Hi Everyone,
Recently I worked on my friends 2017 Challenger Scat Pack with CSL+EXO. While it was nice to teach someone how to do the entire process itself, what wasn't nice was correcting a car littered in scratches predominately from car washes and foam brushes from self cleaning bays. If you look at the photo below, that was the state of the car every square inch of it.
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr
After a solid amount of buffing with M105.
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr
As I was working/teaching I knew that I wanted to do a write up on the dangers of car washes. While I am sure all the regulars here are aware that car washes are not the best idea if they are avoidable, I wanted to write something up for newcomers as I didn't see anything early in the search history regarding this topic.
IMO there are 3 types of car washes; your stereotypical car wash, luxury car wash and touchless.
1. Stereotypical car wash: These car washes use bristles/brushes at high speed to clean your car. I refer to these bristles as death bristles since they can cause good scratching/swirling in your paint work. I won't talk about product or drying here. The bristles/brushes that make contact with your car are the biggest problem here. These bristles/brushes are not cleaned after every washing, some probably aren't even cleaned everyday. They collect a lot of dirt/grime and then make contact with your car at high speed. Simply put, it is just a bad idea that will cause scratching and even damage to trim.
2. Luxury car wash: These washes advertise themselves as paint safe due to softer materials used, and may even have a hand component. As opposed to those death bristles, they use soft cloths that droop down. This produces safer agitation in comparison to a stereotypical car wash, but still falls victim to same issue. They don't clean the cloths after every car. Dirt/Grime from previous cars will be pressed into your car which will cause scratching/swirl marks over time. Let's move onto the hand component as many luxury car washes offer hand applied tire shine or drying. Many of these people do not use a proper technique, in fact I have seen some people drop a towel on the ground only to use it on the same car. Poor drying technique can produce nasty swirls.
3. Touchless car wash: IMO the safest option in the automatic car wash world. Still, there are a couple drawbacks here. First, because it is touchless the use of aggressive chemicals are used here. This is not good for people who uses a sealant, wax or even a ceramic as it will cause premature wear over time. As aggressive as the chemicals are they don't remove everything either. Heavily soiled cars may have a good amount of grime left over. Using a waterless wash/QD can help here but you have to be mindful of your towels. Finally, the drying aspect is garbage. Usually you get 60-120 seconds which is nowhere near enough time to dry your car. This will produce water spots, which are not hard to remove with a QD, but if left unchecked for a long period of time can prove to be fairly stubborn to remove.
4. Self Cleaning/Do It Yourself Bays: While not an auto car wash I wanted to post on these as they are fairly common and a great way for people that lack the space (apartment/condo) to clean their cars by hand. Just show up with your own cleaning products and use the "power washer" to rinse. Couple things to note with self cleaning bays. If you are not using their chemicals for soap, I would avoid them, spray the power washer on water for 20 seconds to remove any potential soap residue. Finally, avoid the foam brushes like the plague. They are rarely clean and aren't paint safe to begin with.
I get it, car washes do have appeal for convenience and they do serve a purpose in a few areas that I could understand (harsh winters as one example). If you must use a car wash go touchless, just try be sparing in your frequency of visits and leave the bulk of your exterior detailing to proper handwashes. End of the day if you can clean your car by hand, you should.
EDIT: Moved Self Clean/Do It Yourself bays from an honorable mention to it's own point.
Recently I worked on my friends 2017 Challenger Scat Pack with CSL+EXO. While it was nice to teach someone how to do the entire process itself, what wasn't nice was correcting a car littered in scratches predominately from car washes and foam brushes from self cleaning bays. If you look at the photo below, that was the state of the car every square inch of it.
After a solid amount of buffing with M105.
As I was working/teaching I knew that I wanted to do a write up on the dangers of car washes. While I am sure all the regulars here are aware that car washes are not the best idea if they are avoidable, I wanted to write something up for newcomers as I didn't see anything early in the search history regarding this topic.
IMO there are 3 types of car washes; your stereotypical car wash, luxury car wash and touchless.
1. Stereotypical car wash: These car washes use bristles/brushes at high speed to clean your car. I refer to these bristles as death bristles since they can cause good scratching/swirling in your paint work. I won't talk about product or drying here. The bristles/brushes that make contact with your car are the biggest problem here. These bristles/brushes are not cleaned after every washing, some probably aren't even cleaned everyday. They collect a lot of dirt/grime and then make contact with your car at high speed. Simply put, it is just a bad idea that will cause scratching and even damage to trim.
2. Luxury car wash: These washes advertise themselves as paint safe due to softer materials used, and may even have a hand component. As opposed to those death bristles, they use soft cloths that droop down. This produces safer agitation in comparison to a stereotypical car wash, but still falls victim to same issue. They don't clean the cloths after every car. Dirt/Grime from previous cars will be pressed into your car which will cause scratching/swirl marks over time. Let's move onto the hand component as many luxury car washes offer hand applied tire shine or drying. Many of these people do not use a proper technique, in fact I have seen some people drop a towel on the ground only to use it on the same car. Poor drying technique can produce nasty swirls.
3. Touchless car wash: IMO the safest option in the automatic car wash world. Still, there are a couple drawbacks here. First, because it is touchless the use of aggressive chemicals are used here. This is not good for people who uses a sealant, wax or even a ceramic as it will cause premature wear over time. As aggressive as the chemicals are they don't remove everything either. Heavily soiled cars may have a good amount of grime left over. Using a waterless wash/QD can help here but you have to be mindful of your towels. Finally, the drying aspect is garbage. Usually you get 60-120 seconds which is nowhere near enough time to dry your car. This will produce water spots, which are not hard to remove with a QD, but if left unchecked for a long period of time can prove to be fairly stubborn to remove.
4. Self Cleaning/Do It Yourself Bays: While not an auto car wash I wanted to post on these as they are fairly common and a great way for people that lack the space (apartment/condo) to clean their cars by hand. Just show up with your own cleaning products and use the "power washer" to rinse. Couple things to note with self cleaning bays. If you are not using their chemicals for soap, I would avoid them, spray the power washer on water for 20 seconds to remove any potential soap residue. Finally, avoid the foam brushes like the plague. They are rarely clean and aren't paint safe to begin with.
I get it, car washes do have appeal for convenience and they do serve a purpose in a few areas that I could understand (harsh winters as one example). If you must use a car wash go touchless, just try be sparing in your frequency of visits and leave the bulk of your exterior detailing to proper handwashes. End of the day if you can clean your car by hand, you should.
EDIT: Moved Self Clean/Do It Yourself bays from an honorable mention to it's own point.
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