Touchless wash all the time?

We dont have any of those around here but ona recent 1200 mile trip from NJ to Florida you can imagine the number of bugs that acumulate on a car. In the town we have a winter place they have touchless places everywhere.



I gave it a try and being a very descriminating car was guy I have to say I was very impressed, every bug gone and the car was dried very well.



You cant really imagine just how dirty the car was, in the last few hours of our trip the bug hits sounded like rocks hitting the windshield, I was afraid to use the wipers/washer fluid for fear of smearing the carcases.



While I hand wash I would recomend touchless to anyone, this time of year I miss the fact we seem to have none in the North Jersey area. I did manage to find one, its labled touchless and uses the same technology but as the cars enter I see the workers using brushes from buckets to "pre Scratch" the paint. Kind of defeats the purpose of Touchless.







I was so impressed when we got back my Dad and I have been talking about opening one up in the NJ area. Since its basicaly unattended (for the most part) it can be paired with a self serve facility and allow me to keep my full time aviation job (with benifits most imprtantly) So far the major cost involved is land and the fact the water is heated to a very high temp. The dealers seem very uninterested in dealing with anyone, we arent even finanincing the deal, the vendor for Laserwash has some really poor marketing/salespeople. Makes me wonder about support after the sale.
 
JamesLA said:
Another approach I've recently seen and want to try is to use a touchfree or coin-op power spray, followed up by Poorboys Spray & Wipe. That will eliminate the bucket altogether, as long as the car is clean enough for the S&W.
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I do this frequently. If the car isn't too dirty, the coin-op gets pretty much everything but a light road film . . . I use S&W as I dry to deal with the last bits of grime.



In general, I use some combination of QEW, S&W, and a coin-op to deal with apartment living; it all depends on how dirty the car is to start with.



Tort
 
I have a "laser wash" where I live. It works OK, and I like to use it if I want to get the undercarriage washed.



Sometimes, wintertime car washing is a little futile around here. The borough snow-removal crews do such a terrible job that there will be snow on the streets a few days after even a minor snowfall. So, I use the hand bay to get rid of salt, and wait for a string of decent days to either use the laser wash, or wash it in the driveway.



The laser wash must be popular, though. The first one opened three years ago in my town of 6,000 residents. The owner of the wash has built two more since then, and all three are well-used. The owner seems to be making a nice income from it. He hires a person to work a few hours a day at each location, just to keep everything stocked up and in working order.



FalconGuy, if you don't have this where you live in Jersey, it could be an interesting opportunity.
 
The regulars here know how my wife takes her A8 through a touchless when travelling to TN.



No, it doesn't strip the LSP *at the place she patronizes*.



Yeah, it's better than nothing during a long roadtrip or for those of you with no winter wash facilities.



No, it's nothing at all compared to a (proper, my version ;) ) hand wash. It's a convenient stop-gap measure for when you can't do the job right, no more and no less. If nothing else, consider that only the literal exterior gets washed. No doorjambs, nothing under the hood, not even the fuel filler pocket, etc. etc.



And just get me going on the condition of new cars. I can't remember the last time I've seen a new car in a showroom that was even *close* to good enough...Unless I take the wrap guard off myself I know it's gonna need correction. And even then, if it wasn't completely covered ("bagged") there's gonna be some marring on the exposed areas. Somebody always touches them :rolleyes:
 
ramp said:
I agree it is not really CLEAN, but it still has a deep shine. My photos don't really show it well. (They are very low resolution.) I just got some QEW though and plan to try it. I know it needs a real detail, but the closest pro is 50 miles away. It makes for a difficult situation, but I'm working on it.



The thought of detailing my own car scares the hell out of me, but I may have to give it a try when the weather warms up this spring. There was a very nice college guy in town who is a pro and was going to do it, but froze-up all of his supplies, and had to leave town after graduating. I hope he returns in the spring! He's very good and a regular on this forum (blacksunshine). He could also comment on my car finish since he looked at it... (Let me know if you return Tyler!)
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Although I'd hardly consider myself a pro, I am an enthusiast and always striving for that last 5% of "oomph" and I must say, I was floored by how good this car looked in person. I couldn't believe it had never been washed by hand, and although Merc clearcoats are quite hard from what I have found, it seems that surely brushes would mar the paint. Also, in the picture posted, the rear quarter panel has been re-sprayed and the gentleman that did it was either having a bad day or not qualified to be working a spray gun. I think it would clean up nicely with a rotary and some Menzerna.



