Eliminated water spots!

[eorange]

I realize this may not be a solution for everyone, but I thought I'd share anyway.

We recently began using a water softening system from Culligan. The Culligan guy said you never have to dry your car; just rinse, air dry, and no water spots.

Well, I have to say this seems to work very well. I washed, rinsed, and only dried the interior door and hatch areas. The rest of the water beading on the truck just air dried away. And no water spots! I looked and looked in the sun an hour or two later, and I could not find 1 spot.

Here in Cleveland, we have very hard water, so I'm not surprised with all those impurities gone that there's nothing left behind on the truck.

 

[J.A.]

Pretty cool, less drying = less swirl marks. Give us some details...installation, in garage or whole house system, maintenance requirements, costs, pics, etc.

 

[eorange]

We just moved, and the system was already installed in the house. It's a whole house system; the city water line goes directly through the system, then soft water goes off to everywhere else in the house. Looks like the original cost was $2100 or so.

There are two tanks next to the hot water tank.

First one looks like a tall propane tank, which contains a material that pulls all the hard water impurities from the water. This tank is sealed and we do nothing with it. Second one is about the diameter and almost the height of the hot water tank. It contains salt, and water. This tank pulls the impurities from the first tank, and sends them down the drain.

Maintenance: all we need to do is keep the second tank filled with salt, the kind you get at Costco or Home Depot (40/50 lb bag for $4 to $5). So far, that's all we have to do, and the salt consumption will probably be about $50/year.

 

[toy cruzr]

the mr.clean car wash system works as a water softener and a little cheaper than a whole house system I've got a couple of friends that swear by them and the kid that lives next door uses one on his new black WRX I guess I should get one. good luck

 

[Hank]

A water softener is best, but since certain city/community regulations prohibit the use of one, this is what I use:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11201522&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|3960|21248|21249&N=4001194&Mo=26&pos=2&No=2&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=21249&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10615-Cat21248&topnav=

It's a CR SPOTLESS De-ionized Water Filtration System that I picked up from Costco for $299. It works great! I am able to use a good quality car wash liquid soap with it unlike with the Mr. Clean system.

I used to use the Mr. Clean system, but didn't like to have to constantly buy filter cartridges and the soap doesn't appear to protect the paint at all as very little water beads up on the paint surface after a wash. Don't get me wrong, the Mr. Clean works great, but this one suits me better. It's a must have for me since my 4R is black.

 

[toy cruzr]

sure. I myself have not used the mr.clean I guess I'm just old school but that costco filter might just have to look into that living in western WA it rains ALOT I'm washing all the time

 

[toy cruzr]

oh yeah hank love the morel orel that is one of the funniest shows on TV

 

[MikesToy]

It just snowed here in Colorado and i had tiny icebergs on all of my windows. After scraping them off, i noticed waterspots that were there are now gone. w00t! :dancin: