Touch-free car wash?

[Erfman93]

So if you live on the east coast like me, you know how I feel about the snow :frusty:

My car is covered in salt and it kills me a little inside when I look at it every day. I washed the car once this winter and it was a pain to do it in freezing weather. What are your guys's thoughts on a touch-free car wash? Will it clean my car well and not damage the paint? Thanks.

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[Tony Alonso]

My winter weather washing protocol using the manual washing bay

1) Use a light pressure rinse to get off the visible surface salt and grime; go at least 2 times around the car)
2) Use pre-soak at least 3 times around the car to pull off as much surface grime as possible that would normally be taken off by friction and soapy water
3) Use normal wash at least 2 times around the car to foam up what has been treated with the pre-soak
4) Use normal rinse at least 3 times around the car to finish

I usually spend no more than $4.50 to do this, and it gets me 85% of the result of the hand wash with minimum effort. Also, after the wash, I immediately get on the interstate and drive for 10 minutes to "blow dry". I go to a car wash that is located further way exclusively for this.

Obviously, if the roads are wet when you leave the car wash, you will get salty road grime on the lower rocker area and wheel wells again. I've done this in temperatures as low as 10 deg F, so in those cases, some water drops will freeze.

Good luck with your wands-only spray wash!

 

[grue]

touchless for me about once a week when bad weather, otherwise when it looks like it needs it. i found one that doesn't use guiderails which is a plus. did this on my old mustang and previous subie no issues... plus cars before that many years... i usually get the basic wash. will do an under chassis flush once and if it's going to be decent weather for a stretch...

 

[paul123]

can you just bucket wash at the car wash? Doesn't get too cold around here, but maybe some waterproof utility gloves would help when its cold.

 

[CompO5.sl0w]

Do you have access to a garage at all? Honestly using some ONR rinse-less washes will be one of the best solutions. It'll allow you to wash it inside the garage. It's a proven wash method, so give it a look.

http://www.autogeek.net/no-rinse-wash.html

Otherwise Tony's method is going to be your best bet.

 

[GDP]

Never had an issue. Though they don't clean super well. But well enough to get most of the crap off.

 

[Erfman93]

can you just bucket wash at the car wash? Doesn't get too cold around here, but maybe some waterproof utility gloves would help when its cold.

I live in Northern Virginia.

 

[Erfman93]

Do you have access to a garage at all? Honestly using some ONR rinse-less washes will be one of the best solutions. It'll allow you to wash it inside the garage. It's a proven wash method, so give it a look.

http://www.autogeek.net/no-rinse-wash.html

Otherwise Tony's method is going to be your best bet.

Will this take off all the salt? My car is filthy. I feel like this would work on cars that aren't too dirty.

 

[paul123]

I live in Northern Virginia.

I have bucket washed my car at a car wash the last few times. $3 each time. Your hands might get cold, but if you have waterproof utility gloves I can't imagine that would be a problem. Going over the car with a clean sponge and wash & wax soap gets all the grime off.

 

[Erfman93]

My winter weather washing protocol using the manual washing bay

1) Use a light pressure rinse to get off the visible surface salt and grime; go at least 2 times around the car)
2) Use pre-soak at least 3 times around the car to pull off as much surface grime as possible that would normally be taken off by friction and soapy water
3) Use normal wash at least 2 times around the car to foam up what has been treated with the pre-soak
4) Use normal rinse at least 3 times around the car to finish

I usually spend no more than $4.50 to do this, and it gets me 85% of the result of the hand wash with minimum effort. Also, after the wash, I immediately get on the interstate and drive for 10 minutes to "blow dry". I go to a car wash that is located further way exclusively for this.

Obviously, if the roads are wet when you leave the car wash, you will get salty road grime on the lower rocker area and wheel wells again. I've done this in temperatures as low as 10 deg F, so in those cases, some water drops will freeze.

Good luck with your wands-only spray wash!

I'm assuming the self car wash already has pre-soak, soap, and pressure settings built into the system? So I wouldn't have to bring my own soap?

 

[Tony Alonso]

I'm assuming the self car wash already has pre-soak, soap, and pressure settings built into the system? So I wouldn't have to bring my own soap?

Yep. I've tried to bucket wash but the water freezes faster than I can get to all of the car. Plus, even with rubber gloves, it's freaking cold :-)

I would use touchless except I don't want to force water into the hood vents of my car. That's why I do the "wand dance" above. I can shoot the water and avoid them as much as possible.

 

[Tony Alonso]

Will this take off all the salt? My car is filthy. I feel like this would work on cars that aren't too dirty.

I have used this when the car has a lot of road grime and salt together. Depending on how your car looks, I would spend some extra time to do a good low pressure rinse (meaning don't squeeze the wand handle otherwise you would blast the grime across the paint). Follow that up with extra presoak to draw off the rest.

I do this on my wife's car and get reasonable results.

If you lived close, I'd spot you a car wash to demonstrate.

 

[mjhousto]

I use a touchless wash during the winter. Mainly because the one near me offers an underwash which helps get the salt off of the more exposed components. If the winter road conditions you see are at all like the ones up here then you really have to choose the right time to wash, otherwise it wont make any difference. I usually wait until either it has rained and washed the salt off the roads or until the roads are dry and the forecast shows that there wont be any snow in the next few days.

 

[jasonstang]

The problem is touchless carwash uses acids to dissolve dirt and grime but it also strips wax in the paint so keep your car waxed regularly.
Does it completely remove dirt and stuff? No, some dirt and grim is stuck to the paint so strong you need physical agitation to get off.

 

[CompO5.sl0w]

The problem is touchless carwash uses acids to dissolve dirt and grime but it also strips wax in the paint so keep your car waxed regularly.
Does it completely remove dirt and stuff? No, some dirt and grim is stuck to the paint so strong you need physical agitation to get off.

This is a good point aswell. However those with most paint coatings won't be affected by citrus-based washes.

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