Car Wash
- Thread starter Bay33saw
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JohnnyT
New member
Good..... You should not like them or ever use them. They destroy the finish on your car and will certainly leave a great deal of swirl marks. Better to leave your truck dirty than to go to one.
I'm a hobby detailer and strongly recommend you use Optimum No Rinse to keep your car swirl free and protect the wax or sealant that you use to protect your paint. It is an extremely versatile product that no vehicle owner should be without. It's especially critical for winter washes since you don't need a hose to use it.
Find it on Amazon or other detailing sites like Detailed Image - Premium Auto Detailing and Car Care Products
I'm a hobby detailer and strongly recommend you use Optimum No Rinse to keep your car swirl free and protect the wax or sealant that you use to protect your paint. It is an extremely versatile product that no vehicle owner should be without. It's especially critical for winter washes since you don't need a hose to use it.
Find it on Amazon or other detailing sites like Detailed Image - Premium Auto Detailing and Car Care Products
phillyd2
Senior Member
Coming up to half a century of service to humanity and have owned cars since 16. I've always used car washes without issue. For the 4R I use a touchiness due to the rack and lights. But then again I have always splurged on vehicles with paint baked on so that may be the difference.
philsey
New member
+ 1 to what Philly said. I use the hand spray car wash exclusively, and frequently. I've got better things to do than agonize over special soaps, polishes, waxes, yada yada. My truck is always clean, but I won't be a slave to it. It's a transportation appliance fer gosh sake.
Gotta love Blizzard Pearl though - in 53 years of driving, I've never owned a paint color so easy to care for.
Gotta love Blizzard Pearl though - in 53 years of driving, I've never owned a paint color so easy to care for.
JohnnyT
New member
Ok.... Then allow me to say that if you CARE about your truck looking its best and keeping the paint protected so it will look phenomenal for years, then NEVER EVER use a car wash.
If you don't care, then it doesn't matter and I don't know why you'd comment in the first place. A "touch less" car wash will not clean anything.
If you don't care, then it doesn't matter and I don't know why you'd comment in the first place. A "touch less" car wash will not clean anything.
JohnnyT
New member
You have almost 1400 posts. Thats an awful lot of time you spend yapping about it. Your a slave to it and you think of it as more than an appliance.
I'll bet anything that your Blizzard Pearl paint is in horrible shape. Good luck with it.
JohnnyT,
Just because some of us use car washes (I use the "touchless" ones that just use high pressure water/soap) doesn't mean we don't care about our vehicles or how they look. It's just a matter of priorities. I have better things to do with my time than spending it cleaning my 4runner and better things to do with my money than spending it on cleaning products.
The paint on my vehicle may not have a special Maquires glow but it does't look terrible either.
Just because some of us use car washes (I use the "touchless" ones that just use high pressure water/soap) doesn't mean we don't care about our vehicles or how they look. It's just a matter of priorities. I have better things to do with my time than spending it cleaning my 4runner and better things to do with my money than spending it on cleaning products.
The paint on my vehicle may not have a special Maquires glow but it does't look terrible either.
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brockeverly
New member
I always see this crap, and people always compliment how well my trucks paint looks. I use a car wash and have not one time hand washed my full truck. A GOOD automatic car wash will not trash your paint. My last car was washed at the same automatic since 2004 and the finish was also fantastic.
NHinAK
New member
Thats not an entirely true post. It depends on what type of auto carwash your using. A touch-less wash isn't going to induce swirling/marring anymore than a hand-wash will. What a touch-less WILL do is significantly shorten the life of your wax/sealant due to the harsh(er) chemicals being used. When I hand-wash I use ONR; Optimum APC if I'm going to be waxing/polishing.
I clay/polish/seal/wax once a year. The winters here are tough and cold; can't hand-wash. I use the touch-less washes almost exclusively during our 6 months of winter and take care not to touch the paint. In the summer, when I do my yearly detail, the finish is swirl free and needs just a light polish to remove any light scratches that I might've picked up over the winter. I use Pinnacle polishes and clay and seal with Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0 topped with Collinite 845. Furthermore, I add some Duragloss Aquawax after drying the runner after hand-washing. I find it adds slickness and "refreshes" the finish in-between the details.
AMEN BRUTHA! I did it this morning
NJshadow93
New member
In the winter months, I only use touch-free car washes. I do that about once a week and it keeps it clean. I like it because it removes salt and mud from everywhere including the undercarriage. In the summer, I wash it myself. Otherwise, I would run it through the touch-free car wash. But never would I take it to an automatic car wash, nor would I pay for one of the hand car washes either.
Infrared013
New member
I've always used the high pressure washes with an occasional foam brush application and never had an issue or swirl marks...I'm either lucky or those that do are just doin it wrong? I have 3 cars and typically if I do one I just prefer to do them all at the same time so a quick 5 minutes in the high pressure wash then a chamois dry and home for a quick wax every now and then saves me time over hand washing all 3 and spending hours on it....but different strokes for different folks and thats cool with me but dont come on here and preach that those of us who do this or dont do that are going to have crappy looking cars because at the end of the day when my car is cleaned up and yours is cleaned up I'd gladly put them next to eachother and do a 'taste test' for which took longer/used 'better' products to clean....
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Qjake
New member
Wow who pissed in your Cheerios? He doesn't snap too and take your advice and you get all pissy...:cry2: Grow up!!
I go to the local hand wash, they wash by hand twice, do the wheels with wheel cleaner, tire shine the tires and then dry. They do an awesome job all for $17 :thumb3:
JohnnyT
New member
The OP asked for comments. I gave them.
Didn't say you didn't care about your vehicles - only about them looking their best and being protected. Read.
The OP has priorities I'm sure, so he can take or leave my comments. Just trying to help.
BTW..... Washing with ONR and drying with a quality microfiber towel costs far less ..... Almost nothing...... and takes minutes.
JohnnyT
New member
Then how we define fantastic must be far different.
JohnnyT
New member
Line up 3 4runners and washing/drying them properly by hand in 20 degree weather with ONR should take 60 min max.
Hours? No.
JohnnyT
New member
My advise wasn't directed at him to take, right?
He gave poor advise to the OP albeit unusual for him.
And Your current routine will ruin your paint but you may not care if you lease.... And you pay $17 for that?
