I just went through the tunnel wash on my way home today! They used extra cicada remover for me. They are out thick in my area right now.
Yea, I know, a car wash. Well, it is a truck. Sure it looks good but really, some dumb *** at the store is going to ding the door soon. Then I will hit the tailgate loading something. Then the windshield will get sandblasted driving in the winter. Then some bird is going to crap straight acid on it. The list goes on.
The carwash will be the least damage I can hope for.
Besides, if it waits until I hand wash it you will need a shovel to get the dirt off.
I bought my first new car 6 years ago. I spent $3,000 on an initial paint correction, film, coating. I had Opti-Guard on the carpets, Opti-Glass on the exterior and various trim pieces all covered with oily hydrophobic stuff that came with a 7 year warranty from OptiCoat. I had everything perfect and then went on a twice a year service plan with a great detailer that is amazing.
He lives 2 hours south which is the closest shop that offers PPF/Ceramic coatings that isn't just some kid with a carport.
I then proceeded to daily my car through our 6 month Winter. I would clean it all winter every week and used all of the expensive stuff that I bought from Chemical guys and even when it was like 20 below zero outside, you'd see me brushing my allow wheels and keeping the hard to reach bits beautiful. I also had the undercoating done on the bottom of the car and the engine bay.
One year goes by and its September and I'm prepping for winter again and I go to my shop and pay him another $600 for a full detail and refresh of some of the ceramic coating. He then spend half an hour going over all of the marks on my car, swirls, dings, piano black trim damage, scrapes on the wheel where the guys who did my wheel swaps screwed up one of the holes a bit and chipped off some of the aluminum and where my dog had scratched the hatchback getting in and out even though 9 out of 10 times I'd pick the dog up and let him out. I had even bought this carpet flip out mat thing to keep him from scratching up the rear hatch but that vinyl scratchy material when he puts his paws down scratches and swirls the paint anyway because it's an abrasive carpet material my dog slides on to get in and out.
...I was horrified. I babied this car and it was in utter disrepair!
Then I went to my Audi shop and they put it up on the lift and most of the OEM suspension components already were starting to rust through. My rear end links were rusted through and VW denied my corrosion claim after 12 months, 20K miles.
and so at that point, I decided "screw it. This is New Hampshire, I live on a dirt road, it's snowing October - May with salt on the road. I'm never going through this BS ever again"
I've had a lot of people ask me about my $76,000 truck and aren't I wrapping the entire thing? Hell no. Because New England Winters are vicious *******s. They'll destroy everything you put in them. When I move back to Florida, I'll take care of my stuff but for the last 2 years, I've washed my VW twice by hand and 2 more times, my detailer did it and he pointed out some new dings and scratches but nothing horrible.
The first year and thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours I spent keeping my car perfect did nothing to offset that damage from our salty/dirty/sandy roads. Simply not washing the car at all does no additional damage. My 7 year OptiCoat warranty is up in September and so I'm going to let him touch up all of the spots one more time for about $600 in labor and then I'm done with any products that supposedly protect the car.
The only way to protect a car is to not drive it.
sorry for the rant. good on you guys for wanting to preserve your stuff but I just don't see a point. It's an expensive truck but it's a truck.
Oh and another thing, the used car market is completely chock full of 95% of vehicles that the owners did nothing but go through a car wash once a month. It never saw a single coat of wax and people value them identically to the vehicles who had an owner / detailer that fussed over paint thickness, carbon coating, waxing. My point is, if you're selling the truck in the next 5-10 years, don't do anything. The next owner isn't going to give you the $5,000 you spent in detailing. They're going to roll up, "cool paint looks nice" then they're going to drive home, go through a $5 ****ty car wash and go about their day.
