thar she blows...the dreaded car wash

[Bond]

Originally Posted by Cristoff

I run mine through the car wash once a week. It's just a car.

I'm workin on those words.
Yeah... I really don't mind those washes. That fear comes from the old days of giant rollers spinning on the car's surfaces. Much has changed! With the high power, non-contact sprayers, auto washing is a lot safer on the finish.

So don't over-think it and go wash your car!

[liquidsmoke]

Originally Posted by Mellish50

Whats wrong with taking it through the carwash? :s Seems to work really well, i get out and completely dry it off after, looks awesome.

Nothing wrong with it on paper. In reality, the quality of various car washes differ greatly. Some reuse water, some are not touch less, some have really hard water and you are more likely to get a scratch from debris left over from the previous car. So while you may have a good car wash, I know a couple, it's really only a matter of time before you get some kind of damage. Either swirl marks or scratches. And if your car is lowered for gods sake don't take it to any place that has the automated conveyer belt style, nasty things will happen.

I don't fully trust hand washing either. It's super easy to have some grime in your wash mit that didn't come off and you can't see scratch your car. And the two bucket method to me is annoying. If done properly its prob the safest, but only people who really care about the car do it properly. And i bet the majority of swirl marks on an average car prob came from hand washing or careless drying and not a car wash.
I use a pressure washer so all the dirt and grime is off the car before I lay hands on it. And after 15 years and 5 cars I havnt had any issues with that method.

[born-to-fish-]

Hand wash only, with a microfibre mitt.
Dried with a microfibre towel also.
Helps me bond with my baby....lol

[HighMtnSS]

I hand wash my cars for the pure love of it!

[CamaroKid300]

I use to get a carwash to hand wash mine for $15... then i said what the hell its a DD and no garage queen so now I take it through the $5 one that beats the S^^T out of it, but does a good job. I haven't seen any damage done by one yet. *knock on wood*

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by CamaroKid300

I use to get a carwash to hand wash mine for $15... then i said what the hell its a DD and no garage queen so now I take it through the $5 one that beats the S^^T out of it, but does a good job. I haven't seen any damage done by one yet. *knock on wood*

i know with my DD i think the same way as you do. my DD is a 3 year lease and the most i will spend on it was is a 8 dollar wash. so i feel you on that.

[rykeith]

Hand wash only... I don't trust anyone/anything else. Hell, the shop that repainted my door after it was keyed put swirl marks in it when they washed it (after I asked them to not wash it because of this very reason). When "paint people" don't even know how to properly care for paint, that concerns me. I also can't imagine the person who designed the car wash gives a sh*t about my finish.

[Black Lightning]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Ruby had swirls from the dumb dealerships washing her. Only my hands wash My baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same thing happened to me! At least I think it did. I'm pretty sure it was the dealer, but I did take it in to the car wash that I have trusted for years on my other cars.

I now hand wash and found a good detail guy for when I feel lazy. Like someone from Georgia said, it's really hot here even late evening. Not much of a window to work in.

[bthomp01]

Originally Posted by Mellish50

Whats wrong with taking it through the carwash? :s Seems to work really well, i get out and completely dry it off after, looks awesome.

All depends on the type of wash. I'll take it through a hand wash or a touchless wash, but no way in hell will I take it through one of those things that slaps the shit out of the clearcoat with those brushes. I have to have MAJOR paint correction done at some point because I didn't think it mattered... the swirls I had in the doors were disgusting, in the sun it looked like it had wax that was never buffed out, it was real bad.

I had a bunch of the swirls taken care of with a moderate detail last week and it looks like it took a year off the age of the car.

But really, I'm in the same boat... it IS just a car and it is my DD. I'm just going to take a little better care of it now that I have put some money into modding it. I'll continue to keep it up, it's really not expensive and it doesn't feel bad to spend an hour or two with the car in the 100 degree central Texas heat every weekend My neighbors all think I'm batshit crazy though, haha.

EDIT: Also a cautionary tale to anyone who takes it through any kind of wash, touchless or not, that has those god damn guide rails. If you see guide rails, ABORT. With the 20" midnight silvers it's very expensive to repair rashed powdercoat and those rails will tear it up something fierce if you aren't perfectly aligned.

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by mikeSS

i know with my DD i think the same way as you do. my DD is a 3 year lease and the most i will spend on it was is a 8 dollar wash. so i feel you on that.

Yeah, if I had a garage to even wash mine in or something I'd probably do it. But I really don't wanna be out in the 100 degree weather washing my car.

I love my car don't get me wrong, but I don't love it THAT much. Now, when its about 50-80 outside, i'll hand wash it myself all day long.

But $5 once a week or so...hell... I feel like i get my moneys worth just by not having to get the brake dust of the rims LOL.

[chris1973]

I enjoy washing my car myself. But with three young boys I rarelly get them time. When they do "help" it's fun until one takes the filthy wheel brush and starts to "wash" a section that I already washed and dried.

Once my 5 year old says "look Dad I'm helping you wash the Camaro" as he starts to scrub the top of the driver side wheel well with a wire brush.

I have a few dings and scratches from toys, balls, bicycles, etc. They drive me nuts but it makes no sense to get mad at my kids for being kids.

Based on that I have resigned myself to using a carwash. Each time it is done, I go over my Camaro with my towels to get the spots they missed and under the hood, inside the trunk and fuel door.

[Carzzy]

I hand wash mine in the driveway and wipe her down in the garage. I have the time and do not trust the automatic washes, especially those steel guide rails!

[NicksVSix]

Originally Posted by Darth_Emma

I have hard well water at my house, so I take mine to the wand wash in town. But nothing touches my car but the "rinse" water. I hand wash and dry it there.

I have hard well water too, but we also have a reverse osmosis tap, so I fill up a 3 gallon jug with that first and use the reverse osmosis water to rinse the hard water off my car after I'm done rinsing with the hose.

Works ok.

[BlackenedSS]

I take mine to the Buckee's on 290 in Houston all the time and IMO it does a pretty good job. Its a brand new carwash. Just don't have the time to hand wash