rlhyde

I took a long trip in my Turbo S over the last week and as I was getting ready to return home when I realized that car was filthy dirty. It had rained the day before, it was a desert area, etc. and consequently the car had a lot of surface dirt on it.

Normally I wash the car by hand. However, that wasn't feasible here, so I was tempted to do the "automatic" thing. I looked around and my choices were 1) just drive car home dirty; 2) have someone hand wash the car; 3) send it through the automatic machines (where the car gets dragged through the machine, but with the brushes); 4) use a "touch-less automatic system (where the car also gets dragged through the machine, but with no brushes); or 5) use one of the wand spraying systems.

I didn't like options 1 or 2, for various reasons, and I would never let an automatic brush system touch the car. However, #4 intrigues me and is the subject of my inquiry here. I ended up use #5, which worked pretty well at getting the surface dirt.

My question is this, Does anyone use the touch-less automatic system (where the car still gets dragged through the machine) on any regular basis? Any downside?

rk-d

Wheel damage is one concern.

The water is recycled in those machines and blasted at high pressure. That could be problematic, in theory.

My main concern are the wheels. Plus it doesn't do a good job. You end up having to wash the car yourself, anyway.

I'd drive it home dirty. I generally keep my car immaculate, but when it gets dirty and I'm unable to wash it - I leave it be. There is something cool about driving a car like this and having it dirty from use.

Nanook

And touchless use extremely corrosive detergents..hard on clear coats, plastic parts (lenses) and rubber components

Hawkeye911

I'm concerned about my wheels and also ground clearance of the rails, so never do automatic.

AviBen

I made the mistake of using an automatic (albeit "touchless") car wash on one of my cars only once in the last 20 years. Never again. There are a couple of places in my area where they wash by hand, and they often do high-end cars. While I'm not 100% satisfied with what they do, they're careful enough, don't do any damage and it's "good enough." Plus I've been there often enough to have connected with the owner, which helps.

js9527

Don't you have those shell touchless wash around? Just you just drive through. If not, then i would do the coin wash

808Bill

Wait till you get home and do it right!
After all, part of the joy of owning these is running your hand around its sexy curves...

Jim M.

Every car wash, options 1 thru 4 recycles their water. It's pure economics. That recycled water has a PH that is near acid, plus mixed with the oils and everything else washed off all the cars before you. As someone said not good for clear coats, your wax job, plastics and rubber window seals. None of my cars has ever been thru any of them.

trader247

No to automatic car wash as stated previously.

ipse dixit

I'm pretty laissez-faire when it comes to car washes.

Heck, I even go to the dealer just to have them wash my car.

That said, I draw the line on automatic car washes. No. Just no.

Friends don't let friends use automatic car washes.

Karl911

Well, if you track your TTS as often as i do, who cares, car is beat to sh#t anyways.
After a track day, i let them run it through the car wash and do an express wax. This get all the rubber and marks of the car.

Steve Cole

Yeah, track days do cars no favours ... but they're so much fun... how else are you going to use the potential of a car like this?

I use a pressure washer... keep a distance from the car for most of the wash, get right up close to get things off my windows (I hate hate hate dirty / spotted windows). I use the soap at the car wash ... that's one thing I'm going to investigate changing.

Randyc151

Ditto. And leaving a coating of dirt and grime on your car is worse for it than even a car wash, so I get it washed anywhere I can.

I've owned may nice cars over the years, use automatics on occasion, and I enjoy occasionally buffing and detailing my cars myself for any swirls or haze. May people think these things have some sort of rare paint that won't stand up. Believe me, the paint can handle car washes far better than constant sun light.

Rambler_13

I would never go through a brush-type car wash but have never had an issue with touchless washes which I particularly like in the the dead of winter and for undercarriage washing. Maybe it depends on the areas but I think there is a lot of fear mongering about touchless washes imo. I'd rather have a strong soap on my car for a few measly seconds than salt and other contaminants all over it for weeks. Brush washes and especially dealers have caused the most damage in my experience.

Detailed Designs

My .02 are here:
http://clearbraatlanta.com/modesta-c...-in-car-paint/