Vyair water filters and similar

[T5GRF]

I live in a very hard water area, I decided to order a Vyair 11 litre flask pre filled with resin to allow me to rinse my cars without the need to hand dry them - supposedly…
The first flask came with a type of resin that ultimately wasn’t suitable to remove the level of impurity in my water leaving lots of water marks on the car although better than rinsing with tap water. Vyair have been pretty good and eventually shipped a different type of resin which they felt would be able to solve the problem, I emptied the old stuff out yesterday (a s.it job) and once filled with new washed my cars, the results were slightly better but still lots of water marks and this when the sun isn’t strong to really bake the water on the car.
Do these filters really work 100% or am I being unrealistic in expecting zero water spots using a £120 filter?

[348jeff]

It sounds like you've originally been supplied with MB-115 resin which they have swapped for MB-151 resin. As you've noticed its an improvement but still not perfect.

In short the answer to your question is that although a vast improvement over using just tap water they will not get rid of 100% water spots so you still need to dry your car by either towel or some kind of air blower.

I suggest you buy yourself a TDS meter such as link below (just an example)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yakamoz-Digital-Tester-Te...

Then try dispensing some purified water into a glass - if your resin is new it should get a a reading of 0ppm as opposed if you try your tap water this will show it as "unpure". Its a good way to keep an eye on your resin condition and when you should consider changing it.


What I do is rather than connecting your regular hose to the water filter output and hosing down your car is to buy a couple of watering cans such as below and throw the sprinkler bit away and fill a couple of these up to do the final rinse. I just rinse the car down with regular tap water then "water" my car with the purified water. This seems to not only leave less drops of water on the car but also preserves the life of the purified water filter.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/litre-Big-Watering-Can-gr...

Get yourself some rinseaid - I use carplan Hi-wax rinse - available from Halfords or on Amazon - very similar to Demonshine but a lot cheaper. I pour just enough to cover the bottom of the empty watering can then topped up to the top with purified water. Makes it so there are very few water droplets left on the car to mop up with your microfibre.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CarPlan-CWR005-Trade-Vale...

Finally, the only way to get what your after is to do what window cleaners do and that is to use a reverse osmosis system and then run it through one of the vyair water filters to "polish" the water and leave it absolutely clean. Its big bucks though and very wasteful of water. Some window cleaners I know actually buy water by filling a tank in their van but not really practical for car cleaning.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VYAIR-Purification-Ultra-...

Edited by 348jeff on Friday 3rd March 23:25

Edited by 348jeff on Friday 3rd March 23:26

[Belle427]

Water test required as above.
I can happily rinse cars, windows etc without water spots.
I do towel dry cars though and as water will sit around a long time on them sometimes.
Kind of defeats the object but getting the worst of it off helps.

[T5GRF]

Thanks for the really helpful replies. I do have a water tester - I’ll post up the results using the new 151 resin.
It’s kind of frustrating to still have to towel dry the car or use a blower I was hoping to wash and go to coin a phrase…
My driveway is south facing so in the warmer weather especially on my bay blue BMW the water is baked on literally within a minute or two guaranteeing loads of water spots.

[Belle427]

I don't think you can avoid it in the sun and that's why I always towel dry the worst of it.

[T5GRF]

Just tested the water -

Vyair 3ppm
Tap water 370ppm
Softened water 513ppm

[Belle427]

I read that anything under 25 should be spot free.

[T5GRF]

Yes I had too- it’s strange, there are quite a number of spots on the car.

[348jeff]

An easy test to do is to wash one of your windows on your house and rinse it off with the pure water and let it dry naturally. Pretty sure you'll see water spots but a lot less than if you used your regular tap water.

As I mentioned window cleaners run it through the other type of water purifier too, If you go on YouTube and search for 'window cleaning pure water' you'll see what I mean. Its adding an extra expense but it will achieve what your after. TBH I would just be satisfied with towelling it off with the help of a rinseaid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMfxV6q5Diw

Edited by 348jeff on Saturday 4th March 20:57

[Piersman2]

I started with an 11kg filter about 7 years ago.

Crystal clear results not a single water mark, looked like the car(s) has been polished. At the time I was washing 4 black cars, hence buying the filter as I was fed up with washing the cars and having them look like st if I didn't blade or wipe the water droplets off.

11kg used to last me about 3-4 months and I knew it was time to change when the residue started re-appearing and the water started to smell of rotten fish.

Switched up to a 25kg filter a couple of years back and have always used the Tulsion MB 115 (IIRC).

With regards to partical readings in my area. Tap water is about 340, Brita water filtered about 240, and freshly re-filled 25kg filter 0ppm.

Obviously as the 25kg filter is used that 0ppm starts to rise although I never bothered measuring it over time as use is so irregular. But the 25kg filter used to do me about 6 months, more than that now I've been WFH as I wash the cars so infrequently these days not every week like I used to.