Ok, I was EXTREMELY skeptical about the new Mr. Clean autodry product but I decided to give it a whirl anyway on my 2002tii. I chose this car because it has so many moldings and fiddley chrome bits that it's always a real PITA to dry

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed.

I didn't use it exactly the way they instructed however since I don't like the idea of spraying on the car wash.

Instead, I made a half bucket of the soap and used my sheepskin wash mitt and washed the car as usual.

Then, I used the unfiltered sprayer to rinse the car and switched over to the de-ionized filtered spray for the final rinse.

To my amazement, the car actually did begin drying spot free.
Pretty cool. Is it perfectly spot free? Well, no. At least I don't think so. (I didn't actually wait for those areas to dry) I just ran my chamois over the area and they were dry. But anyway, it cut my drying work to basically running a rag over one or two areas. Not bad.

I actually like this thing.

This has been brought up several times. The filtered water portion works pretty well but the soap they use appears to strip wax pretty quickly.

Yup in a previous thread, i addressed this product

I hope you plan on waxing soon, Mr. Clean likes to take that off.

De-ionized water or reverse osmosis water will leave your car spot free. You can pick this up at water stores, or aquarium stores for pretty cheap. I get mine for 32 cents a gallon. If you want to keep your wax, but not dry, you could pick some of that up.

nice looking 2002

This has been brought up several times. The filtered water portion works pretty well but the soap they use appears to strip wax pretty quickly.

Now, now. Do we really want to be that way? I mean, so EVERYTHING has been discussed at one time or another. So perhaps you'd like this place to be a lot less interactive, like an information repository with SEARCH function only?
;)

Anyway, I tried another test. I washed my car with my normal car wash solution from Griot's garage. I then used the filtered water portion of the Autodry gun only. Result? The car spotted. So, the drying agent in the Mr. Clean soap is more responsible for the spot free drying than the filtered water. So just running down to the pet store for de-ionized water may not be the solution.

After I repeatedly called the customer service number for Mr. Clean, they assured me that the soap does NOT STRIP WAX. Oh well, in the end, only a full scale chemical greakdown of the soap will reveal if they're lying.
Anyone want to volunteer to do that?

Do I really have to be what way? I just said this has been discussed before and it is the common consensuses that the soap they use strips wax. But if you called there customer service number and they assured you that it doesn't strip wax (since we all know a manufacturer would never make any type of false claim) then I guess you should just use it and ignore the fact that after using the product once on a freshly waxed car the water won't bead. I realize this is not a scientific meathod but it is what most people use to measure the effectiveness of their wax and it is the quality in wax that we expect when it gets wet.

Well part of the reason the water won't bead is the oil based additive that is in the product to make the water sheet off the car. The stuff is designed to repel water, so its not very difficult to believe that water won't bead immediately after. I've heard complaints from people that tried to polish their cars afterwards and had trouble due to the layer of residue. After a few days the stuff is supposed to evaporate though... :dunno

It didn't appear to evaporate on my car. I tried it just before several days of rain and the wax never seem to come back from the washing.

God, that's a beautiful '02. :)

God, that's a beautiful '02. :)

Thank you Geordie! (and BostonBimmer)

I'm bringing her out to the Dinner!
Or, if you want to see her RUN, I'll be instructing at the BMWCCA autox this weekend and running the 02 AND the M Coupe! So come out on Sunday!

Ok, so I just went out to the garage and sprayed water on my car. It beads right up. Oh well. This Mr. Clean stuff isn't for everyone. And really, it's not the end all be all anyway. I just was pleased that something actually helped me save time cleaning the 02 and share that experience with others. It works for a quick, spot free cleaning. But sometimes, a long afternoon cleaning the car might be just the thing...

Thank you Geordie! (and BostonBimmer)

I'm bringing her out to the Dinner!
Or, if you want to see her RUN, I'll be instructing at the BMWCCA autox this weekend and running the 02 AND the M Coupe! So come out on Sunday!


Awesome!

I'll be in Asheville this weekend...vacation with The Lady! :redspot

Granted I don't have wax on my car, I use Zaino, but it sure didn't strip the Zaino. My car didn't bead right after washing, but after it got wet a few times, the beading came back, strong as ever.

Maybe it only strips real wax? It's not like I even had a fresh coat of zaino on there, I did 3 coats back in August.

I don't believe it strips wax, as beading came back after a few rains on my car. I had some offline discussions with P&G. Here's a recent threat from another forum.

http://www.bmwboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3297&page=1&pp=25

Thats a good read. Thanks for the link.

No sweat.

God, that's a beautiful '02. :)
Yes, very sweet Minsoo :)

I've washed my car 3 times with this and I like it. The soap sure does run out quick though.

Yup. The soap sure does go through this thing.
I'm going through the entire soap compartment just to wash one car.
I think this is because I'm running it off the spicket in the front of my house, which is at street pressure ~110psi. (In GA, they leave one spicket at street pressure to be able to check pressures to the houses.) If I ran it off the regulated one in the back, I could probably not use so much due to the lower pressure. Alas, the hose won't reach that far.

I really like this thing though.