Thoughts on automatic car washes?

[bigred90gt]

I've always wondered what they do to wheel alignment.

I've used automated washes for years, with all types of vehicles and have not experienced any alignment issues.

I’m not even sure what about an automatic car wash COULD effect alignment.

 

[Bob Macknight]

i wont use auto car washes as to the possible damage to my hood decal

 

[Loudram]

That test they referenced said the guys used sponges. Never use a sponge on the finish. Contaminates get caught in the sponge and scratch the paint. I use a microfiber mitt and a separate rinse bucket.

In the winter only I normally use the automatic car washes with the under carriage wash to get the salt off but now I'm wondering if the cloth strips the wash uses would damage the Mopar decals I just had installed on the side of my bed.

 

[Glen OS]

I use them all the time and have used them for many years. I use the soft cloth ones, touchless don't seem to wash as well. Vehicles still look great. In winter, probably every other fill up the vehicles get washed. Other seasons maybe every other week.

 

[FL-RAM]

I think I'm going to take it to a detailer and get a ceramic treatment.

 

[Hemimania]

Fast, easy, saves about 1hr of your time, saves TONS of water. Should be fine.

Tonino

 

[smiley47]

Don't have a Ram at the moment but my Jeep Trackhawk is ceramic coated and being black, I run it through a car wash at least once per week. I check the paint with a detail light regularly and I have zero swirls. The car wash I use is fairly new and has a mat instead of a track for forward motion so there are no alignment worries. While it's not touch less, the sponges that make contact are much softer than the old style brushes.

Bottom line- I'll never have any vehicle that's not ceramic coated.

 

[jshillin]

As long as you keep up with protection on your paint, going through a touch free works well and makes the vehicle come pretty clean. It's especially great during the winter months in getting the salt off of the truck. They don't clean well if you don't have ceramic coating, sealant or a good wax on them though. I ceramic coat all of my vehicles and keep up with them using SiO2 sprays that keep them slick and makes everything fall off easily.

DO NOT use the washes with brushes unless you don't care about the paint though...

 

[Fireman48]

I used a car wash for 6 months and I was very happy. The problem for me was it would flip my side view mirrors forward then back. After a couple months they started clicking like the plastic gear was stripping to the point my dr. side now has slop in it. Dodge is replacing both mirrors but no more car washes for me. I just wash it at work now.

 

[Rlaman]

Hi everyone. I ran my 2019 2500 thru a touch less wash once and it all went well. Except for the blow dry. I noticed the blowers were actually bending the hood where ever the air was directed. The hood is aluminum and was dipping down under the pressure. Watch your hood the next time you go thru the blow dry. This didnt leave any remaining marks in the hood, thank goodness. But I dont use the drive thru any more.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

I've always been of the opinion of avoid them. If you don't want same kid that dropped his towel on the ground and then pick it up full of dirt and start wiping on your truck, avoid them. If you don't want them going through your interior and stealing everything laying loose. Avoid them. If you don't want to pay out 25 or 30 bux and get back into your car and realize they a crappy job for what you paid, avoid them.
Wash and wax your truck yourself. This way you know it is done right.
You may say I can't do it here, I live in an apartment.
I understand.
I lived in a apartment complex once they had a policy against washing your vehicle. When I asked the manager why she said "You don't have to, there is a car wash up the road". Yeah, $20 bux for a half ass wash and vacuum. There happened to be a water spigot right outside my apartment but the handle was removed. No problem, vicegrips to the rescue. I bought a water hose and some car wash stuff an washed my '89 Mustang GT right there in the sunshine. When I was done I put everything away and nobody was the wiser. The next time I got the stuff out to wash the 'stang here comes a guy wanting to use my stuff to wash his car. Told him "Sorry dude, if I let you use it then everyone would want to." It wasn't long I got a nasty letter from the manager about washing my car and wasting water I wasn't paying for. Sure enough that jerk dimed me out.

 

[TheEnder]

I've always been of the opinion of avoid them. If you don't want same kid that dropped his towel on the ground and then pick it up full of dirt and start wiping on your truck, avoid them. If you don't want them going through your interior and stealing everything laying loose. Avoid them. If you don't want to pay out 25 or 30 bux and get back into your car and realize they a crappy job for what you paid, avoid them.
Wash and wax your truck yourself. This way you know it is done right.
You may say I can't do it here, I live in an apartment.
I understand.
I lived in a apartment complex once they had a policy against washing your vehicle. When I asked the manager why she said "You don't have to, there is a car wash up the road". Yeah, $20 bux for a half ass wash and vacuum. There happened to be a water spigot right outside my apartment but the handle was removed. No problem, vicegrips to the rescue. I bought a water hose and some car wash stuff an washed my '89 Mustang GT right there in the sunshine. When I was done I put everything away and nobody was the wiser. The next time I got the stuff out to wash the 'stang here comes a guy wanting to use my stuff to wash his car. Told him "Sorry dude, if I let you use it then everyone would want to." It wasn't long I got a nasty letter from the manager about washing my car and wasting water I wasn't paying for. Sure enough that jerk dimed me out.

