Anyone use a water softener system when they wash their cars?

cliffish

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Washed the wife's car (black) and my car (dark blue) and the water drops left almost a cement like marks when dried. I did use a blower to try and remove most of the water but still some was left. I had to pull the buffer out and lite polish to remove it. I like to wash my own cars as car washes here are $20+++ each time. I saw a filtering system on Autogeek for about $149...there are bigger ones for well over $400 but that is crazy.
 
I have well water and have a whole home water softener and I still get nasty spots from the water if I don't wipe the car's down immediately after washing.

Sent from my..... Jeep
 
Just dry it off with a chamois. I do this to my Jeep, Yukon, and 2 pickup trucks after every wash and it leaves the whole vehicle spotless and even cleaner/shinier looking as well as the windows clearer. We do have a water softener, but the water is not good for plants, and you'll go through a lot more salt. (My dad is a master plumber.) Btw, the line we use for washing and watering tees off before the water softener
 
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We are on a well too, and have a whole house softener. I always wash our vehicles with soft water and dry with a chamois followed by a towel. I think soft water is the way to go for just about everything except botanical organisms. Did I just say botanical? LOL
 
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I wash my vehicles in the dark then I towel dry them with microfiber towels, then I wax them every time. I have no water spots that way, but I always need to plan my time.

I don't have a water softener, although I am contemplating getting one just for the car. Especially if it is only 149.
 
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I wash my vehicles in the dark then I towel dry them with microfiber towels, then I wax them every time. I have no water spots that way, but I always need to plan my time.

I don't have a water softener, although I am contemplating getting one just for the car. Especially if it is only 149.
Our whole house system cost $1600. That included a reverse osmosis under the kitchen sink. It was worth every penny.
 
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Our whole house system cost $1600. That included a reverse osmosis under the kitchen sink. It was worth every penny.

I don't really mind the hard water, but like you I don't like to drink it, so we went to Home Depot and bought a bottom water bottle dispenser cooler. It is actually a cooler that pumps the water up instead of using gravity down. Then we go to the local water store and buy bottled water, it is about a dollar for 5 gallons and we go through about 2 bottles a month. I think the cooler was less than 100 dollars.

If I could wash my car in the day time, it might be worth it if the soft water wouldn't leave spots, but if I wash my car in the summer, It dries before I can even put soap on it. It dries so fast I don't even have time to wipe it dry in the summer. So I usually wash it at night then pull it into the garage and wax it.
 
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I don't really mind the hard water, but like you I don't like to drink it, so we went to Home Depot and bought a bottom water bottle dispenser cooler. It is actually a cooler that pumps the water up instead of using gravity down. Then we go to the local water store and buy bottled water, it is about a dollar for 5 gallons and we go through about 2 bottles a month. I think the cooler was less than 100 dollars.

If I could wash my car in the day time, it might be worth it if the soft water wouldn't leave spots, but if I wash my car in the summer, It dries before I can even put soap on it. It dries so fast I don't even have time to wipe it dry in the summer. So I usually wash it at night then pull it into the garage and wax it.
Man, that is some crazy heat in AZ. You found a way to clean your rig which is awesome.

I have one of those water coolers. You want it? We used to use it but we got too many people. 5 gallons literally lasts 2-3 days max
 
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Having lived in Arizona for a long time, I'm very, very familiar with what happens when you wash a vehicle with that hard tap water they have down there and fail to completely dry every single drop of water from the vehicle.

The minerals in the water acid etch the paint, and unless you have a crap ton of clear coat you can cut and buff, then it's not going anywhere at all.

Thankfully the water here in Oregon isn't like that. I remember that water, I'll never forget it.
 
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Man, that is some crazy heat in AZ. You found a way to clean your rig which is awesome.

I have one of those water coolers. You want it? We used to use it but we got too many people. 5 gallons literally lasts 2-3 days max

Yeah you will like the water up in WA no softener necessary. I don't need another water cooler, but thanks for the offer.

You can drink the water out of the tap up in WA, I imagine the same is true for @Chris in Oregon too.
 
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Yeah you will like the water up in WA no softener necessary. I don't need another water cooler, but thanks for the offer.

You can drink the water out of the tap up in WA, I imagine the same is true for @Chris in Oregon too.
That will be a plus to moving!
 
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You can drink the water out of the tap up in WA, I imagine the same is true for @Chris in Oregon too.

Yes, the tap water here in Oregon (and Washington too) is very, very good. It has a great taste that is nothing like the hard water you find in other places. That's one thing I like about Oregon, haha. I'll take the Arizona weather though any day over the rain!
 
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Yes, the tap water here in Oregon (and Washington too) is very, very good. It has a great taste that is nothing like the hard water you find in other places. That's one thing I like about Oregon, haha. I'll take the Arizona weather though any day over the rain!
Yeah the 325 days of sun is definitely fun, well minus about 100 of those days. Those ones are brutal!
 
Yeah the 325 days of sun is definitely fun, well minus about 100 of those days. Those ones are brutal!

Yes, I remember those days. I didn't own a car at the time, just my Ducati, so I was always out riding it on those brutally hot summer days. Of course I was roasting my nuts off in the process. I remember every time I would get home from riding in the Summer my inner thighs would feel like they were on fire.
 
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Yes, I remember those days. I didn't own a car at the time, just my Ducati, so I was always out riding it on those brutally hot summer days. Of course I was roasting my nuts off in the process. I remember every time I would get home from riding in the Summer my inner thighs would feel like they were on fire.
yeah there are times when there is a trail of clothes from my motorcycle to the pool!
 
It never used to be that way...over the last 2 years the water company is doing something. First thing in the morning the water out of the tap smells of chlorine. I used to change 50-75% of my fish tank water and not have to add any treatment to it. Just a month ago I let one of my tanks get about 3" low on water and I just topped it off with out thinking and I lost 6 fish within an hour (all the same species and I had owned them for at least 4 years). Now the water spots are killing me...normally we are known to have soft acid water around here...evidentially not anymore.
 
Get a De-Ionizer. We make them here at work for Golf Cart barns (can't put hard water into a flooded lead acid battery). Its not a 1 time charge though. As you run water through the de-ionizer, you will remove dissolved solids (those are the minerals that make water "hard" and cause water spots). As the cartridge ages the solids "build up" and eventually the solids quit being removed (but the water still flows through). At that point, you need to replace the cartridge as the resin inside has lost its de-ionizing capability. So there will be an ongoing expense. We have to provide a light that turns red when the TDS reading increases above 50 TDS (battery limits)...On our water, we get about 300 gallons through before the Cartridge needs to be replaced. Our Cartridge is a 4" piece of PVC pipe about 4 feet long... just to give a sense of scale for you. You can't actually buy our system, unless you go to a golf cart dealer to order it (and I'm not sure what they would charge you).

A link...

https://store.flow-rite.com/deionized-water-supply-battery-powered-no-bypass-ba-ms-340.html

Most guys who use these things to wash their cars will wash with regular water, rinse the soap off, then give it a final rinse with DI water to conserve the cartridge lift.

A water softener will not give you a spot free rinse. A water softener works by replacing the iron in water with salt. It doesn't actually remove the "stuff" in water that stays behind when the water evaporates.

Oh, Last thing....DO NOT DRINK DE-IONIZED WATER!! Its slightly caustic. It will try to re-absorb minerals and metals from whatever its touching, including in your body.
 
yes, the system on autogeek is a de-ionizer system...they really don't give you a life expectancy although that will be dependant on the TDS rate of the water going in. I think I am going to start with a TDS meter to find out where I actually stand on the scale.