Car washes

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted by spasm3

I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water? You can't filter dissolved salt, i would not want that sprayed around the underside of my car.

Never heard of a car wash that reuses water?!?

 

[Imp4]

Originally Posted by mightymousetech

]Never heard of a car wash that reuses water?!?

Sure, it's what Dads tell their kids when they're too cheap to spend the $8 on a car wash.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by mightymousetech

Originally Posted by spasm3

I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water? You can't filter dissolved salt, i would not want that sprayed around the underside of my car.

Never heard of a car wash that reuses water?!?

Originally Posted by Imp4

Originally Posted by mightymousetech

]Never heard of a car wash that reuses water?!?

Sure, it's what Dads tell their kids when they're too cheap to spend the $8 on a car wash.

Read midway down the page. https://www.waveautowash.com/ I'm not in California, but... http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2230

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted by Imp4

Originally Posted by spasm3

I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water?

So this is an old wives tale. Even if it were true, you would be spraying off super chunky salty surface conditions and replacing them with much more dilute salty surface conditions. This seems like an improvement to me. And virtually nobody claims that excessive car wash underbody spray usage has ever resulted in accelerated underbody rust conditions. So there's that...

Car washes here are required to reuse water. Not an old wives' tale at all, but a fact of many car washes. If I had a choice between chunky surface salt on small parts of the car and high pressure saline water sprayed into every nook and cranny of the car, I'll take the chunky surface salt every time. There are many folks in the rust belt who claim that car washes accelerated rust by getting salt into unprotected areas. So there's that...

 

[spasm3]

Even if they use clean fresh water, the high pressure wash could push salt up higher on to the underbody,( like Astro mentioned above) than the splashing from the road. I have put my lawn sprinkler under the car and moved it around. At least its lower pressure.

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en

Is their PH level out of whack for some reason, or did they squeal to the fuzz about something they shouldn't have dropped dime on? You appear lost on something very simple here..... Running the wax cycle instead of a water rinse produces the same results in vehicle cleaning abilities and soap removal .plus the wax adds an ounce of extra protection. It's another way of saying that this particular application of equal neutralization, offers more bang for the buck. I'm done here. I can't teach those that haven't the desire to reason, comprehend, or actually grab some quarters = drive to the self-serve car wash and conduct this test themselves. OMG.

I hit the local car washes (which aren't local really, closest is 15 miles away) at least twice a week, usually three. I go at night so I'm not bothered by others and don't get in anyone's way. I take my own water sometimes, sometimes I don't. I take my mini leaf blower to dry the car. What I do not do is use the wax setting on the spray wand. I still fail to see how the car washes wax mixed in with water is any better than the wax I put on my car with a machine or the spray wax I use while drying it off sometimes. My apologies for being a dullard, I use to eat paint chips as a child.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by Astro14

Originally Posted by Imp4

Originally Posted by spasm3

I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water?

So this is an old wives tale. Even if it were true, you would be spraying off super chunky salty surface conditions and replacing them with much more dilute salty surface conditions. This seems like an improvement to me. And virtually nobody claims that excessive car wash underbody spray usage has ever resulted in accelerated underbody rust conditions. So there's that...

Car washes here are required to reuse water. Not an old wives' tale at all, but a fact of many car washes. If I had a choice between chunky surface salt on small parts of the car and high pressure saline water sprayed into every nook and cranny of the car, I'll take the chunky surface salt every time. There are many folks in the rust belt who claim that car washes accelerated rust by getting salt into unprotected areas. So there's that...

SEARCH AUTOS Is salty water reused in car washes? Bob Weber By BOB WEBER MOTORMOUTH | MAR 04, 2018 | 9:00 AM Is water at car washes recycled and full of corrosive salt that's been washed off the vehicles? Motormouth gets answers. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Q: I just had my car washed at a popular local facility. I watched almost every customer hit the "free" under-carriage rinse button. Could that rinse water be recycled from the wash process? This time of year with so much road salt being washed away, I wondered if we were getting a "salt water rinse." I imagine that would simply hasten early rust and corrosion. What do you think? — B.L., Indian Head Park, Ill. A: We turned to Eric Wulf, the CEO of the International Carwash Association, who stated: None of the water that is reused and recycled in the wash process is unfiltered. Meaning, the water used for undercarriage washing is going to be filtered of much of the salinity you fear — certainly it will have much less salinity than the "raw salt" sticking to the underside of the vehicle.

 

[Astro14]

You're suggesting that filtering removes dissolved salt? How, exactly, does that work? My understanding of car wash water use comes from the owner of a car wash here in Virginia Beach. Instead of reading a puff piece in which a car wash industry rep is given a softball pitch.

