Will car wash damage my 2020 ram 1500?

[Camelot]

I live in MI, so not very far north, and the winters are pretty mild. (Our roads are crap though) I do automated carwashes year around. But my opinion is that my truck is a utility vehicle, I really don't care if the paint gets worn. I would feel different If I had a Lambo.

 

[mophead]

I usually always wash my vehicles by hand
But today I tried the touch less car wash and the dryer at the end is blowing my wipers around a bit and the wipers did a sweep while the blower was hitting it could it damage the wiper arm?

Didn't see anyone answer your question so here goes. It shouldn't cause any damage to the wipers at all. They're designed to be able to wipe at 100+ mph. Maybe not effectively but work without flying off or bending. When I used touchless car washes in the past, I always turned the wipers on to let the air blow the water under the wipers off.

If you have rain sensitive wipers, they will turn on every time, lol. I always forget to turn them off when it stops raining. Could be a problem if they got tangled in a brush car wash though. (OH, I will never have to worry about that one)

 

[loc8or]

Touchless ONLY guys! When I was in high school I worked at one of these car washes with brushes/carpets. Only once a month were they taken off and cleaned. I saw some incredible dirty vehicles. Don't know what they do now. So... many years later I bought a brand new black truck. It was the nicest and priciest 1/2 ton on the lot. They gave me a coupon to go fill tank up and get a car wash. So I did. BAD IDEA! It scratched the whole truck. Swirls and streaks all over clear coat. So I ended up with a new truck with 50 miles on it that needed the whole truck buffed. Was a battle but the car wash paid for it.
Have never been through one with brushes since.
Lesson learned.

 

[Dewey]

Living in Wisconsin road salt does way more damage than any car wash will. Especially the new brine they’ve been using lately, it gets EVERYWHERE. At least far north they use more sand and much less salt. That helps a lot.

When temps are sub zero for sometimes weeks at a time that salt is eating away at everything and hand washes are completely out of the question for 4-5 months a year. This is where touch-less car washes are handy. Just rinsing that salt off at them on a regular basis is huge especially with under body flush. I’ve never had any body rust start on any of my vehicles so it’s obviously helping. Guy’s I know who never wash vehicles in the winter drive rust buckets.

Pretty much impossible to have a show quality finish for the life of your vehicle unless you live in an exceptional climate and protect from any inclement weather or never drive it and keep in a climate controlled garage. That being said after 4-5 years I have never had one negative comment about my vehicle paint condition when selling. One thing I do from time to time is clay the finish to remove environmental fall out that invariably ends up in the clear coat. That greatly improves the finish appearance. Doing that a few times a year really keeps that gritty feeling at bay. Is it a perfect solution? No, but works for me.

 

[Dewey]

Question for you winter up north guys. So when it’s the nice season are you still using those car washes or do you switch to handwashing again?


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Both

 

[mophead]

Living in Wisconsin road salt does way more damage than any car wash will. Especially the new brine they’ve been using lately, it gets EVERYWHERE. At least far north they use more sand and much less salt. That helps a lot.

When temps are sub zero for sometimes weeks at a time that salt is eating away at everything and hand washes are completely out of the question for 4-5 months a year.

They are likely using salt brine with magnesium chloride or calcium chloride especially when it's really cold. Salt stops working at 21°. Extremely corrosive stuff. The mag will attract/hold moisture. You need a barrier to keep it from sticking. Flushing with water won't get all of it out of the nooks. Might want to pre-treat your under carriage with Zepreserve NC from Zep. Good stuff.

 

[mikeru82]

Didn't see anyone answer your question so here goes. It shouldn't cause any damage to the wipers at all. They're designed to be able to wipe at 100+ mph. Maybe not effectively but work without flying off or bending. When I used touchless car washes in the past, I always turned the wipers on to let the air blow the water under the wipers off.

