Roof flex at carwash

Decided to get a subscription to a touchless carwash since I live in the North East and they assault the roads with salt almost weekly. Going through the wash during the high pressure drying phase I heard a large popping noise. I am guessing the pressure from the blower pushed the roof in and it popped back out. I did notice two small dents on the roof that very well could have already been there. The roof does appear to have a good amount of flex. Is this normal or did I get the post covid low build quality Tacoma? My 17 never made had issues at this wash.

 

Some of the washes have very aggressive blowers,,,too aggressive in my opinion. Probably too many Karen's bring their car back because of a water line when they got home. I rarely run my through a wash, but when I have the hood looks like it's going to do the same.

 

I think next time I go I am just going to drive right out and skip the blowers. They open the door so its kind of optional. I could care less about the water marks, just trying to get the salt off.

 

I have not seen this on mine and I use the automatic to clean salt off in the winter. That said,the blowers vary greatly in power.

 

I run mine through every few weeks in the winter. The wash has an aggressive blower dryer and my roof does the same thing. 2017 here. Never seen any damage from it and I’ve been experiencing it for the past five years.

 

Wait until they blow your upper roof mouldings off. LOL! Ski

 

The place I go to used to have 1 big blower that I could see blowing on my hood. Their newer equipment now has 6 smaller blowers with wide angle nozzles.

 

I can't see a blower causing 2 dents. I too use them in the winter without issue.

 

automatic car washes do little or nothing about getting salt out the nooks and crannies where rust forms. They only clean the painted exterior and that makes people feel good because that’s all they look at.

 

But the colors, oh the colors that cascade all around, and the rainbow lights and swirls. It so much fun.

 

Your profile is bare. What year do you have now?

 

I wouldn’t think the hood would flex, it is not just one panel. The roof I doubt would either, there seems to be ribs in it just to prevent that.

 

Yep, been there, had that happen. Copious amounts of 3M black gasket maker/sealant took care of the moulding later.

 

There are some posts with photos on here somewhere of dented rear fenders from those types of washers. I wouldn’t do it.

 

My 23 Access Cab roof feels like a coke can when i wash it...cant put any pressure on it at all

 

The first time I saw someone post that an auto wash had dented a panel, I really wanted to call bullshit, but I've since been through a wash in our beater Camry that blows so hard you hear the roof buckling. Same thing with our 4Runner on the couple occasions I broke down put it through the auto wash abuse.

 

I only use the auto for the "under carriage" wash. I doubt if it does more than I can with the wand and getting on my knees, but I don't have to get on my knees.

There was like 50 vehicles at the carwash yesterday. I wasn't waiting in that line.

 

In my experience, undercarriage washes are crap. They leave obvious crud everywhere under the truck. I always take my truck to the manual car wash after an off road trip. That’s the only way it gets clean. Caveat: Mud and dirt are harder to get off than salt.

 

I doubt if the UC was does a great job. The carwash attendant is going to yell at me if I show up with a muddy truck.

I wouldn't mind an undercarriage only wash, that's kind of my only goal when it comes to salt.

 

Yeah I only go through the auto washes for the undercarriage wash in the winter months. Figured it's much better than doing nothing to address the salt. Since I bought my truck I've kept an eye on the other tacomas on the road here (Wisconsin) and I hardly ever see obvious rust on the painted body panels, which is not something you can say about certain other truck brands out there (*cough* Dodge wheel arches *cough*).