Customer Reviews

Mr. Clean Starter Kit

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I was a bit skeptical about buying this product because of the other products I have tried that claimed to be spot-free and failed miserably. I was pleasantly surprised with the Mr. Clean AutoDry system! If you follow the directions and put a bit of effort into your wash job it works very, very good!

- You first rinse off your vehicle with regular, unfiltered water either through the AutoDry gun or with your regular hose sprayer.

- Next, you use the AutoDry on the "soap" setting and completely cover the vehicle. They advise to only use the Mr. Clean soap, of course, because it contains agents not normally found in other car washing soap that assists in the sheeting action (similar to Jet Dry for the dishwasher)

- Thirdly, you give the vehicle an old fashioned hand wash with a sponge. Make sure you do a good job and clean it completely or you will find streaks when it dries with the old dirty water smeared all over.

- Fourth, rinse the vehicle completely with unfiltered water. Make sure you are very through in this stage. Take your time!

- Finally, set the AutoDry to the filtered rinse setting and go over the vehicle again. Make sure you start at the vehicle's highest point to remove all the tap water sitting on the roof. Basically, you want the filtered water to remove all the unfiltered water. Spray the filtered water in all the crevices to avoid spots later (side view mirrors, bumpers, etc.)

Although it sounds like it takes a long time it is really quite quick if you put some effort into it. I can do a complete vehicle (Ford Explorer) start to finish in about 15 minutes. The car dries completely spot free EVERY time! Of course, the results will only be as good as YOU make them. If you don't wash completely or rinse the unfiltered water off completely there WILL be spots. It is up to you to do a through job to get great results!

I read some reviews on this Auto-Dry system before I went out to buy it because usually things that sound too good to be true are too good to be true. The reviews seemed split up, people hate it or love it. This lead me to believe that the people who didn't like it just didn't know how to use it properly.

So I bought it and the first time I used the Auto-Dry it worked perfectly, no spots whatsoever. I followed the procedure like this:
-Rinse the car like always
-Spray on the soap but all you need is enough to coat the surface because this soap leaves a thin layer on top anyways. I could see how it would be easy to waste the soap because it uses up pretty quickly. However one fill to the little arrow was a perfect amount I found. Do the car in 4 sections, front, back, and sides.
-Scrub the area you soaped with a wet sponge like you would normally
-Rinse of that section with non-filtered water, you will find out that no matter how much you will spray, soap keeps coming off, it is because there is a thin layer on top right now and you want that its part of the good drying process.
-After you have soaped and scrubed all four section now you should use the filtered water to rinse off. It's best if the whole car is wet at this time you dont want anything to dry before you use the filtered water.
-The trick is to have only filtered water on you car when you are totaly finished. If you have any non-filtered water on the car then it will dry with a spot.

If you know how to use the Auto-Dry it is a great tool. I will always wash my car with one now.

I've had the autodry car wash for about 2 months now, and i was my car weekly. It works pretty good, the most important thing to remember is to wash your car one section at a time and rinse it off so soap doesnt dry on 1 spot while your washing another, you want the car to be wet the entire time your washing. The rinsing also takes some practice, youll want to start with the top of your car and use a lot of the rinse water to make sure no minerals get left on. It does work, will not leave spots as long as you do it properly.
The down sides to it are. It uses a lot of soap, compared to filling a bucket with water/soap, youll use much more soap shooting it out of the gun, but it is a lot easier and ensures you arent washing with dirty water, make sure you rinse your wash sponge or whatever off regularly. It is very hard to fill the soap dispenser up if youve used it recently, there will be a lot of soap bubbles in the tank and putting soap in just makes the bubbles come out the hole, and then the soap doesnt go in, gets very annoying, make sure you fill the soap up before starting each time. The filter is another problem, for me at least, I live in texas and we have very hard water, lots of lime in it, so the filters tend to go quite fast, another factor making the filters use up faster than 10 washes is that you really need to use a lot of the rinse water to make sure no spots form, i get about 5 washes per filter, but thats over a month worth of washes for a relativly cheap filter, bout $6 at walmart.
Another thing I like about the whole thing is that by not having to dry with a towel, I'm not rubbing my car so im further reducing the risk of making scratches or swirl marks from either a bit of dirt that got on the drying towel or anything else that could get between the towel and the car and get dragging over the paint.

The design is simple, water spots are cause by minerals in the water that don't evaporate with the water, the filter removes them so only water is on the car after rinsing, which all evaporates.

I'm not normally one to post these online reviews, but this product is worth trying.

One of my favorite features is that each of the 3 settings (unfiltered water, soapy water, de-ionized filtered water) has its own dedicated nozzle. There is no need to waste water/product "clearing" nozzles between steps.

Using the appropriate Mr Clean products (soap and de-ionizing water filter),
-I rinse down the car with the UNfiltered rinse water setting,
-followed by a quick soap down on the soap setting,
-wash-mitt the entire car (it's a small convertible, and since I don't wash and re-protectant the top every time, I don't need to wash car in small sections),
-rinse again, thoroughly, with the regular UNfiltered water setting,
-final rinse with FILTERED (de-ionized) water setting.

It is important to rinse off ALL of the UNfiltered water with the filtered water, especially in the little nooks and crannies such as spoilers, lights, door cracks, etc, as the UNfiltered water drops/trickles are what will always leave spots (calcium, minerals, etc).

