My biggest concern when washing my car is leaving water marks. I therefore run around like a man `possessed` trying to dry it before they set in. Does anyone know of any product that I can add to the water to prevent this happening...or am I destined to continue with my `headless chicken` routine every time I wash the car?

i havent heard of a product that will not leave water marks behind, all i do after washing my cars is go over it with a http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/drying-towels/chemical-guys-wooly-mammoth-drying-towel/prod_1003.html and then after that go over the car again with some good quality micro fibre clothes and some quick detailer.

I have one of these problem solved http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/aqua-gleam/0ppm-de-ionising-water-filter-12.aspx

I have one of these problem solved http://www.theultima...-filter-12.aspx

How many washes do you get out of this?

You can also try a quick drying rinse aid, Car Plan's Demon Shine is a high street example. To be honest if you have a few good large microfibres with a waffle weave pattern, shouldn't have too much of a problem with water marks and shouldn't take you long to dry it.

also another good way of getting rid of water marks, is use a finishing pad on a rotary or da polisher with some distilled water very finely misted on the pad, yeh i have done this many times.

To be honest...I don't really want to `get rid` of em...I want to prevent them setting in the first place. Judging from the replies so far (thanks everyone) I think I'll just carry on with what I do now and dry off as quick as I can.

Proper drying is key to lack of spotting

I only use it really on a hot day, ( about 50 washes you will get out of it(at least) use Bilt hamber Auto qd http://www.bilthamber.com/wax-and-polishes/auto-qd on the wet car, dries without spots

I use water out my 2 water butts, it runs off a treat, you dont have to chamois/dry it if youre in a rush but when you do theres hardly and water on the car, and it drys with a shine dont dull anything. Ive always used this since I started drying.

At the end of the day, after you wash it some bird will $hit on your car or a kamikaze fly will get squished all over the front of your car.

When I clean my car it's dirty the next day and filthy after 5 days of 100 mile round trip on the motorway!

Is it worth all the hassle?

`I` think so.

I'm still using a chammy and bucket of warm water, works a treat as the slightly damp chammy is absorbent enough to mop up water but wet enough to remove any water spots. Keep rinsing it and wringing it out as you go. No need to be super quick.

Might try these new-fangled microfibre cloths but they'd better be good to beat the chammy.

Oh, I think you'll find that drying towels are MUCH better than a chamois (chammy).

I avoid washing on a hot day, if I do it's in the shade!

Go to Lidl/Aldi or similar and buy some big bottles of water, it will reduce water stains and streaks quite dramatically. Use a drying towel instead of a chamois, too!

I don't have a problem with water marks (using the dead goat skin) but are the waffle weave cloths really that much better? I guess they just soak up more water?

I think you'll have to try one. I doubt you'll ever use your chamois again!

I've just washed my car. Managed to get it done while it was still overcast outside...so managed to prevent the dreaded `water marks`. One thing though...I used `Autoglym Fast Glass` (it was in the pack I got with the `Lifeshine` I had applied when I collected the car) Its either a load of rubbish, or I did something wrong. It was sunny by then, but all the windows are very smeary, and I followed the instructions to the letter. Has anyone found it to be any good on their car?

I tried some Valet Pro Citrus Bling (diluted around 4:1) as a drying aid for the first time yesterday. Lightly sprayed over the wet panels then drag the waffle weave microfibre towel across the panel. Completely dry and no watermarks (and it's moderately hard water around us, sufficient to leave noticeable water marks). Certainly better than without using the QD, though the towels did a very good job on their own. Far more effective than another type of cloth/skin that I've used in the past.

QD ?

I use Megs Last Touch before i go over the car with my waffle weave drying towel. Makes a noticeable difference and smells lovely too

QD ?

Quick Detailer. Only discovered that since reading the forum! There are quite a few that I've seen recommended here. Citrus Bling is quite versatile, depending on the dilution rate. Apparently it can be used as a fast wax product even though it doesn't contain any wax - not sure how that works but the Yeti certainly seemed even more shiny afterwards (on top of Collinite 476s done a few weeks back). I have the Sonus der Wunder towels - http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/microfibre-cloths/sonus-der-wunder-drying-towel-pkg/2/prod_84.html - which are huge (30"x24") and are easily the quickest thing I've used to dry the car. The pack I bought came with a pair of polishing & a pair of buffing microfibre cloths too, so didn't seem as pricey a purchase as I'd originally thought. The whole car detailing thing is quite addictive and I can see why people get OCD about it

Yeah, Martin, I think I have the same towels, although mine don't have the edging that yours do. I also got mine from `Clean your car` and it was a pair and are blue, measuring about the same, so maybe they are the same. Today I used both of them. One to take the majority of water off then the other one to finish off. The second one remained dry throughout and the first one I rung out about three times only. It was certainly the quickest drying so far. I really don't know why I didn't use em both together before now!

BTW what do you use to clean your glass? As you can see from my post above (16:05) I'm not having much luck with what I'm using at the moment.

My car had Supagard treatment (at my naive request - don't all laugh at once) which came with a glass cleaner. That seems to work pretty well, so it's in the boot with a microfibre cloth for emergency use - I can cope with a mucky car till I have the time to clean it but hate any smears or marks on the windscreen. I'd used Rain-X many years ago, as a glass coating, to help keep the glass cleaner. Looking on the posts here I saw Gtechnik and Carlack mentioned, so bought some of the latter. That comes with its own cleaner that is a right pain to buff off, but did the trick for preparation. Applying the sealant was much easier, and the glass work has stayed much cleaner. Didn't do anything different to clean the glasswork yesterday - just the same Valet Pro Poseidon Wash shampoo as for the rest of the car and the glass was spotless. On my Octy I just used Mr Muscle Window & Glass cleaner, and that gave good results - cheap too.

I had the same problem and on a black car made it really stand out . I use a water filter for the final rinse and don't even need to dry it as it dries spotless I'm in west of Scotland so water is not that hard but still left calcium marks.

I got the filter from rx8andy who is a member on here

Regards Whoosh