Automatic Car Washes Yeah or Nay for your Truck?

testerdahl

testerdahl

Administrator
Staff member
Where are we these days on automated car washes? Touch free the only way to go? Do it yourself? Paint swirls are still an issue?

I'm having a conversation with XPEL sometime this week or next and I'm trying to learn more about automated car washes and ceramic coating for example. I did some Google searching and found a host of videos and articles saying its bad for ceramic coating. I then talked with an agency rep for XPEL who didn't think that was true. XPEL doesn't, for example, say anything about automatic car washes in their literature on how to take care of the coating.

I then spoke with a friend of mine who is a mechanic about it. He also did paint and body work repair. He pointed out the swirling issue really came from the first car washes with plastic bristles. The new car washes don't use that style and there really isn't an issue like there was.

For myself, I have an automatic car wash in town that I have a monthly subscription to that is not touch free. The touch free place won't work with me since they tie the subscription to the license plate. Obviously, I can't do that with all the various press loans and I can't afford to pay $15 a time when some reviews don't even make that much money to cover the costs.

Thoughts?
 
testerdahl said:
Where are we these days on automated car washes? Touch free the only way to go? Do it yourself? Paint swirls are still an issue?

I'm having a conversation with XPEL sometime this week or next and I'm trying to learn more about automated car washes and ceramic coating for example. I did some Google searching and found a host of videos and articles saying its bad for ceramic coating. I then talked with an agency rep for XPEL who didn't think that was true. XPEL doesn't, for example, say anything about automatic car washes in their literature on how to take care of the coating.

I then spoke with a friend of mine who is a mechanic about it. He also did paint and body work repair. He pointed out the swirling issue really came from the first car washes with plastic bristles. The new car washes don't use that style and there really isn't an issue like there was.

For myself, I have an automatic car wash in town that I have a monthly subscription to that is not touch free. The touch free place won't work with me since they tie the subscription to the license plate. Obviously, I can't do that with all the various press loans and I can't afford to pay $15 a time when some reviews don't even make that much money to cover the costs.

Thoughts?
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I rarely wash my truck at car washes, but when I do, I tend to use a touch free car wash.

My truck is always full of dirt and mud and I don't want the brush to collect it and scrape my paint more than it already is. At home, I usually just use the pressure washer and not even soap. I just want to get the bigger stuff off the truck, it's going to get dirty the next day anyway.
 
I'm also on a well like NMTrucker and we also have really hard water but not a storage system. I regularly use automatic car washes and don't or haven't noticed any paint issues from them compared to when I only hand washed my trucks in my younger days. They have a couple of newer ones in my area that finish with a pressure applied modified ceramic coating. It reminds me of a spray on wax detailer I use to apply after I washed. It does a really good job of beading water and bringing the shine but it doesn't last more than a couple weeks.
 
I respect other people way too much to use a touch free or automatic car wash. My paint comes off in sizes bigger than Doritos and I don't want them scratching the next guys car because the flakes got caught in the felt.

I worked at a touchless car wash for four years in Michigan. The main trick to avoiding tiny scratches is that the workers spray down the felt "brushes" well at the end of the day.

We'd rinse off the cars with pressure wash wands before they went through the machine. Even then the tips of the felt were dirty. That dirt is what leaves those micro scratches.
 
Fightnfire said:
I'm also on a well like NMTrucker and we also have really hard water but not a storage system. I regularly use automatic car washes and don't or haven't noticed any paint issues from them compared to when I only hand washed my trucks in my younger days. They have a couple of newer ones in my area that finish with a pressure applied modified ceramic coating. It reminds me of a spray on wax detailer I use to apply after I washed. It does a really good job of beading water and bringing the shine but it doesn't last more than a couple weeks.
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I like that liquid coating they put at the end. It works well against water.
 
Saddle Tramp said:
I respect other people way too much to use a touch free or automatic car wash. My paint comes off in sizes bigger than Doritos and I don't want them scratching the next guys car because the flakes got caught in the felt.

I worked at a touchless car wash for four years in Michigan. The main trick to avoiding tiny scratches is that the workers spray down the felt "brushes" well at the end of the day.

We'd rinse off the cars with pressure wash wands before they went through the machine. Even then the tips of the felt were dirty. That dirt is what leaves those micro scratches.
Click to expand...

Same here. The rust knocked off would just clog the washer's filters and I'd feel bad.

I used to care about my truck's looks when it was new and I handwashed it only. Oddly, my town's water is the softest water I have ever experienced. Rinse it on a sunny day and no spots. Then the miles racked up and scratches appeared, and I used a quicky car wash. Now, I try to park it where the rain will do the best to remove the dirt.
 
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