If you have rain sensitive wipers, they will turn on every time, lol. I always forget to turn them off when it stops raining. Could be a problem if they got tangled in a brush car wash though. (OH, I will never have to worry about that one)

His question was answered in the first two responses in this thread LOL. Guess you didn't start from the beginning.

 

[mophead]

His question was answered in the first two responses in this thread LOL. Guess you didn't start from the beginning.

I NEVER read the first two sentences. Ask @Eighty

I even said I didn't see ( turns out, the first two answers) DUH-ME

 

[Idahoktm]

They are likely using salt brine with magnesium chloride or calcium chloride especially when it's really cold. Salt stops working at 21°. Extremely corrosive stuff. The mag will attract/hold moisture. You need a barrier to keep it from sticking. Flushing with water won't get all of it out of the nooks. Might want to pre-treat your under carriage with Zepreserve NC from Zep. Good stuff.

North Idaho was mixing beet juice into the salt brine for a few years. Beet juice helps to neutralizes the corrosive properties of the salt and it improves the capability of the brine to melt ice in colder temperatures. I'm not sure why they stopped using it but I'm guessing it was too expensive.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

Yup. Or clear coat looking like chalk. And then people come on here and complain “pos manufactures can’t make ‘em like they used to!”


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You actually have it backwards. They don't chalk up because they don't make em like they used to. Carwashes keep them clean now.

 

[ferraiolo1]

Having a little too much whisky and forum browsing?

They chalk up due to the clear coat being eroded down due to harsh chemicals and friction due to improper washing.


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[Mountain Whiskey]

A lot of trucks are utility vehicles and are rightly treated as such. But many newer trucks are $69,000 luxury vehicles that look incredible. I don't know about you, but I'm going to treat a vehicle I paid $69,000 for a lot better than a utility vehicle.

You know the utility trucks are the expensive ones. Go price up a 3500 with a nice service body from Knapheide or Reading. You will admire how cheap the old 1500 is. Even if you paid $69k for it

You nailed it there cap'n. Except it takes me a lot longer than 30 minutes to hand wash my truck. Just drying it off takes that long LOL. Need to look into getting a blow dryer I guess. I Just hand washed and detailed mine on Sunday. Took almost 3 hours, but she looks great now that the winter grime is off.

Wow! Takes me 10 to 20 minutes. Just depends on the line.

Spends what $40K+ on a truck and can’t be bothered taking what an hour or two a week to do a proper hand wash.. the logic here is amazing lol. I could understand is it was $1k beater Honda but cmon these trucks aren’t cheap. Most of us kill more time watching their favorite sports team multiple times a week.

Sure if your swapping trucks every few years not a big deal right pawn it on the next buyer or come on here complaining about Rams quality because their clear coats taking a beating weekly.

I’m extremely busy most weeks but even I can find the time to do a proper wash at least every two weeks or so and I’m constantly on the road working so it’s coin wash bay and two bucket method or I just leave it dirty until the jobs over and I’m heading back home then do a wash there. Usually never takes more then an hour or so using pressure washer and blower. Interiors done weekly because I can’t stand a dirty interior.

Like others have mentioned foam cannon, pressure washer and blower and keeping your truck waxed or ceramic coated every once in awhile really helps make the process quicker.
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I hate to break the news to you. You better sit down. $40k is just a beater.

Wife didn’t wash her car in a month after all these random snow storms. Foam cannon, blow dry, then wiped with some ceramic detailer. Squeaky clean in less than an 45min.

It’s a metallic black car under the foam.

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What are you doing? Are those HARSH CHEMICALS?!?! Noooooooo! Your paint is going to fall off.

 

[ferraiolo1]

Ph neutral foam wash suitable for waxed and ceramic coated vehicles as to not erode the coating


Unlike high alkaline soaps used in automatic car washes.

How many whiskys are you deep on this tipsy Tuesday? I just finished my bottle of Jefferson ocean.


