I didn’t own a car nice enough warrant being wary of automated car washes until I finally got a Car I Really Wanted: a 2012 Mustang GT just like the one below, brand new, complete with Coyote engine and frankly not much else.
For the same $25,000 or so, thanks to my X-Plan discount, I could either get a 6-cylinder Mustang with all the niceties of the Premium package, or a base GT with 412 all-American horsepower, cloth seats, and a radio (even a single-disc CD player, as I recall). I didn’t even consider the six-cylinder, and yes, I got manual – but if I could go back, I think I would have had more fun with the auto. The gearbox wasn’t particularly good, and I found it a little too easy to money-shift the thing.
Anyway, I resolved to hand-wash the Mustang, but I probably only broke out the buckets and sponges three or four times before I was over it and just went to the car wash down the street. It never seemed to harm my wife’s RAV4, and I figured any harm it might do could just be polished out – if I noticed at all, ’cause the red paint was bright. For the record, Kona Blue was my first choice, but I was extremely OK with red. And it really helped the police do their jobs, you’re welcome the police.
Now, I should explain that my local Trademark Car Wash is very nice car wash. Not touchless, but nice. That doesn’t make it any less likely grit trapped in those slappy fabric belt things will goof up my paint, but the vibe is good.
On the other hand, I would not run my Mustang (or my wife’s RAV4, for that matter) through the very sketchy car wash at the 7-Eleven on the corner. I’m pretty sure I saw sparks shooting out of the doors once, I swear. But the Honda Civic I was driving before the Mustang? I would roll the dice on 7-Eleven. I don’t see how it could have made that beater any worse, but the whole point is moot, as I really never washed it. It was silver, I live in Texas, it was fine.
And now here’s Griffin, since he piped in on Slack and has a cool car. Sighhh … I remember having a cool car.
I don’t auto wash anymore. I stopped after getting my Corvette, as the turning radius is so bad it can be scary trying to get into the drive-thru washes, and I worry about the clearance of the guide rails. Now that I have an apartment with a substantial outdoor space, I can hand-wash my cars, usually once a week. I save money, have fun in the sun, and listen to “Summertime” by Will Smith. Happy Sunday.
Mercedes Streeter
I can’t wash cars at home unless I want to piss off my condo association in the summer or freeze in the winter, so I go to those wash bays with high-pressure wands. The cool thing about wash bays is that you can bring whatever tools you want. That said, if it’s a daily or beater I don’t care that much about, I’ll go to an automatic wash with brushes.
If you live in the Midwest or the East, I don’t recommend the old-school sponge and bucket hand wash job as your only form of washing. You have to get the underbody, too. Road salt has a nasty way of getting into places that you will just never get with a simple hand wash. Go to a touchless automatic wash that has an underbody blaster, go to a wash bay, or get a power sprayer and do it yourself. Either way, just clean that crap off of the bottom of your car! There are just too many cars here in the Midwest with pretty bodies that are completely rotted out underneath.
OK, your turn: What’s Your Automated Car Wash Policy?
Top graphic image: still, Breaking Bad/Sony Pictures Television
I’m a “likes washing” guy, for the most part, so my three elderly Germans all get dat TLC. Wife’s leased one? Spin away, brillo pads.
I’ll occasionally take one through a spinny slappy wash if it has underbody sprayers. I prefer touchless in the winter for the underbody sprays.
Normally I just wash in my driveway, put on some music and wash the cars. If I don’t feel like that or know I have a busy weekend I spend $3 and give whatever I’m driving a quick wash at the pay and spray on my way home Friday.
If you badger me to buy a membership I will never go back.
“What can I get for you sir?” A $12 single wash. “Did you know that you can get unlimited washes for $20/month?” Yes, and no thanks. “Are you some sort of idiot?” Well, I don’t work at a car wash, so, maybe. But anyway… can I get a $12 single wash? “If you really cared about your car you’d get a membership and wash it every other day!” Yes, and if you really cared about your teeth you’d charge me $12 and STFU!
Club Carwash. Rat bastards.
My Express van has solar panels, a vent and antennas on the roof, so no automatic wash for me. Also almost no parking garages. So I use spray-it-yourself joints, particularly those with catwalks for RVs and big trucks.
The convertible is an instant no go, especially since it’s rocking the original top that’s going on 19 years and still holding up well.
