hard water vs soft water

[flagum]

Have very hard water where i live. Have a hard water faucet outside and was thinking of putting a soft water faucet on the outside to wash the cars. Does anyone have any issues with this? Is there any issues using soft water like stripping wax or anything else i should know about using soft water? I hope it would help clear up my water spots. thanks

[andytsang]

Re: hard water vs soft water

I think what you really need is deionized water if you want to clear of water spots. But soft water is still better than hard water. It is much easier to wipe off soft water spot.

[flagum]

Re: hard water vs soft water

Any other comments before I go ahead and start this project?

[Mark58]

Re: hard water vs soft water

Here is how to make your own DI water system.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/50840964/DIY-DI-Water-Purification-System

[Michael Stoops]

Re: hard water vs soft water

Soft water is definitely going to help with reduced water spots but it won't be an excuse to allow the car to air dry (you'd be amazed how often people do this then call us to complain about having water spots!). Of course washing the car in the shade and when the paint is cool to the touch is going to help tremendously, as will keeping a good coat of wax on the paint and then using the sheeting rinse method to remove most of the water beads before drying. To do this, after your final rinse take the nozzle off the hose and turn the water pressure down a bit, then let a smooth stream of water run over the paint, panel by panel, starting from the roof. You'll sheet the vast majority of water off the car (the healthier the coat of wax, the better here) and make drying much faster and easier. If you then spray some Ultimate Quik Wax onto each panel just before drying you can help the situation even more.

Since every car has it's little spots that love to hold water, using either a leaf blower to blast the water out of these spots or even a wet/dry shop vac to vacuum it out is a good idea. Otherwise the car will release this water 10 minutes after you've cleaned up the garage and gone back in the house, and you'll end up with little trails of water spots running down from the mirrors, window edges, or where ever your particular car likes to hold on to water. And again, the harder the water you have, the more water spots you'll get from this and the harder they'll be to remove.