LSU04_08
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2013
- Posts
- 165
- Reaction score
- 107
- Location
- Northwest Louisiana
- Ram Year
- 2021
- Engine
- Hemi 5.7 e-torque
Can you hook me up with your dealer?
Standby, brother, I can get ya hooked up!
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Can you hook me up with your dealer?
You’d be better off rinsing any dirt/grim off with a garden hose, and then hand washing it when you have time.
i cringe of the thought of a ‘car wash’ . I get it that not everyone has the time, but that nice shinny truck will show the scratches and clear coat failure sooner than you’d think.
As soon as practical of course. Not so much from where I'm at, but you guys who have to deal with road salt, sea salt (beach & boat launching), certainly know what that monster can do. Then you have tree sap, bird crap etc that will just eat through the paint.How soon? Admittedly I don’t keep trucks for very long but I haven’t had any issues over the past 7 years on any of my trucks. Only keep them a few years each but they all went through car washes regularly.
you guys don't know cold snowy winters.Canada would prolly kill you.View attachment 468844
As soon as practical of course. Not so much from where I'm at, but you guys who have to deal with road salt, sea salt (beach & boat launching), certainly know what that monster can do. Then you have tree sap, bird crap etc that will just eat through the paint.
Drive through car washes have their place, just not for me. The damage that is caused to the paint, just isn't worth to for me.
Worst thing you can do to your paint and clear coat.
From what I've seen, (as a Concours Judge for a few marques) the brushes will certainly "scratch" the paint, only correctable by a full paint correction if not too deep. The blowers they use that "roll over" the top of your vehicle to dry it, leave wear marks that deteriorate the clear coat, repaint is the only option for that one.That's true, definitely jealous of that weather that you have out there! Around here, you know it's almost always going to rain/snow within 2-3 days, so putting all that effort into washing it becomes frustrating. Plus all of the other stuff you mentioned makes the auto wash a good option for a lot of people here. If I lived where you did I would probably do a hand wash every month of two, it would be really nice to see the truck stay nice and clean for a while too!
However, I'm still wondering on my original question to you. In your experience in your neck of the woods, how long to see damage in the paint due to going through a car wash once or twice a week? A lot of people here are stating it as matter of fact, I just haven't seen it or heard of that very much with modern car washes, so I'd be interested to hear some first hand accounts of paint being damaged by going through modern car washes over x amount of years. Of course plenty of variables here, but does anyone have some specific examples of this type of stuff in the newer style car washes?
From what I've seen, (as a Concours Judge for a few marques) the brushes will certainly "scratch" the paint, only correctable by a full paint correction if not too deep. The blowers they use that "roll over" the top of your vehicle to dry it, leave wear marks that error the clear coat, repeat is the only option for that one.
How long? The scratches can start right away. I've seen clear coats as soon as 12 months for failure. From a "standing 10 feet away from the vehicle" my personal experience has been about 3-4 years. That's where the phrase, "your car looks like a 10 "comes from. Meaning, from 10 feet away it looks great.... but as you get closer, all the visual flaws stand out more. Of course conditions, frequency, and care all come into play.
Ceramic Coating does put a tough barrier in between, but there's Pro's and Con's on that process as well.