Brushless Car Wash: Against Morals?
 

So I've taken my baby thru the local brushless car wash 2x. Anyone else do this? It doesn't seem so bad since nothing but water and soap actually touches the car...

But the thing that bothers me the most is a ramp that you have to drive the left wheel onto. There's a bar on each side and you're supposed to put your wheel in between. The bars are covered in foam. It bothers me; I'm afraid that I might screw up the alignment. These wheels are so wide, it's hard to put it in there just right, and it's not easy.

Am I committing a crime against the z?

I have been thru a Laser wash once and no issues. No wheel ramp or anything, just drive in and park while it pins around you. I prefer hand washes, but when it is minus 15..... you do what you have to to keep the girl clean!!! :icon17:

My Z has been through a brushless (hand wash) car wash almost every week for the past year - no issues whatsoever (although at the one that I go to they drive the car into the wash, not me). I've even got a deal where I pay $35/month for unlimited washes that includes vacuuming, rim cleaning, and tire dressing.

I do it all the time to knock the Oklahoma prairie off of her.

Do what works for your situation best...it's your Z.

I've done it a few times with both my Z's with no problems, i mean the nissan paint sucks anyway. Only bad thing about the Z paint is so soft rub a bug off with your finger and your nail hits it "O no there's a scratch" but want ya goin do, too keep them perfect is to not drive or injoy them...

I am somewhat a perfectionist so I do my own from the very first day I own my car. Heck I even do my own shirt ironing. :)

yeah it sucks when it is cold outside. But I just add warm water in the bucket.

I've never gone through an automatic wash with my Z...closest thing to that is the high-pressure Pay-n-Spray that I'll do every once in a while to knock the dust off and blast bugs.

Let me repeat.... minus 15 degrees Celcius.....

The water bucket is an ICE BUCKET :icon18:

I normally hand wash but after a good rain I will use the laser wash to knock off the big stuff. No issues.

wat socal said...

I hand wash about once a month. I use the touch free once a week to get the dust off. I have a truck for a daily driver, so it is basically washing the dust off from being in the garage.

Heres a ritual I began a few months ago, go through the laser wash, let it blow dry er' to the best of its capabilities, park under the vacuum awnings (so as to not let the sun dry the droplets to avoid water spots), wipe excess water off with a microfiber towel, use a detailer i/e eagle one just to get the fine dirt film completely off, then spray on a coat of the nanowax to reduce the appearance of swirls, then of course a nice spray down with meguiars tire shine and wheel cleaner. Makes my baby look like a million bucks every time.

while i wish i could hand wash mine every single time, i can't so i either go to one of the brushless or the self serve car washes for quick washes. i'll go over it with a detailing spray afterwards.

when the weather gets better, i try to do a hand wash/wax about once a month.

Thanks for the awesome, detailed, plentiful and quick replies that this community is becoming known for. I’ll keep them all in mind.

Ive been through a laser wash once and about half way through the wash there was a huge puddle of water gathering on my plastic floor mats in the passenger foot well, looked like the water was coming from behind the dash.

Time to return to the dealership as you should not be having this type of leak.

Ive been afraid of going to the dealer ever since i put test pipes on the car.

Undo the heat shrouds on your stock cats and screw them onto the test pipes :)

Took mine through a brushless last night, like I do every couple of weeks or so.

I scouted out car washes all over the city for one that would not damage my rims. The one I'm using doesn't have the bars on the sides, just the little bump you drive over to make sure you're up far enough.

I go through the brushless ones without rails when it's cold out. Onvce it's 50+ and the sun is out I'll hand wash.

I do it once a week and then park it and detail it to get all nice and clean and shinny. Its just as good as a hand wash.

Scuds n' Suds FTW!

did you go see the 40th edition yet?

no, i was going to go today but I had a soccer game against the germans, gonna check it tomorrow though.

Has any roadster gone through a car wash? I'm afraid water will seep in through the top...

Just so you guys know, touchless or not...going through a car wash will strip just about any wax you've put onto the car, off.

So, for me, I wont ever go through those...especially since it may knock my The370Z.com stickers off :-p

hence why I nanowax the baby directly after:tup:

I twice did this to my Z, and well, lets just say the results aren't pretty. I just wanted to keep her clean after a summer T-storm, so I went to the local wash. The low profile tires and huge rims where def. a problem. I now have approx 4 deep scratches on my front and rear rims, very noticeable.... I would now rather keep her dirty and clean her the RIGHT way than taking the easy, much more abrasive way.....

I wonder if that did the same to my Z, I took it to car spar after one snowy day and got the ding by the door, although I can't confirm it was cause by the wash or someone ding my door at work. But i have to hold my breath in the whole time when the car run through the wash, so hand wash for me next time....

those of you getting dings, you were at a touchless car wash right?

I wish this were true, then I wouldn't have to clay bar it here in the next couple weeks before I wax it. I bought the car in July and they detailed it before I picked it up. I decided not to claybar it at the time, and have ran her through the touchless probably 10 times now.

There's still plenty of wax left, it really depends on what exactly the car wash is using, and which wash you pick. I pick the most basic one just to get the dirt off, as well as the under carriage wash to clean off any salt that might have gotten under there. I do not go for the "clear coat" or "protectant" premium washes, as those will definitely strip the wax.

Very true.

Probably shouldn't have been so generic, and just said, "many times it will..."

How many is many? And can I use the word many when asking how many?

nein!

perche?

Don't some brushless car wash places recycle their water? I'm pretty sure the places around me do. Point being, they're recycling the water they previously sprayed all over hundreds of cars prior to yours. It runs back into their drain, and gets reused. I don't know how good their filtration is, but I'd be concerned about getting the rinse water from other cars, along with the dirt that came off of them, sprayed all over mine. Granted they mix in soap. But still, what if there are leftover dirt particles in the water? Soap isn't going to magically cushion those particles when they hit your car.

wtf is a laser wash?! I 've never heard of a laser wash!

Laser Wash is actually a brand of touch free car washes.

Gotcha! Thanks!