Touchless wand and drive thru car washes.

Concours.John

Concours.John

Auto Detail & Restoration
With a couple days of rain I finally had the time to play around.

As I have been accepting more outside work aside from collectors a topic has come up. My coating clients who can not do regular hand washes wanted to know how to pick a good touchless establishment. Many here are DIY type but some are learning and even myself just run out of time for it.

The first step is to know how these systems work (link below). How the operator takes care of their facility is of prime importance. Even if they keep it clean they maybe using outdated equipment. Its worth walking in and checking the type and model then Google it. If they are willing to spend the money on a spotless facility and latest equipment its more likely they are maintaining it. How they maintain the filtration and types of chemicals they use can greatly effect outcome. The latest systems use biodegradable products and latest technology filtration.

City ordinances are very strict on how much fresh water can be used. The city determines the amount of fresh and recycled mix can be used. A good owner will use the highest concentration of fresh allowed during certain steps.

Hopefully this helps someone when either explaining to clients who use them or in the case you use or have to use one yourself. Although not preferred sometimes it's a necessary evil.

Article:
Get wise about water | 2013-05-02 | Professional Carwashing & Detailing
 
I use it rarely, only if my car is so incredibly filthy. I can't use hose/water where i live for vehicle washing, so this is my resort if my little car is filthy!
 
Like Ron said. Up north its a necessary evil. Although I will admit. About 2wks ago I took my GTO through a touch less wash. It's coated with CQUK and it did a great job. Once done I pulled out my waffle weave drying towel and gave it a once over and was on my way. Didn't noticed any I'll effects on the coating.
 
Coated my car last fall. After the worse winter in recent memory, and about 25 touchless car washes later, the paint was flawless come spring time. I'll never hand wash my car again in the winter after seeing how ridiculously clean the car is after a touchless car wash on a coated car.

Even now I've scrapped the two bucket wash...i just foam, rinse and wipe off with UWW .
 
As the owner of a local detail shop here told our Mustang club, if you have to use one, use the one with none of the extras.
 
I think that most touchless washes by themselves can be ok. The problem is the next step that you take after the touchless. I would never let a group of guys with towels wipe down my car after the wash. You never know what kind of towels they are using and how clean they are and no matter how good the touchless is there will be some places where a film is left behind that is bonded to the paint that was not removed. I am a firm believer that if you go wiping this down without using at least some kind of lubrication such as a WW, you are setting yourself up to mar the paint in some form or fashion. On a dirty car I do not think that anything can take the place of a 2 bucket wash or at a minimum a rinseless wash after the touchless.
 
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