Car Wash Question

Let me clarify by saying I really don't care if my clearcoat / paint gets a bit degraded over time by using a carwash. If you stand 10 feet back, it still looks fucking great!

 

Find a touchless car wash and be done with it. Then clean the wheels with a rag and call it good.

 

I used to be on the hand wash only team, but mostly because I enjoyed doing the work and seeing the results of that work vs believing it was better than an automated car wash. But older now, lower back issues, time is more limited, and touchless car washes are pretty good so my truck gets ran through typically once a month on average - in the spring/summer, its gets covered in pollen and dust where I live (near a farm so lots of dust around us), and in the fall/winter, I run it through the car wash mostly to get de-icer chemicals off the truck. Nothing stays clean in the PNW if driven when its raining most of the time so its mostly to keep the undercarriage clean. Winter time I may just use the pressure wand stalls as well, as I'm not trying to clean it so much as get rid of the crud.
Once a year it gets polished and waxed. No issues yet.

 

find a brushless car wash that has an air dryer. I run my Tacoma through one periodically.

Those car washes with the strips that go i circles are bad on your paint. The ones with rotary brushes are just as bad.

 

I could spend an hour hand washing it, but I value my free time. Sure the clear coat gets fine scratches in an automatic wash, but it's a truck not a show car. I'll do worse things to it off road. And the previous owner was a fleet, so I'm sure they had a wash subscription.

There are only two automatic tunnel car washes in town that I will use, that are gentle enough and reasonably priced. The touchless ones seem too aggressive (spraying water where it shouldn't be) while also not really getting it clean. And many of the tunnel ones are too aggressive. The last one I tried, when I was away from my usual spots, pulled the plastic weather stripping out of the roof.

I'd rather spend my time working on something mechanical, where I can save significant money versus paying a shop.

I also take my daily driver through the automatic wash. That is a purely utilitarian vehicle, getting me where I need to go while spending as little time and money as possible.

Now that I have a big camper on the back, I guess I need to switch to the spray it your self pressure washer type carwash.

If the car is extremely dirty from winter grime or mud, I'll at least try to rinse it off with a hose before I go through a non-touchless wash.

 

I do my washes in the morning. I have started as early as 8AM. I am an early riser, and the most productive in the first half of the day. I do not live in the temps as OP described I imagine if it's 100 at 11PM, it's probably mid-to-high 80's at 8AM. Put on sunscreen, wear a hat and get at it.

 

For the past 12 years I have run my black truck almost daily through an automated car wash. I buy an unlimited car wash subscription. I have 205,000 miles on it. I live where salt is plentiful and they use a ton on the roads. I have almost zero rust underneath. If you really stare at it you can see slight lines. If you step back 3 feet it’s as shiny as hell. I’d run it though the automated car wash. So much more pros than cons. The only drawback is having to remove the antenna each wash. I’ve been through about 4 of them but buy the cheap ones at autozone.

 

I do "touchless" with under spray all winter to keep the salt away. In the summer I get my wife to wash it, with the occasional trip to the Car wash.

 

I found a good touchless wash and use it regularly. In my experience, the dedicated touchless washes are good. The two-mode washes where you can pick between cloth and touchless are garbage.

 

Super white.
Zeeeeeeero shade.
Phoenix temps and sun - I think we're on course for 118 today, 91 for the low around 4:00 am.
Not even noon and it's 111 out there.

 

I've never run my truck through an automatic car wash, because the owners manual says if you have a sunroof not to.

 

I don't have one.
Never had a car/truck that has had one.

I'd never use it. I look at them as a potential future problem.
Seen what happens when the drain line comes loose on a Mercedes once.
Water on the inside........No good.

 

Man that’s crazy

To be honest, the whole point of shade is to let the paint cool down. Regardless if you wash it yourself or go through a car wash, the paint is going to be hot either way.

Like what most are saying, taking it the through a wash here and there is fine but I wouldn’t do it consistently.

I don’t go through at all, but that’s just me. I’m also the type of person to do a two bucket wash method with dirt traps, several mitts, etc.

 

No car wash for me! Ever.
The touching ones are horrible. The crusty chunks of dirt from the last 20 cars are just rubbed onto your vehicle.

The touchless ones don't clean the layer of dust on the paint. Then the guys at the tail end of the wash rub this dust vigorously into your paint with their dirty rags. I cringe every time one of them drops the rag on the ground, only to pick it up and keep rubbing!

Man. I don't envy that. We get a few days with highs in the 80's and that is enough for me for summer. It is impossible to escape heat.

It is 81F here today. Beach weather. I can drive 5 miles east up the hill to get to 100F (I would not!), AND I can also drive 3 miles west to the coast and get to temps below 70F!

 

Bet that made quite a mess if that car.

 

I used to be anal about having a clean shiny vehicle.
Now we have 3, a Vette, a suv, and a Taco.
I don't worry about shiny and clean any more and just enjoy them.
They get cleaned when the weather and me are in the right condition and mood.

 

I always wash my own vehicles, I just don't trust those carwashes..but that's just me..

 

It hit 118 today. Might have crossed to 120 in a few places. More of the same for the next 7 days or so....

Brutal.

 

This question comes up pretty often and I really think the answers you get are somewhat generational. As you get older, stuff like shiny cars and protecting clear coats really doesn't move the "care meter". Don't get me wrong, I keep my truck relatively clean and looking good. But I could care less about micro-damaging a cheap paint job by running it through an automated care wash. Hell, I would even run my Corvette through a car wash every now and then. Like I said, I am in my 60's now and have a really hard time caring about shit like the paint job on a mass-produced truck.

 

My Tacoma is a 2005. It get a good Correcting Polish and Waxing every year before Hunting Season starts. It has spent it's lifetime going though Carwashes. And it goes once a week and the paint is Fine.