vital

I don't have a personal garage and live in SF where I park my car in a public garage so my only option is to take my car to the car wash when it's dirty. For a newer car, should I take it to a soft cloth or a touch free car wash? Anything else I should be aware of?

lysis250

iTrader: (18)

Take it to a self serve car wash.

dicer

Nothing like living in a free country. Sorry I couldn't help it.

Aron9000

What color is your car???? If its black, pay somebody who knows what they are doing to wash it by hand.

vital

Grey. Is it because car wash places don't do a good of a job or because it's risky?

Aron9000

Most car washes, especially those with brushes, will put swirl marks and scratches in your paint. I've used the "touchless" type before when it was dead of winter and I had a ton of salt on the car, but only in a pinch. They're IMO better than the brush types because nothing actually touches your paint. Black is the worst for showing swirl marks, grey isn't as bad and kind of hides some imperfections in the paint.

The thing about car washes is they aren't going to get your car as clean as doing it by hand. This all gets back to how picky you are, and how long you are going to keep the car. If its a 1 or 2 year lease and you're going to get rid of it then, this isn't that important. I tend to keep my cars forever and I'm a bit OCD about the paint. Probably goes back that I used to detail cars professionally in high school and college as a side gig.

808newbie

Automated car washes... just think to yourself how does the car wash determine how dirty the car is. it cant. imagine a truck thats been in mud vs a car thats just dirty from daily use or a car that hasnt been washed in a year. automated car washes use the same concentration of soap to clean each car
so usually they use a stronger soap to clean the car for the extra filthy cars. i would find someone locally who details cars and pay them to do it since you dont have access to a hose. pay them extra to polish and wax it. once thats done maybe just use a waterless car cleaner or something weekly to give it a decent shine

sydtoosic

one 5 gallon bucket, a 1 gallon bottle of ONR, 32 oz. spray bottle(for pre soak of ONR solution) some quality MF towels... for piece of mind. do it yourself. have not been to a carwash in years... it gets easier the more you do it. done right it will take you 20 minutes to a half an hour to wash your car.

Zelfiris

+1 OP, you can google rinseless wash solutions and try that. Can be done in a parking lot and outside. Its the go-to solution for a lot of people that lives in condos/apartments

If you have to use a car wash, always choose touchless.

I prefer to use a local coin wash for a good rinse (never the brushes), then drive home and use the method described by sydtoosic

VTsuckah

iTrader: (1)

^ THIS!

During the winter months here on the east coast, I'm forced to shut off my water supply to the exterior faucets. So I typically will take my cars through a touchless car wash to blast away the heavier debris like salt/sand and road grime prior to washing with ONR.

jfelbab

I used to visit a touchless during the winter when I lived in the north. I'd follow up with a UQD wipedown and UQW. The UQD would remove anything remaining and the UQW would keep up the protection. Results were no swirls and the car sparkled.

2URGSE

+1, gelly blade and grit guard and some good quality car shampoo.

jincuteguy

Do these Self Service Carwash let you use a WashMitt and clean your car while you spraying soap on the car? I know they don't allow you to use "Bucket", i think 100% DIY carwash prohibited Bucket.

2URGSE

They usually don't, I used to go there in some really odd hours (late at night and early morning) so I would use anything I wanted.

jincuteguy

Wait they don't let you use buckets and you still did it late at night? isn't that against the law if you get caught?