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

[GasPedal]

I've been doing the power wash myself. I don't trust the car wash after the swirls on my new Altima so I don't want to add anymore to my used Mustang. The place by me is great, $1 for 2 minutes of washing. So usually its a buck for power soap, a buck for power wax, sometimes when I feel like it a buck for some foamy paint conditioner, then a buck to power rinse. $4 once a week and 15 minutes of work.

Edit: more than anything I got tired of leaving the auto wash and then getting out of the car to realize that my car looks like it just took a mud bath (happened a lot in the winter) and still had soap coming out of the cracks at speed. I have to live with water marks but sometimes a little laziness goes a long way to helping you enjoy something that could be hit by a drunk driver at any moment.

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[Joe 5.0]

I hate the heat too much to get a black car ever again. White wasn't my first choice either, but I knew I would eventually wrap the whole car anyway.

If you wrap the car, then you probably won't have to worry about swirls!

 

[HotBadgerFart]

I just found what looks like rust bubbles on the edge of the hood, above a headlight. Not happy.

 

[Joe 5.0]

I just found what looks like rust bubbles on the edge of the hood, above a headlight. Not happy.

I'm pretty sure quite a few members have found shoddy paint work on their vehicles. If you're still under warranty, take it in to the dealer. That is unacceptable.

 

[HotBadgerFart]

I'm pretty sure quite a few members have found shoddy paint work on their vehicles. If you're still under warranty, take it in to the dealer. That is unacceptable.

Just hit 39k. FML.

 

[HotBadgerFart]

Rust above headlight https://imgur.com/a/eUEJ4C7

Dealer wants me to bring it in tomorrow, said they might be able to get Ford to warranty it anyway.

 

[RaceRed5.0]

That's pretty bad, I hope you can get it fixed. I have something similar like that on my roof it's smaller though but its in that little canyon that sites on either side of the top of the car.

 

[BmoreRuby]

Probably not rust

I'm pretty sure quite a few members have found shoddy paint work on their vehicles. If you're still under warranty, take it in to the dealer. That is unacceptable.

The hood is made of Aluminum. The bubbles are real but not rust. The Al hoods tend to have issues with paint bonding. My wife's '12 had a similar issue. It seems to be near the front of the hood most of the time likely due to the seem underneath where the metal is folded but often not adequately sealed.

It's fixable but I don't know what Ford does about. Al is hard to work with but a good body and paint shop should do a nice job.

Update: Hope I did not speak too soon. Saw the pics. Could not tell if it was body panel or hood. Sorry if I gave bad advice.

 

[Nagare]

The hood is made of Aluminum. The bubbles are real but not rust. The Al hoods tend to have issues with paint bonding. My wife's '12 is had a similar issue. It seems to be near the front of the hood most of the time likely due to the seem underneath where the metal is folded but often not adequately sealed.

It's fixable but I don't know what Ford does about. Al is hard to work with but a good body and paint shop should do a nice job.

Update: Hope I did not speak too soon. Saw the pics. Could not tell if it was body panel or hood. Sorry if I gave bad advice.

It's been an issue for years, see this thread. I know I read before (not sure if on the S550 or S197) that it was because of different metals being in close proximity to each other. Some people in the past have been able to get it covered by something other than the standard 36k/3yr warranty so there's hope.

 

[lisandra]

Really???

Not driving it is stupid, not washing it is equally stupid. It's 2018 and there's plenty of people who keep their cars swirl free. I bought my 2015 new and it looks 98% like new. No swirl marks at all under the high noon sun and it sleeps outside. It does have the odd fine scratch here and there but you really have to be close and under the sun to see them.
- get the front bumper clear wraped with a self healing film.
- do the same for the rear quarters (rock chips)
- ceramic coat your car
- foam cannon your car and power rinse it with hot water.
- wash the car with the two bucket method, if it's too dirty rinse your mitt every time.
- blow dry or PAT dry your car. This is where people introduce swirls. Dont use a chamois. Get a big borderless drying towel.
- cover your 50k$ piece of metal if you live somewhere with a lot of shit in the air. It takes 60 seconds to put on at night and less than 20 to take it off.

If your car is ceramic coated, wether it is the expensive one or the diy, the car won't get super dirty and whatever sticks will rinse off 90% once you're done with the foam cannon. From start to finish you won't take more than an hour.

