At the Car Wash . . .

[tjac003]

Every Saturday morning, I take my Vibe to the nearby do it yourself car wash. Each quarter gets me about 45 seconds of spray time, and I have various options of spray including:spotless rinserinsebug removersoaptire/engine cleanerfoam brushwaxpoly shell protectantclear coat sealantIt takes me anywhere from 5-15 minutes to wash my car, costing about $10.I'd like to know if some of the spray options actually do anything or could even be harmful. Can the tire/engine cleaner damage the paint or engine components? Are the wax, protectant, and sealant even worth doing?Anyone have any car wash insight?

[Kari]

At that rate, you may as well go to a laser touchless, where the premium wash and dry is $8. I'm always leery of the brushes at those places because they're often old or have things stuck to them/in them that will scratch the clearcoat. To my knowledge, though, none of the things it puts out are harmful.

[redlava]

Those things are not harmful to the car or else thy wouldn't be there. But in my opinion the wax and the clearcoat sealant don't actually do anything valuable for your car. I would just stick to the soap and rinse, maybe the engine and wheel cleaner if you don't have any handy.

[wicked1981]

I dont like the brush.. I used to have a black car and would notice small scratches after using the brush. Stopped going to car wash and started to do it myself.

[nismo]

okay, for the brush, pick a panel on the bottom that u won't brush over, that's what I do. And I agree for the brush auto carwashes, i had a 92 grand marquis, black. it took it through an automatic wash and when I got outta there, I had scraches goin down both sides of the car. Was the worst thing that happened to that car at the time.Inder

[Big_Red]

Well, during the summer I will either go to the local detailer and spend $10 for a hand wash or I will go to the coin op and do it myself for about the same amount of money. During the winter, I go to the carwash and spend the same amount. Either way $10 gone, but the quality is not the same at the carwash.

[gpk99]

SOme car washes have horsehair brushes and they are very friendly to my paint .... will the tire cleaner at those things hurt my alloy wheels at all????

[vibebob]

when I do go to a DIY car wash, I always spray the crapola out of the brush and then barely use any pressure with it. I do prefer to go to the lazer wash and get a $1.00-2.00 discount after filling up.I prefer to do it by hand, but I live in an apartment and one of the "bylaws" is NO WASHING OF VEHICLES ON PREMISES.

[zionzr2]

Quote, originally posted by vibebob »when I do go to a DIY car wash, I always spray the crapola out of the brush and then barely use any pressure with it. I do prefer to go to the lazer wash and get a $1.00-2.00 discount after filling up.I prefer to do it by hand, but I live in an apartment and one of the "bylaws" is NO WASHING OF VEHICLES ON PREMISES. The bylaw i hate is that i can not perform oil changes. Theres no water hookups to wash my car anyway.

[Stang2Vibe]

I remember those days with those rules at the apartment. That sucks. I'm not one that always abides by rules that I don't like. I found that it could sometimes be fun to find creative ways to break some of the less important apartment rules .

[KaosStarr]

Alrighy now, I worked at an automatic car wash a few years ago. Which is the only car wash I will goto also. Almost everything there is around the fibers of them mops that extend out that were popular back in the day. Plus they are required to hose them down a few times a day. Which helps get all the crud and that from being on them. But they also have a touchless, which is very unsafe on the paint of your car. They ratio for it changes from a regular wash, its not so much soap and water and other things to loosen dirt. It's much more chemical based and higher blast presure to get it off. You asked about a DIY carwash spraybay. Well most of it is just a wash, the lemon is just lemon sented soap, the finishing wax is just a really light clear coat. Rim cleaner can hurt ur rims if they are hot, it will do what we called smoke the rims. It will either haze or leave spots on the rims, which u will almost have to polish or wax the rims a few times to get it to go away. I hope this helps for some of those asking questions.

[Baltovibe]

Quote, originally posted by KaosStarr »You asked about a DIY carwash spraybay. Well most of it is just a wash, the lemon is just lemon sented soap, the finishing wax is just a really light clear coat.I heard a rumour that DIY carwashes had to recycle their water ... does any of that recycled water get used on my car while spraying? Is the recycled water just collected and reused as-is (soap, chemicals, dirt and all), or is it cleaned up somehow before being reused??

[zionzr2]

Quote, originally posted by Baltovibe »I heard a rumour that DIY carwashes had to recycle their water ... does any of that recycled water get used on my car while spraying? Is the recycled water just collected and reused as-is (soap, chemicals, dirt and all), or is it cleaned up somehow before being reused??I go to this DIY car wash, which is near where I live.this was taken from their page Quote »Why You Should Wash at Magic Wash Car Washes * At a professional car wash like Magic Wash we use about 40% less water than at home. * The chemicals at Magic Wash are designed to clean and treat a vehicle's finish (not do the dishes or the laundry). * We have the most modern equipment in our self serve bays as well as our totally touchless automatic wash bays. * All of our waste water is treated through the sanitary sewer system and disposed of properly, saving our lakes. * Your car is a direct reflection on you, and when it's clean you feel better. * Convenient locations. * Open 5am to midnight, 365 days a year.

[KaosStarr]

Yeah the big metal thing in the bay under the car is known as a pit. It has a drain in it which leads to another bay and then into like a storage tank, then its taken care of by usually the water treatment people. Because there is way to much sludge grim and chemicals to really preserve it since oil leaks in there and anything else that could be on a vehicle.If you wonder the reason there saying no deturgents for your home, is because it will cut a wax usually on the first wash it touches.