Do any of you use Local Carwashes???? Or Power Spray Washes????

[Joe 5.0]

Well i hear you, financing it is way easier than shelling out 2k. But if you correct your car yourself applying cquartz yourself shouldnt be a problem. It seems daunting but once you get the hang of it its a breeze. Your car will swirl waaay less. Also carpro reload does a quite frankly amazing job at hiding swirls. And its a matter of spraying and wiping.

When hou get your next car look into faynlabs self healing ceramic, its amazing, 0 swirls in 2 years in the car i know has it, and i mean 0 like it was corrected yesterday

I'll definitely be keeping this in mind. Thanks!

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[Cody B]

I have been for years and now with new wheels it looks like the track in the carwash and messed up the front driver side wheel. I'm pissed as I know it will keep happening after I get it fixed if I go back.



I have been going here for year $32 a Mth. for unlimited full service carwashs.


I like to wash the car about 2 days a week. So I don't know if I should just start using the local Power spray place and doing it myself.


Have any of you guys run into this? What do you guys do?

I would rather prefer washing my car with car wash products-like chemical guys, TopCoat, Meguiars etc available in the market. For my 2016 Ford Fiesta, I prefer using products of TopCoat. They give an excellent shining surface and I don't feel the need of going to car wash stations-unless its a major dirty work!

 

[Deleted member 35786]

Daily driven cars will be scratched and dented, that's just a fact of life. I wash mine with a foam cannon on my pressure washer and one bucket to rinse the mitt, and usually just blow-dry it. There's still scratches popping up here and there, not worth the blood pressure to sweat over.

Agree. Wash it every few weeks at home. Put a coat of Nu Finish on it about twice a year and its good. Nice thing about the Panhandle is its mostly sandy dirt so car really never gets that dirty. And once you hit a big Tstorm it washes it all off. Terrible living here... lol

 

[99Zeus99]

I wash my Mustang by hand but carwash for the truck and winter cars because I need the underbody flushed more than anything. A car wash once a month in the salt belt will save your car for many years. A new car without and underbody flush will last two winters before rusted to shit.

 

[Cobra Jet]

To avoid swirls:

If doing waxing/washing by hand DO NOT SWIRL by moving in a CIRCULAR motion on the body panels. THAT is what causes the swirls, period. Also don’t put muscle into the mitt against the body panels, it’s not necessary, you want to glide across the body panels with minimal effort.

Automated car washes that have any type of circular or rotating mass that rubs up against the body also causes the swirls. Most newer auto car washes now have very long micro fiber “curtains” that move side to side when it comes to the wash application.

Think of any body panel as a piece of wood - go with the grain. Meaning, the hood, roof and trunk lid go FRONT TO BACK. The front fenders, doors and rear 1/4 panels go LEFT TO RIGHT (or side to side). The front and rear bumper covers - again left to right or side to side.

If hand washing the car - ALWAYS start at the roof and work your way down. So, in this order:

Roof
Hood
Trunk lid
All side panels (front fenders, doors, rear 1/4s)
Front bumper
Rear bumper
Lower rocker panels
Wheels

Why in that order (and some are probably thinking that’s nuts) - because if doing the car in that manner there is less chance of getting debris in your mitt/sponge/cloth and smearing it alll over the car FIRST - then getting the same debris in it LAST where IF there is the chance of contamination and scuffing anything, it’s where it won’t really matter... Plus when starting at the top, you’re rinsing any dirt/debris DOWN and off the vehicle so there’s less of a chance of debris getting in your washing mitt early on.

Again, if you’re washing, waxing or detailing a car - never circular - that’s what causes the swirls which will show more so on dark colored cars than any other colors.

The type of mitt/sponge/cloth material matters as well. Try using a micro fiber mitt or cloth to wash the car and rinse often during the cleaning, less of a chance of messing up the clear coat. Sponges are really porous as are thick “fluffy” mitts/cloths - those will trap debris and you risk a greater chance of damaging a body panel if that debris seeps out when applying the sponge or fluffy mitt to the body panel.

To go one step further beyond washing concerns, check out my response in this below thread about using a mechanical applicator for applying your favorite wax/polish and for removing it. The type of mechanical applicator mentioned will not leave swirls at all and in fact speeds up the whole detailing process immensely.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/wet-sanding-2-years-later.109511/

Cheers!

 

[rocky5517]

I owned a car wash in North Jersey. All of the rinse water has some wax in it, whether you ask for it or not. We used to call it "cheater wax". The idea is, to get the cars dry quickly you can't afford to have the towels get loaded with water after every car. You'd spend way too much time and money trying to keep up with drying the towels. So, the "cheater wax" lets the air blowers blow off most of the water. Much less water for the towels to absorb. The bad part is, wax will build up on the windshield after a while. I used to use witch hazel or alcohol to get the windows rid of the wax build up.

 

[Bear376]

I go through the wash bay, but start with the pre-wash, use rinse only to get rid bugs and bird poop. Then I make sure it is thoroughly rinsed with the spot-free rinse. If it is very cold, I may go through a Touchless system I know. The big issue for me is making sure that mud and other contaminants do not stay on the paint. Once a year, I have a local Adams rep do a good detail and put their ceramic coating on. I use a spray detailer when possible after washing to maintain the gloss the rest of the time between coatings. You have to be realistic about things. No matter what you do, some idiot is going to screw it up. After getting my hood repaint under warranty, I put a bra on the car and drove it 1000 miles for a show. I took the bra off and wiped it down, drove the short distance to the show grounds, and was stopped to make a left to go in. An idiot with a sand truck and no required tarp went barreling passed me and made all my efforts for naught.

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