Is Brushless Car Wash Okay?
 

For fear of harming its paint, I have been hand washing my red Z since I bought it. But I'm getting lazy and this summer, I'd like to switch to the automatic brushless car wash near me. Has anyone else used a good one in his area and had good results? This Z paint seems so delicate, I'm concerned. I've taken my red Altima coupe and my wife's Prius to this brushless automatic car wash a couple of times each month since their purchase 3 years ago and the paint still looks like new on both of them---no scratches, no swirlees, etc. But what about our Z's?

Don't do it!

Harsh chemicals, especially to clean your wheels will leave staining on your nice rims.
I don't know if they are all the same, but I wouldn't take the risk.

Use a washing booth or a hose to just spray of the main dirt if it's real dirty and other than that just use ONR to wash the car. It's fast and easy...

:iagree:

Hand washing (jobs?) are the only way to go. Use quality washing solution as well.

I agree on the hand washing jobs:tup:

Handless jobs get messy and likely to leave white spots all over.

Be sure to bring a cloth to clean up with afterwards before it drys up.

Words of wisdom. :tup:

Sorry guys...I can't get my mind out of the gutter while I'm reading this thread...hand wash (jobs), handless jobs...:wtf2:

I agree on hand jobs. I mean hand wash.

But I understand where the OP is coming from. The hand wash jobs get redundant after a while and handless jobs are good for a change of pace.

I think you'll be fine doing a briskness wash in between real washes.

I use brushless. Nothing bad happened. Its pollen season so you wont catch me washing my car and catching allergies any time soon.

I have a few more thoughts on the topic of hand washing. It is great to do on your own and even better if you can get someone to do it for you (saves the labor). I like the results when I hand wash, but I like them even more when I can sit back and admire the handiwork of someone who truly knows the proper technique.

Mr. Miyagi?

Ditto, have used it a couple of times with out issue.

I use a regular car wash with brushes I've had zero probles Modern paint is durable and long lasting. Just keep a good coat of wax and spend the time you've been washing...:driving:
Btw my car is yellow

Moony

I still go (Sam's Club seems to maintain there's better then the independents and cheaper, too) but the second time I went, the water pressure opened the gas door (which unlocked when I turned off the engine) and then ripped the lid in half.

I lock everything after I turn off the engine now.

The Z paint is hardly "durable".

They fill the doors up with water. It makes me worry about internal corrosion and other problems from having water sitting around in there. It takes a while to dry out. Also, there's a ton of water injected into the space around the hatch. Everytime I go through a wash like this I have to towel off the back, the hatch, the side mirrors. And with all of that, there's still all that water inside the doors.

*sigh* its just a Nissan :\

had my car since nov09 used brushless w/ no issues when i can't wash the car by hand

:iagree:

Don't let your car get real dirty and you will not have a problem. Hand wash all the way!

not stirring just my experience with taking it through a car wash........

iv'e had no issues with the paint or the rays....... the place where i live they do
a good job. after the car is finished they hand dry it with soft towels.

and it looks like new. but i can understand why some would worry about it.

plus i do have them hand wax it twice a year

Just don't ever choose the brushless option that shoots blue detergent sh*t all over the car and doesn't fully rinse it off. If you thought water in the door sills and hatch was bad, try chemical blue liquid everywhere...
On a white car..

In the winter, it was tempting to use a brushless wash, but I got burned.

I work at a BMW dealer and we have a broadway drive thru carwash that all of our customers cars go thru. Gets cleaned once every two weeks with filter changes. It uses a car wash soap that they refill and no other chemicals. All of our customer cars come out looking just fine. I've used it a few times and my cars paint is no worse for wear.

1 side note: brushless is ok, brushes may be ok but the damn track at autobell fubar'd my front driver's side wheel with a gouge after them shutting down the line to catch up with drying cars and starting it back up again. it jumped off the roller and hit the guide bar. manager was overly helpful and bought me a new $1100 wheel from the dealer where i bought my car. (he might have been extra helpful because he saw me stick my concealed carry piece in my pocket when i got out of the car)

in the end... its just a car

I used to work Autobell for two years lol

are those the ones where they use their feet?

For $8, it's not bad. I've went through the auto-wash many times without issues. I just don't use the dryer just to be safe it doesn't rip off my fangs and mirror covers haha

If you have access to a coin op car wash, that would be a better option. It doesn't get it as clean, but it's clean enough until you have time to do it properly. I do this in the winter months. Any car wash place will do an ok job, but us OCD folks will know all those machines will leave swirls and light scratches on the paint. Not so noticeable on silver, but you can def see it on black. I've never been to a brushless one, I don't think I'd ever try it....maybe on my other DD.

What's the difference between a coin op and brushless?

The brushless wash (sometimes laser wash) has nothing touch the car except water and detergents.

I dunno but I just watched mine roll thru a sprayer and had 4 mexican guys wash it while its rolling then it came out and got hand dried and now its sitting the shade getting waxed.

It's basically a powerwasher you use yourself. There's setting for soap, rinse, brush etc. I don't use the brush, just the powerwasher to rinse the salt and loose dirt off in the winter. The water is heated and you basically roll into a semi-enclosed heated garage. The brushless is basically the same except a powerwash machine moves around the car with a wall of water. I've never been to one of these though, so I can't comment on exactly how it works.

Ah, ty. I just use my garden hose in that case.

I've used the touchless machine often. You stay in the car and it's ok if the car is just dusty---then you finish the drying yourself with your own shammois on the lot. If the car is really dirty, it's no good----it just removes the outer layer of dust and when it dries, the car is still dirty. It's probably no better than the powerwash wand, which is a lot cheaper and what I use, as my Z is only a summer only, fair weather car and only gets dusty. But I'm getting lazy and thinking of using the automatic brushless washes with the crew that dries the car, etc. The opinions on those are mixed. With our delicate paint, I'm very hesitant and I'll probably continue to hand wash with the power wash wand and dry off myself. It does make for a nice job if the car's not too dirty and you're willing to make the effort.

when i lived in an apartment way back when, i had to resort to carwash places.

when my car was only dusty i took it to the local gas station with the touchless (hand dried myself), and if it was rained on or wat not, took it to the manned handwash places and told them no tire dressing.

I use the brushless wash as my main method of washing my car because hand washing with a sponge will give my car swirl marks. Then I use a detailing stray to clean and dry off afterwards; no water spots. Then I polish and wax. Paint is like new and baby a$$ smooth. I also claybar every 3 months. Dusting it regularly helps a lot.

it does not matter what brand of car it is. to some people it is their pride and joy. hope you can understand that.

Touchless washes are relatively benign for the paint. The problem is during drying. Water pressure alone will leave behind small particles on the paint, especially if the car is really dirty. These will get caught up in the towels while drying and lead to swirl marks. If you have to use a touchless wash, it may be better to limit the drying to high pressure air. It won't get all of the water off, but will prevent surface contaminants from getting dragged all over your clearcoat.

I realize the above may be a bit OCD, but it's true and I am OCD about paint.

I have used it on the Z and Previous cars when the weather is too cold. Sprays the undercarriage and blows the car dry. Never had any issues with my paint. But I hand wash/wax once the weather is warmer.