Author Topic: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?  (Read 6916 times)

Offline rrocket

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: My house
  • Posts: 18663
  • Carma: +81/-89
    • View Profile
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #20 on: March 14, 2007, 12:17:37 am »
Don't you guys in TO have any of those nice car washes that get washed and dried by hand?  They will also detail the interior if you want too. $12 for a wash...$15 for the whole deal.  A soft cloth machine does some of the washing.  I take my Supra through once a week, and often see Porsches, Ferraris, NSX and other exotics there.    I'm fussy about my paint, and I have yet to get any swirls in it from one of these nice car washes (we have 2 in town).

In California, I went through one that had a coffee bar, leather seating, wireless internet and 4 plasma screens on the wall each with a different type of racing on, and a toddler play room.
How fast is my Supra?  I sh*t on Cessnas from a roll....

Offline Snowman

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: Oakville
  • Posts: 21600
  • Carma: +45/-34
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Cars: 2012 Audi TT-RS. 2011 Toyota Venza AWD. 2004 Honda S2000
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #21 on: March 14, 2007, 06:15:07 am »
In Sudbury they will come get your car at work, hand wash it, and bring it back for $22.

Offline quadzilla

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: Toronto
  • Posts: 6933
  • Carma: +12/-17
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #22 on: March 14, 2007, 06:44:38 am »
In Sudbury they will come get your car at work, hand wash it, and bring it back for $22.

I would gladly pay that to drive your car  ;D

Don't you guys in TO have any of those nice car washes that get washed and dried by hand?  They will also detail the interior if you want too. $12 for a wash...$15 for the whole deal.

Yep, we have lots of those.  But I still see people lining up for the crappy auto washes.
A subwoofer should only be noticed once it has been turned off.

Offline safristi

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: Bethlehem
  • Posts: 40872
  • Carma: +141/-51
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #23 on: March 14, 2007, 11:16:36 am »
You mean this one rrocket.... :P
THERE IS NO CURE FOR "LOTUS"......ONLY TREATMENT.....

Offline rrocket

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: My house
  • Posts: 18663
  • Carma: +81/-89
    • View Profile
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #24 on: March 15, 2007, 03:35:34 am »
You mean this one rrocket.... :P

Heh...no, not a car wash in your driveway....the automated ones...

Offline alouch2084

  • Learner's Permit
  • *
  • Location: london ON
  • Posts: 4
  • Carma: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #25 on: March 18, 2007, 02:19:17 am »
Didn't your mom tell you "Eat that, doesn't look healthy"
I have been coming on and off this site, most of the people that actually reply to the subject don't understand the stupid subject, hahahaha.

It seems that everbody agrees that automated car wash is bad but in most cases we use them anyways. WHY, you ask?????

BECAUSE,

1) They are Convenient
2) When its cold you don't have to get out of the car.
3) They do a shitty Job but it is better than nothing
4) My High school English teacher always told me to give 3 good points and allow your audience to give you the last point from their comments, you wouldn't believe if I told u this. His name was Mr. English.

They are convenient but it is obvious it doesn't matter who you are, your number one priority in life is convenience. We naturally set our own priorities. We don't want to clean our houses, we don't want to clean our cars, and we don't want to cook.

We all know something, even thoe we are Canadian we still hate the cold. Everybody has to admit that the Tim Horton Drive thru Controversy, is made up becuase of the great coffee that they offer and you don't have to get out of the car. That is what makes them so successful.

Everyone knows, that in some cases doing it yourself is the best way to get something done. For others that don't fall in this category, which is the majority then you hire service people like me to do your :censor: work.

I am in the residential Cleaning business and I know, actually wait, I have had people call, e-mail, mail letters, post cards, you name it.. I have received comments from people on how distressed they are because life is getting harder to live. I agree as most people do. As most people do. Allow me to highligt MOST PEOPLE. I always set my priorities straight and I still can't get things done.

In conclusions,  :o, we all want an easier life served to us on a silver platter but fact is fact. People set priorities such as;

1) You only live once....
2) Who wants to clean there car by hand when there are other things to do
3) My car gets me from one location to another I can care Less.
4) My wife can do it.
5) I will do it on my day off
6) I will do it when I am done watching TV
7) I will do it after dinner

An after thought, back to the question about automated car washing. They will do the job but I personally think that good old elbow grease, good soap and good eyes will get your vehicle looking fairly new. Putting your car through automated willl get the job done but it want get you fully satisfied.

