Water Spotting or What?

[JHZR2]

Was stripping the odyssey today in anticipation for polish and CQuartz UK. It was high 70's, clear and dry, and I was out of the direct sun, shaded by some trees.

I kept getting this sort of residue on my panels.

I washed with Dawn dish soap for the purpose of stripping. I rinsed it very thoroughly, but couldn't stop such residue from coming back, making me think it was minerals, not soap.

In the end, I took a microfiber sponge to wet the surface, had my wife work right behind me drying the surfaces, and we got it to go away. But what a pain. How does one avoid them? My home water is filtered through a carbon block system, and Ive not typically had such issues. Thoughts??

 

[bvance554]

It looks like soap from here. Does it happen when you don't use Dawn? I've never used Dawn on a car so I have no experience with it, but it looks like it leaves something behind.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Wow, it looks terrible. Something is wrong with your water system, did you use garden hose to rinse after soaped ?

When your wife dried the surfaces that you just finished washing/rinsing did you see any stain on the drying towel(s) ?

I didn't wash my cars much and I use city water via garden hose and never encounter anything close to your awful water condition.

I have no idea what are possible problems that cause this. Can you ask your neighbor to try their water from garden hose to see if their water system would cause the same problem on your Odyssey ?

 

[JHZR2]

I've never seen spotting like this before. It may well be due to the use of dawn. It may also mean that our carbon filter needs to be replaced, though honestly I don't recall spotting like this before we had one, our water is quite good.

We are nearly in a drought I'd bet, long stretch without rain and then only one or two hard ones (the kind where everything runs off because it was so dry before) in the last few weeks.

This residue happened after washing with dawn. I rinsed with copious water multiple times. Iron x didn't make it go away. The drying process I mentioned did, and with polish it was truly gone...

 

[The_Jeff]

Is your outside spigot plumbed as an exception from the carbon filter? If not for your car washing it would be prudent for gardening etc as to not "waste" the filter.

 

[Andy636]

I get the exact same thing over here due to the high concentration of minerals in the water.

Carbon filtering does nothing to remove the minerals from the water.

What you need is a large capacity polyphosphate crystal filter.

 

[Turk]

Probably wasn't the carbon filter, but they don't last that long, fyi.

Experiment on one panel by replicating it, or using plain water, or some other soap.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Is your outside spigot plumbed as an exception from the carbon filter? If not for your car washing it would be prudent for gardening etc as to not "waste" the filter.


No, I have the filter on the run right at the entrance to the house. Its the best straight run to put it on.

Usually I remember to put it on "bypass" when I use lots of water. Forgot this time...

 

[bvance554]

I saw the finished results you posted and it turned out very nicely regardless.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
I saw the finished results you posted and it turned out very nicely regardless.


Thanks!!