Car Washing Horror Stories

**imported_DieselMDX** · 01-28-2009, 01:26 AM

OMG that is hilarous!!!!!!!!!!!

**Street5927** · 01-28-2009, 02:50 AM

I was visiting my dad the one day, and saw an elderly neighbor of his spraying Windex on her whole vehicle and wiping it down with papertowels. I went over to her and asked what she was doing, and she said she was cleaning the car, and then pulled out a can of lemon scented pledge and told me that she was then going to polish her car....I just left.

**ptirmal** · 01-29-2009, 07:59 PM

Nothing big to contribute, my best friend consistently washed his car with dawn, he didn`t do it too often (once a month) but always with a few ounces of dawn and some old rag to dry it, the paint was really dull after a year of his treatment.

My neighbor saw me using my foam cannon washing my car and decided she`ll wash her cars (sl500, retro ford thunderbird, and her husbands lincoln truck) with a hose and some paper towels... just let it air dry too... nice lady though

My parents still try to scrape the ice off their cars with the window scrapers even after I yell at them!

**Alexia** · 02-22-2009, 11:25 PM

Attempting to carefully wash my old Jeep. It gets interesting when the mud shoots out of the bumpers and back on to yourself.

**imported_Larry A** · 02-23-2009, 09:07 AM

When I was 10 years old, my dad never cared if his cars were clean or not . All his cars were old junks so I guess that was the reason. Well at 10 years old I was a clean nut. Every saturday I would wax my bike with Simonize. One day I decided to clean my dads car when he was away. We lived on a main street so I was told not to go into the street . I got a bucket of water , some towels and my Simonize. To make this story short I washed and waxed 1/2 of my dads car. Only the curb side was done including 1/2 of the windshield. From were I stood the car looked great . I guess when my dad got to work his car was the talk, like a before and after. He thank me for my efford , and said that next time I felt like cleaning his car he would pull it in the alley so I could do the whole car . Next time I got the urge he did put in in the alley. It took me all day to do his car with Simonize. It was a maroon 1946 Dodge.

**BIOLINK** · 02-23-2009, 09:51 AM

Over the weekend I was browsing for Bentley. I guess for the few hundred K they go for they now include "dealer installed holograms". I almost cried when I thought of the dealer skimping on the prep and the employee that ran a polisher over it. (These were new cars) I wish I had my camera.

**aixab** · 02-23-2009, 12:18 PM

this is entertaining. haha.

likewise, i`ve seen the scotch brite pads and the windex quick detailer. the more common horror story i think is dropping a towel/applicator and picking it up for use.

**HydroMan** · 04-01-2009, 12:52 AM

LOL!!!

On my second ever customer (this is my first post), she had a black honda odessey van, and it was in the 90`s outside. I turned on the water hose and sprayed the hood. There was so much steam I couldn`t believe it...

Long story short, she was pissed but I told her I would come back at night and finish it when it was cooler. She`s still my #1 customer

**kopimon** · 04-02-2009, 08:44 AM

A buddy of mine has a late 80`s Corvette as a summer car. The paint is in pretty bad condition (doesn`t feel smooth at all, in dire need of some TLC). I think he keeps it outside, exposed to all the elements.

Anyway, I was at his place one weekend and we were outside. He let his kids (9 and 5) wash the car. I just watched incredulously as they poured Dawn into a bucket of water and went at the paint with a dirty sponge, making long circular strokes with tons of pressure. Drop the sponge? No problem .. just shake it a bit and it`s good as new! Then they used an old bath towel to dry.

**Relaited** · 04-02-2009, 10:42 AM

I think it is a horror story every time I watch someone who calls themselves a professional detailer wash a car with out the proper contaminant controls, does not reclaim discharge nor properly dispose of waste water!

I get nightmares that our Professional Industry will get so over regulated as a result ... you should too!

-jim

**BlueLibby04** · 04-02-2009, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Relaited

I think it is a horror story every time I watch someone who calls themselves a professional detailer wash a car with out the proper contaminant controls, does not reclaim discharge nor properly dispose of waste water!

I get nightmares that our Professional Industry will get so over regulated as a result ... you should too!

-jim

They made storm drains for waste water.. Works great.. :think2

**Relaited** · 04-03-2009, 08:25 AM

Please tell me you are joking ... for a second, Ithought you were from Western kentucky ... my feable attempt at humor back at ya.

Storms drains here in So California are a serious threat to the Detailing Industry.

I am off to go to the State Water Control Board and give testimony.

Part of it is to let the governing bodies that not all Detailers express this sentiment. The good ones can and are complying with standards to protect discharge into the storm drains, and the others, well, they should be removed from this industry at once!

-jim

**Yamaha0219** · 04-03-2009, 11:55 AM

My brother bought a Green Pontiac G6 from Enterprise about a year ago because his car bit the dust and needed something ASAP. It was only a couple years old and looking at it, it didn`t look that bad (other than some scratched up hub-caps). So for christmas he wanted me to detail it...I wash it and realize that the paint is unbelievably rough. It ended up taking me a full day to try and get this thing in decent shape, Ive done it twice now, and it gets a little better each time but it`ll never be alright. Me and my dad joke that the guys at enterprise must have washed it with a metal bristled brush or something, just scratched and swirled everywhere and it feels like there`s no clear on it. This car will soon be the second victime of my new G110 and M105/M205.

**yourgrandma** · 04-04-2009, 11:05 PM

The owner of the company I work for runs hus 750i through the cloth wash across the street every day.

A guy at work had an egg thrown at his car, a brand new (a day or two off the lot) toyota matrix. I watch in awe as he vigorously scrubs the egg off with a red shop rag that gets recycled and returned with metal shavings still in it, and SD20, an industrial degreaser. Meanwhile I get mad every time I see another swirl or scratch in my 7 year old car.

My dad has a pre-payed carwash thing with Holiday gas stations, they exclisively have very violent cloth washes. The leading edges of the fenders are actually absent of paint. Worn all the way through the primer.

**Polygon** · 04-05-2009, 10:54 AM

My worst horror story is my father. Growing up he said to never used car washes that have brushes. In fact, I don`t take my cars to ANY car wash save for the Escape which I don`t really care about. However, I refuse to use any brush on it`s paint.

Well, for some reason in the past few years he always takes his four cars to the car wash. Won`t wash them by hand anymore. Maybe it`s because he`s lazy or just getting up there in age. Fine, fair enough. Then one day I`m over and I see horrible scratches all over the Jeep which is a dark green. I asked what happened to the Jeep and they looked at me funny. Later I found out that he goes to the car wash and uses the WHEEL brush on the paint!!!! He justifies that he cleans out the brake dust first.

I asked him if he was senile. You can see the marks on all the cars now. The other three are silver. What a shame.