City water is too hard, what are my options?

**xenonsupra** · 02-07-2019, 06:05 PM

Non pro here. Just an enthusiast.

I just got a new truck and applied my first ceramic coating. Gtechniq CSL with 2 coats of C2v3 on top. Very happy with the results.

My garden hose city water is awful, 400-500ppm and leaves nasty water spots. I’m looking for a solution.

My plan is the following:

Drive to local DIY carwash. While I’m waiting on a stall I’ll hit the exterior with a IK foam 9 sprayer.
It’ll be filled with distilled / low ppm RO water and chemical guys snow foam. One gallon should be enough to foam my truck.
Pull into the stall and use the spot free rinse. Hopefully this removes or loosens the majority of buildup.
Come home, spot clean with diluted ONR (spray bottle) and a high quality microfiber.

Option 2: I'm considering is to invest in a CR spotless system, but this is super expensive considering how bad my water is. I’ll likely go through filters every 5-6 washes.
Option 3: Use a water delivery service and fill up a 55 gal drum in my garage. Pair that with something like the worx hydroshot/ two bucket wash. This is roughly the same cost per gallon as the CR spotless but less $$ up front ($100 on a drum, $100 on hydroshot rather than $400+ on CR).

What else should I consider? Location is Southern California so generally it doesn't get too crazy dirty.

City water is too hard, what are my options?-taco-jpg

**Setec Astronomy** · 02-07-2019, 06:38 PM

Can you get a water softener (I know there are some areas of CA where they have outlawed softeners)? I have a water softener, but not at the outside faucets. I got a CR but it became too much of a pain bringing it out all the time, and the cost of the resin, so I started running a hose from inside the house to use the soft water. Finally I broke down and got the outside faucet near the driveway repiped to the inside soft water. You still get some spots, but they're not hard water spots, so they come off easily. I'd never go back to the DI, the bang for the buck just isn't there.

The other thing you can do is see if one of the water treatment companies like Culligan does industrial DI tanks, they will usually exchange them...think of it as a super-sized CR. So they will bring you a DI tank, when the light goes out you call them and they bring you a fresh one and take back the other for recharge. Or if the rental isn't bad, they can leave you 2, and when you switch to the backup you call them to get the dead one.

**xenonsupra** · 02-07-2019, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Can you get a water softener (I know there are some areas of CA where they have outlawed softeners)? I have a water softener, but not at the outside faucets. I got a CR but it became too much of a pain bringing it out all the time, and the cost of the resin, so I started running a hose from inside the house to use the soft water. Finally I broke down and got the outside faucet near the driveway repiped to the inside soft water. You still get some spots, but they're not hard water spots, so they come off easily. I'd never go back to the DI, the bang for the buck just isn't there.

The other thing you can do is see if one of the water treatment companies like Culligan does industrial DI tanks, they will usually exchange them...think of it as a super-sized CR. So they will bring you a DI tank, when the light goes out you call them and they bring you a fresh one and take back the other for recharge. Or if the rental isn't bad, they can leave you 2, and when you switch to the backup you call them to get the dead one.

I don't have a softener. I definitely could pick up a $200 RV softener for my hose, that's another option I considered. I'd still have to finish with a quick detailer to remove the salt residue but it's a decent option. Easily rechargeable too so over time a good investment.

I spoke with culligan the other day, maybe I'll text the rep and see about the industrial DI tank.

**Setec Astronomy** · 02-07-2019, 06:43 PM

So what did Culligan suggest when you spoke to them, a whole-house or garage-only softener?

**ClearVue18** · 02-07-2019, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by xenonsupra

Non pro here. Just an enthusiast.

I just got a new truck and applied my first ceramic coating. Gtechniq CSL with 2 coats of C2v3 on top. Very happy with the results.

My garden hose city water is awful, 400-500ppm and leaves nasty water spots. I’m looking for a solution.

My plan is the following:

Drive to local DIY carwash. While I’m waiting on a stall I’ll hit the exterior with a IK foam 9 sprayer.
It’ll be filled with distilled / low ppm RO water and chemical guys snow foam. One gallon should be enough to foam my truck.
Pull into the stall and use the spot free rinse. Hopefully this removes or loosens the majority of buildup.
Come home, spot clean with diluted ONR (spray bottle) and a high quality microfiber.

Option 2: I'm considering is to invest in a CR spotless system, but this is super expensive considering how bad my water is. I’ll likely go through filters every 5-6 washes.
Option 3: Use a water delivery service and fill up a 55 gal drum in my garage. Pair that with something like the worx hydroshot/ two bucket wash. This is roughly the same cost per gallon as the CR spotless but less $$ up front ($100 on a drum, $100 on hydroshot rather than $400+ on CR).

What else should I consider? Location is Southern California so generally it doesn't get too crazy dirty.

Where do you live? Geez lol

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app

**xenonsupra** · 02-07-2019, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

So what did Culligan suggest when you spoke to them, a whole-house or garage-only softener?

I was only looking at 5 gallon jug delivery, if I'm going to install a whole house or garage only softener I would just purchase it outright rather than rent from them.

I just spoke to him again and they do not do any sort of industrial size tank fill-ups.

Originally Posted by ClearVue18

Where do you live? Geez lol

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app

San Diego.

**boosteddub69** · 02-07-2019, 07:10 PM

I've been looking into this myself. I'm in San Antonio TX and my water is about 275ppm. The DI resin systems don't work well for the reasons that have already been mentioned. I would either go with a water softener or if you're set on a spotless rinse system, you could look at this: 35 GPD Spot Free Car Rinse System – Martin Water Conditioning- Spot Free, it's a combination RO filter and a tank which will store your rinse water. It is not cheap by any means but would certainly work.

As I type this and think about it more...go with the softener. I'm not sure how well the inline softeners work, they may not be nearly as effective as getting your outdoor wash spigot plumbed to use the softener from the house.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

**xenonsupra** · 02-07-2019, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

So what did Culligan suggest when you spoke to them, a whole-house or garage-only softener?

I was looking at 5 gallon delivery jugs. I wouldn't rent a system from them I'd just buy and install one probably.

Originally Posted by ClearVue18

Where do you live? Geez lol

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app

San Diego

Originally Posted by boosteddub69

I've been looking into this myself. I'm in San Antonio TX and my water is about 275ppm. The DI resin systems don't work well for the reasons that have already been mentioned. I would either go with a water softener or if you're set on a spotless rinse system, you could look at this: 35 GPD Spot Free Car Rinse System – Martin Water Conditioning- Spot Free, it's a combination RO filter and a tank which will store your rinse water. It is not cheap by any means but would certainly work.

As I type this and think about it more...go with the softener. I'm not sure how well the inline softeners work, they may not be nearly as effective as getting your outdoor wash spigot plumbed to use the softener from the house.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

That product is actually pretty slick. I hadn't seen that. Very temping and much lower cost long run than CR spotless.

**Markymapo** · 02-07-2019, 07:52 PM

Why not wash with regular hose water n rinse with this SPX6000C-XR that u fill with DI. It holds 5 gallons which is more than enough to rinse a car ( I can wash a car with 1.5 fills); just a suggestion.

**boosteddub69** · 02-07-2019, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by Markymapo

Why not wash with regular hose water n rinse with this SPX6000C-XR that u fill with DI. It holds 5 gallons which is more than enough to rinse a car ( I can wash a car with 1.5 fills); just a suggestion.

I have one of those and tried it. It seemed like I was chasing the soap off my car. I haven’t revisited this in a while and will try it again when it stops raining (in San Antonio of all places)

It’s a good idea and when I get a chance to try it I’ll post up.