 

[Cody B]

Instead of going to local power spray places for the purpose of just washing car, its really worth if you use good sealers available in the market. I personally use products of TopCoat for my Ford Fiesta ST. It hides micro-scratches & swirl marks more effective, gives long lasting results, is more durable, and extremely easier to use on glass.

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[Joe 5.0]

Really???

Not driving it is stupid, not washing it is equally stupid. It's 2018 and there's plenty of people who keep their cars swirl free. I bought my 2015 new and it looks 98% like new. No swirl marks at all under the high noon sun and it sleeps outside. It does have the odd fine scratch here and there but you really have to be close and under the sun to see them.
- get the front bumper clear wraped with a self healing film. Agreed, but this is expensive.
- do the same for the rear quarters (rock chips) Agreed, but this is expensive.
- ceramic coat your car Agreed, but this is expensive.
- foam cannon your car and power rinse it with hot water. Most people only have access to cold water (myself included).
- wash the car with the two bucket method, if it's too dirty rinse your mitt every time. Agreed, but the mitt should ALWAYS be rinsed in between panels.
- blow dry or PAT dry your car. This is where people introduce swirls. Dont use a chamois. Get a big borderless drying towel. Agreed.
- cover your 50k$ piece of metal if you live somewhere with a lot of shit in the air. It takes 60 seconds to put on at night and less than 20 to take it off. Doing this every time you take the car out is annoying, and sliding a cover/touching the paint everyday will introduce swirls. A car should be 100% clean before sliding a cover over it.

If your car is ceramic coated, wether it is the expensive one or the diy, the car won't get super dirty and whatever sticks will rinse off 90% once you're done with the foam cannon. From start to finish you won't take more than an hour.

It's near impossible to keep the car swirl free, no matter how careful you are. My 2015 has very fine swirling, and I only use the two bucket method along with pat drying the car. Swirls are inevitable.

The beauty of washing the car properly and introducing only fine swirls is that the swirls will be much easier to correct.

 

[lisandra]

It's near impossible to keep the car swirl free, no matter how careful you are. My 2015 has very fine swirling, and I only use the two bucket method along with pat drying the car. Swirls are inevitable.

The beauty of washing the car properly and introducing only fine swirls is that the swirls will be much easier to correct.

Well, how expensive is it where you are? Clear bra for the areas mentioned can be had for less than 1k. The most I've seen it is 1300. Not expensive at all.
Neither is ceramic, 1kish for the pro versions is not a lot. Remember what you paid for the car. If not you can do it your self for less than 150$
Hot water makes it easier but not an obstacle if u dont have it.
Rinsing the mitt can actually dig the dirt in there. If it's super dirty ill use 2 mitts. One for the lower half.
A quality cover will have soft wool like underside, but of course you should cover it only when clean. It literraly takes a minute! And I said only at night, where the car is more time sitting.

It is very possible to keep it swirl free

 

[Joe 5.0]

Well, how expensive is it where you are? Clear bra for the areas mentioned can be had for less than 1k. The most I've seen it is 1300. Not expensive at all.
Neither is ceramic, 1kish for the pro versions is not a lot. Remember what you paid for the car. If not you can do it your self for less than 150$
Hot water makes it easier but not an obstacle if u dont have it.
Rinsing the mitt can actually dig the dirt in there. If it's super dirty ill use 2 mitts. One for the lower half.
A quality cover will have soft wool like underside, but of course you should cover it only when clean. It literraly takes a minute! And I said only at night, where the car is more time sitting.

It is very possible to keep it swirl free

The term "expensive" is subjective. I wish I would have incorporated clear bra and/or a ceramic coating into my financing, but I didn't have much knowledge on these subjects back in 2015. Now, with the fine swirling and rock chips, it's too late in the game, in my opinion. Now, I only handwash the car and correct the paint myself once a year (or every other year).

I don't have access to free flowing hot water here in New York, but I wish I did. It would make cleaning the car in the winter months much more enjoyable, haha.

As for mitt rinsing, I scrub my mitt against my grit guards. Good call on using 2 mitts!

I'm fortunate enough to have a garage, so I don't need to deal with the covers. But like you said, I'd only throw on a cover if the car was spotless.

 

[lisandra]

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

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