mrBillFL

almost never. its a chance to really look over the car, and of course bond with it... lol.

I can do the es in under an hour including interior.

SW17LS

Well...I experienced the other side of the coin...what a bad automatic carwash can do.

Picked my GS up from the dealer today from the 20k mile service. It was snowing this morning when I dropped it off and it was pretty dirty as you can imagine.

Picked it up, and from the door handles down all the way around it is HAMMERED. Its so bad you can see it on silver in the shade. I watched them pull another car through their tunnel wash and theres no spray down, and no soap! It lightly wets the car and then the mechanism washes away! Unreal.

They're going to keep it until tomorrow to attempt to buff it out...I'm sure they'll make it worse and I'll wind up having to re-do it myself. What a pain.

So...GOOD automatic car washes.

LexBob2

Bummer on the dealer car wash. I hope the dealership is able to get the swirlsout and save you the chore. You are correct that a good automatic car wash is important.

Right now it's 7 degrees with a wind chill of -11 and tomorrow is going to be even (record breaking) colder so if one wants a car wash the good auto wash is the way to go. I have one not far which I'd use if necessary but fortunately both cars are clean at the moment.

SW17LS

I wish I had taken a picture, it surprised even me how bad it was...and I've seen them pretty bad...

Canesguy

Hope you have this documented with them in writing and have your own pictures. Good luck and let us know how this shakes out.

SW17LS

Had a phone convo with the service manager a couple hours ago, and I still have not taken possession of the car or paid for the service, so we should be fine.

rustyd

Touchless in the winter only, just to get the salt and dirt off. Then home to the garage to get any drips and wheel splater off with a waterless wash solution, and then usally a spray wax to amp up the protection and shine.

SW17LS

I posted a thread in the GS forum too, got the car back. They got the carwash damage out but of course left a very rough, hologrammed, poorly finished paint surface behind.

After some very loud discussion in the dealer's driveway I got the $250 service comped. Just spent the last 4 hours polishing out the holograms. Looks fantastic now...could have lived without the stress and 4 hours manual labor but its over.

1111GS

If you can find a good one, why not? There's a really good professional detailer near me that would hand wash (foam with three bucket method) for a very reasonable price. I'm kind of surprised why it's so low but maybe the owner wants to do something nice for his customers. Besides me, so far they are the only one that washed my black car. The only problem is when I need a wash, they're usually busy with other bigger things. So I end up washing the car myself. Not all "professional detailing places" are like this one though. I was tired and needed a wash for my old Silver SUV. So I decided to stop by one of these "professional auto wash". The first thing they do before they send the car through the tunnel is using a push broom like the one attached, dip it in a bucket of soap, and push back and forth on the sides of the vehicle. I heard some dealership do the same way when they wash your lexus.

SW17LS

Yep, I have seen dealers wash cars with those wide floor brooms LOL.

Detailers wash cars cheap because its a loss leader, its the gateway to doing other things for you.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Have a look at this article:

Friendly Warning: Dealership Damage from 'Simple' Car Wash

bc6152

I'm with you Halfmoon. This winter was a real b*tch. Snow every week and ice in between. A few nice days coming up here in Pennsylvania. Time to do a hand wash and wax. Maybe this Saturday... (55 degrees and sunny).

Skylar978

iTrader: (1)

I only use the automatic washes in the winter time. As someone else stated, the touch less washes do not get rid of much grime even with a protected finish. Just imagine underneath the vehicle where its constantly salt under there. I am sure the corrosion coating (or lack there of) wares off rather quickly on every car..

I absolutely hate going through an automatic wash though.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

If by "automatic wash" you mean a wash that contacts your car with spinning brushes of some sort, then you are causing more damage to your paint than simply letting it be dirty for a couple months.

Visit the touch less wash, and then do a rinseless wash by hand afterwards. It is a safe and effective way to maintain your vehicle. There is absolutely no reason to subject your vehicle to the damages that an automatic wash will create.

Skylar978

iTrader: (1)

Good point.

What I have a problem with is the fact it is way too cold to be doing anything by hand in the winter outside. Water seems to freeze as soon as I am able to even wipe it off in MOST cases throughout winter. I don't have a heated garage either, so it seems as if I am only offered those three options. Leave on the salt and grime, take her through a touch less wash, or a full automatic cloth wash.

Needless to say, I need some serious paint correction after every winter. Makes me wonder how thin my clear coat has gotten.

-Sky