Touchless car wash?

[Rampat]

I haven’t had a black truck in a long time and with work and a 5-month old and having to mow my lawn 3 times a month this time of year I just don’t have the time to commit to washing it myself enough. I definitely won’t go through a normal car wash but I have never tried touchless before. Do they work? There’s one near my house with signs up that say “Tesla safe” for what that’s worth.

 

[cotonymopar]

I think they are more hit and miss, depends on the amount of cleaners they get on and pre treats....

 

[Pressgrove]

I use them all the time. As new empty-nesters, we have sold our home and live in a rented place with no outside hose bib.

If you get the "premium" washes, the spray wax builds up over time and leaves a cloudy film that shows pretty bad on black. Otherwise, it's not bad.

Don't expect perfect results. Slightly below average is probably the best you will see. You'll most certainly have some water (or soap) come out from under the plastic thing on your sport hood. I always do mine when I'm driving somewhere so it dries better as I drive. Usually just enough water gets in your door sills so you can clean them out afterwards too.

 

[wahudiditagain]

Brushless wash plus a spray mist detailer to knock off the water spots and shine it up. Something like Meguiars quik detailer works well and is what I use.

 

[SpeedyV]

I haven’t had a black truck in a long time and with work and a 5-month old and having to mow my lawn 3 times a month this time of year I just don’t have the time to commit to washing it myself enough. I definitely won’t go through a normal car wash but I have never tried touchless before. Do they work? There’s one near my house with signs up that say “Tesla safe” for what that’s worth.

They don’t work “great”. If your vehicle is mostly dusty, they’ll do alright. But if you’ve been driving through muddy water after a rainstorm, don’t waste your money.

I’m frustrated to live in the middle of a huge urban area, and yet it’s almost 30 minutes to the nearest touchless wash in serviceable condition. Seems like a business opportunity...

 

[Biga]

I haven't tried one in a long time. I can do a quick handwash at the do it yourself car wash in 15 mintues and get better results.

 

[Rampat]

I haven't tried one in a long time. I can do a quick handwash at the do it yourself car wash in 15 mintues and get better results.

I wish we had those. I live in Boca Raton and everyone here is too prissy to do it yourself. We either have gas station brushed car washes, this one brushless I found 2 miles from my house, or very expensive detailers.

 

[B-Rebel]

I have used touchless car washes for a long time. They will make it look somewhat clean but most of the time won’t remove all of the bugs and whatnot. I usually end up washing it again the same day. Consider it a pre wash for really dirty truck . I also fold the tow mirrors in, but at the very end of the air dry cycle it blows the mirrors out and I have roll the windows down and fold them back in to drive out of the wash. Man I sure wish I didn’t have these damn tow mirrors

 

[Jtr]

I haven't tried one in a long time. I can do a quick handwash at the do it yourself car wash in 15 mintues and get better results.

+1 to this if you have a manual spray bay option. In the winter months this is my procedure: presoak solution wheel and tire area, front grill. Then pressure wash rinse and then use a quick 2 bucket method. Then rinse again, follow up with spot free rinse and dry with microfibers. It's a lot quicker this way for me in the winter then mess with the house hose, pressure washer, etc.

During summer months I take time to detail in the driveway.

 

[Jtr]

I haven't tried one in a long time. I can do a quick handwash at the do it yourself car wash in 15 mintues and get better results.

+1 to this if you have a manual spray bay option. In the winter months this is my procedure: presoak solution wheel and tire area, front grill. Then pressure wash rinse and then use a quick 2 bucket method. Then rinse again, follow up with spot free rinse and dry with microfibers. It's a lot quicker this way for me in the winter then mess with the house hose, pressure washer, etc.

During summer months I take time to detail in the driveway.

 

[Rampat]

+1 to this if you have a manual spray bay option. In the winter months this is my procedure: presoak solution wheel and tire area, front grill. Then pressure wash rinse and then use a quick 2 bucket method. Then rinse again, follow up with spot free rinse and dry with microfibers. It's a lot quicker this way for me in the winter then mess with the house hose, pressure washer, etc.

During summer months I take time to detail in the driveway.

Tell me about this dual bucket method. I’m the ignorant guy who always just used a mitt and scrubbed on silver cars and never thought twice about it.

 

[StuartV]

What about a truck with a ceramic coating? Would the touchless car wash then be likely to get the truck pretty clean?

 

[Jtr]

Tell me about this dual bucket method. I’m the ignorant guy who always just used a mitt and scrubbed on silver cars and never thought twice about it.

