[B///MWGuy]

Hi, as you know, us Californians' tap water creates residue when they're not dried well. I thought about purchasing a filter for our garden hose, but I notice they're very expensive and have high maintenance. Then, I thought of using drinking water for just rinsing away the carbon-filled tap water at the end of the clean. I think all I will need is three or four bottle of 500ML water bottle. This would cost less than 2 dollars and I wash once a month.

What do you think about this?

Do you think I would still need to dry the car using towel? Main reason I want to do this is to avoid getting scratch from trying to dry the car.

[tigermack]

Check out some method online to see how to dry or remove the water from the car without much effort. There's a way to run the water with the hose to get most of the water off. Or you can purchase a leaf blower and blow the water off. Get some very good drying towels (there are many different kinds for different purposes) and avoid wiping the towel on your paint. That should do it. Washing your car once a month would leave you enough dirt/debris on the paint to get scratches while you wash anyways. The last thing I'd worry is the water...

[Gig103]

Bottled water has minerals in it too. If you're going to do this, look for distilled water instead.

I use the sheeting method, where you run the water over the car with no pressure (just as it pours out of the hose) and if the car is waxed, the water sheets off. You still need to dry but there is less water leaving spots. Maybe not the best thing given California's drought, but I'm also not as thorough as the guy in the video. One slow pass gets most of the water and I follow with a waffle-weave microfiber.

[PTek Will]

Originally Posted by fyun89

Hi, as you know, us Californians' tap water creates residue when they're not dried well. I thought about purchasing a filter for our garden hose, but I notice they're very expensive and have high maintenance. Then, I thought of using drinking water for just rinsing away the carbon-filled tap water at the end of the clean. I think all I will need is three or four bottle of 500ML water bottle. This would cost less than 2 dollars and I wash once a month.

You may want to look into rinseless washes. There are ingredients in them that softens up hard water. What would be even better is if you bought a couple gallons of distilled water.

[droptop335]

I've been using distilled water bought in gallon jugs for a long time. Immediately after a final rinse with the garden hose, I pour distilled water over the car, making sure to get it into panel gaps, into the grill, behind door handles, etc. I usually use 3 gallons for the first rinse, going from top to bottom, then repeat the process with another 3 gallons, so as to further dilute the "harder" hose rinse water that might be still left behind. Ideally a 3rd top-to-bottom rinse would be best, but I've only done that a couple of times. I then immediately put the car in the garage to dry with microfiber towels. The distilled water jugs at Walmart are only about 85 cents each.

Be careful not to buy your distilled water too far ahead of time, and don't use distilled water that has been opened for a while. Here is the reason: Pure distilled water has a pH of about 7.0 (neutral). However, as soon as distilled water is exposed to air, it starts to dissolve carbon dioxide into it (creating carbonic acid), and the pH begins to drop. Even distilled water that has been stored in closed containers can start to dissolve CO2 right through the container walls (they are not impermeable). Eventually the pH could potentially drop to about 5.0, which is mildly acidic. This won't be very good for your paint.

[MDecals]

Deionized water could work