Z through car washes

kfull

I ran it through a touch less car wash once. There were different levels of cleaning you could choose so being me I chose the highest one with the clear coat protectant. There was some leftover white residue left inbetween some of the panels of the car and between the seam on outside mirrors that runs around the outside of the plastic housing. I always wash my car by hand but only did touch less one time because it was towards the end of winter and drive during the winter so I didn't wanna freeze my hands off. I would do it again if I had to, but I would just choose the lower level of cleaning with basically just soap and water being sprayed on.

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kenchan

it's better to carry some QD and wipe, or wipe as your dry wax, or even better, waterless carwash spray when you're done autowashing the car cause there's still a lot of crap left on the paint.

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.

onzedge

Car washes are for Priuses and Honda Fits -- and lazy folks.

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alcheng

I want to quote that post but I think I will hold the horse on this one....

CSGLEON

I have ran my 2012 silver through a touch less several times and it does a pretty good job. I haven't noticed any damage? I get them for free and it's a quick high pressure spray that seems to do the job and a blower at the end that you can fully take your time on blowing it dry! I have read the manual about chems that are harsh but I use the soap and water option. No complaints yet..... No damage I can see after about 20 washes so far? Looks better then when i pulled it out of the dealers lot.. So guess when I notice something like spots I will complain? So far so good! I don't have 3 hours in my busy life to go and detail the Z every week. Seems ok to me....

critical

It's harder to see swirl marks on the silver but you should check for them.

This is the state I got my Z in. Still fixing the paint.

Before/After

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DLSTR

Here the car washes are advanced. You see anything and everything at them. My local Aral station has nice wash that is typical of Germany -
You drive in, set the brake etc and walk out.
The machine moves around the car and they have a nice rotary brush that cleans the wheels etc. Cleans under the chassis in winter.

I use it 20% of the time and hand wash the other other 80%.

Zero issues. Even my neighbor takes his R8 there. No worries here at least.

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Vaughanabe13

That's what I do, except I don't use their nasty sponges or brushes - that's just begging to get swirls all over your car. Dirt gets trapped in those things.

This is what I do. I've got it down to a science.
1. Bring a big bag full of microfibers and a wash bucket with a dirt catcher in the bottom.
2. Insert $5 and use the high pressure soap wash to take off as many bugs and debris as I can. Get the whole car soaked. Then before the time runs out, I fill up my bucket with the soap water, so that I don't have to keep inserting $$.
3. Wash the whole car by hand with the microfibers and get all of the dirt loosened up. This is the most time consuming step.
4. Put in another $5 and use the high pressure rinse to blast away all the soap and dirt.
5. Use a low pressure spot-free rinse to lightly coat the car before time runs out.
6. Use the remaining half of the microfibers to hand dry the car.
7. Open up the doors and hatch and clean all of the interior panels, which should already be somewhat wet.
8. Use a second bag to discard all of the wet and dirty microfibers for washing later.
9. Dump out the soap water in the bucket, pack up everything and drive away spotless.

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starview

I'm in an apartment also and try to bucket wash at the coin operated self wash. I only use their normal water though - I use my own cash wash soap.

I do have a problem though - how do you fill your bucket? The sprayers on the ones near me are so strong that they just blast the water out of the bucket when trying to fill lol.

onzedge

What is your process?

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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.

2xtreme1

Hell no!!!!

ElVee

This is pretty much exactly what I'm honing towards. Thank you! The first time I went I did a terrible job, mostly because I took one look at the plastic brush (that no doubt hits the ground with every other user) and said no way. I'm washing my car every weekend (rain or shine, whether I need it or not) until I get a good routine the ends up with me being satisfied. After that, try out some clay and sealant and start being proactive.

Tazicon

What are you afraid you might ruin your Rolls Royce?