Two bucket method is: fill both buckets with water, one being with your favorite car wash shampoo. The other with plain water is your rinse bucket. I like to use 2 grit guards in the rinse bucket. Something like this: Viking Car Care 919501 Bucket Insert Grit Trap https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L4K5TCP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_IhSgDb8VB574K

The concept is thought to help keep sediment out of your wash mitt you use to clean the car. I.e. dip wash mitt and soak in the soapy water, clean a panel in horizontal stroke. Then agitate the mitt against the guard in your rinse bucket. Any sediment should get trapped at the bottom of the grit guard. Then repeat. I have had great success with this method to reduce swirl marks. I recommend giving it a try.

 

[_StangPGH]

We have some good touchless "laser" washes here. The newer ones are better as they spray a rain shower spotless rinse at the same time (right ahead) of the dryer then the dryer goes by itself again. Pretty slick.

Any caked on mud, salt, etc I hit with the manual spray wand before hand. The regular quarter car wash is at the same place as the laser washes.

Ceramic coat definitely helps! I also use a product called Shine Armor Fortify in between washes which is an awesome hybrid ceramic spray detailer. Makes water bead like crazy and nothing really sticks to it. Available on Amazon.

This pic is a few days after a laser wash and Shine Armor treatment with a light rain in between (just sitting not driven.). I haven't had the truck properly ceramic coated yet.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[riccnick]

The only reason I use the touch-less washes over doing it myself (other than convenience when I can't wash it properly), is to use the undercarriage spray to get salt off in the winter. Other than that, I just use them to get the truck semi clean, or as a kind of maintenance wash between deep details that I do myself.

 

[Clean19]

I haven’t had a black truck in a long time and with work and a 5-month old and having to mow my lawn 3 times a month this time of year I just don’t have the time to commit to washing it myself enough. I definitely won’t go through a normal car wash but I have never tried touchless before. Do they work? There’s one near my house with signs up that say “Tesla safe” for what that’s worth.

If you dont have the time, but you DO have the money, pay to have it ceramic coated. You could get it cleaner than 99% of cars with just a bottle of dilute ONR and some nice mf towels, once coated.

 

[thabiiighomie]

What about a truck with a ceramic coating? Would the touchless car wash then be likely to get the truck pretty clean?

With a ceramic coating and some PPF, dirt will roll off easier. You should avoid the spray-on waxes in touchless car washes. The ceramic coating acts as a permanent wax and re-application of a wax will not look pretty. May glob up or cake onto the exterior.

 

[riccnick]

With a ceramic coating and some PPF, dirt will roll off easier. You should avoid the spray-on waxes in touchless car washes. The ceramic coating acts as a permanent wax and re-application of a wax will not look pretty. May glob up or cake onto the exterior.

I haven't heard of any issues applying wax on top of ceramic coating. (I do however think it's counter intuitive)

I have used spray wax on my truck that is ceramic coated, and the only "issue" I noticed was that (obviously) the hydrophobic qualities are reduced with the wax layer, as there is more surface tension causing the water to bead up on the surface instead of roll off completely. But that is to be expected.

 

[thabiiighomie]

I haven't heard of any issues applying wax on top of ceramic coating. (I do however think it's counter intuitive)

I have used spray wax on my truck that is ceramic coated, and the only "issue" I noticed was that (obviously) the hydrophobic qualities are reduced with the wax layer, as there is more surface tension causing the water to bead up on the surface instead of roll off completely. But that is to be expected.

I just listen to what my detailer says lol. He did my paint correction, ceramic coating and paint protection film for both of my vehicles. I have a few bottles of high quality wax he suggested me not to use anymore.

 

[riccnick]

I just listen to what my detailer says lol. He did my paint correction, ceramic coating and paint protection film for both of my vehicles. I have a few bottles of high quality wax he suggested me not to use anymore.

That's because he doesn't want you touching your truck, when you could be paying him to, lol.

In actuality, it's probably more of what I mentioned above. Waxes and coatings have very different hydrophobic qualities, and you're counteracting the highly hydrophobic coating with a wax that will actually help to hold water onto the surface of your vehicle. Notice how water beads up on wax, but runs off completely on the coating? That's the big difference a lot of people don't understand about coatings, and some are even deterred from coatings and think it "doesn't work" because they don't see the beading they are so used to associating with a good proper paint protection layer like wax. There's a big issue in detailing right now with products (and companies) that don't perform to peoples expectations, despite the fact that they are doing exactly what they are designed to do. To the point where some companies are putting out "ceramic" products that encourage beading, which is counter intuitive, just to make the customer happy and get the sales. It's an issue of educating the customer, vs just giving them what they want even though it's not the best for them or the vehicle.

And, as a detailer myself, the real concern is a customer using a product incorrectly and causing damage to work done previously that would need to be repaired or redone completely. If you apply some wax and put swirls in your coating, or even worse, your paint, he's gonna have a lot more work to do and you're gonna be unhappy with the coating protection, even though you caused the damage.