best to hose car down after rainy day, or not?

[mknox]

The nature of the dirt and the lines of the car, in the picture, sure make it look like the rear door is dented, and to a lesser extent also the driver's door.

You're right, and more than once I've done a double-take and gone around the car to make sure it wasn't dented! It's just the way the air, and hence salt spray, flows around the car at speed.

 

[stevezzzz]

It doesn't take long. I spent last week in San Diego (conference) and this week I'm in LA (brother's house). Already, I don't want to go home :smile:

You're so right! I was in SoCal all last week, during which time the weather in Colorado went from January thaw to full-on winter (again). The same blizzard that threatened the success of Tesla's coast-to-coast rally dumped a bunch of snow state-wide; I haven't seen so much snow from the window of an airliner since overflying Greenland in winter, a number of years ago.

 

[SCW-Greg]

How often to you need to replace the filter/resin or whatever it is that filters with this device? Does it cost 45 bucks like the site shows or am I looking at the wrong thing?

The filter's life depends on your water source. But in my case, I have 24 washes in with it, and the digital meter is still on 000. I believe I read somewhere that others have hundreds of washes out of it, before changing the filter. Others less.

Yes the resin bags are $45, but you might be able to find them cheaper on Amazon.

This item is just a no brainer if you have a black car, that is if you care about the finish, and don't want swirls or water spots.

There's no way I'd trust my black finish to rinseless/waterless products like Griots, Chemical Guys, and the like... unless my car was already clean. There just isn't enough soapy water to lift the dirt *off* the paint with the microfiber cloth. You'll just rub the dirt back in. Don't get me wrong their products are great, just not on a straight black paint job. IMO.

The only safe (non scratch) way to get dirt off, is to have sudsy water (think foam bath), lift and rinse off with the water -- first.

There's whole threads on best practices for washing your car here. Lots of good ideas.

 

[capt601]

The filter's life depends on your water source. But in my case, I have 24 washes in with it, and the digital meter is still on 000. I believe I read somewhere that others have hundreds of washes out of it, before changing the filter. Others less.

Yes the resin bags are $45, but you might be able to find them cheaper on Amazon.

This item is just a no brainer if you have a black car, that is if you care about the finish, and don't want swirls or water spots.

There's no way I'd trust my black finish to rinseless/waterless products like Griots, Chemical Guys, and the like... unless my car was already clean. There just isn't enough soapy water to lift the dirt *off* the paint with the microfiber cloth. You'll just rub the dirt back in. Don't get me wrong their products are great, just not on a straight black paint job. IMO.

The only safe (non scratch) way to get dirt off, is to have sudsy water (think foam bath), lift and rinse off with the water -- first.

There's whole threads on best practices for washing your car here. Lots of good ideas.

I went 6 months on my dic 20 filters. And that was washing the model s almost every weekend along with 2 other cars about 1 a month. Use it with the ar blue electric pressure washer to save water and your filters. Only 1.5 gpm is enough and really saves the resin. Just ordered a set up 3 replacement resins (total of 6 bags) for dic 20 for about $230 through our detailer. Quite honestly, I haven't found a better price online than through him. He also gave us a Great price on the dic-20.
It is amazing to be able to just spray down your car and walk away, especially a dark one. Saves lots of time. Wish I would have bought it years before.

 

[Bardlebee]

The filter's life depends on your water source. But in my case, I have 24 washes in with it, and the digital meter is still on 000. I believe I read somewhere that others have hundreds of washes out of it, before changing the filter. Others less.

Yes the resin bags are $45, but you might be able to find them cheaper on Amazon.

This item is just a no brainer if you have a black car, that is if you care about the finish, and don't want swirls or water spots.

There's no way I'd trust my black finish to rinseless/waterless products like Griots, Chemical Guys, and the like... unless my car was already clean. There just isn't enough soapy water to lift the dirt *off* the paint with the microfiber cloth. You'll just rub the dirt back in. Don't get me wrong their products are great, just not on a straight black paint job. IMO.

The only safe (non scratch) way to get dirt off, is to have sudsy water (think foam bath), lift and rinse off with the water -- first.

There's whole threads on best practices for washing your car here. Lots of good ideas.

Sounds like a must buy! And yeah when my Model S comes later this year I think I will pick this up. I will have to give that thread a good solid read through, I know which one you speak of.

 

[SCW-Greg]

I went 6 months on my dic 20 filters. And that was washing the model s almost every weekend along with 2 other cars about 1 a month. Use it with the ar blue electric pressure washer to save water and your filters. Only 1.5 gpm is enough and really saves the resin. Just ordered a set up 3 replacement resins (total of 6 bags) for dic 20 for about $230 through our detailer. Quite honestly, I haven't found a better price online than through him. He also gave us a Great price on the dic-20.
It is amazing to be able to just spray down your car and walk away, especially a dark one. Saves lots of time. Wish I would have bought it years before.

Yep. Have my car at 8 months now, with just a couple of exceptions, I wash it once a week. I only use this on my Tesla tho. Right now it's looking like I'll get well more than a year's worth of washing. It showing now signs on the meter.

I still dry my car with microfiber drying towels to make sure, plus getting the dirt out of the door jams each time.

I had my car paint corrected (and C.Quartz Finest applied) in the first couple of weeks, and it still looks better than new.

The CR Spotless system is just essential in my mind.