There are a few Autopians in the KC/western Missouri (misery?) area that you could contact via PM and maybe work something out. I'd say just go for it yourself. By hand, there's really nothing you can do to harm the paint that can't be easily corrected... unless you're using sandpaper to dry and a scouring pad to wash :lol
 
Just as a little addition to this. Since it's right at freezing here and I don't have a heated garage (or even one big enough to QEW in), and my truck was covered in salt and sand from a 1000+ mile trip last week, I went to the coin-op to spray it off. Somewhere in this thread someone mentioned spraying with QEW before going though a touchless. Figured it couldn't hurt prior to a coin-op either. I mixed a couple cap fulls in a standard size spray bottle.



Lemme say WOW! I know a coin-op gets it no where close to clean, but the QEW made the mud just run off even before spraying. Now, at least it's clean enough to actually QEW when it warms up a touch. And I don't feel like I blasted all the dirt into the paint.
 
I usually just run my car through a touchless wash w/ S&W afterwards about once a week, and then save the big detailings for every 4-6 months (w/ clay, sealants, etc). But then again, I live in TX, so no road salt...
 
FalconGuy said:
I was so impressed when we got back my Dad and I have been talking about opening one up in the NJ area. Since its basicaly unattended (for the most part) it can be paired with a self serve facility and allow me to keep my full time aviation job (with benifits most imprtantly) So far the major cost involved is land and the fact the water is heated to a very high temp. The dealers seem very uninterested in dealing with anyone, we arent even finanincing the deal, the vendor for Laserwash has some really poor marketing/salespeople. Makes me wonder about support after the sale.
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That's a pretty good idea. Although, I imagine the environmental laws surrounding building and owning a car wash are a pretty major hassle. However, I can tell you the gas station I go to in MA seems to be a f-in gold mine. They have 2 Laser washes, 4 self serve bays, a tunnel wash with brushes, multiple vacuums, and at least a dozen gas pumps. Plus they have a small plaza in the gas station which has 3 or 4 stores which they get rent from. Also, they pretty much have the cheapest gas in the state. So, there's always a line for gas. Plus a significant amount of the people who stop for gas get their car washed too. Often, there is a line for the Laser Wash. Personally, I feel like they keep the gas prices low so that they can make the real money on the car washes. From what I understand margins are fairly thin for gas anyway. All the money on gas is mostly made by the gas company and not the station owners.
 
I think I'm going to do touchless w/ QEW & QD it until weather warms up, and then go for it myself! (Would still like a "pro" to do it once so I can watch and learn.) BTW: I think that rear quarter panel dullness may be due to no clearcoat. It is now my theory that the guy who did the re-spray used the correct basecoat, but neglected to apply a clearcoat on top. I called them and they said to bring it back in the spring and they will make it right. I would like to try a rotary and some Menzerna first to see if it will come back, rather than let that spray guy near my car again. That would be a much better solution than spraying on a new layer of clearcoat. (I have never touched a rotary though so that is not likely to happen any time soon.)
 
ramp said:
I think I'm going to do touchless w/ QEW & QD it until weather warms up, and then go for it myself! (Would still like a "pro" to do it once so I can watch and learn.) BTW: I think that rear quarter panel dullness may be due to no clearcoat. It is now my theory that the guy who did the re-spray used the correct basecoat, but neglected to apply a clearcoat on top. I called them and they said to bring it back in the spring and they will make it right. I would like to try a rotary and some Menzerna first to see if it will come back, rather than let that spray guy near my car again. That would be a much better solution than spraying on a new layer of clearcoat. (I have never touched a rotary though so that is not likely to happen any time soon.)
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That's a good idea. I'd recommend a Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action/random orbit machine. Really the only way to harm your clearcoat with this machine is to drop it on the car. With a cutting pad and an aggressive polish you can remove some pretty serious imperfections. However, if it is in fact the case that there is no clearcoat on that panel, it will obviously need to be resprayed anyways. I wouldn't do much with it as long as there is no clearcoat.



