Mechanical Car Wash vs. Car Paint.....

AlanH70

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Oct 8, 2006
Location
Portsmouth, RI
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2001 Jetta
So on my way to work I see a new car wash has opened up. My car was a bit dirty so I pull in. the place is huge and they have this program where you pay X dollars per month depending on the package you want and you can go through the car was as many times you want per month...The owner told me a guy goes through 2 times a day sometimes.....Well I have had it now for maybe 4 weeks and have washed my car about 5 times....I wondr is this bad for a vehicle, for the paint or brakes or anything mechanical....It is a brush type car wash pretty standard type I would assume.....
 

dieseldorf

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MA
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Tough on the paint/clearcoat...sands it down just a little with every pass thru.
 

VeeDubTDI

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What about with a touch-free car wash? Anything to worry about there?
 

FlyTDI Guy

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PNW
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'01 Jetta GLS
Be advised, car washes recycle their water, after filtering of course. Problem is, that last guy who just went off-roading and brought half the mountain back with him. That, combined w/less than stellar maintenance on the filter equipment and....

VW paint is pretty soft and will scratch just looking at it sideways. Though this sounds like a good deal, I'd stay away.
 

NB_TDi

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NB, Canada █♣█
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2014 Jetta SE
The Irving car wash here in town is the biggest in Atlantic Canada. It's decent enough, they don't recycle water. In the winter months I tend to use it and never noticed any scratches or problems.

But since it's getting warmer, but not warm enough for me to hand wash my car, I go to a local detailing shop. $10 for a hand-wash in their bay.
 

AlanH70

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Location
Portsmouth, RI
TDI
2001 Jetta
They say they add a clear coat protectant to the paint is that possibly anything that helps the paint or is it just a gimmick to pay more?
 

dieseldorf

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Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
AlanH70 said:
They say they add a clear coat protectant
There are water-soluble waxes, but what's to say that it's actually been applied to your car?

The most modern car washes do far less damage to your finish than the older systems. However, I still prefer a hand-job and clean (as opposed to recycled) water as Fly hints at.
 

frugality

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Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
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none, 2016 GTI
dieseldorf said:
However, I still prefer a hand-job...
As do I, but let's keep this on the topic.... :D :D :D

My 10-yr-old / 280k-mile Golf has been through soft-cloth car washes about 1/3 of the time, and the U-hose-it car washes about 2/3 of the time. The paint still looks great. I'm surprised that the cloth washes haven't seemed to do much of any damage on my dark-green Golf.

The only problem is the attendants who use a brush-on-a-stick to do the tailgate. I have some scratches back there. The water in the bucket rarely gets changed, and so you get the grit from the last pickup truck bumper scratched across your tailgate. After getting scratches that way, I now often say, "no brush on the rear" when I hand them my money.
 

AlanH70

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Oct 8, 2006
Location
Portsmouth, RI
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2001 Jetta
dieseldorf said:
There are water-soluble waxes, but what's to say that it's actually been applied to your car?

The most modern car washes do far less damage to your finish than the older systems. However, I still prefer a hand-job and clean (as opposed to recycled) water as Fly hints at.
I prefer a hand job myself :) .....but i understand cuz I have noticed the back bumper of my car which collects the water always spots and stays dirty....its gotta be the water not filtered correctly......but i will have to watch my paint now to see if it is scratching....
 

LiLredTDI

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maryland
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Anybody that uses a carwash and think it looks good and scratch free needs a good eye checkup. Save your money and mail me 2 bucks and I will mail you back some sandpaper to wash your car with. Car washes are for lazy people or folks that can afford to ruin a perfectly good car. If you can ONLY get the undercarriage wash that is ok.
 

FlyTDI Guy

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PNW
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'01 Jetta GLS
LiLredTDI said:
Anybody that uses a carwash and think it looks good and scratch free needs a good eye checkup. Save your money and mail me 2 bucks and I will mail you back some sandpaper to wash your car with. Car washes are for lazy people or folks that can afford to ruin a perfectly good car. If you can ONLY get the undercarriage wash that is ok.
Though I agree, in principle, many folks live in apartment complexes, etc. and access to a hose and space is not always the easiest. That doesn't take into account cold climates. Being as some a$$ clown decided to use my LH front fender as a car stop (perhaps it was a 5 mph bumper test) the other night, then drove off, I don't have these issues right now.
 

mysql

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Jan 19, 2010
Location
United States
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Jetta wagon
the problem with the drive in car washes is that the chemicals they use will wipe off any wax you may have on the vehicle. It's like washing with Dawn detergent. So your car will tend to get dirty faster by using these places.
 

cmitchell

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Jun 8, 2002
Location
Central Oregon
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS black / black leather
My car's never been through a car wash... and never will as long as I own it. But then I'm a bit pickier than most when it comes to the paint on my vehicles anyway.
 

