Following an unsuccessful application of the Mr. Clean Auto-Dry product last weekend (see link here), I gave it one more shot yesterday.

As noted in the above thread, I did not use the Mr. Clean soap in my first attempt -- instead I used Zaino car wash soap in a bucket. For this go-round, I followed the Mr. Clean instructions to the letter which included using their soap for washing as "Step 1".

The result this morning was a car with very few spots -- but not zero. The sides and hood were virtually spot-free. The black roof had some visible spots at the trailing edge. In general though, I am pleased with the results. I'm not convinced this would be a good surface to start waxing, but for a quick wash and leaving it to dry overnight, it looks clean in the morning.

So now I know the soap is critical to this process to work properly. The soap claims to include "Dry-Rinse Polymer" to promote sheeting action. This makes the post-rinse water film thinner, maybe thin enough that the deposits are invisible to the naked eye. Even softened water has a lot of sodium (this is how water softeners work -- they replace Ca2+ or Mg2+ with 2Na+) but sodium does not form hardwater scale. However even sodium concentrated into one spot WILL leave visible scale. Thin water layers, soft wayer = less visible deposits.

Why did I still have spots on the roof? The spots may be from dust contacting the water while the car dries in the garage, thereby concentrating into discrete spots rather than the usual fine layer over the entire car. Big droplets take much longer to fully dry, increasing the amount of dust caught. Same sheeting action above decreases the drying time and results in less dust contact. This would not be an issue on a hot summer day but may have been a problem when I washed the car last weekend (ambient temperature of ~4

 

Nice review.

Here's my take. Mr. Clean Auto Dry is a solution to a problem i've never had.

1. Keep your car waxed
2. Take the nozzle off the hose
3. When rinsing start at the top and let the stream of water casade down the paint. 90% of the water will sheet off.
4. Dry the remaining water with a waffle weave microfiber

I've done this for years and people are amazed at how the water sheets right off of my car when i show them this method.

 

As with any new "Miracle Product", one can usually find the active ingredient elsewhere for mere pennies. This product sounds strikingly similar to something used in the Agriculture Industry. It's called "spray adjuvant". It is mixed with herbicides and it causes the chemical to "sheet" on the leaf rather than form droplets (the more area the chemical covers the better it will work). The adjuvant is not a herbicide and is in fact a type of soap. I will do a little research to see if it is the same.

Mark

 

CokerRat, I have found that the soap leaves a residue on your car. I always follow up a wash with Z6. Before using Mr. Clean, when I would wipe off the Z6 with a microfibre towel, the towel glided along the cars surface quite easily with little "resistance". After washing with Mr. Clean, the micofibre seems to "stick" to the car more....

I don't think I will be using thier soap anymore....don't want whatever that residue is left on the car...