carrerafanboy

I regularly visit a local Chevron that's known for its "touchless" (high pressure water only — no brushes of any kind) car wash. For those in the Bay Area, it's the one in Mountain View at Shoreline & Middlefield.

Unfortunately when the plastic wand was rounding my car, it banged into the right side mirror. Thankfully I managed to roll down the passenger window and reach over and tuck it in to prevent further damage.

There are a few scratches that I worry may have penetrated the clear coat, but there doesn't appear to be any paint removed.

What would be the best way to go about fixing this? The car and its paint are in otherwise pristine condition, and I'd like to get this patched up somehow. I'm thinking:

1) Take it to a local detailer and see if they can correct it. Or if they have a preferred paint shop, if said shop can do a very minimal blend job/clear coat touch up. [Side note: Any recommendations in the Bay Area?]

2) Hit it with some compound, polish, and wax myself. I'm reluctant to do this, since I'm not a pro and the car has Ceramic Pro Platinum applied to all exterior paint (which compounding would likely remove).

3) Hire a mobile touch up vendor like L & M Mobile Car Touch Up. I've never used them, but they have excellent reviews on Yelp.

The car in question is a 981 Spyder. I hope to keep the car for a very long time (it's AMAZING!), but do want to ensure this mishap doesn't impact its resale value or future collectibility.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

itsujack

Ok, assuming this is a serious question, I'm pretty sure you don't have anything to worry about in this regard, especially if as you say, you're keeping for a long time, there will be many more marks and scratches accumulated with time, so just drive and enjoy

Oh, and I'd say go with your option 1.

Waxer

Option 1.

If you want to keep your paint pristine stay away from automated machines designed to clean daily comuters, mini vans and Priuses. Buy your own pressure washer or get it washed by hand. Best option is always do it yourself.

GregWormald

Go to your Ceramic Pro Platinum applier and talk to them.

Oh, and I hope you put the car wash on notice for the repair cost.

Greg

Maverick787

Yikes man ....should be easy to fix. By the way never take a car to those hack jobs. I wash all my cars.

terbiumactivated

You took a Spyder through an automated wash? That's a jail-able offense mister! (just kidding). Those marks look pretty light, try some Meguire's scratch X or better yet go to car geeks and order some blackfire scratch polish. Both are clearcoat safe, so if you're using a clean microfiber you are not going to damage the effected areas.

4PTZERO

that can resolved mostly by a pro detailer it seems. not too bad all considered. see what you can do if you have detailing / paint correction experience.

Marine Blue

I agree with others, you're doing harm to your car in other ways using a touch less wash. The chemicals used in a touchless wash are pretty harsh in order to remove the dirt and oil from the car. With time they will attack the paint and trim and make the car look much older than it is. The same could be said about wheel cleaners, they may not attack the wheel paint but they do attack the rubber and plastic parts in and around the brakes.

As far as the scratching goes, as already noted that will very easily buff out with a product like scratch x or Meguiars 205 and microfiber. If you don't have the ability to do this use option 1 and have it done by a detail shop. Shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to fix that.

s-fury

I would first check if it's only a clear coat damage, you can do this by spraying water on it. If the marks dissappear when wet, then it's only in your clear coat.

Then your can easily buff them out with for instance mequiars scratch x.

Phil G.

Last time I took one of my cars, a VW wagon through a "brushless" wash, they scraped the roof rails, and paid the full cost of replacement. That was the last time I have used an automated car wash. ALWAYS by hand. In the winter, I use the bays with pressure washes to get any salt off my daily drivers. My Porsches have only been hand washed - except my '16 BS which has only been detailed. It's never even been wet.

Archimedes

You beat me to it. Except I would have added !!!!!! At the end.

OP, find a good detailer to try to fix it.

81911

Since you took a Spyder through a high pressure car wash, I highly doubt you can fix this yourself. I recommend selling it to prevent more damage due to your terrible ideas.

terbiumactivated

You didn't think jail-able offense was strong enough? LOL. 81911, maybe "lighten up Frances", not everyone is a car fanatic, not that I disagree with you.

carrerafanboy

Thanks all for the comments — especially the chiding (really!).

I understand taking my car to any drive-thru wash (including "touchless") — especially a car as special as the Spyder — is exceedingly dumb. It won't happen again.

I've probably visited that Chevron about 4-5x. I understand the high pressure water places use harsher chemicals, but figured it wouldn't be as big of an issue given most of the car is clear bra-ed, and has 10 coats of Ceramic Pro 9H on it. I guess the silver lining is I've stress-tested those things..?

Can anyone in the Bay Area recommend me a detailer or self-wash facility? The reason I've taken the car to the aforementioned drive-thru is because I live in an apartment on a hill in San Francisco, and don't really have anywhere to detail the car myself. I'd love to learn to take care of the car myself, but unfortunately my location isn't helping things. Alternatively if any locals want to have a detailing meetup, I'd be happy to contribute materials and a bunch of beers

Replies to comments below:

Thanks! Despite my idiocy with regards to this incident, I tend to be a perfectionist and things like this have historically bothered me. I'm learning to let go of the idea of perfection as the years go by, and enjoy possessions to their fullest.

Unfortunately the Ceramic Pro was applied by a non-local person (I'm the car's second owner).

I didn't speak with the attendant, since I knew it would be a fight to get any payout, and just decided to deal with it myself. I'm fine eating the cost as punishment to myself.

I wish I had a space to!

Thanks! I own some ScratchX 2.0, but may just see a professional...

Thanks for reinforcing this for me. I was aware that the chemicals were harsher, but not that it was this risky.

Duly noted

GregWormald

I'd still be talking to a Ceramic Pro applier--even if you have to find one. AFAIK there is a CP warranty that may help.

I had OptiCoat Pro applied to my last car (and Pro+ to the Boxster) and the applier was/is a specialist detailer that helped with a few marks. He was able to polish them out by hand with no damage and the OptiCoat didn't even need a re-application.

Good luck. I'm not a perfectionist (although I'm close with this car) but those scratches would cause me to look for a solution.

Greg