Touchless Carwash???

B

BlackBenz2

New member
What do you guys think about touchless carwashes for undercarriage wash and for during the winter . Just curious. Thanks!
 
If you're on the go, I guess it would help but probably not completely remove road salts it that's what you are after. I think the only way to truly clean the undercarriage is to put it on a lift and use a pressure washer with some detergent. But who has regular access to that. and during the winter?:dance
 
Yeah i never go to those car washes but thought since they were touchless they could get off any salt in the winter. but in the winter time my hose gets frozen
 
in the winter I take the car to the coin op touchless wash with my sheepskin mitt and two buckets of rinse water. I use the foam gun they have and spray it on the car, let it sit, and then rinse it off, foam again, and wash with my sheepskin while rinsing with the rinse water.



I make sure to spend a good amount of time in the wheel wells and running boards.



By the way, you posted this in the wrong section of the forum.
 
I use a touchless in the winter as well. I'll run through it a few times in the summer also, just to get the undercarriage.
 
A word of caution on some automatic washes. Some of them recycle the water which means you could get a nice salt water spray in places that you don't want salt!



I will use them if I'm short on time and want to knock off the big chunks. Usually it is the self serve washes for me. If I go late at night, I use my own buckets and soap without anyone hassling me.



Randy
 
BlackBenz2- Welcome to Autopia!



I do a far better job on undercarriages in my shop, doing them manually, than the touchless washes do (and I don't use a pressure washer), but the touchless would be better than nothing.



All touchless washes aren't the same, but the one my wife uses on her trips to TN (IIRC it's in Nashville) does an OK job and doesn't strip the LSP.



Don't dry by touching the panels though, the touchless won't get all the dirt off and trying to dry it with towels/etc. will result in marring. Use their blow-dry thing or just let it drip/air dry.
 
Accumulator said:


Don't dry by touching the panels though, the touchless won't get all the dirt off and trying to dry it with towels/etc. will result in marring.
Click to expand...



very very good point...I think that deserves some mention again
 
I am by no means experienced when it comes to this. Last year I drove my now 40K mile 96 Impala SS through the entire winter; on long trips from NY to PA. I hit salt, snow, Ice, Acid Ran,... you name it, I got stuck driving through it. I powerwashed the car every other day (sometimes every day depending) at the local coin op. On the weekend I ran it through the machine car wash (which I am sure nobody here condones). Well, at the end of the Impalas first and hopefully last winter, no undercarriage rust at all. I spent 5 days (my week off) detailing the body of the vehicle and managed to get it looking better than when it was new. So all in all I guess it worked out. If I could give any advice, it would be keep the salt off the car at any cost. Most of the random scratches and marks you will receive washing the car in the manor I did are removable... large chunks of rust are also removable but they always seem to leave big holes afterwards!



JUst my $0.02

DG
 
ZimRandy said:
A word of caution on some automatic washes. Some of them recycle the water which means you could get a nice salt water spray in places that you don't want salt!



I will use them if I'm short on time and want to knock off the big chunks. Usually it is the self serve washes for me. If I go late at night, I use my own buckets and soap without anyone hassling me.



Randy
Click to expand...



I used to manage a full service car wash and they did recycle their water. Most are required to, depending on volume of cars they do. Otherwise, its a monsterous waste of water. It was first filtered and softened before going back out to the wash, but its still never perfect. I'd never use anything but a touchless now but otherwise, its the pressure washer and buckets at home.
 
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