Mr. Clean AutoDry
 

Just a heads up that Target has a Mr. Clean AutoDry kit on sale for $12.49. It has the sprayer guy, a started filter, started bottle of soap, washing mitt, and some small swifter dusters.

my best friend got me one for x-mass..i <3 it...i know there are like a hundred threads on here about it...but it still kicks major ass

Seriously, mo harm to the paint or wax previously applied?

are you serious? :-/

damn, I got one at PepBoys and I thought I got a good deal. it was 20 bucks for the autodry system, plus car febreeze, swifters, washing mit with a 5 dollar mail in rebate. that's still like $2.50 more and I have to wait for the rebate. d'oh!

everybody should get a Mr Clean AutoDry, even if just for those 'quick wash' days, works great if you follow directions :D

nope and nope!

i picked up a bunch for 1.29 for the starter packs at target. They are on clearance and a coupon to make it for that price.

Works great if used as directed; when used several times on a black car, it will take out or hide mild swirl marks in the finish (found that out with my 99 VW Mk4 black GTI).

No it will not harm the clear coat or paint. But it will remove polish and wax. It has an extremely high alkaline content soap. Worse than Dawn IMHO.

alkaline soap? i thought someone did a pH test on it and it turned out to be acidic?

Ok, here's what I found from here.

Q: Does it leave a film behind? Does it affect the polish or the wax?

A: Mr. Clean AutoDry doesn't leave behind a film, just a thin layer of the Dry Rinse Polymer molecules that are replenished each time the car gets washed. These do not strip the wax, or harm the paint or clearcoat in any way.



Q: What is the pH of Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash soap? Will it hurt my hands?

A: Fasten your seat belts, here comes a light-speed review of high school chemistry. On a scale of 0 to 14, pH measures the hydrogen ions floating in a substance. If the pH is less than 7, the solution is acidic; if it's greater than 7, it's basic or alkaline. Pure water has a neutral pH of 7.0. Orange juice (3.0 pH), beer (4.5 pH), and unpolluted rainwater (6.2 pH) are acidic, while baking soda (8.2 pH) and household bleach (11 pH) are alkaline. In its undiluted form, Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash soap is slightly acidic, with a pH of ~5. But when it's diluted as directed, its pH bracket is neutral (pH 6 to 8 depending on the water used to dilute the soap). After the soap is rinsed away with tap water, the Mr. Clean AutoDry Filter comes in. It deionizes the water and leaves you with a spotless car.

As for your hands, we have been careful to only use surfactants that are very mild for your skin. Also, it's important to recognize that our product is formulated near the normal pH of skin (about 5.5).

I have heard a ton of threads stating that Mr Clean does work in ways however it will leave a film on your car-particularly your glass and will make it harder for you to use your wipers unless you clean your glass afterwards.

hmm, no problem wiping the windows here!

See these threads on the Mr. Clean:

http://www.autodrytalk.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7

http://autopia.org/forums/showthread...hlight=autodry

There are others, but those get the point across. I think I'll continue with Zaino Z-7 wash and my large microfiber towel for drying. Just stating my personal opinion on the subject, so no flaming necessary.

Bill

IT does leave a film on the car. That is why the car becomes hydrophilic (water loving) during the rinse. The polymer is deposited on the surface and allows for sheeting to occur. Mr. Cleans beleives that the sheeting action will help protect your car when exposed to acid rain. Lets the acidic water sheet off rather than bead up and concentrate the acid as it dries. However, if you wax your car then this protection is lost. It is a bummer that the autodry system does not enhance the apperance of the car like a wax.

I think Mr Clean's advertising department figured that "layer" sounds better than "film." Either way, it does leave something.

I've used it, and I guess that "layer" is a better word, because "film" suggests filminess, which I haven't seen.

Mr Clean
 

I tried it with out using there soap. Was a waste of time and money. I went back to putting a stream just from the hose then using a leaf blower. Any spots used The Absorber.

it may leave a "layer", but it's certainly better than the layer of pollen I have on my 8 now!

I just use it for the filtered water, the soap sucks majorly, and I didn't like the way it affected my water beading that my Zaino does.

I've been using mine for more than a month now. I'm getting better with the autodry application, and it does work.

