sgirgiss1214

Hey guys, I really need to take my car to the car wash soon, I need to know, should I get it hand washed only or can I take it to one of those drive thru washes with the big brushes and stuff or will it scratch my car up?

boone

iTrader: (1)

Handwash FTW. Avoid brushes like the plague unless you don't care about your finish.

lightonthehill

I use a 'touchless' car wash with good results. But using a 'touchless' wash for extended periods sometimes results in a sort of film building up on the car, so I still like to hand-wash my baby at least once a year.

sgirgiss1214

I think I'll just hand was it myself and vacuum inside. I am really worried about my finish so I dont want those brushes touching my baby.

EmeryH

I've washed all my cars at home for the past 20 years or so with one of those electric pressure washers. The nozzle is adjustable and can be set to a relatively soft spray - just hard enough to blow away all the dirt without hurting the finish. I never use any soap - just plain water.

If you wax your car at least every 6 months it will remain slick enough to easily clean this way. A clean, soft rag will dry off the car while removing any residual film.

This method has resulted in zero paint defects either from the water pressure or from drying. None of my cars have had ANY swirl marks even after years of this kind of cleaning.

Bristle car washers will definitely scratch your finish. Touchless systems use a harsh detergent which leaves a residue and removes your wax.

I wash the car every weekend so they never get too dirty for this method. Usually they will only be a bit dusty. At worst,they may have some road grime from driving thru rain showers - but I'm a bit **** about a having clean car and will usually wash it when getting home after a rain.

I once had an all black Supra and it nearly killed me keeping it clean. I waxed it at least once a month and sprayed it clean nearly every day. It seemed that car would only stay clean for about 3 hours before showing a layer of dust and grit... but that was when I lived in Las Vegas where there was lots of dust. Still, I decided that was the last black car I'd ever get.

atlanta10

My expierence with a high quality full service car wash is excellent. I am talking about the kind that uses cloth strips (not brushes) and have full time people to tend to your car including windows, etc. You will pay for it (20-25 bucks) but I had no issues with my black car that I had previously.
Once a year, I also have them do a paint reconditioning which includes a high speed buff out of the paint. If done by a qualified place, it leaves no swirl marks and looks great. The paint reconditioning costs around $100 here in Georgia.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

if you go to a car wash..go to a touchless...NEVER use the brush

GM_Traitor3.5VQ

The only times I've been through a car wash were in the dead of winter to get the salt and chemicals off my paint since it was too cold outside. Mind you, this was brushless wash!

Definitely take the time to wash your Max by hand. You'll avoid swirl marks and fine scratches by doing so. Highly recommend the Turtle Wax "Ice" car wash or if you can find it, the pink colored "Blue Coral" soap. Now if you feel like spending the extra coin and are **** like I am, go for the Zaino or Meguiar's Professional series soaps. The clearcoat on these cars is VERY soft, so make sure to wash your car mitts in the washing machine after each use to avoid retaining any grit or grime after the previous wash.

My dealer already put swirl marks in my brand new car before I even bought the thing by taking it through their car wash. Beware!

sgirgiss1214

I have the Meguiars stuff but Im really interested in the zaino stuff my friend uses that on his RX-8 all the time and it always looks amazing. I just cleaned my car by hand now and it looks real good. Im never taking my car to a wash that uses brushes Im gonna just clean it myself, theres no point of spending money on something I can do just as good.

Kmoney

i feel you man.i have been washing my car myself since the summer

hamzer11

iTrader: (2)

Okay, so the consensus is hand wash. But let's say you don't have a place to hand wash. What is the next best option? Or if its 10 degrees outside?

hamzer11

iTrader: (2)

Found this place near me. Check out video in the virtual tour. Not cheap by any means but I read great things about them
http://www.fivecornerscarwash.com

sgirgiss1214

Idk yet, lol. I'll worry about that later, maybe I'll find someplace that is brushless.

sgirgiss1214

Werd, and I enjoy taking care of my baby. It's like a mom not changing her baby's diapers and letting someone else do it, lol.

