The youngest son and I go to wash the truck tonight. This guy is already going to town on his GLI when we arrive. Cars in the other 2 bays finish and a Superduty and a SUV pull into the other bays. They finish, and two other cars pull into those bays (I’m stuck) while Mr. Fahrvergnügen keeps on feeding his CC into the machine. A third car finishes and he finally ends his OR scrub down. I swear, he was trying to peel the paint off his car!


(And yes I edited the picture to be nice)

Disclaimer: I am the LAST guy to be making comments about OCD car care. Unless they're truly disgusting, my vehicles get washed when it rains...

However, if you're really that into detailing your ride, isn't a drive-through car wash pretty much blasphemy?

Aren't you supposed to spend an entire weekend doing it with $400 worth of detailing products and a camel-hair brush?

Are you supposed to wash cars?

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Are you supposed to wash cars?

I'm a firm believer that a good coat of dirt will keep the UV from damaging the paint .

The commercial wash bay is for washing off the salt when the temperature gets above freezing every few weeks in the winter.

Otherwise it is indeed the whole weekend in the driveway, per PHPaul's description.

Wash, rinse, clay bar, wash, rinse, wax. Rain-X or Aquapel the windows.

I pay $30 a month to go through the car wash unlimited times. As part of that, they provide towels, vacuum, and compressed air to blow stuff around. I go through twice a week. If I was working, I'd go through everyday.

It's a pretty good deal. I used to pay $25 each car wash in CA. It's prolly more than that now.

I watch the weather report. Just before substantial rain, I fill up a spray bottle with car wash soap and pre-soak the car (SUV). The rain does the rest. I'll hose the salt off the undercarriage a few times over the winter but that's about it. I do need to vacuum more though. Gets pretty bad at times.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Disclaimer: I am the LAST guy to be making comments about OCD car care. Unless they're truly disgusting, my vehicles get washed when it rains...

However, if you're really that into detailing your ride, isn't a drive-through car wash pretty much blasphemy?

Aren't you supposed to spend an entire weekend doing it with $400 worth of detailing products and a camel-hair brush?

^^^^
Exactly!!!

I’m unfortunately in temp housing in Dallas until the end of June with one of my cars I wasn’t planing on daily driving. I have no place to wash my vehicle in decent way. I’ll be the one feeding the meter to get it cleaned. The sign clearly states if the meter is running you can stay in the bay.

Seriously though, what did you expect? It's just like waiting for the cashier at the grocery store. The other lines ALWAYS move faster, it doesn't matter which one you're in.

I wash my car twice a year whether it needs it or not.

Seriously, I've had such terrible luck keeping the paint nice. The more I fuss the more bird shit, cart banging, stone flying, trees and bush-scraping I seem to get.

boss told us we could wash our cars in one of the jail bays, off duty. So my preference is to get to work an hour and a half early to hand wash my car. Then change and work while the car sits in a heated garage for twelve hours. lol

I won't take my car to any of those car washes because the soap is too harsh.

I have an adapter for doing the underbody in the winters. I just ordered an electric pressure washer to leave at work.

quote:

Originally posted by dking271:
I’m unfortunately in temp housing in Dallas until the end of June with one of my cars I wasn’t planing on daily driving. I have no place to wash my vehicle in decent way. I’ll be the one feeding the meter to get it cleaned. The sign clearly states if the meter is running you can stay in the bay.

Look into rinseless washes. They cut down on the amount of equipment and supplies by, like, a lot. Plus, you can dilute them to use for other needs. Clay lube? They got you. Interior cleaner? They got you. Quick detailer? Yup, you guessed it...

Heck, they even have waterless washes now. Never used it but they exist.

Oh, and plenty of folks take their own supplies to the self-wash places and use the stalls/water. One of the guys on a Discord server I'm on (lives in Germany) has been working on his Master's in chemistry and takes his cars to one such establishment. As long as you don't use their provided brushes you should be golden.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Are you supposed to wash cars?

They come from the factory clean.

Washing cars is a scam.

I wash my vehicles in my driveway. I have a massive carport in the back so I can do it 24/7. But sometimes if it’s mud, etc, I want to get off the truck I’ll roll to the car wash. Same deal, turn your $ into quarters and feed the machine. That guy in the VW would have pissed me off. I’ve been there, line forms, so I use the bay until my quarters run out. I get out of line and get back into line if I need to get more mud off. IE, I don’t bogart.

