So I used this the other day, and to be thorough, I'll start with the actual physical thing itself...it's pretty sturdy although it is plastic, get to winding it around and you're liable to break it, and at ~$20 for this thing, that could get expensive. You'll need a sponge/shampoo pad/brush whatever you use to scrub your car. I have a shampoo pad. Hook up the hose, fill up the soap reservoir, and insert the filter, so far life isn't too bad. There are three settings on the water cannon, Water (Rinse), Soap, and Water (filtered rinse). First thing ya do is spray down a portion of your car, then turn the cannon to soap, the soap starts to come out in the spray, spray down the wet part of your car with that, then saturate your sponge/pad/brush with the soap...then start scrubbing the car. Once you are done with that turn the cannon back to Water(Rinse) and spray off the excess soap, wet another place, etc until whole car is washed and rinsed, then turn the cannon to Water (filtered rinse), then slowly and methodically (almost like painting your car) go over your whole car with the filtered water making sure to get it all. Then....turn off the cannon, and walk away.
My impressions...I didn't like the soap much at all. My car was pretty dirty, but it didn't seem to do a very good job cutting the dirt, and made me uncomfortable rubbing off with the pad. Perhaps if my car wasn't so dirty I wouldn't have had such a problem.
I did however like, the cannon , as well as the filtered water part, for the areas of my car that did get clean with the soap, the car is spotless. And for that I am truly happy, it also seemed to dry up pretty quick.
From what I can tell, the soap seems to have stripped my wax though, which is something that concerns me, but I'm not getting any beading like I was getting, and that no make Joe happy. Otherwise, it's a good buy, heck just for the filtered water part and the nice sprayer nozzle thingy.
Ya, I have this thing. It's pretty good. The thing I dont like about it is you have to buy the soap that it comes with and the filters. That gets expensive. It's a marketiung scheme. Kind of like printers, you buy a printer for you computer, and it seems like such a good deal, then you gotta buy the ink cartridges when ya run out, and thats about 30 smackers a pop. Gotcha.
And as it says, you cannot really use any other soap 'cept the stuff that it comes with. I tried to, and the rinse at the end didnt work as well. So when its time for new soap, make sure you get the stuff that came with it.
I like mine. It certainly works well for a quick wash, but I agree that it's less effective when the car is seriously dirty. Just another gimmicky kind of thing, and for just $18 what the hell.
I'll have to toy around with other types of soap, I think as long as you made sure not to leave it in there to clog crap up it would be ok, but I'd have to try. I'm so not in the mood to wash the car right now though, it's not even pretty outside, and the weather is supposed to suh-uck for the next week or so. Stupid Weather.
time can sometimes be a factor though. I can see where if you had to rush off to some event, like a wedding or funeral and you really didn't want to beat yourself up on cleaning a car (like I do), this can be practicle.
I don't know about everyone else, but I can say a typical wash and dry for my car takes me at least a half hour, wet, wash & dry. Then I have to do a polish and sometimes a wax...that takes more...ugh...stop me! It's a compulsion!
____________________ Get in, Sit down, Shut up and HANG ON!
It is a time consuming process to make it look really good. I used to spend upwards of 3 hours on my car, atleast once a week last Summer. That includes clay barring and waxing. Sometimes even a tad longer.
Now I find myself just washing my car like every 2 to 3 weeks lol. I just do not have the time anymore. Anyone want to clay bar and wax my car up real nice? I'll pay ya
OK, note...IF you are going to use another type of soap in this bad boy, make sure it is thin...if it isn't...then it will get stuck in there...the soap I used was too thick, had to dump it out, so I mixed it 1 part soap and 1 part water and it worked fine. Just a word to the wise.
, as well as the filtered water part, for the areas of my car that did get clean with the soap, the car is spotless. And for that I am truly happy, it also seemed to dry up pretty quick.
