leedogg

sigh. ok i might as well contribute something useful for once.

Negatives:
Brushes can scratch and add swirl marks
Sometimes these places have a crew that dry your car down afterwards. They have coats with zippers that scratch up your car when they lean over it
Often these places use harsh chemicals. The more touchless, the harsher the chemicals. What does this mean? i duno, but it sounds bad.
Sometimes use a color wax which can discolor a clearbra and possibly a white TL.
Some places have rails which can gouge up your rims, especially low profiles.


Pros:
Convienent to use when its freezing outside
Can clean underbody of salt.
Saves several hrs.

gdfthr

The thing is if the operator actually cares about the end result you will not have a problem in an automatic car wash. And I know already I'm going to take some crap for this, but oh well. As long as there is ample amounts of high lubricity soaps and water you will not get scratches, and I don't know where you guys get swirls from but nothing moves in a car wash that can generate swirl marks.

Rails: Most car washes have plastic railings going up the entire length of the tunnel to protect your rims. Some touchfrees are the same. Some don't have tracks or floor switches at all, but some still have metal railings. The key is to hug that inside rail when driving in.

Towel Drying: If you are afraid of the jacket zippers hitting then don't let them dry it. But keep in mind they only have jackets on when it is cold out and when zipped up the zippers will only hit windows. Unless the person drying is a midget.

Harsh chemicals: Essentially the main difference between touch and touch free is that you are chemically cleaning a car with touchfree. They do have to use stronger soaps in order to properly clean a car. But most try not to go too strong because obviously the stronger the soap, the higher risk of breaking down waxes.

Color Waxes: Only really an issue on touchfrees with white vehilces with heavy oxidization. As the paint is more porous is traps in the dye and will discolor because again a touchfree has to use more of a product than a touch would to reach close to the same results. The good thing is that the dyes 9/10 times will fade in the sun. The bad thing is if it is really bad it needs to be cleaned with a cleaner wax or an oxy clean solution. I don't know about clear bras, this is the first I am hearing about this.

As much as you guys hate carwashes the owners as well as the suppliers do quite a bit to ensure everything runs smoothly and safely. I don't know about you guys but I have much better things to do everyday than get bitched at or slammed with hits to my insurance company or even sued for marking up a customers vehicle. And the best way to judge a car wash is to look at the type of vehicles that go through there.

Keep in mind I am not trying to convert anyone here. I'm just one of those guys who believes in his business and likes to defend the industry.

Wow that ended up being really long. Sorry.

Jesstzn

As long as there is ample amounts of high lubricity soaps and water you will not get scratches, and I don't know where you guys get swirls from but nothing moves in a car wash that can generate swirl marks. <-- Applies to touchless car washes ... the ones with the spinning brushes catually DO marr the paint as do the ones with the carpet style wash media that moves "gently" back and forth over the surface rubbing the grit in.

You may not see the marring on a light colored car or detect it on one that isn't polished right out but its happening .. slow but sure.


Color Waxes: Only really an issue on touchfrees with white vehilces with heavy oxidization. As the paint is more porous is traps in the dye and will discolor <----- Only applies to single stage paint as whites that are base / clear are no different that any other color .. your dealing with clear coat not the color coat.

gdfthr

Ozite carpeting hasn't been used in most car washes for many many years because it has been found to marr the paint as you said. And I say most because there are those ass hats out there that still use it, as well as bristle and lambs wool. But the cloth used today does not hold in dirt and is gentle. The key is to have plenty of soapy water applied. And if the wash is set up right there should be very little to no dirt on the vehicle by the time the side brushes touch the car as the main purpose for those brushes is to remove the film that is left behind. And there are even car washes useing microfiber cloth now.

I do agree with you on not noticing it so much on lighter color vehicles, but it would show up in my MRP TL or my Dark Blue Metallic Avalanche which get washed at least 3 times a week each.

