What are you guys doing at the self serve car wash? If anyone uses these places. Please give some tips or procedures you do.

I don't use them, but if I did, I would bring my own wash mitt. NEVER use the big scrub brush, especially on the paint. Anything that touches your car, bring yourself (wheel brushes, wash mitts, towels, etc). Start with the wheels because thats what you should always do and then I would rinse the truck and spray it down with foam and use my own mitt to agitate the surface. Rinse again with water. I wouldn't use any of the "sealant" stuff that comes out of the gun. Dry with towels and some detail spray as required.

I only use the high pressure wand to wash off undercarriage, wheels and maybe the upper body if it's got road salt splash all over it. I only wash the runner completely by hand at home with an old bath towel and car wash soap.
Keeps the finish from getting all scared up from the car wash brushes.

Spray and pray.

I rarely go to the self serve. Usually when I go there it is because the car is particularly dirty and I need the pressure washer. The salient feature of the self car wash is that time is money, so the key is to get all your ducks in a row before you start dumping the quarters in (or tokens.) it’s also important to pick a time of day when the place isn’t too busy, so you can be assured of getting into a vacuum/drying bay right after you wash, so that your wet vehicle doesn’t sit in the sun.

In a 5 gallon bucket I bring a chamois, a wash mitt, window cleaner and blue shop towels, a Lilly Brush for dog hair, a spray bottle of soapy water, a detail brush, and a handful of microfiber towels. And a step ladder.

When I get into the bay I take the rubber mats out and lay them on the ground. Then I double check that the windows and sunroof are fully closed, get the mitt ready, and set up the step ladder. Time to put the money in and start the clock ticking.

I set the machine to high pressure with straight water and then pressure wash the whole car from the top down, including the wheel wells and undercarriage. At this point I’ll also pressure wash the rubber mats. Then I switch over to low pressure with suds and soap up the car. I’ll use my own wash mitt to wash the car, again from the top down - I would never use the “foaming brush” which is usually quite contaminated. The hardest part about this stage is knowing that the clock is running out and my precious quarters are being wasted. Major psychological damage. Once I’m satisfied the vehicle is clean it’s more quarters and back to high pressure water for a thorough rinse.

That concludes the work in the wash bay. I transfer the truck to the vacuum bay and hang the rubber mats to dry on hooks on the wall that are there for that purpose. Now I pull out the chamois and dry the vehicle. More quarters and then I vacuum the carpets and also any leaves from the vents in front of the windshield. Then I’ll remove as much dog hair as I can. Now for a little detail work.

Using the spray bottle of dilute soapy water I’ll spray the badging, agitate any remaining dirt, and then wipe dry with a microfiber towel. Repeat for any other crevices, and for the door jambs and wheels. Use the moistened towels to dust the interior. Finally clean the widows with the glass cleaner, put the rubber mats back in, toss all the supplies back in the bucket, and Bob’s your uncle.

I rarely use other products, but when I do, I do it at home.

Hope that helps.

Hose it off take it home and hand wash.

To those spraying the undercarriage, are you also using soap as well? Or just hitting it with water once and not going back under when switching to the soap.

I’ve always just sprayed water underneath because I’ve heard zero chemicals under there.

I spray the dirt off. Scrub with the brush if needed, then rinse. Usually for $3 or so. I had a super white. It kinda looks the same no matter how you clean it or wax it.

Cow shit mixed with mud and sand/gravel is kinda common in one place I like to go. It's insanely hard to clean off. The sand gets exposed by the spray and makes a barrier layer that the pressure spray won't penetrate. When I'm headed out to that area I spray the fender liners and lower skirts down with armorall - the stuff for interior plastic. I don't really like it inside. But it works good for mud release film.

Don't use the brush, for the love of god. If you had to, pressure wash it, soap it, and use your own mitt to remove the dirt. Wash it again and dry.

I wash it. There’s nothing that a brush will do that a branch hasn’t already done.


