Car Wash Question

I need to wash the truck but at 118 degrees out during the day, and a brisk 100
degrees at 11:15 pm I just can't bring myself to do it.

Do you folks run your truck through a car-wash?

I got some steps on it but nothing else.

Yea or Nea on the car-wash.

 

For the last 15 years, I've been running my truck through the car wash.
I have no plans of stopping.

I still have paint and plenty of clear coat left on my truck.
It will be fine.

 

Is it a dry heat? If so, have a T-shirt on, then go jump in the pool just before you wash it (t-shirt will keep you cool as the water evaporates).
No pool? Spray off with the hose.

Only car wash I'll use are the self-serve ones where you spray it down with the wand yourself, otherwise I do it myself in my driveway.

 

I personally have hand washed every car/truck that I’ve owned, regardless of temperature. I get mine ceramic coated every few years to persevere the life of the paint and car washes can eat away at the coating with how harsh they can be sometimes.

One thing to note, I will always make sure it is in shade when I do.

What color is your truck? Darker colors will show swirl marks and general abuse more than lighter colors.

 

Look, we all know the downside to running it through the car wash. If you're doing it once or twice a week, your clear coat will eventually show fine scratches. If you do it a couple times a year, you're probably going to be ok. I just hand washed mine on Sunday because we were blessed with a 60 degree morning. I'm guilty in the winter of running it through the car wash to get all the road salt off of it.

 

I use a touchless wash but I make sure to towel dry it after even if the wash has a blower.

 

Hand washed all my vehicles for the past 45 years. To this day I would never run mine through a car wash!

 

It ain't a Corvette brother, send it!

 

Alert the car wash police! Hand wash only!

 

Sounds like you prefer to hand wash but are debating running it through a car-wash.

My truck always has a good coating of wax, so I don’t care if my truck is dirty. I will hand wash it when I can.

 

My truck has black paint. No swirl marks for 8 years from day one. I went through the car wash, no issues. I detailed it after wash, it looks new like day one.

 

This ^^^ . I too have been using a car wash for years. No problems, truck looks great. Do what ever you want to do but a car wash will not hurt your paint. For me washing and waxing my vehicles is a time consuming pita. I’d rather spend my time doing things I like doing like hunting, fishing, drinking beer. I’d rather watch paint dry.

 

I usually hand wash/clay bar/iron remover/turtle wax (the wax+ceramic type) in the early spring and late fall. In between, I hit a car wash which is not a touchless. I work downwind of a steel mill, the soot is doing more damage than the car wash ever will, so I try to get it washed every week or so.

I do the spring/fall cleanings as a way of both getting everything really clean so I can look things over, and to apply a wax/ceramic compound that is easy to apply. I find the turtlewax stuff lasts 4 months or so, and when its gone you can see the difference in how salt/slush/rain sticks to the body, but I'm not trying to find a place to re-apply it in february. Twice a year is sufficient as a buffer, imo.

 

I'm of the opinion that most people put more scratches in their clear coat with a dirty hand washing sponge than I've put in mine running it through a touchless car wash in the same number of washes.

That dirty soapy water in your wash bucket halfway through the job is full of fine abrasive particles.

 

It's funny that apparently the general consensus is auto car washes are paint safe across the board.
On a sunny day, I can walk up to a vehicle and immediately tell if it's been a regular at the $20 a month unlimited club..

 

I do the drive-through carwash a handful of times a year when the weather is too crappy to wash it myself. It won’t hurt the truck. If you were doing it multiple times a week for the entire year then it might be an issue after a while.

I recently had the exterior of my truck detailed and the detailer said my paint is in excellent condition. He assumed I only hand wash it.

 

I’d argue that this also depends on where you live. Hotter climates will be less forgiving with cars/trucks with no wax or sealant. Some get lucky, others don’t.

 

It is indeed.

My elderly mother regularly uses the local auto wash, and has for years.
The wash has removed the paint from all the high spots on all the lower body plastic panels.
Now matter how shitty, a hand was isn't going to accomplish full paint removal.

 

I'm squarely in the middle here. I prefer to wash mine by hand, but it is a royal PITA. So mine sees the car wash 1X per month or so.

I think it is very important to note that car washes and car paints are significantly better than in the past.

My first job was at a local car wash in 1984. The day I turned sixteen I went and filled out an application after school and got hired on the spot. At the time, I certainly didn't appreciate the harsh chemicals and the brushes in use (like broom bristles).

"Wheel service" was an upsell option. We had this pump sprayer bottle and it was probably some sort of hydrochloric acid in hindsight. I'll never forget this. True story. I'm stationed at the wash entrance. Pre-soaking and pushing the green Send button. After making sure the power antenna was down. This was back in the day. Anyway, this Porsche rolls up and this nice lady states "I paid for wheel service too." OK, I'm your huckleberry. Tip of the cap.

I get the sprayer bottle and starting spritzing on the first wheel. They appeared grimy, like a lot of brake dust, and it instantly started fizzing and I was like "Wow, this shit is working great." By the time I got back around to the D-side front wheel it was VERY apparent this stuff was REMOVING the satin like finish coating - whatever it was on the wheels. As the cleaner was dripping off, it was leaving behind VERY obvious streaks of cleanliness - down to the bare metal. They were grey to start with. Now they looked almost silvery. But streaky as f**k. This is not good.

I start spraying like CRAZY. Maam, I'd like to go around one more time to make sure they get really clean. I basically used the whole gallon on 4 wheels. Used the pressure wand and they looked shiny and brand new! Complete change in appearance and texture.

Hit the GO button and ran to the supply room. Which was around back and where we all smoked the hippie lettuce very happily when the owner wasn't around. I was thinking "She's gonna be furious!" So I might as well take the edge off for this a$$ chewing I'm about to get.

Much to my delight, she was one of those customers who did not get out of her car after getting a wipe down by the guys at the a$$ end. The vacuum station was at the front end back then. And she was one of those customers who jumped back in her car after the vaccum to take it through. Anyway, I was peeking down there and when she pulled out into the street I was like "Dang. I cannot believe that just happened".

So I ran back to the supply room to celebrate a bit. LOL. I'll never forget it. One of my buddies was in there waiting / taking a break. We had Full Serve pumps back then and he was working the pumps and it was quiet at the moment.

And he said "I SAW WHAT YOU DID THERE". Hand me that pipe. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Its not like that anymore.

 

Drive-thru touchless every 2-3 months, that’s it for me. I might handwash the front if there are a lot of bugs, but that’s about it.
There’s one car wash in town with a stack of torn off car trim pieces outside the door. I avoid that place.