Car wash preferences

[redwngr]

You mean we're supposed to wash them?

[shanemoon]

Touchless car washes require very very strong cleaners in order to break down dirt and debris. It's just science. There's not a whole lot of arguing it. It will slowly strip away at your coatings, wax and could damage clear coats over time. I'd avoid these.

 

Automated car washes have become much better over the years, BUT you need to go a to a high quality one. Do some research, find one that uses high quality cloth brushes and has employees 24/7 versus one of those ones you go through at a gas station that no one ever maintains or looks at. There's a lot recently, especially here in DFW that have popped up. They spend millions on them.

 

Best way to wash is 2 bucket method...but it's time consuming.

Drive-up spray wand washes are good/fine. But you'll still need to use the 2 bucket method. The brushes that most of them have are crap.

 

It comes down to how much you care. Some people are ****** about their cars and will only hand wash. But I don't have time for that and in my mind...it's a truck not a supercar. I go through a high quality automated wash. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by shanemoon

[Nanotech Environmental]

20 hours ago, shanemoon said:

Touchless car washes require very very strong cleaners in order to break down dirt and debris. It's just science. There's not a whole lot of arguing it. It will slowly strip away at your coatings, wax and could damage clear coats over time. I'd avoid these.

 

Automated car washes have become much better over the years, BUT you need to go a to a high quality one. Do some research, find one that uses high quality cloth brushes and has employees 24/7 versus one of those ones you go through at a gas station that no one ever maintains or looks at. There's a lot recently, especially here in DFW that have popped up. They spend millions on them.

 

Best way to wash is 2 bucket method...but it's time consuming.

Drive-up spray wand washes are good/fine. But you'll still need to use the 2 bucket method. The brushes that most of them have are crap.

 

It comes down to how much you care. Some people are ****** about their cars and will only hand wash. But I don't have time for that and in my mind...it's a truck not a supercar. I go through a high quality automated wash. 

If a touchless car wash is having those kinds of issues, they are using the wrong chemical profile. 

There are many effective products on the market that are very gentle on the surface, or clearcoat being cleaned, but very aggressive on the dirt being removed. As far as waxes getting stripped, again, the right chemicals will not affect waxes much. Besides, wax gets stripped bit by bit from rain/wind,snow, sun, washing, etc.

 

I never use carwashes with brushes, as they are problematic for a number of reasons.

[TNTSierra]

I’ve never found a touchless that is worth the $10-$20 they charge here. All junk. I shake my head when I see people drive through the touchless and you still see the dirt haze left on the truck. What a waste of $$$.  I go to the heated bay in the winter and spray off and then hand dry. 
but like others have said nothing better then 2 bucket wash method. Gets truck completely clean. 

[rikhek]

I have a monthly pass for my black AT4 with 29,500 miles at a drive thru WITH brushes.  Brushless are worthless and don't clean anything.  I'm very happy with the protocol I utilize and truck looks great.  I run it through about twice a week.

 

I do the same thing with the car pictured as my Avatar.  IMHO, too much ado about nothing regarding brushed drive through washes.  As long as it's a well maintained, high quality drive through you're good to go.

Edited March 26, 2021 by rikhek

[Rob Mugs]

6 hours ago, TNTSilverado said:

I’ve never found a touchless that is worth the $10-$20 they charge here. All junk. I shake my head when I see people drive through the touchless and you still see the dirt haze left on the truck. What a waste of $$$.  I go to the heated bay in the winter and spray off and then hand dry. 
but like others have said nothing better then 2 bucket wash method. Gets truck completely clean. 

I agree to an extent.......

 

I have been through dozens of touchless washes over the years.  Some nice and new, some old and ratty.  99.99% of them do exactly what you mention.

 

That said, the local touchless here will bring my truck with 1/4" of salt on it to shining like new.  I think it's in part because I keep her waxed and in part the quality of the water used.  I don't get the haze I do with most washes.  I mean, even the windshield is clean from side to side/top to bottom.  No haze where the wipers don't hit.

 

Moral of the story.. not all touchless washes are the same

[KARNUT]

I have a monthly pass for my black AT4 with 29,500 miles at a drive thru WITH brushes.  Brushless are worthless and don't clean anything.  I'm very happy with the protocol I utilize and truck looks great.  I run it through about twice a week.
 
I do the same thing with the car pictured as my Avatar.  IMHO, too much ado about nothing regarding brushed drive through washes.  As long as it's a well maintained, high quality drive through you're good to go.

I second that. Many years monthly pass. Many colors including black, never a problem. I use quick detail about once a month and that’s it.


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[OnTheReel]

Feel like everyones tolerance level for automatic wash scratches is different. But they all leave ‘em and in the sun you can see them. The lower down on the vehicle you go, the worse and deeper they get because that’s where the dirt is. Especially up here with the salt and sand they use. All of the stuff off the cars in front of you gets rubbed into your paint. Nobody is cleaning the brushes between cars. Even at the fully staffed conveyor belt wash we have in town.

[Rob Mugs]

On 3/27/2021 at 9:29 AM, OnTheReel said:

Feel like everyones tolerance level for automatic wash scratches is different. But they all leave ‘em and in the sun you can see them. The lower down on the vehicle you go, the worse and deeper they get because that’s where the dirt is. Especially up here with the salt and sand they use. All of the stuff off the cars in front of you gets rubbed into your paint. Nobody is cleaning the brushes between cars. Even at the fully staffed conveyor belt wash we have in town.

Sadly I must agree.  Especially on black.  I do the touchless when I can't hand wash but I keep trying brushed systems in HOPES one day to find one that doesn't scratch.

 

On a tangent, just replaced my Portal-Cable DA (7424XP) with a Milwaukee 2738 buffer.  Having it cordless and non-DA should be able to de-swirl much faster now

[204Denali]

I must be one of the ****** truck owners then, only hand wash in the spring/summer and gets the wand washes throughout the winter.  My summer cars will never see anything but 2 bucket wash method.  If you want to not have to spend hours cleaning it, invest either your time or money into a proper ppe or ceramic coating, then your paint will look great with minimal effort after the fact.

 

Just finished putting 2 coats go collinite on the Z06 to finish off the bottle, few months will ceramic coat it.  

 

Depends on what type of owner you are, everyone has their preference; to each their own I always say! 

[KARNUT]

The car washes I go to have water constantly flowing through the brushes and over the vehicle. Even when there’s no vehicle. So they’re constantly rinsing. The brushes are cloth. I dare say better than a 2 bucket wash. Unless you have the garden hose in one hand while you wipe with the other at the same time running water and soap over it. Of course that pretty much impossible for a human to do. That’s what happens at the car washes I use. Water, soap, cloth brushes all at the same time. I dare say car washes are better for that reason, not worse.


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[MG386]

Very happy with my ceramic. All it ever needs is a quick run through a touchless wash, and all the dirt falls right off and it looks perfect.

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[Grumpy Bear]

9 hours ago, MG386 said:

Very happy with my ceramic. All it ever needs is a quick run through a touchless wash, and all the dirt falls right off and it looks perfect.

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A year ago I could not have seen myself agree with this. Then I was given a bottle of a hybrid ceramic wax, a cousin, yes? Well it is a fraction of the work to clean it. So I tired it on the Wife's white Terrain. What a awful color to keep clean and what an awful paint. Ceramic wax and the dirt slides off like water off a ducks back. BUT. I'm not paying thousands for a ceramic finish application. So this will have to do. Anyway MG386 thanks for the set up. Good post!