Washing with the Mr. Clean AutoDry System

[pinmagic]

Last night, I washed my car using the new Mr. Clean AutoDry wash system. It uses filtered (ionized?) water as a final rinse, so the car dries spotless, without hand-drying.

The thing actually worked really well. Pretty convenient, too. The system holds liquid soap and the drying filter. You just:

- turn the knob get clear water, to rinse the car
- turn the knob to get soapy water to soap up the car
- hand wash (I used a great mitt from Griot's Garage)
- turn the knob to rinse again with clear water
- turn the knob to "filtered water" to do a final rinse.

The filtered water leaves the car spotless without hand-drying.

Consumer Reports recommended it, and I was happy with it. Here's the AutoDry website:
AutoDry

Of course, I ended up with a bit of water in the trunk (tho not too much). Has anyone figured out where it gets in? We should be able to fix this problem.

[Stan]

>>>Of course, I ended up with a bit of water in the trunk (tho not too much). Has anyone figured out where it gets in? We should be able to fix this problem.<<<

Pop the cover and examine the perimeter channel. You'll note that the primary means for water to escape the channel is via the holes in the dipped segments on the left and right near the dividing wall between trunk and engine bay. The problem tends to be worst when parked nose up as the angle leads to water retention in the trunk-surrounding portion of the channel.

Tweaks? Perhaps things like:

* Enlarging the two channel drains.

* Playing around with the rubber seals.

* Adding more drain holes in the engine vicinity.

* Decrease the size of the panel gaps between lid and rear clam.

* Etc.

You can't add more drain holes to the side and rear of the trunk since they would drain right into the trunk. But a tweaker could hook up a plastic hose to take water to a safe place. Hey don't laugh...all sunroof cars do this and it works well. Usually they run a hose from the roof to the trunk vicinity. And auto air conditioners use a hose drain too...that's where the puddle of water comes from when you park for awhile with the AC on.

[Ground Loop]

Interesting. That's the only first-hand report I've seen of the AutoDry, and I'm actually surprised it worked as advertised. How hard is your local water? Here in San Diego it runs about 16gpg from the tap, which is something akin to showering in wet gravel.

Originally posted by pinmagic

- turn the knob to get soapy water to soap up the car

Remember that the reason we go back to the soap bucket often and spend some quality time squeezing out the mitt is not to get more soapy water for the car but to wash out the mitt.

I really hope they don't encourage you to soap up the car, start at one end, and drag your mitt over the whole thing. By the end of a large dirty car, you'd be better off using a sandpaper glove.

[pinmagic]

They tell you to do a part of the car at a time, to avoid having the soap dry on it. But they don't tell you (IIRC) to wash out your mitt periodically. I kept a bucket of water handy to do that -- rinsed it out frequently.

[JWA]

The consensus at the Autopia car care message boards is that it is not good for the paint. The special soap has Jet Dry (like for using in the dishwasher) and it leaves a residue on the car that affects the wax.