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Review: Mr. Clean Autodry Carwash

11K views 23 replies 14 participants last post by  mackypatron 
#1 ·
Mr. Clean isn't just for your grimey tiles now; the bald dude has taken on the challenge of our dirty cars! After leaving my car in North Carolina over christmas break, my poor 330i has gone through 2 snows and about two months without a decent wash! Sinful, I know. Today, I went over to Target to buy a wash bucket, some sponges, etc, but decided to purchase the Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash starter kit instead.

http://www.homemadesimple.com/mrcleanautodry/index.shtml

The kit includes their magic washer gun, the filter element and a bottle of their soap. Here's my experience with it:

The washer gun is a great tool. It's ergonomically designed to accomodate cold and wet hands. Everything moves easily and the controls are extra large, unlike the average garden faucet gun that is impossible to operate with swollen, cold fingers. The spray of water (the rinse water) is light, just the right amount to clean most dirt off without forcing particles to etch the finish.

The soap setting (and the provided soap itself) proved to be the negative part of the entire package. The amount of soap the instruction manual recommends is not enough to carefully wash an entire car. There is also a definite lack of suds or lather. Even when I used my wash mitt, I could not get a decent amount of suds on the car. It was somewhat unrewarding, although the soap itself does smell good. The instruction manual claims that using any other soap than theirs will cause clogging in the device. I don't know whether that's truth or just marketing BS. The soap, combined with my vigorous scrubbing, did do a very good job of getting all the dirt/dust off of my car, though.

Once I completed washing the car (in quarterpanels, as recommended by the manual), I used the "money maker" of the Mr. Clean AutoDry system: the de-ionized water spray. In case you didn't know, dried water spots are not formed by water, but by dust, calcium, minerals and the other impurities in water that are left when the H20 evaporates. The idea behind rinsing your car in de-ionized water is that the filter removes all of these impurities, rinsing your car in pure H20. When the H20 evaporates, there is nothing left behind except your spotless finish.

Believe me, it works. This feature is worth the 20 bucks alone. I sprayed the car top-to-bottom with the de-ionized water and the car dried spotless.

In summary, it's a very good product. The place I used to wash my car at was a coin spray-wash place that had a de-ionized spray option. It worked about the same. It saves the hassle of drying and the risk of scratching your finish with poor quality towels. The only downside to the Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash system is that the soap part is such a poor alternative to Mequiar's Gold Class, Zaino, Zymol and the other high-quality shampoos recommended by board members. My recommendation is to use a seperate shampoo and use the Mr. Clean gun for initial rinsing and final spraydown. That, or someone should test to see if you can use different shampoos in the gun. If you guys have any questions, feel free to post them here or PM me.
 
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#2 ·
Definitely a great product. It's the best $18.88 I've ever spent on something, and I haven't regret it yet. Now, if only Mr. Clean can come up with a waxing product so I don't have to do it myself. And I'd rather not pay some high school dropout at the local gas station to "hand wax" it.
 
#5 ·
Hmmm thats interesting, its nice to see that it actually works, I think i might go out and nab me that kit too. But like you said, I'll use my orig. car washing soap. I love how sudsy the Gold Class gets...good stuff :thumbup:

Drying is the WORST part in washing a car imo. Usually takes me forever to dry, longer than it takes for me to wash. :banghead:
 
#6 ·
Here's my story. Bought the Auto Dry. Washed my Bimmer first, but did not "exactly" follow the directions. I did use the Mr. Clean soap, but in my own bucket of water. After washing and rinsing, then I applied the "rinse cycle" using the Mr. Clean product. I was not happy - I got zero drying effect. :thumbdwn: BUT, then I washed the wife's Passat, following instructions completely. Hey! :thumbup: The stuff works!! So, the moral of the story is: follow the freakin' instructions!! This stuff really is great. I love the way you see millions of little dancing white drops on the paint when rinsing. Awesome, really. I got mine at Target.
 
#7 ·
Got my Mr Clean Washer today from Target. Used it as directed and was amazed it works as advertised. I ran out of soap pretty quick but my ride was real dirty. It really works and cuts out the dry time which for me was the longest process of washing my car. Mr Clean :thumbup:
 
#8 ·
E46_3series said:
Got my Mr Clean Washer today from Target. Used it as directed and was amazed it works as advertised. I ran out of soap pretty quick but my ride was real dirty. It really works and cuts out the dry time which for me was the longest process of washing my car. Mr Clean :thumbup:

target sells the refills?... where else can i get them?
 
