My '06 Acura is 2 months old since the purchase date. I have already ran through "Mike's Car Wash" 4 times. Is it safe for the new paint the Acura has? I wonder if it's bad running through a car wash? like.. scratches or remove any films/protectant that may have came with the brand new car? I don't know. ANybody has insight to this? Comments.. Recommendations?

 

hand washing is the best way to wash a car

in motorized car washes dirt is trapped from other cars, and can sometimes scratch the paint of your car ...

 

use a touchless carwash.....

 

i look at it like this.......

some of the cars that go through the car wash are FILTHY. If you were washing your car by hand, would you share a wash bucket with that same person? my answer would be no, so therefore my TL will never see a carwash with brushes. i guess brush less would be ok

 

the reason why I ran through a car wash is so I can get the underbody wash. I don't want to get dirt/ salt underneath my car. How do I go about washing that by hand... any ideas.

last time I ran through a car wash I think it scratched my paint... I was upset.

 

alrighty I will try touchless car wash next time. I think they got underbody wash too don't they.

btw, I already gave three layers of car wax to help protect my paint job.

 

Whenever i need my car cleaned, I ALWAYS (and i mean ALWAYS) have it detailed... my friend owns a detailing company and gives me a very reasonable rate of $35 for full service inside and out (normally $75)... try to find an inexpensive detailing company, crew, whatever, or do it yourself... but if you don't want to cut too deep into your pocket touchless would be my next choice... and yes, some touchless have underbody... good luck keepin it clean!

 

Being in San Diego I do not have to worry about the underbody issue. My son and I are the only people touch washing my car, I have run through a touchless just to get some rain splatters off a fresh wax job when I did not have time to hand wash it. I would for sure look for a touchless with underbody wash, or your paint will be a swirled mess from the brushes, but more so from the drying crew and their towels. you think they get a fresh towel every car? or if they drop one? or if they wipe down a wheel you think they wont wipe your body afterwards? thats a scary thought. It also really depends on what color you have as well. WDP hides a world of problems, where as NBP will magnify every swirl and paint defect.

 

Avoid the motorized / automated carwashes whether the sign sez BRUSHLESS or not. Those big swashers are slapping the dirt from previous cars right back onto yours, and it's an almost sure bet those rotorized wheel brushes will scratch your rims anyway.

I only go to places that do handjobs.

 

If you used a carnuba it can't be layered so you have 1 layer.

 

to wash the underneath of ur car without going to a car wash is pretty simple

you should take one of those sprinklers that you use to water your lawn that keep going back and forth and place it under your car for 30 minutes

u should be set after that

 

That won't work to get rid of salt from the bottom of your car. The common way to remove salts and other dissolved minerals from reclaimed water is to use a process called reverse osmosis. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of the car-wash places don't have the equipment to do that. They just filter suspended particulates from the water. That means whenever you go there, you are just giving your car a salt bath.

As for the touchless washes. They are just as bad for other reasons. Aside from the salt in the water... Touchless places need to use very strong detergents in order to wash your car without touching it. Those detergents are very bad for your finish.

 

God, I can't even wash my car then. Can't do that, can't do this. I can't do anything then.


As for the wax, I use Meguiar's Professional Yellow Wax High Gloss Protection #26. Recommended by a body shop a long time ago. I did read the label where it says it is a Carnauba type. Well then what is the point of waxing.. Are you saying waxing my car once a week won't do anything? Ahhhhhhh crap.

 

You can definitely layer the #26, but only about 3 layers max before you reach the point that chemically you cannot build up any more protection. Hand wash the car, clay bar it, then remove the swirls to whatever level of perfection that you desire or are equiped tio do and then apply whatever paint protection you like. If you want a little longer lasting protection possibly go with Meg's #20 or #21. With the NBP the real desire is to wash it and dry it in such a manner that you minimize adding any paint defects like swirls and holograms. The only way to control that is to properly hand wash it yourself, if you do that then you will be fine. If you go to a car wash or dealer wash or boyscout car wash you will end up with a swirled out mess that will need attention by you with a dual action orbital or, in experienced hands only a rotary buffer to remove the damage to the clear coat.

If you are not willing to do this yopurself, or pay someone you trust to do it right, then a white or silver car may have been a better choice. Good luck, the NBP looks awesome when maintained properly!

 

You are correct in that there are many people who talk about how they have all of these built up layers of paint protection, be it a wax or a sealant. That is impossible to do you simply reach the point of no return where chemically it is not possible to build up any more thickness, not necessarily layers. But the reason that you are instructed to apply 2 or 3 thin layers is not to actually have a 3 layer thick coating of protection, it is just to insure that your one layer of protection is consistent and you will have a better chance of having full and complete coverage.

 

pohljm, first of all, I want to thank you for such wonderful information and recommendations.

Yea I thought so... I felt this thing does build layers. It appears you know very well about the Meiguar's professional series wax! I fell in love with this wax about 10 years ago when the guy at the body shop recommended me to use. I had a '93 Toyota mini Pickup truck, and was a metallic red. I used to wax with that thing like crazy(wax every week) and maintained brand new-like paint over the years. I was very impressed with how good it looked. I only tried the #26 so my knowledge is limited..... As you've suggested, I will try #20 or #21.

Oh yea you got that right about "experienced hands" My hands are magic hands! I have 15 years of hand waxing experience!! I get compliments from people how good my wax job looked. I don't have a buffer though.

Ok then, I will use hand-wash method to wash my car... and then wax it. Indeed.. this NBP looks just marvelous when it's clean and shiny. I'm very glad I chose this color. Me likes it to keep it clean. Thanks..

 

I ran into this problem myself. I'm very anal about my car and living in NJ, you just can't hand wash the car in the winter. Plus I had a foot operation in August and am still in a cast, it was a heavy duty operation. I bought my car in April of 06 and up till about a week ago it had never seen a carwash. Honestly I was more afraid of the wheels getting scratched then anything else.

I took it through a carwash about two weeks ago and it was fine. Sometimes you just can't do anything else. Of course my car is ASM and I wasn't really worried about swirls, mostly the rims.

Oh and BTW I had Zainoed it just before the operation, I probably had 4 coats on it before it sat in the garage for a couple of months.


Dave

 

Well meguairs is just an hour away and several of us acuraziners were treated to an all day hands on how to class up at the headquarters just 3 weeks ago. very worthwhile experience if you can arrange it. Oh yeah you may want to check your post on the oil change. Oh and as far as experienced hands I was referring to the use of a rotary buffer, anyone can use an dual action orbital, but the rotarys should not be attemped by a beginner

 

I only handwash when the weather is ok- in the winter I go to the touchless... the soaps may be harsh / etc... but the alternative would be a mess of a car through the winter.