Touchless Car Wash?

I wouldn't recommend it, they have to use fairly strong chemicals to remove the dirt which will also strip off your wax leaving your paint unprotected.

 

They are "touchless" only because they are rinsing your car down with hyrdroflouric acid. It's highly corrosive and such, but hey, it's your property...

 

Interesting. I had to Google this to find out what it's about, as I often use coin or automated washes for my cars. It looks like that chemical is no longer used...

"In today's modern car wash facilities, whether tunnel, in-bay automatic or self-serve, soaps and other cleaning solutions used are designed to loosen and eliminate dirt and grime. This is in contrast to earlier times, when hydrofluoric acid, a hazardous chemical, was commonly used as a cleaning agent in the industry by some operators. There has been a strong move in the industry to shift to safer cleaning solutions. Most car wash facilities are required by law to treat and/or reuse their water and may be required to maintain waste-water discharge permits, in contrast to unregulated facilities or even driveway washing (at one's home), where waste-water can end up in the storm drain and, eventually, in streams, rivers and lakes."

 

I send my daily driver through, but would not do the Ferrari F355 since the windows leak and also it will shoot water into the engine bay through the ventilated engine cover.

 

It's only when you manually wash your own car that you notice small problems before they become obvious at a distance. If you use automated cash washes or a detailing service you won't be able to fix a problem until it gets serious.

If anything's really important on your list, you have to attend to it yourself.

 

I will run my DD Mercedes S550 through a touchless car wash after I've rinsed the whole car off with a spray gun and rinsed the wheels and wheel wells thoroughly. Then, I'll dry it with a microfiber towel to avoid water spots.

I have run my M5 through a touchless wash, but felt guilty about it. Usually, I hand wash the M5.

I only hand wash my 360 at home personally (not using a third party hand wash) with Zaino brothers car wash and using Todd Cooperider's (Esoteric Auto Detail) tutorial / process. I've been really pleased with this - I don't have any swirl marks... yet...

 

I've found the touchless washes to be fairly worthless. The only reason to use one is if you got an emergency cleanup of bird poop all over your car and you need to hose it off before you can do proper clean up at home. Otherwise, you might as well just go home and spray the car with a hose, because that is all the touchless wash is doing.

 

I get my two normal cars hand-washed at the local car wash, and have even had them clay bar the cars and do a full wax. I had my F Car color corrected and sealed, so I hand wash it, and then do most of the drying with a Master Blaster air dryer (which also cleans out my garage in about 6 seconds). I then finish with a touchup of Meguiars Ultimate Quick Detailer to lift any water spots. I actually have started to enjoy washing the car, and agree you'll see minor things you might miss otherwise.

I hadn't really thought about the chemicals they could use in the touchless washes at gas stations, and have lazily used them for the other cars when they're dirty and I just want them clean. I'll look into what they use, but may just start washing all of them since I'm getting back into the habit.

Bob H

 

I've been lucky enough not to have used any car wash in years. My wife's Benz gets a free wash every Sat at her local dealer. My Ferrari dealer offers free car washes to its customers on an any business day basis.....Both hand washed.

 

I would run a replica through it.

 

I cover the engine with a thick towel prior to washing the car and then dry the damp areas off afterward. If you go through the touchless wash with the engine hot, not sure if the car will be very happy and also will get some hard to remove waterspots.

 

I never use a hose on my car. 2 buckets are all that's needed. And you really get to know every inch of it when you hand wash carefully.

 

I go to the you squirt it type. Soap, spotless rinse, microfiber towel off with wheels and wheel lip last. Then spray on polish enhancer spray. Drive home and redo spots. The pressure type sprays are great to remove suicide bugs and dive bomber residue. BTW touchless car washes recycle filtered soap water which cannot filter out salts. Although you get a clear rinse they have just pounded salt water under high pressure into areas where it has never been before.
GTS Bruce

 

Nope...

 

I have not.

 

No.

It would have to be an emergency. Something like sap or pine tar and I had to get it off fast if too far from home.

 

Wrong. 100% Unicorn tears. Filtered through reverse osmosis ten times ten.

 

Organically fed unicorn tears. The hormones in the cheap stuff will etch your paint.