NB_TDi

Vendor
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Location
NB, Canada █♣█
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2014 Jetta SE
LiLredTDI said:
Anybody that uses a carwash and think it looks good and scratch free needs a good eye checkup. Save your money and mail me 2 bucks and I will mail you back some sandpaper to wash your car with. Car washes are for lazy people or folks that can afford to ruin a perfectly good car. If you can ONLY get the undercarriage wash that is ok.
Sorry but I disagree. There are so many types of car washes you can't account for them all. I've been using the same car wash every winter for 10 years. I hand wash my car in the summer and clay bar, polish and wax it. There are no scratches from the wash. :)
 

tdidieselbobny

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Stafford,NY (WNY)
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'03 Galactic Blue Jetta TDI, '15 Silk Blue Golf Sportwagen TDI
I use the Delta Sonics if I go to the city(touchless) ,but most times I go to the local spray gun wash bay-$1.75 ,and I can wash and rinse my Jetta in that time allotment. Much easier than dragging my hose out, getting my driveway wet,so it turns into ice in winter,then having to drain hose out so it doesn't freeze in winter-and I have crappy well water(hard) so it leaves spots anyway.....the $1.75 for 4 or 5 minutes w/ no hassle of soaps,buckets, and other prep time is worth it-and being 12 years old and rust, I really don't think an incidental scratch is going to matter much......on the other hand, a brand new car would be a different story.One thing i would recommend though is to stay away from the spinning brush car washes-THOSE are the scratch machines......
 

PDJetta

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Northern Virginia
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dieseldorf said:
Tough on the paint/clearcoat...sands it down just a little with every pass thru.
Ever see the plastic wheel covers of rental cars? Sometimes the silver paint on them gets worn completely off and it is because of the repeated car washes.

--Nate
 

EJS

Veteran Member
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Nov 18, 2004
Location
Northern VA
TDI
2009 Jetta
LiLredTDI said:
Anybody that uses a carwash and think it looks good and scratch free needs a good eye checkup. Save your money and mail me 2 bucks and I will mail you back some sandpaper to wash your car with. Car washes are for lazy people or folks that can afford to ruin a perfectly good car. If you can ONLY get the undercarriage wash that is ok.
As with anything YMMV, but it's not so cut & dried as you make out.

Home car wash, using a single bucket, some soap thats handy, and an old t-shirt? Epic fail, likely ANY car wash is safer than this grit polishing approach. In fact I'd wager more paint issues are caused by home washing than car washes have ever caused. I will agree a home wash can be better than a mechanical........but it can also be worse. Much like work done on the car. The person who goes to the local AutoZone (whatever) for supplies? Likely not a good home wash. Take for example a popular car wax "Zaino" - it ain't cheap...........but it's a carnuba based product that's gone in about 2 weeks. But because it costs a fair bit folks think it's great, well it is but one needs to know the limitations.

Yes, most car washes recycle SOME of the water, the only ones I've ever seen use this water for initial rinse, it's not used for the wash or rinse cycle.

The quality of the mechanical was is directly related to the amount of soap used. The more soap (lubricant) the better, this is an area where they can cheap out to save a few $$$. The two most expensive consumables for a car wash are electricity & soap..............you do the math :D

The "wax" or other treatments are a huge $$$ maker, it's a couple of pennies per car - akin to the dealer installed options.

Another issue - drying at the end. One might think having the car hand dried at the end is a sign of a quality wash................except the towels used can be filthy. A high end wash will wash the towels once a day, most I'd wager wash them once a week.....if that. What you'll see at the end of the wash is a spin dryer for the towels, it's just to dry them for use - it does not remove the dirt.

How do you know if it's a good car wash? Safest bet is the soap, just watch the process............see foam? A fairly large amount? Good wash, likely safe. See little foam? Bad wash, move along, they're cheaping out on soap.

I generally pass on washes that use a hand wipe down. its almost impossible to avoid dirty towels, even when washed once a day. First clear day after a snow episode a car wash might do 6 - 8000 cars :eek: in a day. How are you going to have clean towels?

How do I know this? Back in the days of yore I was a manager of a car wash for a few years...................started out in wipe down (yes, I actually did 6,000 cars in one day by myself) = I'm fairly familiar with how they work.

But heck, even if you just spray water on the car it's still better than leaving that salt/crud on the paint.