Kmoney

exactly

EmeryH

Nobody is going to take as good care of your car as you can. I would never trust the best hand wash service there is.

I used to live in colder climates - on Long Island and in Chicago. In Winter I would wait until the temperature gets above freezing and then pressure wash as always. I'd then take it into the garage which has been heated with a space heater and dry it with clean towels.

If you don't have a good place to hand wash at home, a decent second choice would be those pressure wash stalls that you use quarters to pay for timed usage. The key is to NOT use their detergent unless you plan to replace the wax it will strip off. Just use their "rinse" cycle of plain water. Of course, this won't be sufficient if you've allowed the car to get Very dirty. It works well if you can wash once a week, or two weeks at the most.

On every washing I always vacuum and clean the door jambs. Every other wash I'd also clean the inside of the windows, and armor-all all the plastic and rubber, including the rubber door seals, the rubber tracks that cover the exterior moonroof rails and the rubber gaskets that separate the glass rooftop sections.

This level of care is not for everyone. It all depends on how committed you are to owning a car that in 5 years will still look like the day you bought it (or even better.) I'm 62 years old now and it's not as easy to do all this as it used to, but I see it not as an effort of work but more as a recreational pursuit.

IH8SPM

I wash my cars myself but there is always that time when you need it clean and will take it to a car wash. I have all the detailing supplies I will ever need at home. Considering your car is a a light silver gray you can get away with machine washing the car and waxing it at home to save time. I will also agree with all of you when it comes to your stuff no one will take car of it better than you.

1sik4dsc

iTrader: (1)

i wash my car by hand i really hate bringing it to car washes, usually in the winter then ill bring it to a hand car wash, and still i dont like bringing it there because the guys that handle your car are so careless, so i try to avoid them as much as possible

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

I used to use these bays, throw $2.50 (the minimum) in and rinse the car and fill my bucket with water and my own soap. I'd handwash the car, then when done, put in another $2.50 to rinse the whole thing and complete the job. Worked out good, but now that I moved my buddy lets me use the hose at his house. Even better...

lightonthehill

Thank goodness the terrible drought in Georgia ended about a year ago. During the two years before the drought ended, in the county where I lived (and many others), we were not allowed to was our cars, period. Even car washes that did not filter and recirculate the same water over and over were forced to close. Those were truly the 'dark ages.'

Not admitting to anything, but has anyone here ever hand-washed their car by flashlight at midnight?

hamzer11

iTrader: (2)

While I truly agree with what everyone is saying about washing your own car I decided to try the hand car wash. They cut grass near the car and it was blown on to it. There were also two rusty water type drip stains on the hood since yesterday when the wife went out so I didn't have a choice. The carwash was very expensive but great. They let you watch every step. No brushes, bristles, or rough applicators. Everything was applied by spray and rubbed by workers wearing those washing mitts. Wax was also applied. After it came out the guy cleaned every corner, included door jambs and crevices. All the windows were cleaned as well. Tire shine applied and all seats and mats cleaned. In the end it looked better than when I first saw it all washed and ready at the dealer.

Sad part is it looks like its about to rain :-(

CT Maxima

I wash my Max by hand as I have great fear about any car wash. Touchless or not, have you ever seen the towels they use to dry the vehicle? Some workers will drop the cloth and immediately pick it up to dry. No checking if there are stones or gravel attached to the cloth. My sense is that they don't care. They earn $9.00 per hour and you get what you pay for. A truly quality wash will cost bucks. But that is not where the market is.

