Hello all. Just had a few questions about car washes and what not.

I was wondering if it's better to have the outside handwashed by a detail company or small local places or driving it through one of those car washes at the gas station. The one near my house charges $8.00 that pretty much includes everything to keep the exterior clean...supposedly. What are the differences between the two?

 

Stay away from automatics with brushes...they will/can leave swirl marks in your paint. Touchless autos are harmless, but probably won't get you 100% clean. Hand washing is always best, but least convenient, and if you pay a detail shop, the most expensive.

 

yea the auto brush car washes can damage ur paint

the touchless water, soap, wax spray washes are OK if ur in a hurry but u should at least go over the car with a dry rag and then a quick spray detailer since it does not dry the car completely and can leave water stains

always good to do a complete detail on the cars paint such as wash, polish (if the paint needs it), good quality wax....then all u need is to wash it once a week with either touchless water car wash, hand wash at local car wash or wash it urself

reapply the wax at the interval the manufacturer recommends and ur all set

 

Thanks for the info, guys. I appreciate it.

 

I used to have an old beater Accord when I was 18 (before I found the glory of American power) and I figured it didn't matter if the auto-wash places messed it up cause it was a beater. It was so abrasive it actually scratched my car and wore down the clear coat. Not a good idea under any circumstances IMO. I have never used a touchless so I can't comment on those.

I purchased the Mr. Clean auto-dry car wash system and I love it. It takes bit of patience because the filtered water doesn't flow at a high rate, but the spotless shine is very nice. I would recommend that. Before that I used Castrol Super Clean Car Wash, which was the best damn suds and cleaning power I had ever seen, but they discontinued it.

As far as wax goes - I recently started using Meguiars Gold car wax and I love the results. I got the liquid version for use with my orbital polisher/waxer, but they also make it in a paste form if you enjoy doing it by hand. The beads it creates are awesome, and it seems to last really well. Just be sure to avoid cleaner waxes. If you want to do a clean/polish/wax right, then buy the Meguiars three step system and follow that.

Personally I love detailing my car myself. It gives me time to myself to think, and a breather from the honey-do list =P Try and schedule an interval to do it. I wash mine at least every two weeks, I wax it every 4-6 months, and I do the three step clean/polish/wax every 2 years (once a car is 4+ years old) and it seems to work fine for me. There are some waxes that claim to last a year (like Nufinish) but I have never seen them last more than 6-8 months before losing beading power, shine, etc. Good luck.