I use to use a touchless without guide rails. There are no rags in the car wash, just high pressure hoses and I've never experienced even so much as a scratch on my clear coat.

Only problem I have now is that I can't use it due to the under carriage wash and my injen intakes.

I've only taken my Z through a touch-less once. And that was because there was fresh bird **** on it and thus was declared a state of emergency. When I wash my car I like to be very thorough and clean inside the hatches/engine bay/wheels. A touch-less is risky and only gets MOST of the exterior surfaces clean, it is a waste of money compared to hand washing.

I am curious nobody mention coin wash, you drive into the space, inset coin, spray your car, rub it with their brush or your own sponge, rinse it and dry it. Then drive it.

Simple and easy, this is what I do in Winter.

:tup:

That's all I use. I live in an apartment complex. No hose/enough space to wash my car if I wanted to. I have a garage at least though.

fixed! :icon17:

for me, i dont just take it to any auto-wash. it's one of the better ones in my area that do a fairly good job cleaning the car and do under-carriage washing that dont damage the car other than some minor swirlage. in the winter it's more about preservation of the chassis and its components than its paint.

this is one of the main reasons why i dont drive my Z in the winter cause i can't wash salt off of it completely. yah, you can bucket wash at those silly booths but hey, you got salt again on the way home. :D

:icon18: oh yea, i forgot, i usually spread out some deicing salt once i'm done, and usually only wash it on days in which the weather is above freezing

:tup: hahaha.

Short answer: Yes you can take it through the car wash.

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I use the touchless carwash 2-3 times a week on my Z. It flushes out the salt off. I love hand washing my car but I'm just not going to do it when it is 0-30 degrees out.

Last year I took my car through an autowash many times, nearly everyday. The Z developed light swirls that could be seen at certain angles in light. I was driving my car 110mi per day so I needed to do it. I've accepted the fact the my car will not be show room quality. However, my car looks VERY good for a DD. ... Just not perfect though.

Early spring through late fall I scrub my car by hand like it used a bad word talking back to me.

Doesn't anyone have garages where it's cold? Waterless wash, or rinse less wash in the garage FTW! :tup:

I've used touchless but really prefer to do it myself. I enjoy taking the time, and it still hasn't got boring for me to wash my car for a good hour yet. Love going over the Z's lines

I think the one time I used touchless last summer was before a meet and then I used Turtle Wax detailer then headed out cause I was out till 4am the night before lol

I guess as you get older your not as picky. I use to wash
all my cars by hand. Vettes and the 370. there is a well
maintained car wash in my town so they do my 370 once a week
depending on the weather. no issues with swirls or the rims.

+1 I've taken both my Z's to the same auto car wash once every 2 weeks for years with no issues.

unfortunately I don't have the time to always hand wash my car but I take it to a place that is brushless and utilize only soft-cloth. No Swirlies on my car that I can see yet but I don't plan on keeping my car beyond 3 years anyway. You can always have a paint correction done in the future to fix the problems.

Car wash isn't as clean as hand-wash.

like i was telling alcheng a while ago, i prefer girls with clean underwear. :ugh2:

salt on the chassis is what we are trying to clean off, not so much the appearance of the paint. it's about preservation in the salt/snow belt states in the winter.