LC CCS Pad Question

V

vallibus

New member
At the risk of being accused of heresy, is there any kind of automatic car wash which won't scratch or otherwise damage the finish on your car? With winter on the way, it would be nice to have that as a backup. Unfortunately there are no coin-operated do-it-yourself car washes near my home. Thanks for any info.:confused:
 
I cant think of any automatic car wash that doesn't cause <em class='bbc'>some[/i] kind of damage, but touchless ones are probably the safest. Try to find the ones the send a "waterfall" of water... not the ones that grind dirt into your paint and damage the seals.

Most importantly, keep your paint protected with a durable synthetic sealant.
 
the 3 problems i have with touchless carwashes is the soap may strip wax, the water may not be of best quality, and not all the dirt is taken off, and if they dry your car then you've got swirls instantly :(





nice research study! when i whip out my rotating wet rag arms that fly everywhere I really get at my car and take off 1/10 th of my car paint (do they even know most cars are clearcoated?)



It's all in good fun, if they want to think that, that's cool cause we do what we do, it's just interesting that this is from a university setting and not some 3rd party setting, you'd think they'd be smarter than that and add more than just one control in the experiment (they needed to test more than one method to test handwashing)



They just proved what we already know (for us not doubt) that this, "The four men showed up in four different sections of town enthusiastically sponging and lathering their test cars as if they were their very own. Bystanders could see one man hard at work in a do-it-yourself self-service type of car wash with high-pressure water facilities; another was busy at home with the garden hose and a water spray-brush. One man scrubbed away utilizing a bucket, a sponge, and a garden hose." is way worse than a car wash.



But we don't do this and our washes are way softer than a car wash. I want them to test my PBS/foam dispenser mini-mf method vs a car wash ;) (sorry this turned out long, need more sleep...)
 
even the 'touchless' car washes have a track that you need to put two of your wheels (one side of the car) into. this pulls the car though a metal rail system which can scratch your rims. mine got a little scratched, not bad, but bad enough to stop using the car washes.

be careful of the rails!!!
 
Steve, I think you have identified the fallacy in the test: what did these four fellows do? I have no doubt that "scrubbing away" (the words from the article) at a dirt-encrusted car damages the paint.

Washing a car requires a strict regime to avoid damage, as we all know. And, we know that any time you <em class='bbc'>rub the paint[/i] you are at risk. Whenever you are about to rub the paint, you better know why you aren’t about to damage the paint.

This means that you have to get as much dirt as possible off the car before you touch the paint. I rinse with a hose, and then forcefully spray using a hose attachment that mixes car shampoo in with the water. My purpose for the actual washing (mitt to paint) is to remove film, smudges, etc., not dirt particles. The last thing I want to do is to try to <em class='bbc'>rub off[/i] dirt particles, large or small. That is just going to abrade the paint.

Even with this "pre-wash" technique, frequent and thorough rinsing of the mitt is vital. Rinsing when you can see the dirt is too late. If you can see the dirt, it means you have already been rubbing the paint with a dirty mitt.

There are two earlier steps that are key to the process:

a. don't let the car get too dirty to begin with and,

b. if it does get dirty (despite garaging and covering), don't let dirt get "caked and baked" on to the car.

The two points above mean:

1. keeping the car garaged and covered when parked out of the garage, and

2. checking-out the car when you come out from a store, etc., to see if you have any bird bombs or other contaminants on the paint and removing them right then before they have a chance to set or dry on the paint.

Using this approach, my car never gets "dirty" to begin with. Now, in bad weather, mud, etc., it takes a lot more work to use this approach. It means not really "washing" the car, but carefully removing mud splashes, etc. immediately, before they harden and while they can be rinsed off or, if you did not get to them quickly enough, trying to hose them off with pressure or letting them soak in a shampoo solution. I just assume that if I have to forcefully <em class='bbc'>rub[/i], there is a significant chance I am about to damage the paint -- maybe a lot, or maybe just a tiny bit, but something.

If the above is required to avoid damaging the paint, what do you think the four "hand washers" were doing to the paint during the university test?
 
LOL -- JPS. I am sure you are right. I recognize my routine works well in So Calif, but would become more challenging as one moves East.
 
just curious how just drying automatically gets swirls in the paint? may be a silly or naive question, but how do they occur? thanks
 
At car washes they don't always use fresh towels (let alone they never use microfiber)



On touchless car washes (that have hand driers) they wipe the dirt that didn't come off with these towels, this get's smeared right on your car.
 
Ach du liber! Well, that's what I thought. Stay away from automatic car washes. I'll just continue to do what I'm doing now: wash at home, QD, etc.--stuff I've learned here. My neighbors in NYC will probably get a real charge out of me doing a QD while there's snow on the ground. :rolleyes: Thanks to all for the info and suggestions.
 
I have emailed the University for further details of this 'research' it would be very interesting to read the original document.



Steven

Alfa 164
 
I recently purchased the above noted pads from PAC. I used an orange and a white on a M105/205 combo on one car. Half way through my second car I noticed that the white pad was completely destroyed. The pad seperated from the blue portions and came off. The orange bad is on it's way there.

Just wondering what the shelf life is suppose to be on these things? One car seems pretty short.

Also, after the last use I cared for them properly, cleaned, dried, etc. So the fault wasn't mis-care or anything like that.
 
94Canuck,
I am sorry to hear you are having problems with your pads. I don't remember PAC ever getting a complaint like this. We have been selling this technology since the early 2000's (2002/2003) and have sold tens of thousands of pads in all sizes and styles, and I have never heard of this failure. I would be interested in knowing what method you were using. Was it a RO or circular polisher? You mentioned that you cared for the pads properly, (I am assuming you were using the Orange with the M105 and the White with the M205) did you actually clean the pads and dry them while working one car? Because this problem is so unique, I am interested in the details. Let us know and we will look into the possible causes.
Thanks
jk
 
The pads were used on a PC 7424xp.

In terms of the car, I followed the instructions with the pad care kit I also purchased. I prepared the snappy clean solution and allowed them to soak for a bit. I didn't wring them out or anything. I put them on the PC and spun the excess water out at a low speed for about 45 seconds or so. Then allowed them to air dry out.

I'll get a couple pictures here soon so you can see what I mean.
 
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