 

[MoeMistry]

Careful with the hose water -- if your car is black.

My car is black, and water from my hose, if allowed to air dry will leave water spots... spots that can etch the paint if not dried quickly (with micro fiber towels). This is due to the minerals in our water source. Your water may or may not have this issue.

Rain water is naturally "distilled", i.e. no minerals in the water, and will not (in most cases) leave permanent water spots. So I don't worry about rain and road dirt until the next wash, which is usually every 7 days or so (if I can).

I ended buying one of these, and it works like a charm...
DI-120 Cr Spotless Water System : Amazon.com : Automotive

Wish they made a black metallic finish.

Excellent advice!!!

- - - Updated - - -

The filter's life depends on your water source. But in my case, I have 24 washes in with it, and the digital meter is still on 000. I believe I read somewhere that others have hundreds of washes out of it, before changing the filter. Others less.

Yes the resin bags are $45, but you might be able to find them cheaper on Amazon.

This item is just a no brainer if you have a black car, that is if you care about the finish, and don't want swirls or water spots.

There's no way I'd trust my black finish to rinseless/waterless products like Griots, Chemical Guys, and the like... unless my car was already clean. There just isn't enough soapy water to lift the dirt *off* the paint with the microfiber cloth. You'll just rub the dirt back in. Don't get me wrong their products are great, just not on a straight black paint job. IMO.

The only safe (non scratch) way to get dirt off, is to have sudsy water (think foam bath), lift and rinse off with the water -- first.

There's whole threads on best practices for washing your car here. Lots of good ideas.

EXCELLENT advice!!!

As for the $45, that's the bagged resin for the DIC-10...you can double it, $90, for the bagged version for DIC-20

 

[Chipper]

Those probably aren't hard water sports, though. If they are,

Oh believe me! The water was hard and slippery too!!! :wink:

 

[JPP]

Consider OptiCoat or something similar--thick, hard ceramic based clear coat. Water runs right off. No water spotting. No burn through from bird droppings. No waxing or polishing. Easy care--looks great. Works for me.

 

[AudubonB]

Here's my car:

View attachment 42550

Where's your car in that photo, Knoxy?:biggrin:

 

[SCW-Greg]

Consider OptiCoat or something similar--thick, hard ceramic based clear coat. Water runs right off. No water spotting. No burn through from bird droppings. No waxing or polishing. Easy care--looks great. Works for me.

Actually not true.
I have a C.Quartz Finest (nano ceramic coating) on my car, and the very next wash (before I got CR Spotless system), I picked up water spots before I could fully dry it, on a sunny Summer morning. The black paint warms quickly in the sun and evaporates the water droplets on the surface very fast. These spots didn't come out until I had it repolished and reloaded several months later.

Really depends on your water PH and minerals.

 

[birdsaresmarter]

You will get water spots with Opti Guard too. I had my other car (not Tesla) coated first as a "test" of the coating last year and have not been happy with it at all. Got terrible water spots after first rain and had to take the vinegar to it right away. I am the MOST cautious person washing cars, yet, I get more spider webbing and swirls and I swear more rock chips because the coating is NOT SLICK. Too grabby. Was the worst money I ever spent on finish care.

Two days ago I had the misfortune of having some kind of sheet or canvas swath or something fly over my car on the freeway. Guess what? A dirty sheet of fabric is like having sandpaper on your car! Optiguard did nothing to protect it, and in reality, probably made it worse due to friction. I have to take the car to a detailer today for an opinion for correction. I should have had that stuff taken off last year.

The good news was that I took the OTHER car that day because I didn't want to drive the S in the sloppy light rain. Thank goodness for S, bad news for other car.

p.s. as I understand it, for many coatings you have to use a "topper" of some kind to counter balance the inherent weakness of one type or the other. Example, combo sealant with traditional wax or example Sonax net shield over opticoat/guard. Perhaps something else over CQuartz. Each type of surface protectant has its own strengths and weaknesses and it's difficult to find one that does it all very well. I think it kind of depends on what you perceive your greatest threats to be in your normal driving/storage environment.

 

[jerry33]

p.s. as I understand it, for many coatings you have to use a "topper" of some kind to counter balance the inherent weakness of one type or the other. Example, combo sealant with traditional wax or example Sonax net shield over opticoat/guard. Perhaps something else over CQuartz. Each type of surface protectant has its own strengths and weaknesses and it's difficult to find one that does it all very well. I think it kind of depends on what you perceive your greatest threats to be in your normal driving/storage environment.

That's why it's best to get paint armour ( the aftermarket full coverage kind ). At worst you just replace the paint armour or a section of it when it's damaged.

 

[tezco]

This is normally a good bet, but I remember rainstorms in PA where the rain droplets coalesced around the stack effluents of the local cement plants (this was the bad old days, before stack gas scrubbers were mandatory). The resulting rain deposited a fine coating of cement (you know, the stuff that binds concrete together) on every horizontal surface. When it dried on your automobile, it was not only a dirty grayish-white, but crusty.

We've had pink snow before due to imbedded red dust that blew all the way up from Arizona. You could scratch the finish on the car just by clearing the snow off. Same thing happens in the summer with our blustery thunderstorms. Lots of spots from particulates--guess these would count as minerals even though these minerals aren't truly dissolved. A nice gentle and prolonged rain with no wind works wonders on hard water spots out here.