Washing under car at self-service wash (salt)

[TmanP]

I wanted to get the salt off the Camry, so went to a local chain of convenience stores, but found that their cheapest wash with underbody was $13.
Another chain is similar, and they are both soft cloth washes which I'm uncertain about. Not wanting to pay that, I ended up at a self-service wash and spent $3 to spray the whole car off, including the undercarriage. I knelt at each corner and at the midline, then angled the jet of water up at the undercarriage with a sweeping motion (probably spent about 1.5 minutes on this). Of course, I can't see anything under there - do you all think this is a better or worse solution than the automatic washes' undercarriage option? Is this better than the "undercarriage wash" feature (of course, you can't see those either), or was it a waste of my time? I'm away at school so doing this at home isn't an option, but I want to take care of the car.

 

[mrsilv04]

Was it better than nothing? Yes. Was it better than an undercarriage wash... probably not.

Find a car wash with an automatic bay and and undercarriage wash... that will let you buy tokens in bulk.

At a locally owned car wash within a mile of my house.... I get 25 automatic washes (with an undercarriage wash) for $100. Regular price is $8 each. But give him $100 up front, and he'll cut the price in half.

 

[Wolf359]

Yeah, whenever I get an undercarriage wash, there's some green liquid that drips afterwards. They claim they use some rust inhibitor as part of it. See if they offer any discounts. The ones by me usually have something like a buy 5 get one free or some other type of promotion. I think the undercarriage wash works, I had a Taurus before that I would get washed all the time with the undercarriage and those were well known to have rusty wheel wells. Never happened on the car while I had it.

 

[Malo83]

Do it yourself with a lawn sprinkler, just idle back and forth over the sprinkler moving side to side.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by Malo83
Do it yourself with a lawn sprinkler, just idle back and forth over the sprinkler moving side to side.
I always thought some sort of extension wand with a 45 bend near the end would be best. I think a lot of modern cars are too low to be driven over a sprinkler, although those ring style ones are pretty low profile.

Another problem is using your hose during the winter when it gets below freezing. Unless you have upgraded to a hose bib that can be used during the winter, the work involved to purge the and the risk to your home plumbing might not be worth it.

 

[Delta]

On a low vehicle it is almost impossible to get everything under there by using the self serve. I typically use the touchless during the winter months. The one up the street has undercarriage and rocker blast; it's about $10 a pop, but most likely worth it in the end. They do use very strong concentrated pre-treat that will usually diminish your wax or sealant quickly, but it is what it is. Avoid soft touch at all cost.

The S10 on the other hand I can put on a pair of overalls and get under there pretty good. I'll take a bottle of degreaser and spray it down beforehand and then go at it with the wand. Pretty sure I wouldn't want to take it through the automatic for fear of a couple trim pieces flying off, lol.

 

[Omahaug]

Even at an angle it's not that hard to hit it with something that isn't angled. I suspect you got a lot off. A car isn't that wide and most of them are high enough off the ground.

If you're doing it at home, a wand with a swiveling head makes short work of it. I use it often to hose down the entire underside.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Yardsmith-36-In-8-Pattern-Wand/50328337

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by Malo83
Do it yourself with a lawn sprinkler, just idle back and forth over the sprinkler moving side to side.

You can't have your hoses hooked up to the facet-they freeze the line and break the pipe.

 

[SatinSilver]

Check some of the nicer car washes that have an automatic wash and self wash bays. One wash here has underbody sprayers in the self wash bays. Works perfect although haven't been there yet this winter.

I also have a 2012 Camry with 75k miles and it's kind of low to the ground but seems pretty resistant to rust. I'm more concerned about the 05 Matrix with 150k miles on it to be honest.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

How bad do the 2012 Toyota Camrys rust ?
Your going to School and want to do this inexpensively. I hear ya.

You could make some effort to 'oil' undercoat in the Fall (think Fluid Film).
In Spring time, drive thru some puddles after the salt has rinsed off the roads.

I would suggest to make this as easy for yourself as possible or you won't continue doing it.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid
How bad do the 2012 Toyota Camrys rust ?
Your going to School and want to do this inexpensively. I hear ya.

