Sometimes, I wanna take the easy way out and go through the automatic carwashes (touchless, at least) but I heard the high pressure water hitting your paint was bad or something so I didn't use it.

So do anyone here use them? Any bad things about them?

 

i dont think you should worry about high pressure water.. i mean i'm pretty sure water can't scratch your ride... i guess possibly dent if it was really strong enough but i've never heard of it before..

 

+1, I personally don't use them much but I know alot of people who do, and they *care* about their paint..

 

Not a chance in hell I would use one. The detergents used in those are extremely harsh on the paint since they are using water to remove the dirt etc. It will pretty much strip the wax off your car after 1-2 washes. You'll also be underwelmed by its cleaning ability

 

I also will not use touchless car wash for the following reasons-

‘Touch less’ carwash:
Touchless car washes today use Hydrofluoric acid as a first step and then an alkaline to neutralize the acid then high pressure water to wash cars. Hand washing is MUCH preferred, don’t use an automated car wash period, touch less or not, there are a variety of reasons: You should never, under any circumstances use a car wash that requires you to let another person drive your vehicle onto the ramps or into the wash, notice the disclaimer
“No responsibility for damage to customer’s vehicle.”

Local by-laws require car washes to re-claim or recycle water. This means they have two choices.
a) They can collect the water in tanks and pay to truck it away to a recycling centre.

b) They can filter and then recycle the water (dependant on how often the filters are cleaned/changed) will effect how much dirt content there is. Recycled meaning re-use the same water, which may include any road dirt/grit that is not filtered out is used to high-pressure (1,000PSI) wash your vehicle (somewhat similar to sandblasting) the final rinse is usually twice-filtered re-cycled water, this is to give the appearance of a clean surface on the vehicle.

c) To help clean the recycled water they use a chemical like Presidium Orthophosphate (TSP) and have the chemical formula Na3PO4. It is a highly water-soluble ionic salt. Solutions of it dissolved in water have an alkaline pH; this does a great job stripping your wax / sealant. TSP is generally not good for cleaning vehicles because it can corrode metal.

•To remove snow/sand/road dirt and grit without agitation (brushes etc) requires the use of very strong chemical cleaners.
•Probably the most important is that this type of automatic car wash use high-pressure water and strong alkaline detergent to clean vehicles that will strip the wax/polish
•You will also need to renew the vehicles sealant / wax to ensure the paint surface protection on a regular basis to counteract the effects of the harsh detergents.
•Also be aware of those that use ‘wheel guides’ as they will cause scratches / etching to the wheel surfaces, as many wash facilities will not accommodate either the tyre width or the clearance, thus causing sidewall damage
•Vehicle with lower than ‘standard’ suspension (Corvette C6 and other sports cars) should also be aware the wheel guides could cause body damage
•As an alternative in colder winter months I would suggest using a waterless vehicle cleaning product Optimum No Rinse (ONR)
•If you get a chance, attend a car wash / wax vendors symposiums where they give demonstrations of the different soap products that these type of facilities use, as a Chemical Engineer they scare me. You'll come away a convert to never using them again, on any vehicle.
(See also Acid and pH, Alkalinity, Hydrochloric Acid)

 

Holy crap, thanks for all the info.

I guess I'll just stick to rinsing/drying by hand when it gets dirty.

 

i think you'd be better off going to those manned handwash places.
yes you will get swirls, but wont be as harsh on the waxes so it might
last the winter.

polish your car in the spring.

 

Mother.
Of.
Gawd.

I will never do a quick "in between full wash/wax/etc" wash at the quarter car wash again.

TOGWT FTMFW

 

+1. Put way too much time in my finish to ever go near one of those places. Not only what redlude said, but depending on how well they filter the water, you could be blasting your paint with dirt and sand.

 

I had taken my car after two months of handwashing to a automatic wash and i have so many swirls its not even funny. I regret doing that.

 

Only if it's snowed and I want to get the salt off my car and I'm too lazy to go out in the cold and do it. It still does a pretty lousy job most of the time.

 

carwashes are a sin

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Well, IMO, I use one nearby when it's too cold to wash myself, then I finish "detailing" myself. To me, it's better to do that than leave winter gunk on the car until a warmer day come along. I used them more last year, and even two times in a row, and my wax was still intact, the water still beaded nicely. I only use them when there is no alternative, I'm not leaving my car filthy.

 

ONR, search it.