There is a very high demand for high quality self serve stations in my area but what is more important is to allow the public to realize that there is an alternative to the auto wash. The answer is self serve car washes. 15 Minutes of time between the exterior of a vehicle and the person behind the steering wheel.
ALI CHAMS

Offline airbalancer

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: Cobourg Ontario
  • Posts: 15974
  • Carma: +92/-89
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Cars: 2000 BMW 323, 2010 Toyota Prius, 2011Chevy Silverado LTZ
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #26 on: March 18, 2007, 07:55:36 am »
Didn't your mom tell you "Eat that, doesn't look healthy"
I have been coming on and off this site, most of the people that actually reply to the subject don't understand the stupid subject, hahahaha.

It seems that everbody agrees that automated car wash is bad but in most cases we use them anyways. WHY, you ask?????

BECAUSE,

1) They are Convenient
2) When its cold you don't have to get out of the car.
3) They do a shitty Job but it is better than nothing
4) My High school English teacher always told me to give 3 good points and allow your audience to give you the last point from their comments, you wouldn't believe if I told u this. His name was Mr. English.

They are convenient but it is obvious it doesn't matter who you are, your number one priority in life is convenience. We naturally set our own priorities. We don't want to clean our houses, we don't want to clean our cars, and we don't want to cook.

We all know something, even thoe we are Canadian we still hate the cold. Everybody has to admit that the Tim Horton Drive thru Controversy, is made up becuase of the great coffee that they offer and you don't have to get out of the car. That is what makes them so successful.

Everyone knows, that in some cases doing it yourself is the best way to get something done. For others that don't fall in this category, which is the majority then you hire service people like me to do your :censor: work.

I am in the residential Cleaning business and I know, actually wait, I have had people call, e-mail, mail letters, post cards, you name it.. I have received comments from people on how distressed they are because life is getting harder to live. I agree as most people do. As most people do. Allow me to highligt MOST PEOPLE. I always set my priorities straight and I still can't get things done.

In conclusions,  :o, we all want an easier life served to us on a silver platter but fact is fact. People set priorities such as;

1) You only live once....
2) Who wants to clean there car by hand when there are other things to do
3) My car gets me from one location to another I can care Less.
4) My wife can do it.
5) I will do it on my day off
6) I will do it when I am done watching TV
7) I will do it after dinner

An after thought, back to the question about automated car washing. They will do the job but I personally think that good old elbow grease, good soap and good eyes will get your vehicle looking fairly new. Putting your car through automated willl get the job done but it want get you fully satisfied.

There is a very high demand for high quality self serve stations in my area but what is more important is to allow the public to realize that there is an alternative to the auto wash. The answer is self serve car washes. 15 Minutes of time between the exterior of a vehicle and the person behind the steering wheel.

There is one point  do not understand
" Tim Hortons makes great coffee"
Have you ever had good coffee, their coffee is design for double cream, double sugar, if you drink it black it has no flavour
 If I am putting anything in my coffee it will be something much stronger ;D

Offline Morteus

  • Learner's Permit
  • *
  • Location: Mississauga, Ontario
  • Posts: 44
  • Carma: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #27 on: October 11, 2007, 10:49:51 pm »
I had a friend drive his new BMW 3 series through a spinning brush
car wash. Car came clean, however the car before him had the chrome piece on the side of the car ripped off by the brush. It then wrapped around the brush and was pressed spinning against my buddies car.
(Insert screeching torturous noise) Of course the car wash had the standard disclaimer posted "Not responsible for damage to vehicle however caused." Buddy ended up paying $1200 for new paint!

Sponges and 20 mins labour are a little cheaper.

 :o :'(
Morteus

Offline Julie

  • Car Crazy
  • *****
  • Location: KW
  • Posts: 5319
  • Carma: +78/-188
  • Gender: Female
  • member
    • View Profile
  • Cars: 2006 TSX, 2010 BMW 335i coupe
Re: Are automated car washes bad for a car's paint?
« Reply #28 on: October 11, 2007, 11:55:19 pm »
When I first got my (for me) dream car (TSX), I was so obsessed about keeping it pristine. I read numerous threads on forums and searched the internet for the most perfect way, physically possible to keep it looking new as long as possible.

Then 2 things happened:

(1) Life happened. No freaking time. Yes, I spend a great deal of time here. So what? I work hard and this is a nice way to de-stress and so frankly, de-stressing has got higher priority in my life.  ;D

(2) I realized that cars I've owned have always looked in good shape, even after years. When I traded in my Corolla, salesman said it was in impressive condition. And I didn't really do anything special back then, and I never washed by hand. So I must have been doing something well enough.

I do more a little more now with the TSX. I try and wash by hand my TSX, but 2/3 of time and during the whole winter, I use touchless or (gasp!) even an automatic car wash with soft linens(?) when the car gets really dirty, and touchless is not strong enough. But not just any one; one we've used for 4 years and have not noticed any significant scratches with.