Wintertime is a challenge.

keon718nyc

I know there are many diffrent ways to go about this but i just wanted to throw in 2 places for some of you Queens people. There is a self serve high pressure car wash off horace harding expressway and 164th street. I think its aamaco or something. Its like $3.00 to 4.00 a token. You get around 9 min or so, sometimes i do 2 tokens. I bring a bucket and clean hand sponge. I don't use their brush soap thingy, just the high power wash with soap or not. I do not have access to water as my landlord doesn't permit. I have a driveway to dry and wax/detail. There is also a place i go to in Flushing that does hand washes and tints. Some of you might know the place, they are by Utopia Pkwy and 39th ave. They have been detailing my cars for a few years and do a great job, with tints and hand washes. They detail bentlys, and other high end cars regularly. Its $20 for full service and most of time u can just pull up and wait not too long. They did my tints and tailights on other cars. I get lazy and dont have time to clean on my own. I wax my own car and detail even after they clean my car just to make it perfect in my eyes. Meguiar's NXT tech wax 2.0 is what i use. I swear by this stuff, it will make your max shinEEEeeee like no tomorro!!!

keon718nyc

I see your in staten island, there is a place ive been to a few times out there in my last car its off victory blvd. between manor rd. and slosson ave somewhere. Fair priced and handwash ofcourse. $15-$20.

QT1 5MT AE

iTrader: (6)

automated car wash and hand wash places are your finish's worst enemy......

Proper way to wash a car:

-soak the car with a hose
-use a foam gun with soap that doesnt strip wax. foam the ENTIRE car and allow to sit for 10 minutes....
-rinse the car.
-use two buckets with a grid guard in each. fill one with water, the other with soap and water
-have two microfiber mitts handy, wash the top half of the car with one mitt working in 2 square feet areas. wash the mitt in the pure water to get rid of loose contaminents, squeeze and then proceed to dump it into soapy water. proceed to wash the rest of the top. so its wash mitt from soapy water, car, wash mitt in pure water, wash mitt in soapy water, car.
-use another mitt to wash the bottom half of the car using the same technique
-use a seperate sponge to clean wheels and tires.
-rinse the car real nice. if there is wax on the car, the water should run down the car easily, leaving a near dry finish.
-use a leaf blower to blast the rest of the water off.
grab a 100% microfiber towel and dry the car as needed.... tear the tags OFF

AVOID physical contact with the finish AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE..... any other type of wash = swirl heaven

STARR

iTrader: (1)

Use to do that all the time, my father even installed 5000watt halogen lamps in the driveway, always laughed to myself when the neighborhood cops drove by really slow

But the window of time I was able to do that in NY was usually just the summer months, late night wash, usually like 1-3 am followed by an early morning wax

Back to the original topic, I have never taken my car to the car wash, NY is full of soft wash places, but soft wash/touch is more or less for those who car wash every week, otherwise those places don't clean your car

Now that Im in GA, I wash my car at an apartment complex with a wash station, hard to keep the car as clean as I want it, cause I don't have a garage and it rains here every day, but I do my best and make sure I get a good coat of wax on every 2-3 months.

The cold months, home in NY I could go from early November to early March without a wash, usually a monthly hose down, but living in the Northeast you get use to the nasty road spray that coats your car

Here in GA, since I lived here since Oct of 09, cold weather patterns are similar to NY but not as severe, severe as in snow and ice, but in late November it was really nice here but the complex I wash my car at turn the water off, so I had to wait until early March to wash it, same time frame as if I was in NY

shadowx3081

I know this probably isnt the pace to ask but i have washed my car in the brush car washes for the lack of time i have sometimes and i have been noticing swirl marks how can i erase these marks?? The car still shines and everything but i dnt like looking at those swirls

QT1 5MT AE

iTrader: (6)

this is why i posted how to properly wash a car... there is NOTHING worse during a car wash than those damn brushes. not only they're not the right material to offer a swirl free wash, but think about how many people came before you, embeded all their junk off their car into that brush and now you are rubbing it on YOUR paint. I dont care how much you blast that brush with high pressure water to clean it, it will destory your finish. not even to mention how much people rub that on their wheels and tires to get rid of break dust and mud for the love of god please dont ever go into such washes.

you will need to grab a buffer along with a swirl remover to get rid of those marks. and you will need to maintain superb washing skills to keep it swirl free....

