[fju2112]

I live in New England, so I close the valve to my two exterior hose spouts in late November and they stay off until late March or early April. I could certainly turn them on temporarily when the weather is reasonable, even a little below freezing, to wash my car in the driveway, but I find it a little more convenient to do one of the following during the winter months:

- visit a touchless car wash that ends with a spot free rinse (down the street)
- visit a wash bay that accepts credit cards and bring wheel cleaner, sometimes my own soap and bucket, and my own drying cloth (a couple miles away)

Just curious, who lives in a cooler climate or otherwise has to wash their pride & joy away from the house at times? I find the wash bay convenient. The touchless automatic washes I've been to just don't do nearly enough to really get the salt and grit off the paint; I find myself getting some additional "stuff" off with a microfibre drying towel after the fact. The wash bay ends up being less expensive per wash *and* you can direct high pressure wherever you want using the hose.

As far as traditional car washes, I don't go near them - the used E-class I have seems to have been to one too many, as there's clearly paint swirl on the black paint I need to fix this spring.

 

[Nyyyce&Eeeezy]

I try very hard to avoid car washes as I've heard that many, most, or all(?) use recycled water.

Having said that, I must confess I have previously used them on rare occasions during the years I was working and driving daily which allowed them to get extra dirty. My choices were to carefully use the pressure wands for water and soap, but would also bring my own soap and sponges to remove the dirt and film that the wands wouldn't fully remove. The only other car washes I have previously used were the "touch-less" ones. Couldn't stand the idea of all those dirty brushes or swinging rags rubbing the surface of my paint.

Now, I only wash at home when the weather permits.

 

[fju2112]

I don't blame you. I do it as a last resort when on a long road trip (did that this past summer in Maryland, was very helpful just to spray off the road grime and bugs), and in the winter when I just don't want to deal with hand washing in freezing temps. We always get at least a few days of unseasonably warm weather here in Jan or Feb, so there's always an opportunity to turn the hose back on temporarily...but I am lazy Gross on the recycled water, ugh.

 

[drjohn01702]

I live in New England, so I close the valve to my two exterior hose spouts in late November and they stay off until late March or early April. I could certainly turn them on temporarily when the weather is reasonable, even a little below freezing, to wash my car in the driveway, but I find it a little more convenient to do one of the following during the winter months:

• visit a touchless car wash that ends with a spot free rinse (down the street)
• visit a wash bay that accepts credit cards and bring wheel cleaner, sometimes my own soap and bucket, and my own drying cloth (a couple miles away)

Just curious, who lives in a cooler climate or otherwise has to wash their pride & joy away from the house at times? I find the wash bay convenient. The touchless automatic washes I've been to just don't do nearly enough to really get the salt and grit off the paint; I find myself getting some additional "stuff" off with a microfibre drying towel after the fact. The wash bay ends up being less expensive per wash and you can direct high pressure wherever you want using the hose.

As far as traditional car washes, I don't go near them - the used E-class I have seems to have been to one too many, as there's clearly paint swirl on the black paint I need to fix this spring.

I live in MA, and of course our weather sucks. I used to take my CLS to the local Touchless wash; wouldn’t dare go within 100 ft of “traditional” car wash. Worse thing you can do to the finish on your vehicle. Two months ago I treated my car with Graphene/ceramic coating. Since then I never use anything but the wash bay. Mostly because I have no idea about the type of shampoo they use at the Touchless wash. And the protectant on my car needs a pH-neutral shampoo. Bought a cordless leaf blower; now I don’t even have to touch the car with a towel after rinsing.

 

[ianrandom]

Leaf blower, that's a good idea.

 

[drjohn01702]

Leaf blower, that's a good idea.

Check it out; does a fantastic job. There are many to choose from of course. But this is the one I use. A lot of car enthusiasts go this route. Everything I own is cordless—-including my DA Polisher and Dyson car Vacuum.

 

[Primrose]

I live in New England, so I close the valve to my two exterior hose spouts in late November and they stay off until late March or early April. I could certainly turn them on temporarily when the weather is reasonable, even a little below freezing, to wash my car in the driveway, but I find it a little more convenient to do one of the following during the winter months:

• visit a touchless car wash that ends with a spot free rinse (down the street)
• visit a wash bay that accepts credit cards and bring wheel cleaner, sometimes my own soap and bucket, and my own drying cloth (a couple miles away)

Just curious, who lives in a cooler climate or otherwise has to wash their pride & joy away from the house at times? I find the wash bay convenient. The touchless automatic washes I've been to just don't do nearly enough to really get the salt and grit off the paint; I find myself getting some additional "stuff" off with a microfibre drying towel after the fact. The wash bay ends up being less expensive per car detailing falls church Va and you can direct high pressure wherever you want using the hose.

As far as traditional car washes, I don't go near them - the used E-class I have seems to have been to one too many, as there's clearly paint swirl on the black paint I need to fix this spring.

My MB manual says that automatic car washes are fine, but warns not to use touchless washes because the chemicals are too harsh for the paint and trim. This is the first time I have seen this and like many folks prefer touchless to avoid scratches and subjecting trim pieces to aggressive brushes.

Anyone have insight on this and the difference in chemicals used between touch and touchless car washes? Do touchless have higher concentrations of degreasers/solvents, high/low pH, abrasive agents etc.?

Seems to me that
1) as long as the car is rinsed well, the chemicals will be removed after only brief contact
2) using a touchless is probably better than leaving salt, grime, bird droppings etc on your car

Additionally, what about cars with the hood ornament star? Any problem running those through an auto wash with brushes?

Thanks

 

[fju2112]

My MB manual says that automatic car washes are fine, but warns not to use touchless washes because the chemicals are too harsh for the paint and trim. This is the first time I have seen this and like many folks prefer touchless to avoid scratches and subjecting trim pieces to aggressive brushes.

Anyone have insight on this and the difference in chemicals used between touch and touchless car washes? Do touchless have higher concentrations of degreasers/solvents, high/low pH, abrasive agents etc.?

Seems to me that
1) as long as the car is rinsed well, the chemicals will be removed after only brief contact
2) using a touchless is probably better than leaving salt, grime, bird droppings etc on your car

Additionally, what about cars with the hood ornament star? Any problem running those through an auto wash with brushes?

Thanks

Thanks for responding. I owned two W210's w/ the hood ornament and never had an issue with the star coming off or being jolted out of place when using automatic washes.

I have since changed my tune a bit. I'll really only visit the bay where I can wash the vehicle myself, and I bring my own soap, bucket, and mitt, so I'm just using the water, when it's freezing cold out. Some of those places recycle the water maybe, so there's that, but it's probably not harming your clearcoat.

Might sound a tad nutty, but once I started with the random orbital buffer and the right pads to take care of all the swirl in my clearcoat (which didn't all come out) I realized on a black car especially, you really have to do what you can to clean it the right way every time. Hell, my buddy just got himself a brand new sante fe in black, and the first thing I noticed (didn't tell him about it cuz he wouldn't even care) is paint swirl marks on one of the door frames. That either came from a car wash done to prep the car for sale, or from someone not using the right stuff if the wash was done by hand at the dealership (which I doubt). Either way, black is a tough color to maintain!