And you are right, I misspoke about the color waxes. My expierience was with discolored paint on vehicles with no clear coat.

ironaddict

been told that those auto car washes are the worse for your car.... somthig like the brush picking up dirt and grim and can acutally scratch up your car

Jays_04TL

1995hoo

Some people say you should stay away from those because they reuse the dirty water. But during the winter if you have to wash off some road salt in a pinch and it's cold outside, it's hard to beat that type of wash as long as you don't do it too often. Sometimes in winter I also go to the Woodbridge Self-Serve Car Wash, which is one of the old-fashioned ones where you put in the quarters and use the wand to clean the car. I tend to stay away from the foaming brush under the theory that other people don't use the high-pressure nozzle to rinse it when they're done, but the self-serve wash is good for spraying off the undercarriage.

I sometimes go through the car wash with brushes in my other (non-Acura) car, but it's 20 years old!

1995hoo

WTF does all that mean???? I can't read this!

1995hoo

Note that if your leaf blower has a vacuum function and you use it for that purpose (such as the Black & Decker Leaf Hog), you should not use it on your car because little bits of gunk will have stuck to the fan blades in the blower and will be blown out against your car.

1fsthatch

not only do u get swirls from there brushes but when there drying ur car

jnc2000

Heated garage + warm and hot water taps ftw. If it is snowing out I'll hose off my car nightly just to get the salt off. I usually do a full wash once a week. But nothing beats washing it yourself.

Touchless washes - no.

I will however put $1.00 in the high pressure washes, flip it to rinse and hit the wheel wells, underbody, and the rest of the car usually once a week. $1.00 gets me just over 4 minutes to rinse it down.

Skrewologist

heh... i have heard this argument from time to time but with little merrit.

im not sure what automatic car washes you guys go through but if you truly believe what you are saying about them then i am curious if some of you are too paranoid to even drive your car in the rain.

i will only go through touchless washes that do not have an incline that the wheel goes up into. usually when i have the time to wash my car, i put in a good 3 to 4 hours into detaling it. otherwise, i will go through a touchless wash and then i will quickly dry the car and do the rest.

my car still looks good
http://home.satx.rr.com/gazeme/tlsedit.jpg

so if you truly believe touchless washes will ruin paint then more power to you. glad you have the time to nicely detail your TL

Harrisonk531616

LOL!!!! The biggest scam ever. Will "scuff" your paint worse than your old T-shirts.

Jesstzn

I don't think people are saying it ruins the paint, least I'm not. .. whats being said is its hard on the wax and will reduce the life of it .. the soaps are pretty harsh and have to be to get the dirt off.

csmeance

Translation:
I don't want to have a car that looks perfect due to the attention it attracts. If the car is perfect without a scratch, it'll stick out since its so nice looking, and thus attract attention to people who have bad intentions, such as keying the car, slashing tires, etc.

wall e

man i did not kno that car washing could be so stressful. u guys mentioned so many things that i never thought about, like the harshness of soaps and ppl's zippers hitting ur car, driving ur car to dry it. maybe its my neighborhood, but I never see anyone wash there cars using their driveways. maybe no one feels passionate about there cars in Wilmette or they kno this secret car wash place that doesnt give swirls, or they juss dont care about getting swirls, or maybe the wash it at 1am when im sleeping.
but then again almost everyone in my neighborhood is 50+.

darksky

Heh, something I didn't see mentioned in these posts is the fact that most car washes use HF (hydrofluoric acid) in their pre-wash water. This is something you don't want on your car if you're concerned about stripping wax and the like. Just google 'HF carwash' for some info.

You can take your car to the bays at the wash (pay $5 for 20 min with pressure gun) and bring your own mit. You can probably do a decent job in 10 min, it's only $5, there is no mess to clean up, and by the time you're home, it's probably 90 % dry.

rksokol

UNCONQUERED - Did you ever get your answer? "Just Like New" detailers will come out to your car and shine it up nice for you while you're at work. They got an office in Ft Myers if you're near there. Good luck!

UNCONQUERED

Funny you should ask.