You could make some effort to 'oil' undercoat in the Fall (think Fluid Film).
In Spring time, drive thru some puddles after the salt has rinsed off the roads.

I would suggest to make this as easy for yourself as possible or you won't continue doing it.



Some kind of oil based rust prevention. Then avoid undercarriage wash. It will hurt not help.

 

[28oz]

I've looked at getting something like this, but when I really need an undercarriage (winter), the hose presents problems....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065OYYQQ/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

[BrianF]

I do something similar all the time. I don't bother trying to get the thing spotless, will never happen out here. Just spray off as much as you can in and around the corners and underneath just hit as much as you can. Best you can do. Nothing is perfect but a nice flow of water over the components will wash most of the salt off.

 

[demarpaint]

I made one of these [Homemade Undercarriage Washer] which was posted on this site before. It works well.

I recommend turning the volume down.

 

[buck91]

Local drive-thru car wash does $25/mo unlimited car washes (middle grade wash with underbody flush). I know that makes our detailer crowd cringe but in Michigan trading swirl marks for salt removal is a pretty fair deal. I do this for the wife. My truck gets washed occasionally and gets annual fluid film applications.

 

[Dave9]

Originally Posted by CKN
Originally Posted by Malo83
Do it yourself with a lawn sprinkler, just idle back and forth over the sprinkler moving side to side.

You can't have your hoses hooked up to the facet-they freeze the line and break the pipe.

If you live in an area where both it gets below freezing in winter and you might want to use that faucet, you can get faucets that are relatively freeze-proof (providing you seal the hole through the exterior wall). They merely move the valve portion back several inches inside the dwelling which is good enough (unless your central heat fails then every pipe in the dwelling is at risk unless purged of water).

Rubber hoses will remain flexible enough too, so long as remaining water is drained out so they don't split, but the main problem I have with it is if it's freezing cold weather, you'll be coating your driveway with a sheet of ice. You could use deicer to deal with that but the combined effort of all this becomes more than a little bit of hassle, and "most" deicers, are about as bad on the vehicle as what you were trying to rinse off.

 

[Driz]

I made a wand years ago out of 3/4" copper , a sweat to male NPT, a 90 (optional), a Tee and 2 End Caps I. Made the cross sections with a cap on each and drilled many tiny holes all along its length facing alternating front and back 30 degrees of centerline sweated both on and its been working well with a garden hose ( short as possible ) . Put a set of QD on it and make sure it's one that has no auto shut off inside . ( FOR TODAYS CARS: You will want to skip the 90 degree fitting and just make it with the TEE. Cars now so low my old one barely slides.
Just drag it back and forth under there slowly. Mines about 6' long so you can do all of it from the same side. I prefer it to the pressure washer which I also use in winter. Mine sits out in cold all winter but putting a QD ( Walmart $20) on the high pressure hose to pump body. Just rock it back a few seconds to drain, no freezing. Don't forget to unhook and drain your garden hose ( buy a short 25' one) before rolling it up. I've been doing this since the 90 s , it works well.
If I make another of these wands it will be out of galvanized steel pipe. Copper wears dragging on the blacktop over the years. Besides copper got stupid high priced so galvanized just makes better sense.

 

[spasm3]

I thought a lot of car washes filtered and recycled water. Would disolved salts not remain in the water and be sprayed back on the underside of the car, perhaps worse that the original splashing?

 

[HangFire]

All the local car automatic washes seem to be one of 2 types. One that does a good job up top but a poor undercarraige wash (this based on watching carefully from behind when the door doesn't go down), and the other which does a poor job of just about anything.

By poor, I mean you drive over two tiny streams of water that wave back and forth as you go over it. That's it. Once you're stopped for the rest of the wash, it might do your rear bumper some good, but wash salt off the entire undercarraige? Not a chance. It's not even getting everything wet. Yes, I'm sure that's the undercarraige option, because not everybody gets even that.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by spasm3
I thought a lot of car washes filtered and recycled water. Would disolved salts not remain in the water and be sprayed back on the underside of the car, perhaps worse that the original splashing?


It seems that they do a reverse osmosis which removes the salt, but it may just be for the final rinse and you get a mix of water in there. Still it's probably better than the salt you get when you don't wash it.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/sc-auto-motormouth-0322-story.html