[Lucky]

I was at Target today and saw dozens of this contraption on display by the automotive section (well they call it "automotive" but it is mostly filled with neon cup holders, hands-free kits for cell phones, and other got-to-haves).

Being the conspicuous consumer that I am, I decided to give it a try...

Surprise, surprise. It works. It's a real time saver, too, since it eliminates the need for a bucket of soapy water in addition to a spot-free finish without the need to wipe the car down with a chamois. The key to the spot free finish is careful and thorough rinsing (in the filtered mode) -- which takes 4 or 5 minutes for a 911. Big SUVs would take a bit longer to rinse properly.

Downsides... in addition to the time-consuming rinse, you have to use special "Mr. Clean AutoDry" soap and filters, which means each wash costs about $2 in supplies. Given that I only wash the 911 about once a month and the daily drivers go through the automated car wash, this isn't much of a cost.

~~~~~

BTW, I spent most of today doing track-prep maintenance -- new brake pads, brake fluid flush/bleed, and replacement of a worn clutch cable. The clutch cable was really easy, but I did encounter one puzzler when I fed the new cable in all the way and still couldn't find the end up by the pedal cluster. I pulled it out and re-fed it, being careful to aim it towards the driver's side of the tunnel... that did the trick. All else was simple. What a great car to work on!