Z through car washes

happytheman

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

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--Brantly--

kenchan

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

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.

alcheng

True!!

That's why I only drive the Z when the road is all clean.

But it is really hard to get the salt out of the car without going through drive-thru, right?

kenchan

not really. you can put your car on a ramp and just wash the undercarriage with a lawn sprinkler. let it run for 15-20min, then do the other end. some MINI folks were doing it and it is a very effective way to clean the bottom actually without splashing water in your face. will be doing the same on my G in Spring.

onzedge

Morning, Mr. Kenchan!

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alcheng

can't do that in here, because we turn off the pipe in the garage and empty it for winter, otherwise the water in the pipe will become ice and break the pipe, and big trouble will happen.

ElVee

I take my Eclipse to a touchless car wash. It's not a conveyor belt one; the arms actually move around the car while I chill out inside; and it's not *too* powerful when it's doing the real washing. Then I move forward under my own power below giant jet-like turbines that blow the water off.

Now that I have a Z and care about the washing, I realize this was never *truly* getting my car clean. Thankfully the Eclipse is silver so it hides it very well.

I have taken the Z through this same carwash, but only because I was in between normal washes and got nailed by birds and had tons of bugs from a rural drive in the middle of the week. I think it's fine, as long you realize it's not *really* clean until you manually do things like the wheels, wheel-wells, and other nooks. But I think it's a valid once-in-a-while habit.

Your mileage varies depending on the car wash, of course.


That said, if I had my own place and driveway, I'd always do a handwash or touch-up on my own. As it is, I am still figuring out a good routine at a local coin-op wand-wash place. I really just use them for drainage, shade, water-sprayer/rinse, and vacuum.

Tazicon

Same if you do it by hand, spraying water on your car doesn't get it clean..............its the hand work after words. See the other stuff I do at home but I use the touchless car wash to get started then do the rest by hand at home. I don't understand the lazy part as in many places you CANT wash your car in your drive way. I know I can't.

TheGreatOne

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

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sonic370

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.

elmz

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

dirtrat

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.

sojirovskensi

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

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Rockcrawler

guys, I was in the car wash equipment industry..... touchless uses more aggressive chemicals.... over time, overly done, tough on your clearcoat, polycarbonate headlight lenses and lesser plastic trim pieces. The right "friction eqipment" does a respectable job and is endorsed by the majors and the german luxury majors. It uses sope, water and friction, like washing your hands, or a hand wash of your car.


So, do what you want, but don't be lulled into thinking touch free is good for ur baby.

mjg

No car wash for Z! I Did it with my G35 coupe, had so many swirls... went to one place, and they cleaned it well, but over time, always going to get swirl marks. I rather leave filth on my car then have someone scrape the car up...