Grill and Mirrors Melting from Carwash

Hi!

I am new and excited to be here!

Has anyone ever experienced this melting on your grill and mirrors?

It’s the dead of winter here in N Indiana and because of the salt and snow I got an unlimited wash at the local carwash. I went 1-3 times a week this last month. I noticed some weird paint crinkling at the beginning and then it got worse and worse and started even warping the plastic. I took it to 2 dealership, body shops to get an estimate and both said it’s from heat and/or chemicals. As my truck sits outside in all the time the only heat or chemicals that come in contact with it are at the carwash.

Has this happened to anyone else?

 

The front grill melting is not uncommon, I have seen a few of them. But its not from the carwash or chemicals. 100% chance where your parking the sun is reflecting off a window and melting your truck.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-grille-surroundings-melted.666268/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/grill-surround-deformity.513201/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/someone-tried-to-steal-grille-ok-yall-i-get-it-it-melted.600027/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/anyone-here-seen-this-before.481846/

 

Welcome to the forum. That’s just about the craziest thing I’ve seen. At least the repair parts are relatively inexpensive.

 

HOLY HELL!!!

I've seen the melting grille issue (never that extreme), but the mirror caps are something new.

Do you park next to any large glass buildings?

https://www.businessinsider.com/dea...ondon-for-a-few-totally-insane-reasons-2015-7

 

Damn that is crazy, I’ve never seen that happen before.

And Welcome! Hope you get it figured out.

 

Welcome to the forum

Wow! That is a new one for me, very curious of the cause...
At least the parts are fairly inexpensive to repair.

 

Holy shmoly, either your car wash has their dryer set on turbo jet heat or check you latest parking spaces for reflections in glass or other surfaces. You can file an insurance claim since that looks kinda expensive due to the bumper .

edit, never mind, grille not bumper.

 

I remember reading a story about something like this years ago.. about multiple vehicles being damaged from the sun reflecting off their office building. I’ll see if I can dig up the story…
https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/london-skyscraper-can-melt-cars-set-buildings-fire-8c11069092
Looks almost identical to OPs damage.

I’ve been watching where I park since then.

Google ‘solar reflection’ and you’ll learn more about it.

This is *NOT* from a carwash dryer as they do not use heat (just imagine the liability if they did use heat).

 

Its getting wrinkly because its in the water too long.

 

Does the car wash have a heated blower to dry the vehicle? I have never heard of a blower that was heated.

I saw a guy fold the mirrors in on his 3rd gen before pulling into a touchless wash. I thought it was out of the ordinary, because I never saw anyone do that before.

 

Ouch

 

I park my truck in 120 degree weather all summer here in AZ on a black parking lot and I have never seen that. I'd bet the temp of the water was way too high.

 

I've folded my mirrors (forwards and backwards) to try and get that particular side of the mirror clean. But not to avoid damage...

 

It’s not from heat. It’s from reflection/radiation.

 

I was going to ask why he was folding the mirrors. I don't see where folding the mirrors would cause an issue, I couldn't imagine the car wash causing a problem, maybe they had damage caused by a car wash before and it wash a preventive measure.

 

Another reason why I always wash my truck by hand I NEVER run it through any car wash those things will screw your stuff up pronto.

 

Its not from a car wash...

 

I'm curious if he has something close to the vehicle that would do that. I've never seen that before