RedCelica

I am meticulous about my car. After $500 and countless hours of detailing it would be a deal breaker to move into a place that could cause detrimental problems to my clearcoat and paint. We found a house we like, but it is on well and septic. I tasted the water and it seemed fine and not riddled with damaging minerals and will have a water test done. That said, with the right filters, would it be ok over years and years to wash your car with well water?

SilverS2kF22C1

I detail cars as a hobby and have washed cars my own cars for years with well water. But...I have been blessed with near perfect water from my well according to the testing facility.

I would suggest having it tested though to find out what is in it. Once you know what is in the water you can filter if needed. If you take good care of your car you should not have issues even if iron or mag levels are high. Just use distilled water for any solutions you make. I do that for my ipa wipe downs, clay bar solutions, etc...

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RedCelica

What minerals should I be on the lookout for?

baZurk

If you have the water treated for in house use, you could have that same water run from a bathroom to an outside spicket by the driveway My house has something like that.

I know almost nothing about plumbing though

dwight

I'm not sure what aspect of water hardness you'll be looking at. If you were into fishkeeping then you'd want to know the KH, however I'm not sure how relevant that is for car washing. There are other measurements:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water#Measurement

How does it look inside the house regarding signs on hard water? Is there any scale from hard water?

Does the house have a water softener to deal with the hard water? If you want your hands with bar soap, does the soap come off easily? Softened water has more sodium which makes it harder to get soap off of your hands. (By the way, if you have high blood pressure or are on a low sodium diet and all the water in the house is softened, you should be aware of the increased sodium you'll be getting.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/48...heart-disease/ )

Worst case scenario, you can get a filtration system for washing your car. I have no idea how well they work, but if you really like the house, don't let the well water be a deal breaker.
http://www.autogeek.net/deluxe-filter-system.html

NNY S2k

I've been using well water on my S since it was new in 02, no problems.
Levi

Vanishing Point

High calcium would be my main concern, re: car washing.

leedy5s2k

I washed my black SI at my parents house for 8 years with well water, never had any problems. After you wash it just don't let the water dry on the car and you will be fine!