For the family hauler, maybe once every couple of months.
I did have a subscription to a local car wash and had a vehicle I took there every other week. Stopped after a couple months since I could see the damage it was starting to do, which thankfully was mitigated by a thorough detail.
My cars are old, and one of them is particularly worthless, that one definitely does through the car wash, and the newer one does too, because the paint is already kinda fucked. I might put some serious effort into making it nice this summer, and I’ll reevlauate my wash choices for it after that.
The roads where I live are heavily salted for 6+ months each year (we had ~6″ of snow a couple of days ago), so the need to wash regularly is critical. Between winter and absurd water rates (pumping fees at the top of a mountain are absurd), I almost never wash at home.
I run my 2015 ram thru a touchless 1-2x per month in the winter – I had the topper color matched when I bought it and was admonished to avoid anything with brushes…I’ve done spray only ever since.
My wife’s car has unlimited washes at the local full scrub conveyor wash place (keyed to an RFID tab in her windshield), and goes probably 4x/month.
After getting a bit of bodywork done on on my 97 Del Sol, I noticed a bit of the rubber is starting to deteriorate, so I do a brushless every 6 weeks, and use a spray on/wipe off product for intermediate washes.
There are a couple drive-thru touchless ones I use when the weather is too bad to hand wash. When the weather is nice, I prefer to do it at home, but I’ve been sidelined since last June with an injury. I ended up getting surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff tendon and torn bicep in February, hopefully I’ll build up enough strength and stamina for hand washing agin this summer.
The Land Cruiser is incompatible with brushed car washes – too many things to snag and break – but I have taken it to touchless a few times. I just have to make sure to remove the UHF/VHF antenna on the back and a few other odds and ends. Otherwise I take it to those self serve high pressure dealies. With the GX? It gets treated like an car and gets washed whichever way is convenient.
I think the hate for automated washes is overblown for 95% of the cars people refuse to put through them. I drive a Mazda, that shit is 100% going through an autowash. I’d bet most people who don’t send their car through are also driving a pretty generic, mass produced car that wont be significantly harmed by an autowash even if it has brushes that touch it. Most cars have not all that great paint to begin with, adding some swirls to it isn’t the biggest paint issue your car is gonna have even if it’s brand new off the lot. So like my CX-50, is it resale value is going to be what, at best $500 more after my 5 years of use if I didn’t regularly send it through the wash? Not worth it at all. Same probably goes for any high volume vehicle. Rock chips and the guy that rear ended me are costing me way more in resale than some swirly paint that wasn’t even particularly good to begin with. Chances are the next owner probably wont even notice them either. My time and sanity saved by not hand washing is more than worth it to go to an autowash, even including any possible reduction in resale.
I agree with you, owning multiple cars adds significant effort to maintenance already. Nothing I own is especially precious or rare, and they will never be concourse level rare.
Yes, I get more chips, dings and scratches. I want to keep the rust at bay.
Our newest is 11 years old and none are garaged so at this point full send! I’m more particular about the interior being clean and tidy.
My Raptor doesn’t fit. It specifically says in the manual to not go through auto-washes. I’ve never had a car that I was opposed to putting through one, but they are expensive these days and I have a pressure washer for my truck.
In winter I’ll hit up one of the local touchless washes to blast the salt off, mostly for the underbody.
When the temps are nice I just DIY. Doing a bit of washing and waxing can be a relaxing afternoon (sometimes).
If its decent I’ll only run it though touchless. If I’m trying to get more clear or paint off it I’ll run it though magical paint ripper machine.
I drive a minivan. While I love said van, it is not so precious that it can’t go through the spinning sandpaper wash tube.
In this environment, especially in the winter, you have to ask yourself whether or not you want to wash the salt off, or get your car scratched. Because you’re certainly not washing your car outside on your own. We do have one or two of the touchless “giant arm moves about the perimeter of your car” washes, but in my experience they tend to suck, and the ones we have don’t do undercarriage which is half the reason I even bother to wash the cars.
I used to care a lot more, but after having multiple cars manage to still get scratched and rusted to hell up here, I started to feel that there was little that my effort could do to prevent the inevitable.
