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 $$$. The two most expensive consumables for a car wash are electricity & soap..............you do the math
The "wax" or other treatments are a huge $$$ 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
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
(and tire aspect ratios were higher = rail didn't rub)