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i prefer my pinstripes to not be mixed with swirl marks ok????!

gave in a month ago or so and purchased a foam cannon.

pressure wash....foam cannon .....mitt/sponge wipe down...pressure wash....foam cannon if needed again....wipe down with towel.... detail spray

There are some areas on the other car that will need a clay bar. Should probably have both cars professionally detailed. Do like chemical guys soap and few other things.

I typically only go to the self-serve car wash to spray off the mud then I take it home and wash it properly by hand.

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We have a wash bay at work. I only use it to spray off the undercarriage before doing any work/maintenance under there.
Otherwise the truck gets washed with fresh rainwater, when it rains (less than 12 inches per year). But that usually means mud.
I run it through the auto car wash before fancy occasions.

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I do the interior first at my Condo's parking garage.

Once I get to the self service car wash, I lay out two wash buckets. One for wheels, one for the paint. I pour in some shampoo. Meguiars Gold wash is great if you're not a fanatic about having only the best car wash products. I then spray on wheel cleaner.

Next, I pay at the pump to turn on the hose. I use the spotless rinse setting to fill the buckets with some water (not all the way). Use your wash mitt to cover some of the bucket so there is no splash back when inserting the hose in to the bucket. Make sure that once there is some water in there, you put the hose's opening into the water to avoid splashback altogether. The wash mitt I use is:

Amazon.com: Meguiar's X3002 Microfiber Wash Mitt – Super-Thick Reusable Wash Mitt for Ultimate Finish, 7 B(M) US , White : Automotive

It is an amazing mitt. Meguiars nailed this one. I use specialty products, but these mitts are a staple for me.

Next I change the setting to pressure rinse. I rinse the wheel chemical off the wheels. Then rinse the rest of the vehicle. Don't be afraid to rinse the wheels some more. After I am done, I use the remaining time I bought to fill the buckets with more water using the spotless rinse. The reason I do this back-and-forth I have just described is because I don't want to fill the buckets to my desired level, then do the rinse because by then the foamy-ness of the shampoo subsides. Spray more water in just after the rinse helps maintain a good mixture of shampoo and water. I also don't want to rinse first then do the buckets entirely because I don't want to leave the wheel cleaner on for very long. It also reduces the time between the car being rinsed and washed with a mitt if you do it this way.

I now use the mitt and bucket to wash the car. Once done, I use the same bucket I had used for the paint to brush the tire sidewalls (this is OK to do because you won't be using this bucket for paint anymore). Tires first because in case any dirt from the tire moves to the wheels, you can address it.

After the tire sidewalls, I use the other bucket and a second wash mitt to clean the wheels.

Buy more time with the pump and rinse everything off, including your buckets.

Get in your car and drive home as fast, but also as safe, as possible. This will blow like 90% of the water off your car. The drying process is the most dangerous and where most the swirls come from. Use Meguiars Ultimate Quik wax to dry the car and make it look great.

For the drying phase, I think you should be willing to fork out a little extra and go with this:

Adam's Double Soft Microfiber Towel | The Best Microfiber Towels, Rags & Cloths - Adam's Polishes

Drying is the most dangerous (for lack of a better word) step. So get those towels to apply Meguiars Ultimate Quick Wax with. A 4pack would do. You probably only need 2 though for the entirety of the 4Runner. A 3rd is nice if you want to use Quik Wax on the wheels (I recommend). And then you have a back up in case you drop a towel on the floor.

Now it's possible that after driving your car home that there is still some panels with a bunch of water on it. You will want a quality towel to gently drag across those panels to pick up most of the water. In that case, I would recommend:

Adam's Ultra Plush Towel | Best Absorbent Microfiber Car Drying Towel - Adam's Polishes

You only need 1. And this 1 towel will last a LONG time. Adam's has a 20% off sale right now with a Coupon code. So now is a good time.

I did this on my 9.5 year-old Honda since it was new. The paint was never even polished once in its lifetime. This is the result (the images are very high res, so let them fully load to see what I'm talking about, may take a while):



For the 4Runner I am using different products. But the outline above is very cost effective and what I did on the Honda. It is also fairly quick. You won't be quick in the beginning, but will get faster as you do it. People would still ask me about the car. Good looking paint is always an attention-getter.