of car rinsing at home. High pressure (1000+ psi) is certainly not needed, but hand sprayer low pressure (-30psi) is simply not enough to remove hard water from trim, side skirt, rims and other tight places. Also and respectfully, the post title is "greatest car wash ever". Your suggestion would be closer to "cheapest and barely acceptable car wash ever"
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