Car Washing Horror Stories

SVR

SVR

Dream Machines
OK we all love our cars and certain types of cars that we either really want or can't afford and it would be great to read about some of the things you have seen people do with their cars, either at home or at commercial self serve wash bays



The other week I watched a guy shampoo his brand new Landrover with a long handled hard bristle broom which has the shampoo running out of it and if that wasn't bad enough, he applied it to the car in figure eight motions. I cringed in shock and was going to go have a stern talking to him but decided not to bother as these types of people probably won't listen.



Everyone i see there rinses the car with high pressure and then drives off, no drying the seals, door jams, underside of hood or boot. People wonder why their cars rust.



What's the worst thing you've seen?
 
NozeBleedSpeed said:
Ive seen some real horrors. The most recent really confuses me. Its a Toyota commercial and the announcer guy is talking to the photographer who is prepping a Toyota for a photo shoot. The photographer is literally scrubbing the hood with a California Car Duster and wiping the dash with a paper towel. You would think that a manufacturer would at least provide a technical consultant to the commercial shoot.

No wonder dealers have no idea how to prep cars.
Click to expand...



Maybe dealer installed swrils are standard on all Toyota models :nixweiss??
 
At my local Benz dealership, I saw the so-called detailer drop his filthy chamois and pick it up and continue to wipe :(



At my BMW dealer, they put all their new cars right through a automated car wash system...
 
I live in Indiana in a community with a LARGE population of Amish people. For those who don't know, many of the Amish people drive a horse and buggy around. Long story short, they don't use pooper-scoopers, so horse doo-doo is all over the roads. Not good on the paint - especially if it is allowed to dry and harden.



The other day at my father's service station, a customer was getting his "shiny" new caddy's oil changed. This guy is a jerk. Plain and simple. One of those know-it-all, smart mouthed knuckle heads who never admits he's even close to wrong. I was detailing a car, and he's trying to p#@# me off by asking why people would want to come to me, and how there's no way I can do a better job than the local touchless. "Look at mine!" he says. "My wife just ran this baby through it down the street. It looks just as good as what you can do for a ton of less money!"



I didn't say a word. I just waited until my brother put his car up to drain his oil. Then I walked with him around the bottom part of the car. He shut up very quickly. Horse C*R*A*P* is EVERYWHERE! Dried on, caked in the wheel wells, etc. Then I showed him the underneath of the car I was working on. The look on his face and his silence will leave a smile on my face for days to come.



Not really a horror story for me, but I hope it was for him!:angry
 
worst one i have...erm, i am the only one of my close friends that actually details my suv, they only come over like once every 3 months and put on some gold class when i MAKE them hehe. anyway, one of them foned me up panicking, saying he needs me to sort out somethin hehe. as i sit in my garage waitin for him to come i see him roll up, and the whole lower level of his car is all MASSIVE swirls that i could see from about 3 meters away...turns out he had loads of mud and tar on the lower half, and thought that the scouring pad of a sponge would take them off hehe.



luckily i was able to use G6 compound to polish them off, and then waxed over...i finished off wit a quick lightish slap to the back of his head and told him not to do it again...funnily enuf, he never has....maybe some of you guys can take some tips on educating like i do heheh
 
hehe or another one that made me literally cry...i'm seeing a woman sweeping outside her house, and she passes her car, which is covered in dust/dirt etc, and she proceeds to proudly brush off the dirt with her broom hehe
 
I had to dig thru the archives to find this post of mine from 2 years ago:



About 10 yrs ago a friend of mine had a nice Toyota ext cab 1/2 ton. Lowered, nice wheels, bumpin system, clean not garish or hacker. Took good care of it.



He goes back home to visit family and leaves it with his then girlfriend. She drives the truck while he's away. Before he gets home she decides to surprise him by washing it. With a Scotch Brite pad. To say that he freaked out when he saw it is a big understatement. The scratches were sooooo bad I couldn't get them out and most of the local detailers wouldn't touch it.



So, you ask, why in the world did she use a Scotch Brite pad to wash his nice truck?