Disclaimer - I have no experience with those hanging carpet washes, but my previous experience tells me there's no way you can get the dirt out of those things (brushes get rinsed as the work, they also don't really hold dirt).

PDJetta said:
Ever see the plastic wheel covers of rental cars? Sometimes the silver paint on them gets worn completely off and it is because of the repeated car washes.
And how many owner vehicles get washed every 3 days or so? Also likely a really bad wash - little soap, brush pressure too high, and the most likely cause rubbing the rail. Had more than one rental contract, never did any damage............of course back then hub caps were metal :D (and tire aspect ratios were higher = rail didn't rub)
 
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Gil

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May 16, 2004
Location
Wallingford CT
TDI
2002 auto wagon and 2004 stick
Hand washing tip.

Use a garden pump sprayer filled with car wash soap and water.
The washing mitt never picks up dirt from the bucket.
I get about three washes from a sprayer fill up (saves time next wash)
 

WVU TDI

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Beckley, WV
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2013 Passat SE 6m
I run through the wash next door about once a month or so during the winter, mostly for the undercarriage wash. Now that it's starting to warm up, I'll be hand-jobbing myself at least once every two weeks!
 

Bob_Fout

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Indiana
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2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
WVU TDI said:
I run through the wash next door about once a month or so during the winter, mostly for the undercarriage wash. Now that it's starting to warm up, I'll be hand-jobbing myself at least once every two weeks!
*Must resist joke* :eek: :p
 

TDInownow

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Aug 27, 2003
Location
West End, NC (27376)
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None right now...
I got out of the automated wash habit in the late 90s when I had a wrangler...auto washes KILLED the plastic windows in those.

In the winter I'll spray the car at a bay place. Now I'll start hand washing. Tons of soap, only down to the rub strip with the first sponge, under the rub strip with the second, wheels and tires with the third...in that order. Rotate sponges and replace the first one once per season. Hand dry with microfiber that's washed after every two washes.

Biggest point: I religiously wax every car in early April and late October. Yeah, it may be mostly gone in a few months, but it's still beading well by the time I wax it again. Typically use Meguiars, and I've had no real complaints.

Not exactly ideal I suppose, because it's a single bucket (probably should rethink that) but there wasn't a swirl on my 6 yr old platinum gray '03. I'm a little less worried about swirls now on reflex silver.

You think VW paint is bad? We have a BLACK PRIUS and that's awful. It was pretty swirled when we got it, and it was less than a year old. It's a good testament against car washes, though, because it was a company car, and the weekly-ish car washes killed it. I waxed it four times the first year, and we ended up getting the hood repainted (it was in for a front bumper replacement after a minor front-end) because of either bird poo stains or something. I've been using swirl-x before waxing, and it looks better in the bad areas, but it'll never be great. I will never buy another black car.
 
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Gil

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Location
Wallingford CT
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2002 auto wagon and 2004 stick
As I recall, The last time I went to a car wash, the last thing it did was a blow dry the car.:rolleyes:
Now don't pick on my Toro electric leaf blower.
You should see what a nice job it does cleaning my computer on the picnic table, no kidding.
 

Dunno513

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Mirror Lake, NH
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I like to think of that thin layer of dirt that just won't go away no matter how much driving in rain as an extra layer of paint protectant. ;)

I hit a car wash maybe once or twice a winter, and I try to do a complete wash/wax once a year in the warmer months. Try seems to be a tricky word when you have little kids...:rolleyes:
 

WVU TDI

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Dunno513 said:
I hit a car wash maybe once or twice a winter, and I try to do a complete wash/wax once a year in the warmer months. Try seems to be a tricky word when you have little kids...:rolleyes:
My dad always used to sit me on top of his '69 Chevy truck with a towel so I could "help" him wax.

Thinking back, this was a pretty dangerous endeavor.
 

BolaB4V

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Power wash at carwash when above freezing couple times a year, stick brush otherwise, rinsing off brush frequently. Want to get a leather shamy some day. Totally avoid those kid car washes raising money.
 

cmitchell

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Location
Central Oregon
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2002 Jetta GLS black / black leather
EJS said:
Take for example a popular car wax "Zaino" - it ain't cheap...........but it's a carnuba based product that's gone in about 2 weeks. But because it costs a fair bit folks think it's great, well it is but one needs to know the limitations.quote]

You know NOTHING about Zaino. It isn't a "wax" and it contains no carnuba. And... my black paint was last "Zainoed" in July, 2009, and it still beads water in tiny little beads like it was polished yesterday. Go here and do some reading:

www.zainostore.com

Don't bash a product you obviously have never experienced. It's the best I've tried, and I've tried nearly everything.
 
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