I wonder if the complainers bothered to change the sample filter cartridge. Being a sample, it only lasts for 3 washes or so, depending on usage, but the replacements are good for 10 or so. With my small car, I got 5 washes out of the sample before spotting occured. Unlike the sample filter, the replacements have a "window" on the side, which can be seen through the Mr Clean handheld unit, and which turns brown when in need of replacement. I peeled off the label of the sample cartridge after replacing it, and I could see the NASTY brown crud which had been removed from my "clean" city water in only 5 rinses! Amazing! Oh, the filter is made by Pur Water Filters, which is a name you can trust for high quality.

BTW, "spots" are mineral deposits from unfiltered water, and can easily be removed by using a spray bottle filled with a 50/50 mixture of DISTILLED white vinegar and DISTILLED water. I do a quick spritz-and-wipe after a rain, so as to remove the spots left by the rain water without a full carwashing.

All from the easy attachable nozzle... water it, soap it and scrub with a mitt to get the dirt, water it again, and then you use the clean water spray to rinse it... then you walk away cause you're done. It leaves NO water spots on the grill, paint, or even the windows. You don't have to take forever to chamois everything (SUV & truck owners you know what I'm talking about).
If there are draw backs it's that the soap is proprietary and so are the filters but they're only a few bucks and last a good 10 washes each. It comes with a starter kit of each that's good for about 3 washes depending on car size.
You have to get used to it. The first time you'll probably leave some water spots because you forget to water the door cracks and the cracks in the side mirror with the clean water and when the dirty water leaks out... there's your water spots.
I highly recommend this... it cuts car washing time in half and you'll save the $6 - $15 in car washes.

The AutoDry system is nothing new. I'm sure all you car enthusiasts already know that deionized water dries without spots. This system does what it advertises, but you're pretty much paying for the deionized filtration system in fancy packaging. And don't buy into the "Mr Clean AutoDry only works if you use Mr Clean soap" bs. I simply wash the car with Zaino, rinse with unfiltered water, and top it off with Mr Cleans filtration system. If you decide to get this, simply throw away the supplied soap, visit your nearest pepboys and pick up some quality carwash soap. Mr. Cleans' system is only useful for its deionized filtration system.

This thing is awesome. It works exactly like it says, not a single water spot. Of course you have to follow the 5 simple directions. Wet the car with regular water, soap the car, scrub with a sponge or mit, rinse the car with regular water, and then rinse with the filtered water. If you don't follow these steps then it will leave spots. This product works better then going to a car wash. The only recomendation I would make to people is that you buy extra soap when you buy the starter kit. The soap goes quick when you are first getting used to using the gun. You think it isn't putting out a lot of soap but when you start to scrub you see that it is. Once you are used to the gun and how it works,the soap will last.
Great product overall!!!

Who should buy the Mr. Clean AutoDry system? Someone who has hard water at the hose and who doesn't like to hand dry. The product works great, and as advertised. It is best to use it with a hose quick disconnect so it is easier to maneuver, or you will find yourself untwisting it occasionally.

The first step is to hose down the vehicle with the pass through jet of the AutoDry system. Wet the entire vehicle then fill a wash bucket with water and wet your mitt. I use a wash bucket in order to keep the mitt clean, even though you don't have to. Then switch to soap mode and add a little to the bucket and soap down the area you want to wash.

Turn the unit off and then scrub the area with the mitt, constantly dipping the mitt in the water bucket to get rid of debris. Put the AutoDry back to pass through mode and rinse the area you scrubbed. Move onto the next area, always keeping the entire car slightly wet, don't let the water dry anywhere on the car.

Once the entire car is scrubbed and rinsed, switch to the filtered mode. Start with the roof of the car and work your way down the hood, then down the sides, and down the back. Just be sure to wet each area for at least a little bit, and if there are beaded areas of water, go over them a couple extra times. It is very low water pressure, but it doesn't take much. The low pressure is caused by the filter restricting flow (this is normal). Once the entire car has been rinsed with the low pressure wash your car will dry spot free, even if you have very hard water like I have (expect shorter filter life with hard water).

The system works out to be less than a dollar a wash, much less than going to any automated or self car wash, and it takes a lot less time than drying by hand (all other steps are equal length), with as good of results. I like to stick my car in the garage by a floor fan (or outside in a breeze) to make sure the car drys quickly and completely. I washed a dark blue car and had no spots, I can't say the same when I use the Chamois because my water is so hard. Great product and worth every penny

I purchased this product because drying is my least favorite part of washing my car. I've used it a lot, and it works as advertised - my car dries spotlessly. It's definitely a time-saver. My unit (which I bought soon afer it was released) developed a leak at the on/off switch. I spoke with P&G customer service, and just received a coupon for a free starter kit in the mail. The CS representative seemed a bit surprised about the leak too, so hopefully it's not a common occurance. Overall, a great product, and the company stands behind the product 100%.

I really wanted to like this product and I did at first. But I think its leaving sticky residue on my car. The nozzles or whatever they are called where the washer fluid comes out was clogged with sticky stuff.
I was so happy when I first got this. Yeah it was heavy and awkward to use and theres the expense of the soap and filters and the fact that the soap wasn't really that good. I was so happy to finally have windows that were crystal clear. Clear only lasted a day before the spots really showed up.

If I am wrong and this product is not to blame or I was misusing it then I will come back and give it 5 stars.