JonDeutsch

I use this system for my current Integra (deep red)...

http://www.gasnwash.com/carwashing.html

Can someone explain why this is bad for my car -- be it my current Integra or my new car?

Seems fine to me. Been using it for years, and I've been pleased with the results generally.

And, if I go with black on my new car, why would this system give me "swirls" vs. any other system, including hand washing?

Confused and naive about car washing,
Jon

Z Factor

From what I've read on different forums, those of you living up north have very few choices considering thing like road salt, and freezing temperatures. However, there are many problems with car washes, touchless or not. I rarely use them, and then only a cars that don't mean much to me.

VTEC=happiness

That place sounds nice...next time you go in would you demand they build one near L.A. for me????

mattlana

I got very nervous after reading all these posts about car washes. So what I did was stop by a couple of the local brushless ones and talk to their managers. My real fear was wheel damage from the rails because of the low profiles. Every manager (if you believe it) told me they never have had wheel damage on any stock equipment. The most important thing is that the tire slightly overlap the wheel. When I sight down the side of my car the tire is definately wider than the wheel. As far as swirl marks etc., during my travels to the "better looking" car washes, I saw beemers, infiniti, cadillacs, jaguars, and the list goes on and on coming out clean and shiney. I don't have the pleasure of you warm weather owners to wash it myself with 10 and 20 degree temperatures. Sure I could leave the road salt on and hope I still have fenders left in the spring and wash it myself, but that is not an option. The whole world uses automatic car washes with no problem. And I will too as soon as the darn snow and ice finally melts off my car. Let's remember, it is a car and not a "baby" as some some refer to it. As an aside, the car wash business is booming here as every palce I visited had at least a 10 minute wait! Maybe I should open one....LOL.

jyg tl 3

gets the salt & crud off car, w/o damage, I do not trust any car wash. touchless or not. In rest of year wash by hand,

JonDeutsch

The problem with this kind of advice is that it's baseless. No one has given me any compelling reason why soft cloth rubbing against my car can harm it in any way.

I just don't get it.

Still waiting for someone to explain why it's not advised... not that it's not advised.

Jon

MikeRadio

I use a touchless.. it does NOT spray water vigoroursly all over to make sure it doesn't damage the car or leave swirls... In facxt, sometimes it doesn't do a good enough job on tough dirt!

I have used the touch ones also.

I think it is over hype to say not to use a car wash. Not everyone has time to wash the car all day all the time, especially in climates that aren't like Phoenix where it is nice all the time....

My last two cars were a lot cheaper than the Acura with alot crappier paint.. and they never received dmagae or looked bad from MANY years of car washes.

danno

Generally speaking, car washes WANT you to have a nice sqeaky clean car so you can say,NO MORE DIRT!, but what also happens is they apply a detergent so strong, it dulls the shine you try to maintain in the first place. Granted,by leaving the car with a coating of grime isn`t 100% better either. But just think of the amount of caked on grime that gets embedded in a car wash`s so called "soft touch material" and now its your turn, following a Surburban who hasn`t had a wash in 3 months. It`s also been proven a lot of car washes use the same water over and over again to be "enviormental friendly". Even if they say they "filter" the water, how often do you think they change the filters? I guess everybody has different levels of tolerance put on their vehicle`s appearance, but if I had a beautiful dark colored TL, I`d try to keep the finish as scratchless as possible and avoid a car wash as much as possible

lflorack

All of that's true. However, up north here (in my case Hilton, NY) where we've had 100+ inches of snow THIS MONTH so far, some of us think that getting the caked-on salt off our cars is more important than worrying as much about the shine. It's unfortunate, but a reality. If I lived where we didn't have this nastiness, I'd always hand wash.

JonDeutsch

Has anyone with a dark car used car washes exclusively and have no problems?

Has anyone with a dark car used car washes exclusively and have had specific problems?

Please respond with experiences.

Thanks,
Jon

lflorack

I have only had my current car ('04 TL NBP/Ebony) for 3 weeks. So, I'll talk about my previous car ('03 TL-S NBP/Ebony). As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have to use the local 'touchless' carwash during our nasty winter weather -- whenever it goes above freezing (not all that often during January and February at least ) just to get the caked-on salt off. I did that from December through March last year about 8-10 times without (to me) any issues.

At my first chance in the spring, I stripped whetever was left on the car with Dawn, clay-barred it, used Meguairs Scratch-X on it, then polished it and waxed it -- also Meguairs products. (I now use Zaino products too so the products will change a bit but the routine will be essentially similar.) I then got into my normal hand-washing routine of 1-2 times/week and waxing (now Zaino) once every 1-2 months while the good weather lasts.

