Now and again I throw all my car cleaning cloths in the washing machine. This time I accidentally got a chamois mixed in with them. Oops. It turned into parchment.

 

I ditched the chammy and moved over to microfibre drying towels a few years go. The paintwork definitely benefits from the change although a deioniser/demineraliser unit is probably the best solution, albeit more costly.

Richard

 

I use microfibre too, but I kinda like the old-school chamois.

"...albeit more costly" - an understatement Richard! Those demineraliser things are really really expensive, aren't they?

 

Less than £150 even for a high capacity one. No need to contact dry the car at all. Final rinse with the filtered water and then leave the car to dry manually and it will be spotless. I haven't got one but I've seen a demonstration.

I've just spent £500 on a pressure washer so the filter gizmo is cheap by comparison.

Richard

 

wow. I thought they were twice that much. Presumably there’s an ongoing consumables cost?

 

I bought a fancy filtered blow-dryer for cars several years ago, but then I started using my battery powered leaf blower of 650 CFM on my wet car. It gets the water off and out of crevices in like five minutes. I put a fine mesh screen over the blower intake to prevent particles from going fast, but my CAR goes fast through this same air.

I'll not use a chamois or microfiber again, too much hassle.

 

Further to @RichardS 's comments, I contacted the people I buy my kitchen tap filters from and they sell a product for producing water for rinsing cars. There's one for around £90 that will support the flow-rate of a hosepipe and one for £180 that'll support a power washer. However, the real financial question is the life of the filter cartridges, which are disposable. Naturally, they can't give me an estimate in terms of "number of cars rinsed" but suggest about 600 litres working life per cartridge, dependent on the hardness of the local water supply. So now I have to work out how much water I use rinsing the car.

Typical flow rate for garden hoses (I don't use a pressure washer) is apparently 10-15 litres/minute here in the UK. At a wild guess I'd say I probably use 20-30 litres or so on the final rinse (no point in using treated water for pre-rinse or wash obviously). Thus, 20-30 car washing sessions per cartridge, and the bigger unit has two. Replacement cartridges are £54 each. You're right Richard. It's a lot more affordable than I thought it would be.

If it actually works, of course.

 

I've done that too. Now you've gotta check all your other rags because the chamois tends to disintegrate in the laundry and you'll get little chamois granules stuck in the material, especially microfibers. I've been using synthetic PVA chamois because they work equally as well but last years longer than the natural chamois. I try to keep my microfiber cleaning rags that I use on the paint surfaces separate from other laundry so they don't get contaminated. I've also made the mistake of throwing a static dryer sheet in with my cleaning rags (force of habit). They don't absorb very good once they get that waxy stuff from the dryer sheet in them.

I've also been thinking about getting one of those filtration systems because here in Texas, its often so hot in the summers that half a car has dried to spots before I've finished rinsing the other half. I just worry about the cost of cartridges because I'm obsessive-compulsive and tend to wash three or four cars a week. I drive whichever car is clean. If one gets rained on and then the weather clears, I move to the next car until I have a chance to wash it. (I know, I know, I need professional counseling). I'd sure like to know which systems are most economical.

 

Agreed - Surrey isn't exactly Texas, but last weekend when I was washing, the bonnet (hood...) was hot enough to fry an egg on in the sun and water was just drying on almost immediately.

 

Master Blaster and then a terry towel for whatever is left over.