Exactly my thoughts too. Most cars have highly flawed paint from the factory anyways. Some swirls are going to be the least of the paints issues after X years of use. Getting stuck behind that snowplow dropping sand and rock salt for 3 minutes probably caused more damage to the paint than a year of automatic car washes anyways.
No. Never. Nope. When my Soul used to go in for dealer service I’d leave a note to not put it through theirs. Going to be the same thing for the Forte GT. And the Miata? I wouldn’t run a 30-year-old roadster through any car wash. I wash 100% at home. 2-bucket method with nice foamy soap if I have time or a ceramic rinseless wash (I like the Wolfgang Si02) if I’m running a bit short. With rinseless I can wash the Miata in the garage and move immediately to the Kia in the driveway behind it without having to play musical cars. I do have the luxury of living in an area where I can wash outdoors year-round, though.
My cars aren’t expensive or special (well, maybe the Miata’s a bit special) but they’re mine and washing them by hand is an enjoyable part of the ownership experience.
If I lived in a place that wasn’t winter for nearly half the year I would probably put a lot more effort into hand washing. But sometimes the car is caked with winter shit from top to bottom, it’s slightly above freezing for the first time in weeks, and you just need it blasted off while you have a chance.
For me, it’s touchless automatics only. Then detail stuff and dry-off at home afterwards.
No Convertibles.
If the rain won’t wash off the gunk on my car, then it’s time for the Automated Car Wash.
If the Automated Car Wash still won’t get my car clean, then I guess I need to go buy a power washer and look up some car washing tutorials on Youtube…
My dad used to make me wash his cars and I remember scraping up my knuckles trying to get the grime out of the wheels because if I didn’t he would yell at me.
I’m never handwashing a fucking car again.
My dad’s thing was “Did you get the door jambs?”. Also the Westley’s Bleche Wite for the white walls. Good times…
If it makes physical contact with my car it’s a no no unless I’m in dire straits. I have a place that’s a 10-15 minute drive away that has one of the touch less laser wash ones and most of the time I just do that. Those machines usually do a solid B job for me and they’ve never caused any issues with my finish. In fact people are usually surprised when I tell them my car is three years old.
Anyway I also usually do a couple home detailing jobs every year as well. I park it in the driveway, hose it off, do a layer of car washing soap, hose that off, scrub all the stubborn stuff with a microfiber towel, and then when it’s looking good I usually do a layer of Meguiar’s quick wax that’s a spray. Honestly I really like that product. It gives you a nice shine and keeps your car looking clean for a few days longer than just running it through a wash.
Time has a value, and a car is a depreciating asset. I’ll hand wash if I wan an excuse to enjoy a nice day, otherwise, tunnel that bitch.
Road grit, bugs, door dings and the Texas sun are already beating it up. What are some swirls compared to that.
When I was married, the wife got a new car and she was baffled at me spending hours hand washing, clay barring, waxing… It was new and precious and warranted the effort. My old beat up hatchback, I still don’t like the autowash. I take it to the spray station periodically and hose it off myself.
Touchless car washes don’t do anything. Slappy washes do clean pretty well, but I hesitate to take my cars that I care about the paint with. I used to use a touchless wash quite often when I lived in an area with snow, as they had an undercarriage blaster, which would (theoretically) wash any salt/magnesium chloride off.
Self serve washes eat an endless amount of quarters, and the brushes are always horrible. I’ll use the wand in a pinch, again, to wash salt off.
If I want my car to be clean, and not scratch my paint all to hell, I’ll just wash it at home.
I DIY my cars – either at home with a couple of buckets or at the car wash with the manual pressure washer. I won’t touch them at all with any brushes. My wife’s car – if it gets a wash, she takes it wherever and I don’t care. It’s better clean and swirly than road grime covered.
That being said, I used to joke that I was a derelict Audi owner who only washed his car every few months. When I did it was the right way, but like most Colorado car owners, I feel like getting a car wash is a sure fire way to make the heavens open up and either snow, rain, or hail. It often feels like a lost cause.
There is a huge lack of touchless car washes near me and I don’t really have the time to do it myself properly. Plus, Giulia lives an urban lifestyle; its shelter is a carport rather than a full garage and is often parallel parked next to varying degrees of malicious curbs. That’s to say that trying to prevent flaws is a lost cause regardless of the effort I put into washing, so touch washes it is.