In any case, to answer your question, I did not notice any really adverse affects of the car wash. At the same time, I was able to remove what I feel is a much worse condition -- caked-on salt, etc.

MASTERNC

Lammscloth is supposed to be excellent. I wish the car wash owners in Pittsburgh (especially the ones at gas stations) would realize that spinning bristle brushes were out almost 10 years ago and would replace their machines. Otherwise there are very few good car washes near where I live.

avs007

On my previous car, which was black, I took it to a car wash exactly one time. Because when I left, I had a series of scratches on the rear quarter panel. I know it was caused by the car wash, because at the time, I used to wash my car once maybe twice a week. (That's what happens when you work 5 minutes from home), so I know it wasn't there before.

Anyways, it was really cold that day, so I gave it a shot. Now my neighbors make fun of me, because on more than one occasion, I've been washing my cars by hand at home, when its below freezing, and sometimes after midnight :o (Which is what happens when you work 30 miles away from home)

JonDeutsch

avs007,

What kind of carwash was this?

Jon

avs007

texaco starwash

njtom

Being in NJ I too am confronted with the salt/dirt issue. I have yet to bring my TL into a car wash for exactly the reasons mentioned here. Lucky for me there are local hand wash places around plus do it yourself.

On the other hand my Phantom Grey 92 Legend with 292,000 miles on it has been to the local car wash pleanty of times without any problem. But to be honest I have had bad experiences with other cars and car washes.

Its somewhat of "buyer beware" because if there is damage to your car you still need to convince the carwash owner and go through that pain.

Its a matter of degrees (no pun intended), what is worse a dirty, salt caked TL or the risk of damage. Go and watch the cars coming out of the carwash on a nice sunny day. If they look ok then you most likely are not going to have a problem.

jzinckgra

All you guys talking about the touchless car washes. Is there any harm in using the DIY ones, where you just spray your own car down with the soap followed by rinse? Is the soap harmful in that it will dull the waxy finish? What about the water itself? If this is re-filtered water and the filters aren't routinely changes, then I'd imagine that little pieces of dirt would come flying out of the nozzle and hit the car Not a good thing.

automophile

I SHUDDER at the thought of using a car wash. I live in So. Calif, so I don't have the snow/ice/salt thing to deal with, but I STILL would never take my car to a car wash - many of the reasons already posted.

1. The Detergents are SUPER strong to clean even the dirtiest car in one pass. GUARANTEED to strip off ALL your wax along with the dirt, and will damage and/or dull your paint eventually.

2. The brushes or pads are busy rubbing the dirt from the previous 20 cars, PLUS yours, into your paint.

3."Touchless" car washes' high-pressure wands are also sand-blasting your paint with your own dirt, and have been known to damage door and window rubber seals. Again, they have to get your car clean in ONE pass.

4. Guide rails can damage your wheels, alignment, etc.

5. The towels used are cheap Poly/Cotton and are creating swirl marks as they dry your car. And - who knows how clean they are? "Ooops, I dropped that one on the dirty ground, but I am too tired and busy to get another one, so I'll go on using it".

avs007

I don't know if its urban legend or not, but I heard bad things about those DIY places. I've heard that the high powered jet-wand can actually peel the paint right off your car, if aimed at just the right spot, (like on a chip), at just the right angle....

The only times I went to one, I only used the water to rinse. I brought my own wash mit, my own bucket, and my own soap I did this, because at the time I lived in an apartment, which didn't allow car washes.

shodog

To each their own. Most people are satisfied with the car wash companies. I have used them before but have never really been satisfied with the job they do. The wheels never really get super clean and I hate that $hitty stuff they use for tire dressing. All it does is fling up on the side of the car. There really is no substitute to doing it yourself with some warm soapy water and some soft towels

I would be more obsesive if I had a dark colored car but since I have a white and silver car, car wash soap and old bath towels suffice.

bollywood21

Do you fellas let the dealer wash your car after it has been serviced, since it is included in the service?
Just curious if you consider it, the same thing as getting it washed at your local car wash.

I personally don't take the car to the local car wash, unless the car is absolutely filthy and it has been too cold to wash for weeks. If I have too, I take into one of those self-service car wash bays.
I get worried about all the particles that remain on the clothes that are supposed to clean your car when going thru an automatic car wash.

