Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Do you take your nicer vehicle through an automatic car wash?

I do it myself.

-Ken

took our car thru the car wash last night and water started leaking in thru the windshield seal and dripping out thru the pillar air bag. grrrrrrr

Two types of car washes - one of 'em is 'touchless'.....and overall they do quite a decent job... I ignore the 'touch' variety - some of those can be pretty tough on a vehicle..

If I had a nice, new vehicle in a dark color, I'd likely not use the automatic carwashes much, unless they were the "touch-less" variety that only uses spray nozzles. If it's a light-colored vehicle, I don't fret it being a carwash with the spinning brushes/mops. Run it through once a week or every other. But I will say this is for typical road grime, as I'd not put a muddy truck through a brush/mop carwash. Power wash that stuff off first.

I see Redneck was saying much the same about the spray nozzle units. They are the safer bet for paint.

Yes I do. I hate washing cars. My two oldies get "brushed" with a California Car Duster and spray and wipe waterless car cleaner when necessary. They do not see water.

I drive white F150’s, always amazed at how long they stay/look clean.

NEVER use a car wash. Always by hand using a grit guard in the bucket. I take pride in our vehicles looking pristine.

Only if they are of the "touchless" variety

Me and Gerald just go down thar to the spray bay and put some quarters in the shiny hole on the wall and spray off the tree sap and algae once’t every couple years on Nana’s grand marquis

On a black vehicle.... that's something. Thanks

apparently: car finishes and optic lens = brothers

Yes, darker color. There is a touchless place I could go too, it's something to consider. Thanks

That underbody wash uses recycled water from everybody else's salt laden cars, so is what your doing is rinsing away salt and grime with high pressure salt and grime.




Use a hose at home or go to a manual car wash where your using fresh water not salt water.

Just ran my '04 Tacoma through the car wash yesterday.

It's black, and I'd forgotten how nice it looks when it's clean! (GRIN!)

Had about 2 months of grime on it.

I get a "free car wash" pass when I get my oil changed, so every few months I get my truck washed.

Virgil B.

I wash and wax mine by hand.

Only touch less car washes. I ran the brush kind for a while and it takes the grit and scratches the paint BAD. If you live in actual country with gravel roads a touch less won’t get the stubborn stuff off. That requires a hand job.

I've got a 2020 Tundra, paint color is 'shiny primer' as my buddy refers to it. I use the brand new local automatic, was on a monthly subscription of unlimited, I'd go about once a week, but they just changed ownership and I haven't set up with the new system yet.

The level of scratches imparted by the car wash is nothing compared to the level of scratches of driving it through the brush hunting and fishing and kids on scooters in the driveway.

Drive it until the wheels fall off, then do it again.

Run my wife's 2018 Terrain and my 2017 Explorer goes through the big brush car wash whenever they get really dirty, both are light color (silver, white gold) Never noticed any scratches, usually get them clean, underbody wash during the winter months.
My Jaguar convertible get's hand washed.

$20/month for unlimited washes. I run my truck through several times per week.