Here is one thing I like about it: The water is always clean. When you use just one bucket, the water can get dirty and you have to dump and refill. Even with a two-bucket, soap-and-rinse system, your soap bucket can get dirty.

Can you use this with a power washer soap dispenser?

you mean use mr clean's soap in the power washer?

soap and rinse (autodry)...

well the AutoDry comes with this really nifty soap and filtered water dispenser already.... they work pretty good... now they have a 'Pro' model that adds a POWER WASH nozzle for hard to remove stuff!

i love mine!!!

I think it is a waste, I tried for a while and the supplies are expensive and the spot free rinse is really not all that spot free and went back to the old way of doing it.

I gave it another shot this time using their soap. It made my Red RX8 Pinnicle Wax lifeless. Then I tried rinsing the stuff off with the "pure" water. Waste of my time. Just put back on my old hose and rinsed it off. Got my leaf blower out, then followed up with the Absorber Towel..... Had to put another coat of wax on to bring back the shine..... 0 - 10 I'd give it a 2....

obviously it wont work!!!!! you didnt use the soap that creates the LAYER fro the sheeting to occur!! read instructions! :mad:

Yes I used their soap!
 

I washed the car with my soap first to get all the dirt and grime off the car and rims. THEN I COATED THE CAR WITH THEIR SOAP! It did make all my water beads go away and created a sheet of ---- .... Then I switched it to the spot free rinse and it did rinse off some but not entirely. So I just used my old hose to rinse the rest off (I did have 15 minutes to let the spot free rinse work). And used my old way of drying the car. So sir yes I did follow the instructions! You may like it but I think it is a waste of money!

i really think you just don't know how to use it.... can't help with user error....

I really think you don't want to know how inaffective this product is and how long it takes for all the steps to go thru to get to a dull shine. It definitely took the some shine off my car. ZoomZoomH you can have my share I was planning on buying.

You should rinse the car off with regular water followed by a final rinse with the deionized water (spot free rinse). The di water simply rinses off any soluable salts that your tap water contains. Don't waste your ion exchange filter rinsing soap off.

i still love mine and my wax hasn't been dulled one little tiny isty bitsy bit.

i dont liek the soap and the film crap... i dont think it works THAT well.. its ok.. i really like the gun thingy tho.. im thinking of using it with like better soap.. maybe zainos stuff.... and just use the gun with it since its rather neat lol. that would work right?

they tell you not to, but give it a shot and let me know how it works :) lol

I LOVE the way their soap smells...i tried to smell my car once, but the scent didn't hold..it was a real bummer

The dilution ratio of the soap/water must be similar. The autodry stuff is very dilute. It probably would still work though.

soap
 

The soap applicator is neat. not their soap. I like theguy above would love to try it with a quality soap meguire's, zymol, etc. Then just use the rinse water. Our water here is not full of minerals like some places, so I can see why some people would benifit from this product. I'll raise my numbers to 4 thumbs up.

Why not use the DI water setting anyway. It doesn't hurt.

Let's just make sure everyone on the same page here.
I wet the car down with water.
Then apply their soap.
Spray some of the soap on a sheepskin mitt and wash the entire car by hand.
Rinse with just water.
(If any parts were particularly dirty, I soap them up again and rinse.)
When all of the soap is off, switch to the deionizer.

You still have to wash the car by hand.
You don't rinse the soap off with the deionizer setting.

I don't know of any soap that gives you a shine. All it can do is remove dirt. If you're seeing a film or something, it could possibly be caused by differences in the water hardness. Another factor is direct sunlight -- could dry the water before soap is entirely rinsed off. Just some thoughts.

hey... anyone still use this thing? i bought one for 15 dollars the other day and have yet to try it out....

also, has anyone tried putting their own soap in it? i hear not the best things about the included soap, and i think it'd be cool to have it spray my own soap... does this work? the manual says not to do it, but of course it would say that....

i've used it to wash my rx-8, audi s4, and wife's vw jetta and i've been very happy with the results. we unfortunately have hard water in my area so the water filter is an absolutely fantastic feature. :)

Here is how you should use it....