#9 ·
kevmo said:
target sells the refills?... where else can i get them?
Stupidly I didn't look to see if they had the refills. I just saw the display with the boxes there and I grabbed one. I hope they do carry the refills and more importantly I hope the refills are not too expensive.
 
#12 ·
Davideo said:
Here's my story. Bought the Auto Dry. Washed my Bimmer first, but did not "exactly" follow the directions. I did use the Mr. Clean soap, but in my own bucket of water. After washing and rinsing, then I applied the "rinse cycle" using the Mr. Clean product. I was not happy - I got zero drying effect. :thumbdwn: BUT, then I washed the wife's Passat, following instructions completely. Hey! :thumbup: The stuff works!! So, the moral of the story is: follow the freakin' instructions!! This stuff really is great. I love the way you see millions of little dancing white drops on the paint when rinsing. Awesome, really. I got mine at Target.
One of my biggest complaints (as seen above) was the lack of suds with the soap. I was thinking of choosing a different soap (Zymol, Zaino Bros, Mequiars) and using the Mr. Clean AutoDry to just rinse the car down with deionized water. Is the general concensus that the "sheeting action" promised by the proprietary shampoo is really there?
 
#13 ·
Go ahead and try it. I strongly doubt the unit will break if you use a different soap. The worse that can happen is probably the unit might get clogged or the soap concentration might be off. I've heard the soap is okay, however some ingredients in the solution is a little troublesome when used sometimes (creates a film, probably to much soap or harder to clean your sponge to "more" dirt).
 
#14 ·
I read from someone who tried his own soap in a bucket and still was able to dry it just fine with the de-ionized water.

I'm going to experiment and try to put different soap in it once I run out of the soap it came with. The mrclean website says you can call them to get instructions on how to de-clogg the unit if "your dog put different soap in the unit" hehe.
 
#15 ·
i bought it this past sunday at target.
i could not believe it it actually worked, the only thing is you really gotta make sure you wash away all the regular water off.

after it all dried i saw some places that i guess i wasnt too careful with but for the 10 minutes it took me it was well worth it
 
#16 ·
another great product is the magic eraser, it really is a magic eraser.

i have sand leather so it is a pain to keep clean.
you guys know how the driver side door armrest always gets black, one swipe with the eraser and it was clean as new.

it is just amazing.

kinda makes you think why no other car products company thought of this before
 
#17 ·
03BMW325CI said:
another great product is the magic eraser, it really is a magic eraser.

i have sand leather so it is a pain to keep clean.
you guys know how the driver side door armrest always gets black, one swipe with the eraser and it was clean as new.

it is just amazing.

kinda makes you think why no other car products company thought of this before
What is this "magic eraser?" Where can it be purchased?
 
#18 ·
it is made by mr clean as well.
youc an get it at like target, shoprite any place that sells cleanign supples.

is comes in like a 4 pack, theya re white sponges that you wet them with water and you scrub away petty much anyhting on anything. i used it on the bottom of my door where all the shoe marks were it took off everything.

It really is a magic eraser
 
#22 ·
I tried it this past weekend, and was not impressed. There were some areas where they water just ran off, and there were other areas where the water still beaded.

Plus, in the end, all of the soap and filters will get expensive.

I get alot better results with my california water blade and chamois. Sure it takes more time, but I enjoy it.
 
#23 ·
Presns323i said:
hey... i got this a lil while ago, and when i use the filtered water, i cant seem to get rid of all of the unfiltered water. i get waterspots all over the car. what do you guys do to make sure you get every area of the car. i got spots EVERYWHERE, it drove me nuts.
You filter is prolly already bad. Do you still have the start-up filter or you've already replaced it? I've finally got around to using this product and it works great for me!
 
#24 ·
I have used it about 5 times on two different cars. It gave amazing results.

In regards with people not having the same results, maybe it could be cause of stubborn stains already present on the car. The cars I have been using it have been later models (04 325 & 03 SLK) which have smooth finishes still.

Just my .02
 
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