Dollars to doughnuts, every time I go, there will a Hispanic male, blaring Tejano to ridiculous levels drying his car or using a vacuum. I’ll never understand why they think everyone wants to hear that trash at obscene db levels. The last time I was there the owner was there and told him to turn the shit down. He did, until the owner left, then he cranked it back up. I walked over to him and told him didn’t the owner just tell you turn it down? Turn that shit down. He turned it down for like 5 minutes, then cranked it back up again. I was pissed and the truck was good enough clean so I left.

Nobody has any respect for anyone else anymore. It’s all about them. Narcissism run amuck.

I’d just be happy to go to one where the homeless aren’t camped out and crapping on the drain grate…

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
However, if you're really that into detailing your ride, isn't a drive-through car wash pretty much blasphemy?

Yes, but the OP didn't picture a drive thru wash. The coin car wash pictured has its place and can be much safer on the paint.

For example, some people live in an apartment and the coin car wash is the only place they can rinse their car with a pressure washer, spray on a high pH foaming soak to break down grime, and then blast off with a pressure washer. Sure they can use a rinseless wash in an apartment parking lot, but when the vehicle is very dirty (e.g. in the north the first wash after winter) the coin car wash is best.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I wash my vehicles in my driveway. I have a massive carport in the back so I can do it 24/7. But sometimes if it’s mud, etc, I want to get off the truck I’ll roll to the car wash. Same deal, turn your $ into quarters and feed the machine.

+1. I have a nice set-up at home (pressure washer, foam cannon, and cabinet full of detailing supplies), but I've certainly stopped at the quarter car wash after a muddy drive down a dirt road, etc. to blast off the mud. I used to have to take my personal truck to construction sites, and one in particular the mud would turn into near concrete which would affect wheel balance so I'd stop at the quarter car wash before getting on the highway and driving 2 hours home.

I used to wash my car every weekend. It was my ritual and I enjoyed it then I moved to AZ. Everything changed. It’s hot and sunny and near impossible to wash a car unless you get up super early. Then I got a Jeep and was off road every weekend. So it never was washed aside of rinsing the dust off once in a while.
Now I have a Tesla and it has the softest, shittiest paint of any car I have ever had. I have washed it one time since I bought it in November. It’s filthy and I have been saying I’m going to wash it for at least a month. Maybe this weekend.

I am seriously considering the $30/month go as often as you want car wash. The only hold up is that it’s not touchless and I have cake frosting for paint.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
I used to wash my car every weekend. It was my ritual and I enjoyed it then I moved to AZ. Everything changed. It’s hot and sunny and near impossible to wash a car unless you get up super early. Then I got a Jeep and was off road every weekend. So it never was washed aside of rinsing the dust off once in a while.
Now I have a Tesla and it has the softest, shittiest paint of any car I have ever had. I have washed it one time since I bought it in November. It’s filthy and I have been saying I’m going to wash it for at least a month. Maybe this weekend.

I am seriously considering the $30/month go as often as you want car wash. The only hold up is that it’s not touchless and I have cake frosting for paint.

The only way to get around this issue is to clearbra the entire car and that’s awfully expensive. I do, do it, to the entire front end of my vehicles for longevity. Think of it like a condom, where PPF is applied from the windshield forward. But doing the whole car is like 3X what I spend. Generally the only people doing the entire vehicle with PPF are Lambo, Ferrari, MacLaren, and high end Porsche models due to the cost.

Just be aware, the non-touchless (even the touchless) ones use harsh soap which strips any protection or hurts whatever you have on the car. And the big hanging cloths have captured so many pieces of dirt that can scratch your car.

The touchless ones are a little better but it's still harsh soap. Then you pay a little for whatever wax/sealant they spray on that doesn't last and gets stripped off at the next wash anyway.

my method is pretty much:
spray car
foam car
use a bucket with a grit guard and the big red sponge
foam car again
rinse car
quick squeegee or blow dry (i have a small electronic leaf blower for this)
spray whatever drying aid i'm using that month
finish drying with microfiber towel

It's usually good for two weeks. If it rains, on the freeway, I just watch the water bead up and slip away. I rarely use the wipers anymore.

I haven't done PPF on any car yet because I'm cheap. I usually just do one coat of a ceramic when I get a car and if I still have it at year three, I do another coat. The car I bought last month, it took me 40 minutes to give it one coat of Gyeon Mohs Evo.