1. Rinse car off on normal setting
2. Apply soap to one relatively small area, (roof, back end, one side, hood/front) at a time
was that area with mit or whatever
3. rinse ENTIRE car with normal setting after each area
4. after the last part of the car is washed and rinsed then go over the entire car on the filter setting
5. Let dry

As long as the filter is still good you shouldn't get very many spots except for around problem areas like the side mirors, and below the trunk where water tends to sit. After you drive you have to quick clean those small areas for water drops

Largely what the filter does is take minerals out of the water so you don't get hard water spots.

I used it two summers ago and I think it is a very decent product. My friend hadn't showered in 4 weeks so I soaped him up and sprayed him off and he was zestfully clean!

Still using my Mr. Clean. Great product. I then use Turtle Wax Ice. Excellent combo together and very quick clean and shine.

I just got done washing my car using Mr clean auto dry... so happy that I don't have to physically dry my car! hehehe!

I hate to ressurrect again, but..I have used the Meguiars soap in it for a long time with out problems (clogging, etc..). The biggest benefit I see of this thing is the filtered water rinse (basically doing the same as Umbra's direction stated above). It's great for those of us in hard-water areas. The Meguiars soap and normal wax (still using NXT) is plenty to have the water sheet up and bead off. Just a few spots left with the micro-fiber, and good to go..

after a year+ using Mr. Clean AutoDry, i've come to the conclusion that this product is completely defective. and, it will destroy the exterior of ur car if u continue to use it. over time, it leaves small water marks all over the exterior of the car. and, these eventually do not wash out and get permanently etched into the body paint, windshields, plastic, and rubber hardware. i highly recommend anyone using this product to stop immediately and wash with conventional car wash methods.

I'd say the problem is that you're not rinsing thorougly enough.

I used it two or three times. Worked great the first time, but I spent an enormous amount of time on the final rinse. Used it once or twice more, with a little less patience and got some water spots.

I finally realized that it took more time to do a proper "de-ionized" final rinse than it took to just wipe the car with towels. So it's back to conventional washing.

Ken

Beware Long-term Use of This Product...
 

well, i've used the product for almost 2 years, and i do know how to use it correctly & understand how it works.

what's truly horrifying about mr. clean autodry is that the product initially seems to work great. in fact, it worked so great that that's exactly why i continued using it... i was thinking, wow this is the best thing since sliced bread. my car looked great- shiny & clean & no water marks. and, i never suspected anything wrong. little did i know that it was actually slowly damaging my car bit-by-bit...

specifically, over time it gradually leaves behind very tiny evaporative water outlines all over the car. these tiny marks are barely visible at first- if at all even. and, even when you do see a couple sometimes, they look completely harmless. but, they are not. they take time to accumulate and eventually become more visible over time- esp in the proper lighting. since the idea of mr. clean is to allow the car to evaporate dry, you never dry the car, and there are some weird chemicals in mr. clean that do not evaporate cleanly & that permanently etch into whatever surface they dry on- ie windshield, rubber/ plasitc lining, and body paint.

so, the story starts out happy- ie wow, squeaky clean car in 1/2 the wash time. but, over time, it becomes a nightmare- ie how the sudden did all these little transparently outlined etchy thingies get all over my paint, windsheilds, and lining? and, the scary part is they won't wash off...

i'm not a chemist, nor am i a professional car detailer. but, i do know how to use the system correctly and have been doing so. i can't give u a technical explanation as to how or why long-term use of this product does permanent damage. but, it just does. it slowly destroys the exterior of your car, bit by bit, and gradually so u don't even notice it until one day it's too late. my car is now covered w/ these tiny, tiny marks. and, it's horrifying. i'm getting the help of a fellow rx8 club member who's also a car detailer to work on this problem. and, he's told me that many of his other clients have had similar problems using the mr. clean autodry carwash system and he's advised everyone to stop using it immediately.

i don't know if road & track or consumer reports magazine did their due diligence in testing it over the long-term before churning out their glowing reviews. but, i feel as tho they totally screwed me. and, i'm just sharing this info with you- my fellow rx-8'ers- so you can benefit from what i've learned. i'd hate to see anyone else out there go thru the hell i'm going thru right now.

i've written to consumer reports and also am in the process of contacting procter & gamble to alert them of the problems. i'd also like to hear from people who've had similar long term problems with this product- esp people interested in joining a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturer, procter & gamble.

thanks,
Detrich

thread revived. thanks.