 

[spasm3]

The only reasonable way to remove dissolved salt , would be reverse osmosis. Who is doing that at a car wash? And could it even work at the flow rates a wash would need?

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by spasm3

The only reasonable way to remove dissolved salt , would be reverse osmosis. Who is doing that at a car wash? And could it even work at the flow rates a wash would need?

I can tell you with the upmost certainty that many car washes use reverse osmosis. I know a guy that runs a major automated car wash chain here in Utah and he explained they do use reverse osmosis.. What he wont explain is their other "propriety" way they reuse water as well. BTW-they actually fill up tanks and pull from those-as the water is going out more is coming in. Henry Avina, vice president of sales and business development for AXEON Water Technologies, results in approximately 96 to 99 percent of total dissolved solids (TDS) coming out of the carwash process. When applied and functioning correctly, RO equipment can effectively reduce levels of salt, hardness and silica minerals that contribute to carwash-related spotting. Education here- http://www.carwashmag.com/home/arti...me/2419beafd9e796fa0032ede09b71b7bd.html https://www.appliedmembranes.com/car-wash-and-spotless-rinse.html https://internationalfilter.com/commercial-reverse-osmosis-solves-problems-in-car-wash-spot-free- https://www.carwash.com/carwashs-guide-reverse-osmosis/rinses/

 

[4WD]

Think Garak owned some car washes

 

[buster]

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by buster

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

What is "over washing"? What frequency is "over washing"?

 

[buster]

Originally Posted by CKN

Originally Posted by buster

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

What is "over washing"? What frequency is "over washing"?

I don't know. Weekly? Hard to say. Point I was making though is my Mazda interior was always kept extremely clean, but the exterior would go weeks at a time dirty. Paint looked great after almost 5 years. I would attribute most of that though to hand washing vs a car wash.

 

[JetStar]

Originally Posted by CKN

Originally Posted by buster

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

What is "over washing"? What frequency is "over washing"?

For contact type carwashes, Over washing is when you reach the point that you do not need to sand your car before painting it, just mask it, wipe it down, then shoot it. This is more noticeable on darker colored cars. I noticed the late model black Cadillac hearses at my mother in laws funeral a few days ago, were severely over washed. Back in the 70's we called these angel hair scratches. As far as what frequency is over washing, like once a week, too many variables. If your car is dark in color and you notice the scratches in the sun, you are overwashed.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by philipp10

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl

Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.

neutralize what?

Soap

 

[jimbrewer]

Originally Posted by jalf

I opt for the car wash rinse-only (no soap) all year round. Four minutes of wand-controlled pressurized water for six quarters. Gets off 90% of the grime. I think the soap function is a waste of money and time. Quality sponge and soap car washes take place in my driveway, followed by an application of wax or Nufinish.

I do something like that. Except I go home and do a two bucket rinseless wash. For one thing you can really get after the undercarriage and the wheels at the coin op. After almost eight years I'm claiming success. My car isn't a showpiece, but realistically it could pass for a better than average three-year-old lease return. Other than a recent application of an all in one product it's never seen an abrasive. The car is considerably better than just being presentable and I haven't had to put much effort into it.

 

[Pew]

Originally Posted by buster

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

I do the same. I like to think of the existing layer of dirt as another form of protection against more dirt LOL.

 

[Toros]

Originally Posted by JetStar

Originally Posted by CKN

Originally Posted by buster

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

What is "over washing"? What frequency is "over washing"?

For contact type carwashes, Over washing is when you reach the point that you do not need to sand your car before painting it, just mask it, wipe it down, then shoot it. This is more noticeable on darker colored cars. I noticed the late model black Cadillac hearses at my mother in laws funeral a few days ago, were severely over washed. Back in the 70's we called these angel hair scratches. As far as what frequency is over washing, like once a week, too many variables. If your car is dark in color and you notice the scratches in the sun, you are overwashed.

Nonsense. Perhaps "back in the day", but almost all modern carwash operations utilize microfiber material that has minimal if any damaging effect on clear coat finishes. Sure, 1970s caresses with massive nylon bristle brushes would mar surfaces but they're history decades ago.

 

[Toros]

Originally Posted by CKN

Originally Posted by buster

In the winter time, I usually just go to a DIY power washing car wash and hose it off. Mostly for the salt. The paint on my Mazda after almost 5 years looked so good because, IMO, I never took it to the car wash and during the winter it would go long periods of time without being washed. In many ways not touching the paint at all may be better than over washing the car.

What is "over washing"? What frequency is "over washing"?

It's a distant, OK boomer, memory. Same as drive in movies and flip phones.