Taking my GT350 through the guided car wash.

[Hack]

Thread back from dead. I'm currently in a townhouse with gravel in the front and rear (meaning no good place to hand wash my new car). I finally decided it wouldn't melt in the rain and drove it in some crap conditions this week. It looks--horrible. There are several spinning brush carwashes close. I have no PPF and no ceramic on my car. Thoughts about what to do?

I have a long gravel driveway and I tend to go through touchless car washes in the cold months of the year when I can't hand wash the car. And most of the time in the summer I will do the same, because it's easy and gets the worst off the car. I typically only hand wash my car when I need to apply sealant a couple times a year or if I just feel like washing the car.

Based on the location of my home, I will never have a spotless car. I just try not to worry about it.

It's similar to the thought process of deciding to spend money on a car I really love and then actually driving the car rather than not using the car because I love it too much. I'd rather feel a little torment from the accumulating miles and road rash than spend most of my commuting time in a car I hate.

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[NoXiDe]

Take it to a spray off place. I go late at night and bring a bucket/mit and ignore the no hand washing sign. The guy has never cared because I'm the only one there that late.

I did this too but not late a night. I got there at 7 AM and finished around 8 AM. I think the outside temp was 32 degrees and the water temp felt like low 20s. However, I didn't get yelled at and was able to use my 2 bucket system to wash the car. I don't see why anyone would yell, it was dead. My suggestion to you though would be to wear thermal heating clothes so your legs and arms are protected. Wear a beanie hat to keep your head warm and it will be somewhat comfortable to do except for your hands will freezing cold.

 

[tex929rr]

About 25 years ago Autoweek posted a cover photo of a new Ferrari (that was tested in the issue) coming out of an automated car wash. A couple of issues later they posted a couple of pages of letters about what horrible people they were and how badly they mistreated the car. At the end the letter they posted a short blurb about where the photo had been taken: the Ferrari factory at Maranello where every new Ferarri went through the same wash.

 

[montreal ponies]

So what’s that in real money? Like $35?

More like a rip-off if you ask me.

 

[Niz55]

I take my car to self car wash and wash it the proper way .

Use the brush to clean wheels first and than clean the body.

No need to thank me. Free tips for forum members .

 

[derand]

I still wash my GT350 in the brush wash every day that I drive it with no problems.

 

[derand]

Video:
[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]pWn0a_siql8[/MEDIA]"]

Before

After

I gave it a quick rinse after the drive home, I got a bit of salt on it after the wash.

(EDIT: This car is completely wrapped in PPF. This is one of the benefits of the self-healing film, you don't need to worry about swirl marks and paint damage. If I didn't have complete protection, I would never go through the carwash)[/Q

Today March 28, 2019, the car looks as good as the day I wrapped it, even after the hundred's of car washes it's been through.

 

[JR369]

Never used an automatic carwash with any of my mass produced cars. Not about to start with my mass produced R... Bristles on paint and wheels? Lol.

 

[lightrules]

About 25 years ago Autoweek posted a cover photo of a new Ferrari (that was tested in the issue) coming out of an automated car wash. A couple of issues later they posted a couple of pages of letters about what horrible people they were and how badly they mistreated the car. At the end the letter they posted a short blurb about where the photo had been taken: the Ferrari factory at Maranello where every new Ferarri went through the same wash.

i guarantee you that ferrari car wash isnt the same as joe's car wash down the street.

 

[Andy13186]

What I do is go to a touch free car wash that also has those high pressure self serve sprayers. I spray the whole car with soap spray then I get a netted sponge out of my trunk, get that soaped up and clear the bugs off the front bumper and hood, then I take it through the touchfree wash. Works well. I dont bother trying to keep my pp1 wheels clean , that would be a nightmare lol.

Total cost is $12 and I do it about once every 2 weeks.

 

[2015Etrac]

I use the self spray washes but recently someone posted that the water is recycled at car washes and some salt still remains in it? Does anyone know if this is true? I generally bring a 5 gallon bucket with sealed gamma lid to the car wash, that I fill at home with warm water, you just have to be careful not to use warm water in freezing temps since the warm water could potentially crack glass.

 

[Hack]

I use the self spray washes but recently someone posted that the water is recycled at car washes and some salt still remains in it? Does anyone know if this is true? I generally bring a 5 gallon bucket with sealed gamma lid to the car wash, that I fill at home with warm water, you just have to be careful not to use warm water in freezing temps since the warm water could potentially crack glass.

I would be very surprised if there's something water soluble like salt that is in most car washes. If there was, the residue would show up on your car when the water dried off. I guess your car wash may vary. If you see super bad water spots in any areas that aren't perfectly dry I would guess there are minerals in the water.

At my house the hard water from the hose makes really bad spots if I don't get every bit of water off before it dries.

 

[Austinj427]

I use the self spray washes but recently someone posted that the water is recycled at car washes and some salt still remains in it? Does anyone know if this is true? I generally bring a 5 gallon bucket with sealed gamma lid to the car wash, that I fill at home with warm water, you just have to be careful not to use warm water in freezing temps since the warm water could potentially crack glass.

Reclaim water. Since ~2005 any new car washes in Colorado are required to be reclaim.

There is some truth to it.

I would be very surprised if there's something water soluble like salt that is in most car washes. If there was, the residue would show up on your car when the water dried off. I guess your car wash may vary. If you see super bad water spots in any areas that aren't perfectly dry I would guess there are minerals in the water.

At my house the hard water from the hose makes really bad spots if I don't get every bit of water off before it dries.

It definitely does show up when the car dries.

I maintained/managed a full service car wash for a few years. You can achieve a clean car with a reclaim car wash if everything is working correctly, especially with fresher water in the tanks. The water is usually checked in PPM, I don't remember the exact numbers but after being there for a while it was obvious when you would need to drain the tanks and have them pumped/refill them.

There is no real fancy filtering setup on those, at least on ours. They use gravity tanks that separate the contaminants across 3-4 underground tanks. The water moves surprisingly slow and it does actually knock a lot of stuff out of suspension but it would never compete with a freshwater store. Average freshwater stores would use about 50-60 gallons per car, vs reclaim at 10-15 gallons per car. Although, any money you saved from water costs was wasted in terms of electricity (constantly pumping ozone into the water with 2 dedicated 5 hp pumps).

I know far too much about the systems if you have any questions.

 

[nimblepony]

I use touch-free laser car wash only, myself. Never those evil spinning cloth things that beat the snot out of the car and leave swirly streaks. My wife does that to her camero; I'm not doing that to my GT350. After that, I hand detail, clean and shine, the entire car and follow it with Beadmaker for a lasting, water and dust repellent shine. (Well, lasting until time for the next wash. )

 

[Nfs1000f]

I would be very surprised if there's something water soluble like salt that is in most car washes. If there was, the residue would show up on your car when the water dried off. I guess your car wash may vary. If you see super bad water spots in any areas that aren't perfectly dry I would guess there are minerals in the water.

At my house the hard water from the hose makes really bad spots if I don't get every bit of water off before it dries.

I also have very hard water at my house. I found a great way to get my car rinsed and not have to rush to dry it. I use water from my dehumidifier that I save in 5 gallon buckets between washes. After a full wash and rinse from the hose, I take the water in the 5 gallon buckets and dump it on my car with a smaller bucket. This is a great way to remove the hard water off your car and it definitely eliminates most spotting.

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