Automatic car washes

[Loobed]

I was getting tired of looking at my dirty truck and was too lazy to wash it myself, so I decided to try one of those automatic car washers at the Shell gas station.

You drive up to a box with a key pad, key in your gas receipt number, drive into the car washer when the light is green, and stop when the light is red. Put the parking brake on and then wait for the washer to finish. It is all automatic. The machine moves on a track around your vehicle and over the top. The old automatic car washers from the 60's and 70's used a fabric type material for the washing wheels. This new one had plastic or rubber material. While the machine was going through its cycle, I wondered how good of a job those plastic/rubber washers thingies would do on washing my truck and removing loose body molding. The machine did a fairly nice job of cleaning the truck and none of the molding was removed.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Snows every other day here so I see no use in washing any car in any setting.

I am also tired of looking at my dirty vehicles.

 

[5sfe91]

I like the drive thru ones we have one here it 5 bucks and free vacuums so you can take your time and get the inside nice and clean

 

[roushstage2]

A touchless car wash? If you live back East and need to get the salt off of the car, sure. The chemicals in them are generally pretty harsh and will strip any wax.

 

[ionbeam22]

The chemicals in touchless car washes tend to be extremely strong, I'd just as soon go to a regular tunnel car wash, or else I would apply spray wax immediately afterwards.

 

[bretfraz]

A clean truck is better than a dirty truck.

 

[roushstage2]

Yes, stripping any wax off of the paint so it is sort of clean instead is much better. Working hard I see on that "better bretfraz in 2010," huh?

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: bretfraz
A clean truck is better than a dirty truck.


I think you mean, a clean truck looks better than a dirty truck. I'd rather leave the salt on and a coat of wax than have unprotected paint out for the next time salt goes down.

 

[bretfraz]

Originally Posted By: cchase
Originally Posted By: bretfraz
A clean truck is better than a dirty truck.


I think you mean, a clean truck looks better than a dirty truck. I'd rather leave the salt on and a coat of wax than have unprotected paint out for the next time salt goes down.


I have accepted the fact that not everyone is going to lovingly hand wash their vehicles whenever they show a slight bit of dirt. As long as people are making an effort to clean their cars, I will encourage and support them.

 

[qship1996]

I have taken my Q45 through the touchless "lazer 4000" wash 3 times within the last 6 weeks to get the salt off- the P21s wax I last applied on 12/27/09 is still beading like new, so I am not so sure the wash removes the wax as easily as some people here report.

 

[Colt45ws]

I run my car through the local touchless once a month or so. I would like to do it by hand, but I have not had the resources to allocate to doing it right.

 

[ionbeam22]

Originally Posted By: qship1996
I have taken my Q45 through the touchless "lazer 4000" wash 3 times within the last 6 weeks to get the salt off- the P21s wax I last applied on 12/27/09 is still beading like new, so I am not so sure the wash removes the wax as easily as some people here report.


The final rinse in the touchless wash (and really any professional car wash), will contain a "drying agent" (aka rinse aid, clearcoat sealant, or "hot wax") which is a dilute silicone/mineral oil emulsion to make the car bead water and thus dry off quickly. Some of these are formulated to be reasonably persistent and can last for up to 30 days or so.

Water beading on a freshly washed car doesn't mean much.

 

[qship1996]

Final rinse is with demineralized water at the place I go, then blowdry

 

[tomcat27]

the touchless wash by me doesn't get all the dirt off. we now have 5 "car spa's" all within a stone's throw of each other and the ensuing price wars have begun.

 

[ionbeam22]

Originally Posted By: qship1996
Final rinse is with demineralized water at the place I go, then blowdry


Next time you go, notice that the rinse phase is probably preceded with a "prerinse" of drying agent. Both of those are usually made up with DI water for a "spot free" rinse.

 

[roushstage2]

Do you get the wax/sealant option, whatever they call it too? If so, that generally adds to the beading for a short amount of time in addition to the above; so when you drive out of there and your car is beading water and got a spot free rinse, you're like, "Wow. That place was good. The car looks good. I'll go back." The whole point of it. And you've been there once every other week so far?

 

[wander2039]

We always use the one at Sams...$6 I believe. Never had a problem. They have the touchless that uses just water or light touch(?) that uses the brushes. The paint's scratched on the Escape anyways so we use the light touch. I noticed there's a actual car wash that does everything by hand including hand drying for $8 going to try them out next.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
We always use the one at Sams...$6 I believe. Never had a problem. They have the touchless that uses just water or light touch(?) that uses the brushes. The paint's scratched on the Escape anyways so we use the light touch. I noticed there's a actual car wash that does everything by hand including hand drying for $8 going to try them out next.

Holy smokes, $8 for a hand wash and dry? Around here, you'd pay $30 or more for a full-service hand wash.

 

[ahoier]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
the touchless wash by me doesn't get all the dirt off. we now have 5 "car spa's" all within a stone's throw of each other and the ensuing price wars have begun.

Sounds about right where I used to live; about 30 minutes from where I live now, they had car washes every 5 miles.....and before we moved, were making ANOTHER one.


I like the one by my new place, it's very ecofriendly, they use, filter, and reuse almost all of the water and also active in the community (donations to local schools, events, etc.).

But yea, I've experienced instances where the automatic wash (this is a touchless, high pressure system only; doesn't have the synthetic mop that rolls over the vehicle) doesn't completely clean off the debris, and I told the owner, and he now has a "pre-wash" bucket of Seafoam Bugs-B-Gone set up at the keypad, so you can give the car a good scrub down before the $3 wash/rinse

Only downside I've found, is it doesn't quite clean the wheels as good as I'd like, I told him that, and he said it's done that way on purpose, in some instances (cheap tires, primarily) the high pressure water can mark up or harm the sidewalls of tires, so he has the low-beam sprayers set to a lower psi, so they don't harm the tires/rims. So I've fixed that by just carrying around a can of Armor All Tire Foam in the car, spray down the tires before the wash, let it sit for a minute or two, then rub it away with the brush they got in the pre-wash bucket, and then pull through the wash

 

[USA1]

I used to use automatic car washes until the underspray portion(when I initially drove in) jammed enough water into all my electrical connectors for the transmission; it being winter did not help things either. I experienced transmission problems until the connectors dried out, and it also tore up a vacuum hose for the charcoal canister. Think about all the electrical and other various lines under your car. I only wash my vehicles in the driveway from the hose, or the wand at the DIY car wash now...