JonDeutsch

OK, I guess I'm where I started.

A carwash has never damaged my car's paint like the rocks that occassionally ping my car while driving on the highway.

I've been going to carwashes for my deep red Integra for 7 years and it still looks absolutely great when clean.

Jon

rets

My stupid dealer does offer the hand-wash following by the services.

During this cold days, I find one hand-wash shop miles away from where I live, their low rail apparently is safe to our tires, no scratch at all.

As for the self-service car wash bays, it's hard to see one here... probably teenagers in NYC are to break them.

MikeRadio

I have never had car wash problems with my past two and this new Acura as well.

it snows here alot and I cant hand wash 2 times a week like some others.

I go to gas up, go to the Moobil Touchless car wash and it looks great when it comes out... sometimes a littlew wet so I dry it or let the speed get rid of the water drops.

If car washes damaged and destroyed so many cars, these car washes wouldn't be around anymore.

vothsc

I will never use a car wash - if it's cold out you just have to move faster. You can wash a car in 10 min. if all you want to do is get the salt off not get it spotless. Washing in a carwash is getting a salt bath. The water is filtered but that only takes the grit out not the salt. The salt is in solution - not a dispersion! The only way to remove salt is to ion exchange the water which is an expensive process.

JonDeutsch

Reading MikeRadio and vothsc back to back reminds me of a discussion about religion!

There are facts that support both sides, and once you subscribe to a certain philosophy, no new facts are going to change your mind!

Jon

LeMasseHammer

Grateful southern California driveway self-washer checking in here:

I had never hand washed my old car, so when I got my TSX, I took it to a couple of "brushless" washes. Someone got careless with the vacuum on my interior, so I've been doing it myself ever since. I also hate the fact that they use/reuse crappy rags to dry the cars off.

If I lived in a snowy climate, I'm sure I'd bite the bullet and do a drive-thru type wash in the cold months.

IMHO, just because you see a lot of expensive cars at a wash doesn't mean it won't do "harm" to your paint. I'm talking mainly about swirl marks, which drive me nuts. I've seen plenty of expensive luxury cars that are clean and shiny, but with nasty-ass swirled paint at the same time. Maybe most people don't notice, but I do. It just doesn't look quite as good -- mostly on darker cars of course.

In any case, break out the Zaino in the spring/summer, and you'll be OK.

JonDeutsch

What exactly is a swirl?

How does it happen?
How can you avoid it?
How can you remove it?

Jon

LeMasseHammer

Here's a good writeup defining swirls.

http://www.moderncarcare.com/Articles/291deta1.html

The Zaino website has good guidelines for minimizing swirls. Clean, 100% cotton towels etc.

I never knew anything about them until I got my TSX last May. Then I became obsessive about swirls. Now I'm mellowing a little, but still anxious to re-Zaino in a few weeks to restore the glassy perfect shine.

gregory28

Jon:

I'm doing some work in Main Line, Philadelphia and stopped at the Wayne car wash. It was fine. I don't think anything got scratched. The gizmo that comes down and drys the car could scratch something I guess, but that doesn't mean that it would.

Jon, you've got to remember that some of our fellow brethren here are very anal car enthusiasts. The thought that a piece of car wash machinery or one of the towel jockeys may scratch something is enough for them never to trust an automatic car wash.

Greg

JonDeutsch

Thanks Greg.

It's hard to tell when you're talking to zealots and when you're just naive about the damage you don't know you're doing until it's too late.

That carwash in Wayne is really nice. But it sounds like it has all of the common parts inside (ie., the drying gizma that has the plastic rollers).

Jon

danno

Another car wash story here. My wife brings her Jeep Liberty to get washed. The guy doesn`t remove the antenna and gets snapped off. The manager says get a new antenna and bring me the receipt. Trouble is, it snapped off flush where you screw it in. It`s got to be drilled and tapped to remove the remaining piece. I go back to the car wash to see the manager, and a worker says he called the manager and will be in in 2 days. I`m pissed. No radio. Running around. And I still have to tell this joker to DO SOMETHING about this problem and get it fixed!! I HATE CAR WASHES!!

Spud_RENAMED

Living in Seattle there's no way I'm going to hand wash my car during the winter months. I've taken my anthracite TL through both touchless and "soft touch" washes and haven't noticed any ill effects at all.

Granted, I'm not going over the car with a magnifying glass after each wash. Life's too short to be fanatical about my car, it's clean and shiny - good enough for me. Besides, my kids love it when the rainbow soap sprays all down the sides of the car