Menzerna is good, Poorboy's SSR line is good, Optimum, Meguiar's, et al. all make good polishes. You really can't go wrong with any of them. Proper pad selection is equally important. When that time comes, feel free to ask away as we'd be happy to help you choose which pad/polish combination to use.



The bottom line is I would definitely have that panel fixed right, and then try your hand at some of the products frequently mentioned on here. If that suits your fancy, then maybe you can step upto the Porter Cable. That's what I did and I haven't looked back since. Good luck :up
 
I just got a touchless done finally since it has been so cold in snow! Last had put on a coat of SG before winter, it really did help as almost everything washed off! With a QEW it would look spanking clean, but I wont bother in this weather...
 
ramp said:
I would like to try a rotary and some Menzerna first to see if it will come back, rather than let that spray guy near my car again. That would be a much better solution than spraying on a new layer of clearcoat. (I have never touched a rotary though so that is not likely to happen any time soon.)
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I agree with Blacksunshine. I would get a PC (7424 or 7336SP), some good foam pads, and a quality polish to fix that up. Like he said the only way to harm your paint with a PC is to drop it on it. A rotary on the other hand can burn right through your paint in no time. However, quite a number of problems can be corrected with a PC, the right pad, the right level of polish, and some patience.
 
ramp said:
I think that rear quarter panel dullness may be due to no clearcoat. It is now my theory that the guy who did the re-spray used the correct basecoat, but neglected to apply a clearcoat on top...
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I'm quite certain that *that* is not the problem- it would be an unthinkably idiotic mistake. The colorcoat used under the clear in b/c paints won't work by itself, nobody (and I mean *nobody*) would do a Benz that way and even if they did you'd have serious problems in no time. It's possible that the panel was painted with single-stage, but that's *very* unlikely too, especially since Benz has been using b/c paint for that color since the mid-'80s. You can safely assume that it's just another crappy repaint (with basecoat and clear) that a) wasn't done very well, b) would benefit somewhat from some good polishing, and c) really oughta be redone by somebody good.



I sure wouldn't worry about damaging the car by detailing it yourself. Compared to crappy paintwork most detailing mistakes are no big deal. And it's not really all that tricky anyhow- most people can get a car to about 90% of its potential without much trouble; it's that last 10% that's tough. And most people don't notice the last 10% anyhow. Heh heh, most people don't notice a lot more than that...
 
Gee, I got lucky yesterday. I rely on do-it-yourself wand washes, and an occasional "touchless laser wash" a lot during winter where I live.



But yesterday, it got above freezing, and was dry. So, when I got home from school, I dragged the hose out of the basement, turned on the outside water faucet, and went for it.



Two sweatshirts kept me warm enough. I used a very soapy bucket of Griot's shampoo, a Sonus wool mitt, and a rinse bucket. I dumped the rinse bucket at the halfway point and refilled. And, I got out the WW towels and dried it.



Just a surface wash. No door jambs, etc. (it was getting dark).



It gave me a chance to see how things are holding up (IWx2).



So far, so good. Not perfect (is it ever?), but good.



The best part was being outside, washing my car. It didn't matter that there was eight inches of snow outside the driveway. It could have been July. It didn't matter.



I t was a blast to have some good clean fun in the winter!
 
I would use a touchless to get the majority of the crud off the paint and then take it home and give the car a quick QEW wash. Don't forget that tocuhless washes use really strong chemicals to clean the cars without touching them so whatever lsp setup you have on there is going to have a shortened durability.
 
I don't think the touchless wash *in and of itself* causes any marring, at least it doesn't on my wife's A8. It's subsequent touching (e.g., if you wipe it to dry) which grinds in residual dirt, and *that* causes marring.



I've never seen any evidence that the water/soap from the carwash causes marring by pressing dirt into the finish. None of the touchless washes I've ever seen use really high pressure; it's not like a pressure washer or anything like that...
 
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