•• What it is ••
The Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash System is a 3 part car washer that attaches to your standard hose. It has a 3 part washing system that boasts leaving your car spot free with no drying.

•• Features and Commentary ••
The Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash System begins with a rinse. The large dial on the back has 4 settings marked with the type of spray. Using the first setting, the car is rinsed with hose water. The pressure is pretty good and it drenches the car without drilling it with a hard stream. It's more of a focused dumping. Then another turn of the dial will turn it to wash. This mixes the tap water with a measured amount of soap from the soap dispenser. The spray pattern is flat and less powerful than the rinse setting. I would have liked a stronger spray for the soap setting as it would then require less scrubbing with the sponge.

The Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash System is not an all inclusive system. While you won't need a bucket, you will need a sponge. The soap included and the spray are not strong enough to clean the car on their own. So get out your favorite sponge and start scrubbing.

The next step is to rinse again, making sure all the soap is gone. Again, the more powerful spray of the rinse cycle was very useful in quickly washing away all the soap.

Finally, the last step is to set the dial to filtered water and do a final rinse down of the car. This is the key element to the Spot-free wash advertised. Regular tap water has all kinds of additives including fluoride, mineral deposits, calcium etc. And when that water dries, those additives are left on the surface as spots. The replaceable filter in the Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash System is made by PUR and it removes calcium, mineral deposits and other things that leave spots. So a final rinse with this setting is like rinsing your car with pure drinking water. And it works great. My car was left spotless and clean without need for drying it. Even the windows were spot-free.

The construction of the unit feels solid. It is a large unit, though not very heavy even with the hose attached. One of the nice things about the product is the on/off switch. At the handle, there is a switch which turns the water on and off. It is a heavy switch and gives a very solid ka-thunk when engaged. This may seem an odd thing to mention, but it really feels solid when using it. And it is completely leak free. The switch works perfectly.

The instructions say not to use any other soap except the Mr Clean brand. Of course. They are in the business of selling refills. However, I saw no difference between the branded soap and m big jug of blue generic car cleaner. So throwing caution to the wind, I loaded up the compartment with my soap and used it. After several washings, there was no noticeable clogging that the instructions had warned me about. As I suspected, it was simply a way for them to make more money. And with the unit being well over a year old, there was no danger in voiding any kind of warranty. The soap container is a little smaller than I would like as it seems to be empty after only one or two cars. Refilling it is easy. There's a small rubber cap which is attached to the unit, so no chance of losing it. The hole is big enough to pour in the soap, with minimal spillage.

The filter is the big make-or-break feature. While the unit is pretty useless without it, the filters are way expensive and aren't supposed to last that long. I'm still using the starter kit filter which says to replace it after 3 washes. I've used it for at least 6 washes and it still isn't spotting. Replacements are supposed to last 6 washes depending on the hardness of your water. So my advice is to use it until it isn't working any more. Replacing the filter is similar to replacing an inkjet cartridge in your computer printer. Take the filer, remove a tab, shove it in the unit and close it up. On that note, I did notice the door of the filter compartment often fell of when I would gently drop the unit in the grass. I wasn't throwing it down on the cement, I was gently dropping it into my lawn. ( times out of ten, the back compartment that holds the filter would pop off. I wouldn't expect to be able to throw the product down, but I also wouldn't expect to have to place it down daintily.

•• Conclusion ••
The Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash System is a good car washing tool, that does the job as advertised. But at the price of refills, the value of time versus expense is up to you.

Recommended:
Yes