BrilliantBlackEight

Hey guy's, have any of you gone through one of those touchless car washes? The reason I ask is that I would like to take it through once in awhile to rinse out the underbody.

Any issues with them?

bmcc49er

Only issue speaking with professional detailers is the high pressure spray possibly grinding caked on dirt into your paint. Maybe someone can chime in with other issues but that was enough of a concern to me.

BrilliantBlackEight

Interesting point Bmcc, but the only other alternative is using the manul carwash bays that may or may not use recycled water, so that's out... And I really don't feel like using my pressure washer when it's freezing outside, I need to find a way to get the "road crap" cleaned off from underneath.

Hopefully someone has some ideas.

Air Force RX8

D Menac 7 (if I remember correctly) had one come apart while he was going through and tore up the rear qtr panel and light assy when the spray arms broke and slapped repeatedly into his car.

Otherwise I don't like the fact that stubborn dirt as mentioned above can cause scratches in the clear coat as the high pressure spray drives the dirt across the paint. Not worth it if you ask me.

rotten42

There have been issues with both the front and rear tail lights getting condensation inside the assembly when using those types of car washes.

RX4life

welll i dont know about the quality of paint.. MAZDA/FORD uses..

but my FORD SVt focus 's paint started to flake off and chip.. after 3-4 runs under the high pressure wash... stopped after that... but it was an inssue with most of the FOCUS's out there since FORD went cheap on the coat of paint...

BrilliantBlackEight

Thanks for the responses.. Well I guess I will have to visit the car wash bays and just rinse her off from a few feet away. I will have to find one that uses fresh water, a lot of them use recycled water, so that's not really an option.

Admiral8

How is recycled water bad? How can you tell if it is?

BrilliantBlackEight

From what I understand is that the water that is used to was the cars in the bays collects in grates in the floor and is filtered a bit and used again. I heard that the filtering process is not very good so you're essentially blasting old dirty water at your car.

Some of the self service carwash bays advertise "Fresh Water" so I would assume those are better...

Its up to the individual I guees. Maybe I'm just paranoid. :-P

BB8guy

Dude, I just wash it at home myself. I run the hose from my laundry sink out to my driveway and use warm water to rinse the car and then a good old fashioned sponge, bucket and car wash soap... then rinse again... when its really cold, you gotta be quick to rinse off the soap or it'll freeze up.... as well as drying. make sure you have clean lint free clothes.. and make sure they're damp before you use them to dry the car off..
I used a dry towel and made a serious scratch

anyways, thats what i do.. I also go through the ESSO touchless carwash once in a while.
Never cleans the car as good as by hand.... nor does it dry the car off properly...

I also heard there is a auto detailing place up on Yonge and Weldrick that charges like $10 for exterior wash..

Labop

Actually, the worst thing about those autowashers isn't the recycled water, it's run through a filter so that's not a big issue. The problem is that the "suds" are the reaction between an acid and a base. My brother used to work at one of those places, had to fill the chemical dispensers. Sure it's being used to break off grime, but think what it's also doing to the paint.

I'd just wash at home. The only time I go to one of those places is for the do-it-yourself with the high power nozles (for underside and engine). I bring my own bucket and soap, I don't use the stuff from the brush/hose. If you read any detailing books they'll all say the same thing, stay away from the autowash. The autowashers are for daily drivers who don't care about the car/paint. If you care, do it by hand.