cooky01

I sent my 991.2 through automatic car wash twice, and both times soap is observed right below the door sill plate.
This occurs on both driver & passenger side doors.
Has anyone had this happen to their cars too?

Is this a design flaw of some sort?
This didn't happen when I took my other cars to the same car wash.

mangu

This has been my normal observance since day 1 when I took delivery of my 911.2 Targa. I wipe this area dry, as well as door hinge area and the underside of door.

Haven't noticed any issues nor excessive rust in 6yrs of using automatic touchless car wash.

The housing for filling the gas tank and underside of frunk get pretty wet as well.

It may only be a factor of the car wash excessive water spraying in different directions. I've been caught in a couple of bad rain storms over the years and never noticed water in these areas.

wkearney99

Look at that picture and note where the door gasket is located. It's all the way in next to the interior, just 'above' the Carrera plate location in that picture. That sill plate area is outside of the door gasket seal. Many vehicles are like this, and it's not a new phenomenon. This is a good thing as leaves the area free to drain out. Otherwise it'd end up being an area that could collect water and have a greater chance of rust/corrosion.

As for 'automatic car wash'.... that's blasphemous talk. But hey, it's your car, feel free to wreck the paint any way you choose.

MPawelek

Out of sheer stupidity on my part and being very short on time I took my 2015 Targa 4s through my local car wash this morning and cringed the whole way though. This companies washes are touted as the longest and best in the world (Bucees) and I do go there often for my F250 as it is 7 feet tall and too hard to hand wash.
Sure enough I spent 15 minutes wiping all the soap from around the inner frunk, under the hood and inside the doors. Worst of all the optics, cameras and computer driven wonder wash decided the 911 was shorter than other cars en queue and decided to pull back and stop all rag brushes from the rear roofline back. The back 1/3 of the 911 was wet but not washed! Never had this problem with three SL 550’s.😊
Learned a lesson today…

Foosh

Water intrusion in that area is pretty common on all types of vehicles, and I only hand wash, rinsing with a low psi small pressure washer. As stated in post #3, the weather stripping is on the inner side of door to keep water from penetrating the passenger compartment. It's the same on our TTS, C8, MX-5, and pickup truck,

wkearney99

And no doubt their fix would have been to give you another wash, giving the machines a chance to wreck something they'd missed the first time! I kid... Though I hear that chain has pretty decent service (there's none near us).

But I'd still avoid machines. There's just too many bits/pieces that are expensive and time-consuming to obtain to make it worth the 'convenience'. Don't need to have something on the machines get snagged and rip off some piece of unobtainium trim.

I'm learning to keep an old pair of worn-out boat shoes in the frunk so I can use the pressure washer stalls during these winter months. Otherwise I'm fine with washing it in the driveway at home.

Foosh

For those who have never tried the SiO2-infused rinse-less washes, I highly recommend them as do many professional detailers for vehicles that are not totally road-grime encrusted.

The method is to mix a batch and soak 10-12 microfiber towels in your bucket for 10 minutes or so. Use 1 microfiber towel per panel, set the dirty towel aside, pull out a clean one, and repeat with a new towel on every panel of the vehicle. Your rinse-less wash solution stays clean. Dry with plush, high-quality microfibers.

This method avoids paint damage, and it adds an extra layer of SiO2 paint protection. I do this inside my heated garage during the cold season, when it's not pleasant to haul out all the regular hand-washing gear. It's also much safer than using detailer, because the paint surface is much more thoroughly lubricated, preventing swirl marks.

If the car is really dirty, and you don't want to haul out your small power washer in cold weather, you can "powerwash" using the rinse cycle in an old-school car wash stall, then do the rinse-less process at home.

wkearney99

How about the wheels? What's the winter cleaning method to get the road grime/brake dust out of them in a similar winter 'rinse-less' fashion?

Foosh

Yes, I use it on wheels too, in conjunction with "Wheel Woolie" brushes, using the solution left over after finishing the car, since it's still clean with the multi-towel method.

During the winter season, I don't get fussy about the inner barrels as much other than to power-wash them as best one can. I concentrate on the spokes and outer surfaces with the rinse-less wash then dry them. I then clean them more thoroughly during good weather washes.

My TTS has PCCBs, and there is very little dust.