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[Mountain Whiskey]

Ph neutral foam wash suitable for waxed and ceramic coated vehicles as to not erode the coating


Unlike high alkaline soaps used in automatic car washes.

How many whiskys are you deep on this tipsy Tuesday? I just finished my bottle of Jefferson ocean.


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None tonight. Down to my last half gallon jar. I will have to tap one of the barrels to see if it is ready to jar up next week. If not, I may resort to some clear for a while.

 

[JoeCo]

Not ruin, damage, and that's immediate. "Ruining" the paint depends on a lot of different factors.

I'm from Ohio. When I lived up here, I drove a "winter beater" I didn't care about or I sprayed it down in a bay once a week and then gave it a proper cleaning in the spring.

Ok, but damage to what extent? We all have our standards and what we are willing to do to maintain them, but if it's not effecting the value of my vehicle or how it looks, then I don't care and I'll take the rust free truck and convenience.

I had a winter beater once when I was 17, that was fine for back then but that won't work anymore having a family and the amount of travelling we do. I'd love to save the truck the winter experience but I already have one vehicle I store for winter and it would be goofy to shut down two vehicles, especially having one that costs so much, for half the year every year and add another expense for another car/insurance/maintenance etc.

Question for you winter up north guys. So when it’s the nice season are you still using those car washes or do you switch to handwashing again?


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All year but as mentioned in my reply above I have a vehicle I store in the winter and enjoy driving when we can in the summer. That vehicle requires hand washes and it's hard enough for us to find enough time to knock that out even a handful of times over the course of the season (we have our daughters softball constantly during that time of year in addition to our regular responsibilities). Being on the road in some form most weekends during the spring/summer/fall results in tons of road grime and bug splatter constantly and hand washing the truck just to have it get completely dirty again soon after just isn't worth the time and effort for me. That and our weather is very rainy here so you're generally not going to get more than 2-3 days without rain if you even get that, at least with the car I can just put it in the garage to keep it clean for long periods, can't do that with the truck being the daily driver.

I'm envious and would prefer to have the time to hand wash (although I'm very much enjoying our daughters softball and would not trade that for anything) but maybe some point later in life.

 

[truckless]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I am retired with lots af free time and am OCD about keeping our vehicles clean. I can't stand the thought of anyone touching my paint but me.

Yeah I spend 3-4 hrs every week washing/detailing...but hey I probably burn 1000 calories in the process which means I can indulge in beer & Pringles afterwards with no guilt whatsoever lol

Couple years ago....right before covid I was at a hotel and parked a mile away from anyone. Get up early in the morning and still nobody around me except one truck right up against me. Could have parked anywhere but this guy decided to nuzzle up to me. Then I saw it....he hit my door. I review the dashcam footage and the motion detection picked him parking followed by an impact detection. I did something I am not proud of but man it made me feel better (but the way I see it the ******* had it coming) as I gripped my key ring and with keys poking out and returned the favor with several good punches to his door.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Ok, but damage to what extent? We all have our standards and what we are willing to do to maintain them, but if it's not effecting the value of my vehicle or how it looks, then I don't care and I'll take the rust free truck and convenience.

Damage to any extent isn't acceptable to me when it can be easily avoided.

I had a winter beater once when I was 17, that was fine for back then but that won't work anymore having a family and the amount of travelling we do. I'd love to save the truck the winter experience but I already have one vehicle I store for winter and it would be goofy to shut down two vehicles, especially having one that costs so much, for half the year every year and add another expense for another car/insurance/maintenance etc.

I gave two options that are both better than using an automatic wash.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

Damage to any extent isn't acceptable to me when it can be easily avoided.


I gave two options that are both better than using an automatic wash.

You better go trade that powder puff in for something with 3.21 gears if it can't take getting scrubbed clean!

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

You better go trade that powder puff in for something with 3.21 gears if it can't take getting scrubbed clean!

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, all those scratches and the clear coat removed to fix them goes back to payload.

 

[SD Rebel]

Lol, we still doing this?