Self Service "Wave a Wand" Question...

[Amadore]

Hello,



I am very new to the detailing world and had a question about the self service wave-a-wand carwashes. I did a search and several people stated to ask the car wash managers if they "recycle" their water. I found a carwash that does not recycle, and now have a final question.



As it is VERY dirty/snowy/salty, my car is filthy. Is it ok to use both the "rinse" and the "soap" settings with the wave-a-wand bays? I read a few posts that stated not to use the soap setting, but I also see many people do use them. I just want to damage the paint on my brand new car, but the soap settings do get the car so much cleaner. I plan on doing the ONR washes in the future, but due to the weather and my work schedule it makes it very hard.



Thank you for helping a newbie,

[C. Charles Hahn]

The soaps used at these self-serve car washes are typically quite strong and while they are unlikely to cause any damage to the paint, they very well may be strong enough to strip any wax or sealant you have on the vehicle. This is typically not a concern if you have a coating on the paint, however.

[Accumulator]

Amadore- Welcome to Autopia!



One thing to remember is that the strength/weakness of the shampoo is dependent upon how they mixed it. As in, uhm...well, people make mistakes. Heh heh, just one more thing to worry about (or not; autopaint is pretty tough stuff).



My 2₵ isthat if this is your only way of washing the car, then yeah, I *would* use the shampoo. I`d rather get the vehicle as clean as possible than leave it dirty and I wouldn`t worry about the shampoo hurting anything.



I *might* think twice about it on a vehicle with some weird issue (compromised aluminum trim on older Audis come to mind), but absent something like that I wouldn`t expect any problems.