Should’ve given the managers wife a friendly call, if you know what i mean.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rlaman]

Great vid ! Thank You !!!!

 

[Tunaman]

I honestly have yet to find a touchless wash that washes worth a crap, and the touch washed are medium at best. The blow drier in ours made the room on my Ram 1500 sound like it was going to cave in!! Just traded tor F-250 super duty and the roof sounds fine...

 

[HAL9001]

Don't have a Ram at the moment but my Jeep Trackhawk is ceramic coated and being black, I run it through a car wash at least once per week. I check the paint with a detail light regularly and I have zero swirls. The car wash I use is fairly new and has a mat instead of a track for forward motion so there are no alignment worries. While it's not touch less, the sponges that make contact are much softer than the old style brushes.

Bottom line- I'll never have any vehicle that's not ceramic coated.

I think I'm going to take it to a detailer and get a ceramic treatment.

Please don't mistake ceramic coatings for something like paint protection film. This is a common misconception. Ceramic coatings are great for environmental chemical and dirt protection and for longevity, but do very little to prevent scratches. At best they may help prevent some very light swirl marks. If something is capable of actually scratching the paint, ceramic coatings are not going to provide much, if any, protection. For that you'll need paint protection film.

If your primary goal is to protect your finish from the environment, use ceramic coatings. If your primary goal is to protect the paint from scratches and road debris, get paint protection film.

 

[Kukailimoku]

I only go once ever two weeks, not twice a week as the OP, so frequency is less than OP. But I haven;t had any problem yet.

7,000 miles, just about right at 12 months in my possession today (factory ordered 2020 Laramie).

I think it WORSE to NOT wash a truck, than to have the touch-washes touch it.

Touchless can NEVER get as clean as touched. Even if it could, the amount of pressure necessary for that would make me question what is it doing to trim, seams, gaps, etc.


Either way, i think the most important is to select the underwash (jets shooting up into the bottom of your truck) too. gotta get that salt and muck off of the underparts as much as possible.

 

[bchap05]

I never go to car washes but then go hunting up some narrow road and scratch my truck. So sort of pointless being that picky with carwashes haha.

 

[JS4024]

I do a hand wash every other weekend, then run it through the touch less when needed. Looks good. Even In the winter is looks spotless from 20 feet away.

 

[Kukailimoku]

Touchless versus touch vs handwashing debate again, eh?

Ask three people and you'll get five answers!

Regardless of if you favor TL or T or HW, the thing we ALL need to NOT do, EVEWR, with new paint is go to a fundraiser car wash!

Imagine how many times those rags and sponges are dropped on the ground by the kids, parents, - whoever is doing the fundraising - picking up sand, asphalt grit, the previous car's off road dirt...
I've been in line and seen the washers on the cars ahead of me do exactly that: wipe, wipe, scrub, oops, slipped and dropped the sponge on the ground, pick it up, (maybe) shake it or rinse it, even if only perfunctorily, then go right back into wipe wipe scrub barely missing a beat.
At home, on my own, once a rag or sponge slips out of my hand and onto the ground it is in the laundry room, no more touches my truck in the current session.

About the only thing fundraising car washes are good for, is when we bring the wife's jeep back from the trails, covered in clay mud and leaves and twigs. THEN I go to a fundraiser car wash. I tip em extra, of course, for the harder work, but as i drive off i never see em change out the rags and sponges they just used on my wifes jeep before the next do-gooder suburban housewife with her lexus supports the fundraiser pulls up and gets the rubbing.

 

[bigred90gt]

I used a car wash for 6 months and I was very happy. The problem for me was it would flip my side view mirrors forward then back. After a couple months they started clicking like the plastic gear was stripping to the point my dr. side now has slop in it. Dodge is replacing both mirrors but no more car washes for me. I just wash it at work now.

Mine flipped from the brushes the first time I went through one, but I just started folding them in before I go through it to avoid that. Works like a charm.