I'd have to say "Yes" I did have my question answered.

Here's what I gained from this thread:

Automatic Car Washes (with brushes)- I'm staying away from.

Automatic Car Washes (touchless)- Will NEVER compare to a hand wash- but done on occasion- they're not the worst thing in the World. I'll probably hit these once in a while when I'm in a rush.

Hand Wash & Wax- I'm gonna try to fit AT LEAST one of these per Quarter into my schedule.

In the meantime; YES I found a guy in town- Anthony's Mobile Auto Detailing- who will be coming to wash/wax/detail my car- RIGHT OUTSIDE MY OFFICE WINDOW.

It's gonna cost $90- but It's WELL worth the cost- cause I just don't have the time.

Thanks to all who gave their views.

I appreciate it.

leedogg

a color wax from a touchless place discolored my clear bra. My clearbra guy mentioned this when I had to get a portion of the clear bra replaced and you could see how the old bra was yellow in comparison. The clear bra is a 3m film that uses a clear coat, so therefore a color wax will discolor the clearcoat and give it a yellow hue. This will be more noticeable on lighter color cars.

EVOLICARUS

touchless laser car wash= OK!!!

automatic with brushes=FTL

Home wash=FTW

ray-ban

I don't know why people are saying automatic carwashes are bad.

Touchless washes are NOT bad for your car. The conventional brush ones ARE.

I take mine through touchless, pay $10 and get a perfectly good wash which suits me just fine. In the summers I'll go to a self-wash bay and do it myself. Otherwise, touchless car washes are perfectly fine. Many do not have the guide rails and have blowers that dry your car just fine.

I usually give my car a rinse once a month in the fall/winter to cleanse the car of salts and debris.

stevejice

Autocarwashes can be bad for all those reasons. I run through one once a week. I figure if I can't find time to clean it myself, then I'll run through one.

Use a microfiber towel, it traps dirt better.

For a good wax, use Rejex. This is what is used on aircraft. You can apply it once and it lasts for months.

rksokol

I was advised that touchless washes are bad for the car b/c of the high-pressure jets getting up into cracks where they shouldn't be getting into...

stevejice

auto car washes
With brush bad because of contact with car and possibility of the brushes not being clean. Leaves swirls.

With touchless
the high pressure may cause damage. I have another car that had a small chip in the paint, and when I used high pressure, the paint chipped away even more

That's why I wrote as I did...

Blazin Si

I worked at two automatic car washes when I was in college. Each one in a different part of the country, but were operated almost exactly the same. If you're worried about scratches and keeping the wax you spent hours applying, then this type of car wash is not for you.

Cloth Wraps: I've seen countless open-bed pickup trucks come through the wash with a bed full of dirt, mulch or rusty metal. Then the "mitter" (the cloth straps that hang down and move front to back) will get drug through the bed. The dirt sticks and then gets drug all over the next few cars that follow it. The same thing happens to the spinning cloth wraps when mud covered vehicles come through.

Wheel Blasters: Most of us that worked there either had plastic center caps on our wheels or plain old hub caps. The wheel blasters made short work of removing the paint. If you're a customer however, the car wash will likely replace the damaged part if it's OEM.

Recycled Water: IMO, this is a joke. Not that they don't recycle the water, but it's that they put little effort in filtering it before it hits the reclaim. It's basically a screen that stops the big rocks, then it enters another chamber where the smaller rocks and debris can settle to the bottom and the car wash sucks the water off the top. The chemical filled water that hits your car can still have fine dirt particles in it. The sprayer tips get clogged often and need replaced because of this. The same harsh chemical that gets sprayed onto your wheels is present in the water at all times.

The type of people who work hard to own their Acura, Lexus, BMW and are very particular about it, don't come through too often (or even at all). It's mostly for people that aren't into cars. I've seen plenty of high dollar luxury and sports cars show up at the wash. Maybach's, Bently's, Ferrari's and once we had a Mercedes SLR McLaren. All owned by people who have more money then they know what to do with.