coolant, buy pre-mix or concentrated and mix with water?

[Brandon T.]

Seems like you're throwing money away buying premix.

However, isn't it a bad idea to buy concentrate and make up the other half in water out of the hose..for a 50/50 mixture?

thats what I'm asking, will tap water/out of the hose be harmful since it isn't distilled water.

thanks

[Chris W.]

Re: coolant, buy pre-mix or concentrated and mix with water?

Seems like you're throwing money away buying premix.

However, isn't it a bad idea to buy full strength antifreeze and make up the other half in water out of the hose..for a 50/50 mixture?

thats what I'm asking, will tap water/out of the hose be harmful since it isn't distilled water.

thanks

Mixing your own antifreeze is just fine, but I would use distilled water. You can buy it at the market a lot cheaper then antifreeze and I feel it offers better protection from corrosion then using tap water.

I have vintage Race cars and they do not allow the use of anti freeze because it is so hard to clean up the track when there is a problem. All the engines have both cast iron and aluminum components and I use distilled water with Royal Purple water treatment. I think Distilled water is a very good idea.

Chris

[Alan D.]

Re: coolant, buy pre-mix or concentrated and mix with water?

Have also been using distilled water and water treatment. If I need to dump the water no problem with waste and I've done that 3X this year.
PS distilled water is $.89 at Wallmart

[Brandon T.]

Re: coolant, buy pre-mix or concentrated and mix with water?

thanks, just thinking which is better to go with premixed or concentrate with distilled on the other 50%.

[Jim T.]

Re: coolant, buy pre-mix or concentrated and mix with water?

Several years ago I bought Prestone distilled water in the automotive section at WAL-MART. Have not seen it for some time now. I use the distilled water from the shelf at a different part of the same store.

[Paul J.]

Re: coolant, buy pre-mix or concentrated and mix with water?

thanks, just thinking which is better to go with premixed or concentrate with distilled on the other 50%.

Brandon:

Sounds like some of the true collectors favor using distilled water off the shelf. You're right that you're throwing your money away using the premix.

However, tap water contains small amounts of metals (like zinc, copper, iron, and lead), some calcium compounds and other minerals, some organic compounds, and residual amounts of chlorine or amonia. All of these are in very small amounts, and while some of them can impact various cooling system parts, the damage over time is minimal. There has been at least two discussions in this forum that I remember over the last year that touched on the the damage that not flushing the system and using the wrong anti-freeze can do. I have not been able to find any documented evidence that using tap water causes significant deterioration.

I remember the manufacturer's recommendations from many years ago to use distilled water, but I have'nt experienced any problems with tap water.

Paul