[NYJets12]

Does anyone happen to know if the automatic car washes the handheld sprayers not the drive thru ones leave swirl marks on the cars?

[Glen e]

No but the soap they use is relatively caustic, don’t do it too often.....

[KirkH]

I assume you mean coin-op car wash? Don't use the soapy brush that they provide and you should be fine.

Be aware that some car washes do not allow you to bring your own bucket and mitt.

[oneredry]

yeah I don't run any of my vechiles to those scratch givers. If I were, it would be to use the water/wands only. use my own soap/mits.

[MetlMilitia420]

I'll take mine through the coin-op car washes...never the automatic ones tho. and i always use the low pressure presoak and rinse before i even touch my car with anything. i DO use the "horse-hair" brush, However, before it gets near my car i spray the shit out of it with the high pressure rinse and i use it only after i rinse the dirt off my car. i went through an automatic car wash once; the machines in there put dings on both my doors, same spot on both. took my car to my PDR guy. had no problems taking them out. i also asked if he could take a look and see if the damned wash swirled my paint and got a reassuring no. from then on whether its in my Driveway or at the coin-op- I'M the only one rubbin on MY baby.

[timmy8784]

I totally agree with the above. Most of those "touch less" wash places use very strong soap as they are trying to remove dirt with no actual wash pad agitation. Make sure that you still have some protection on the paint after you use them.

[bpang1234]

Originally Posted by timmy8784

I totally agree with the above. Most of those "touch less" wash places use very strong soap as they are trying to remove dirt with no actual wash pad agitation. Make sure that you still have some protection on the paint after you use them.

Yeah the "touch less" washes do use some pretty nasty stuff to clean your car, I am not a fan but it is the Winter and it is still better than leaving the car nasty. The good thing is that we have really quick and painless tools like Carpro Reload that you can hit your paint with right after you get the crap off with the "touch less" wash.

For the coin-op wand places, I used to take my own buckets, soap and wash towel. The owner was super-cool about it as long as I came during off-hours.

Mostly in the Winter, I will only use the rinseless method and go to the "touch-less" or coin-op monthly to get all the crap off the undercarriage and nooks/crannies that you can't get to with a rinseless job.

[bigtexhand]

I'll stop at mine but only to spray the grime off with "no soap rinse" from the gun. Luckily it's also got a warm air drying gun which I love!

[timmy8784]

Originally Posted by bpang1234

Yeah the "touch less" washes do use some pretty nasty stuff to clean your car, I am not a fan but it is the Winter and it is still better than leaving the car nasty. The good thing is that we have really quick and painless tools like Carpro Reload that you can hit your paint with right after you get the crap off with the "touch less" wash.

For the coin-op wand places, I used to take my own buckets, soap and wash towel. The owner was super-cool about it as long as I came during off-hours.

Mostly in the Winter, I will only use the rinseless method and go to the "touch-less" or coin-op monthly to get all the crap off the undercarriage and nooks/crannies that you can't get to with a rinseless job.

Less of a problem for me here in Arizona winters