Junkamn2000 on youtube is the man you want to pay close attention to. watch ALL of his videos.

anything else aside from the procedure i posted up a few posts before = paint destruction

shadowx3081

I live in NYC and really dont have any place to do this nor the experience to use a buffer and things like that. Do you happen to know anyone or any place that they offer this service?? The car shines like when i wash it and u really cant tell from far but if u look close and at the right angle then you can c those damn swirls

QT1 5MT AE

iTrader: (6)

drop it off at an an experienced local detailing shop. I believe Big A detailing is in NYC....... at the end of the day it doesnt matter if u get rid of them or not by shelling out a few hundred bucks. what matters is knowing how to avoid the swirl marks by avoiding a bad wash technique. because the very first minute you wash the car wrong again, your $400 detailing job has gone down the drain.

a swirl heaven finish is an eye sore, regardless how clean it is. its like the hottest stripped in the nation, that happens to have STDs

shadowx3081

Ok so you would recomend washing it by hand??? and doesnt washing it by hand still scratch the finish of the car?? and if i take it to a detail shop would it really get rid of the swirl marks or is that just by chance?

EmeryH

I agree. Your procedure in post #25 is very good advice. The most important is to do that pre-soak to help dislodge the worst of the grime, and to always wash the top, gradually working your way down to the lower, dirtier areas last. If cleaned and waxed regularly not even soap is needed - just plain water.

hamzer11

iTrader: (2)

What do these swirl marks look like. Having gone to the hand wash I want to see if I have these. I can't see any but just want to be sure.

QT1 5MT AE

iTrader: (6)

yes wax helps keep it clean and easier to dry. water also goes a long way but road grime comes off best with soap. a car that sat for a day or two collecting dust can easily be cleaned with just water and if there is a layer of wax, hardly any effort is needed to dry.


you have swirl marks. any car that is washed at a wash place has swirl marks. actually let me rephrase that, unless you are an **** pro detailer, u have swirl marks.

IH8SPM

Those swirl marks are a result of the actual forming of the metal and are visible through the paint when the clear coat gets scratched, the paint is fine. Check the detailing section of the how to's and you will see several DIY wax choices. All you need is a wax every few months or as often as this happens as a result of washing in automated car washes. Hand and machine you will always need wax its like lotion for the skin.

QT1 5MT AE

iTrader: (6)

those are very tiny scratches in the clear coat that need to be smoothen out with a mild abrasive.

IH8SPM

Before you go abrasive use a simple cleaner wax like Meguiars cleaner wax with a microfiber applicator after washing it or even machine washing it. Go to the trunk of your car and start there on either corner and work it in using circular motion like in the movie the karate kid but do not over apply just like lotion, enough. Do only half of the trunk. Let it sit for about 5 minutes or longer in an area not that is cool never in direct sunlight very important for DIY if this is your first time. Remove the wax using a micro fiber towel in the same circular motion and there you go all gone. Now do the rest of the trunk and move to the panels. When doing areas near moldings and trim do not use circular motion just apply around those areas to avoid wax build up, that ugly thing you see on alot of black cars that makes them look like chalk boards. Advanced lesson 2 is also available on DVD.

Halcro 1

Are YOU really asking how or what method to wash your car....Funniest Thread Ive ever seen....

2010BlackMax

i used Zaino products on my car http://www.zainostore.com/



I also used it on my parents car, it is an 04 black, and had swirls as well as lots of backed on water spots. I used the Z-pc 1st on their car, then the z-5. Amazing difference. Sorry forgot to take pics of theirs.

On my car, i used the clay kit, then the z5 and a coat of z-2. Amazing! Never thought it could be so shinny. I use to use meguires products on my 08 acura and had great results, but after finding this stuff, i will never go back. I am very happy with it. Oh and no swirl marks in my black max yet!
Oh i usually hand wash the car in my driveway. In the winter I will go to a brush style car wash. Green lantern, they have NEVER put any swirls on my car. They do an amazing job. our max has been through a dozen times and not one swirl mark. I have seen some other brush type washers, and i wouldn't go in there. Im sure its like anything else, there are good places and bad.