Is there anything wrong with a completely "touchless" car wash?

[RaskyR1]

I am involved in the mass car-wash world, so I'll give my personal take on this. I think touchless car washes are by far the best method of general car washing. Wand washes are great, as long as you aren't using the foam brush, or at least thoroughly cleaning the foam brush first. Automatics (tunels) with brushes = bad bad bad. Touchless offers a very good wash, with minimal chance of swirls and scratches. I've gone through touchless car washes for years, and never experienced anything remotely like what Rasky has posted. I'm not saying that it's not possible, but IMO, the touchless(es) that caused that damage are having their chemicals mixed improperly.



Bottom line is, 99% of the public isn't able to hand wash their vehicles with a two bucket method, ONR, blah blah blah. They don't have the time, or they don't have a suitable location, etc. "Professionally" washing once a month isn't an option unless you live in a climate that allows for that. My car gets dirty (I'm talking sand dirty and a visible layer of dust) within 2 days of driving around. Most of the folks here are Autopians, yeah, so you go the extra mile on washing your vehicles, but the general public just isn't going to do it. I run my car through a quick wand wash (minus the foam brush) once a week, just to keep it relatively clean, but it's dirty 90% of the time anyways, I just live with it. In the winter, I won't wash my car at all. At -60 degrees F, I just don't care anymore

Different trims or more susceptible to it than others, but I would agree that it depends on the mixture of the chemicals. My car see's the touch-less wash pretty often in the winter too and after almost 3 years now it is showing no signs of any damage. On the flip side, when my mom had her brand new '98 Blazer the side mirrors looked like the first pic I posted in a mater of months after regular use at the touch-less wash. I have no idea why car manufactures choose to use that particular paint on those mirror/trim pieces, but it's complete garbage.



I've also seen some serious damage on a cars from a wash that failed to complete the entire wash cycle.



I get, and agree with a lot of what you are saying, but the OP simply asked if there was anything wrong with touch-less washes, which clearly there is.

 

[WAS]

Different trims or more susceptible to it than others, but I would agree that it depends on the mixture of the chemicals. My car see's the touch-less wash pretty often in the winter too and after almost 3 years now it is showing no signs of any damage. On the flip side, when my mom had her brand new '98 Blazer the side mirrors looked like the first pic I posted in a mater of months after regular use at the touch-less wash. I have no idea why car manufactures choose to use that particular paint on those mirror/trim pieces, but it's complete garbage.



I've also seen some serious damage on a cars from a wash that failed to complete the entire wash cycle.



I get, and agree with a lot of what you are saying, but the OP simply asked if there was anything wrong with touch-less washes, which clearly there is.

Yep, no argument from me, and I suppose if the question is "are touchless car washes 100% safe", then I suppose the answer is no. But still, if you're doing anything other than the "at home" method, touchless is still, IMO, the best way to go.

 

[mhuie]

- Unless the blow-dryer is really good you'll get a lot of residual water, which might freeze and/or leave streaks/spots

This is absolutely what bugs me the most about touchless washes and DIY wand washing. You can't properly dry the car since the car isn't that clean, you have to deal with residual water spotting.

 

[imported_Larry A]

I use touchless all the time and I also use soft cloth car washes also .Ive never had a problem. My car has no svcratches that I can see , and people always coment on how shinny my car is. Maybe my car washes are better them most. My car gets QDs/spray wax often. A friend of mine uses the soft cloth car wash all the time, his car look great and he never uses any qds and seldoms waxes his cars . I do have to add that this car wash is well maintained.

 

[WAS]

I do have to add that this car wash is well maintained.

I think that this is by far the MOST important thing when it comes to washing a vehicle, whether it be a wand wash or touchless.

 

[SuperBee364]

Admittedly I do use them form time to time but will follow with an ONR wash. If you use them often don't be surprised if your LSP vanishes and your trim starts to look like ***.





Here is your touch-less washes at work...



damaged

How it should look

damaged

How it should look

damaged

How it should look

Any questions?

Those pictures are so amazing, they needed to be posted again. Wow.:bow:bow:drool:



On topic... I use touchless coin ops quite often, but I do keep the LSP up on *all* parts of the car, including trim, vinyl stripes, etc. fresh. As long as you keep a good LSP on (and fresh), you shouldn't have a problem, but again, it depends on the chemicals the manager is using, how strong they are, and how good their rinse cycle is. Like anything car related, use common sense, and you should be ok.