Because, she said it was "really dirty".
 
One of the funniest things I ever saw was a person at the gas station with their new caddy washing it with....get this...with the squigee to clean the windows!! I mean going over the whole paint, wheels, windows, etc.



There must have been a few dirty spots cause she was really bearing down hard with that thing!!
 
happened many years ago (now that I'm 60, it seems like a couple of months for some reason). My mother-in-law decided to really clean her 64 white Chevy. She sprinkled Ajax and scrubbed that white paint till the dirt came off.....not to mention a lot of paint. That WAS bad.



:sosad
 
In 1953 I was 10 yrs old. Dad got a new Oldsmobile 98, hardtop, pw.pb. deluxe radio, bright lights automatic dimmer, the works/LOADED. It was dirty, I thought I'd help out so I washed it with Babo, a Comet like cleanser.



Dad tried real hard to not scream at me.:scared :angry
 
Last year with all the snow storms, everyone had to clean their cars of from it. Anyway my cousin's neighbor is taking a nice metal shovel, and literally shoveling off the snow on his aunt's black 2000 chevy monte carlo ss hood. Needless to say a couple weeks after I visited my cousin and he said take a look at the monte carlo. It was COMPLETELY scratched up from the shovel. I mean its one thing if its really a beater car that already has a million scratches, but to take a brand new car like that , especialy in black. Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking...
 
So far, this winter alone, I've seen:

-Shovels used on cars

-Squeegees used to clean cars (we had 1 warm day a little while back and the neighbors thought they'd take the opportunity to "spruce up" their car!)

-Car wash foaming brush used on a newer black Audi-with passion!

-Brushes/brooms to wipe off snow

-Scrapers used to get snow off car ("Couldn't find the brush.")



Probably some other things I've blocked from my memory!
 
When I bought my NXT from Wal-mart, as I was walking to my car I noticed this man QDing his 2001-02 black Maxima with Windex and what looked to be small napkins. I thought of saying something but...:argue
 
I saw my neighboor's mother washing her son's brand new black Toyota Celica with a dishwashing liquid soap. Her son is in the wheel chair paralized from the waist down due to a car accident. The car was converted so he can drive it. I asked her if she wants me to wash the car next time because that's what I do but she refused. Now the car's paint condition looks like 5 years old.
 
When I was little, I washed my mom's Mercedes-Benz SL320 (white) with paper towels and windex.



Luckily, I only did that a couple of times.
 
I'll add one...





Today I went to the car wash to use their vacuum (left mine at home in NY...in CT at college now). I am vacuuming my girlfriend's Pathfinder as I notice a 2002 or newer black GMC Yukon Denali sittin on some big rims...So as I am vacuuming I am glancing over checking out his paint condition. It was just washed by him via DIY method (didn't see exactly what or how he did it). I notice it's looking dull and I am noticing this from about 30 ft away in dark shade. So I finish, go over to him and go ...



"What are those 23's?"

-"Naa, 24s" (as he smokes his cigarette and bumps R.Kelly)

"Do you have anyone reguarly detailing this thing for you?"

-"Yeh, my boy down the street charges me $30 to wash it and $50 to wax it up, but I haven't been able to get in touch with him lately"

"Here take my card and give me a call, I'll take care of ya"



Anyways, couple of things I noticed. Cocky? Oh yesss he was...lol...probably early 20's rolling in a $40-ish thousand dollar truck on big baller rims. He had NO IDEA what he was doing as when I was talking to him. I noticed his BIG BLACK SHOWER TOWEL he was spreading the dirt around with with all over his jet black paint. Sad sight to see.



Hopefully he gives me a call, but I know I will have my work cut out for me. Not to mention the chrome rims that just battled through a harsh CT winter (you could see the dirt piled up on the inner part of them).
 
As I drove by my neighbors house earlier tonight I glanced over and happened to notice that she was washing her minivan with a floor mop, the kind with the cotton mop head. She had one hand on the handle, one hand on the mop head, and was vigorously scrubbing the side of her minivan. :eek:
 
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