Car wash warning!

I would make the company that owns the car wash pay for it.If they refuse,tell them you will place a story in the local newspaper about incident which will put off trade.!

Lived in Norway for 6 years and newish black FFRRs etc used to go through the 'gold' Statoil garage auto wash without any paint or bodywash damage (and believe me, cars and repairs are Really Expensive in Norway so you don't take chances). There was an attendant providing coffee and a jet wash prior to auto wash. It all depends on the quality of the machinery and the service. In the UK we're generally inferior and we've got too used to that!

(23-02-2012 07:23pm)The Valeter Wrote:  Never use car washes of any sort whether manual or automated if you value your car but if you have a rear spoiler that is a definate no no as you will almost certainly lose it.
I am on the MG ZR forum & ZR's have a fairly large rear spoiler & a few members have suffered this problem.

+1, Before you attempt one of these washes, just take a closer look at the end of those broken nylon sharp ended bristles that slap about all over your car for the duration of the wash!!

You spend, lets say 40k on your pride and joy and then within weeks or months, reduce it to a swirly marked matt finish, orange peel effect.. you then end up paying hundreds of £'s to get the paint work restored.

My previous black car was wrecked by car washes, i had the paint work restored. I learnt the hard way.

Hand wash only now..

(23-02-2012 11:03pm)cutter7 Wrote:  +1, Before you attempt one of these washes, just take a closer look at the end of those broken nylon sharp ended bristles that slap about all over your car for the duration of the wash!!

You spend, lets say 40k on your pride and joy and then within weeks or months, reduce it to a swirly marked matt finish, orange peel effect.. you then end up paying hundreds of £'s to get the paint work restored.

My previous black car was wrecked by car washes, i had the paint work restored. I learnt the hard way.

Hand wash only now..

The Orange peel affect comes from too much hardener in the paint process(not allowing the paint to flow)
But I also agree with you about the swirls from the brushes.Best stay away from car washes!

(23-02-2012 11:31pm)broady43 Wrote:  The Orange peel affect comes from too much hardener in the paint process(not allowing the paint to flow)
But I also agree with you about the swirls from the brushes.Best stay away from car washes!

Yes i know.. but the suface edge of the orange peel effect is what gets wrecked by these bristles..so the high point becomes matt, and lower keeps it's shine.. i think you know what i'm saying..

(23-02-2012 08:57pm)big-al-cove Wrote:  hi

sorry to here this can you post some photos

Hi, what would you like a photo of ?

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(23-02-2012 10:35pm)WB Wrote:  In the UK we have all the options - machines, diy jet wash, hand car washes or you can do it yourself when there isn't a hosepipe ban on!

Which there will be next month (hosepipe ban).

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(23-02-2012 11:31pm)broady43 Wrote:  But I also agree with you about the swirls from the brushes.Best stay away from car washes!

You will also suffer this with those cheap hand car washes that have sprung up on every street corner Only worse as the stuff you see them spraying all over the car with the spray wand is Truckwash (traffic film remover) which is a detergent & in some cases & very likely in these sort of venues a Caustic detergent that will strip off any polish/wax/protective coating you have on your car & ultimately ruin it.

Also if you look at those gloss black window trims common on BMW's etc if they have gone blotchy or dull etc that is caused by truckwash as I pointed out to a regular customer this week when I said who has washed this recently? (even though I knew the answer to the question lol).!!

I put mine through a car wash a few weeks ago with no damage. I would never do it again as the dryer was very close to the spoiler and I wad ready to drive out half way though just in case
However, I don't think you would get much joy trying to claim from the car wash manufacturer as there will no doubt be disclaimers everywhere stating that it is used at your own risk and that spoilers, aerials etc are not covered for damage. There was on the one I used!

(23-02-2012 10:27pm)Barneyridge Wrote:  That is a hard lesson to learn

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We used to have water restrictions a couple of years ago that meant you had to wash with a bucket only, no hoses.

So what you mean is lazy people have to use a car wash whereas normal people can use a bucket.

I only ever found it acceptable to use car washes when the new generation type came out that don't use brushes or actually touch your car in any way, other then jets of water and then air. I have one conveniently located close to home, and use only the basic wash (no wax,as this makes windscreen wipers screech). I do a hand polish at home every 2 months.

(23-02-2012 10:22pm)WB Wrote:  You can't hand wash your own car in Germany? Wow I had no idea. Do you at least have hand car washes you can take the car to? Those machines ruin your paint finish!

Its all to do with the fact that most of the drinking water is taken from aquifers close to the surface so the water has to remain "clean". We do have self washes, which is normally what I use. I would love to have had a black or dark blue car but my 1st FL2 which was santorini black suffered really badly after a few washes so my next was alaska white. Much as i like fuji white my choice was 75% driven by the fact it is very car wash friendly colour. My last car (a focus) survived very well [metallic black] over the 3 years I had it, but its a constant battle to keep my wifes met black SLK (4 yrs old) looking good; so it only gets washes once a month.

It's quite normal to see hire cars here in Germany that are 6 months old down to the primer on exposed paintwork corners and creases (such as edge of front wings etc) as they get car washed after every hire.