metrathon

I have unlimited free car washes, but I don't think I'll do it:
- The quality of the wash is pretty poor
- The dealer is like 30 min away

Do you guys have this free perk? And do you take advantage of it?

Sevn86

I don't have this free perk. I personally wouldn't drive 30 mins to get a free carwash especially if it's wash quality is poor. The amount of gas and time spent to get this carwash to me isn't worth it. I let my dealer wash my car as it's white in color and if they add swirls to it it's hard to see. I wouldn't let them touch my black RX. Plus my dealership is new and it's 15 mins from my house.

KJD3

My dealer offers it as well. If you want to see if your dealerships car wash will leave swirls find one of their black loaner cars that has some milage on it and see if it has any. I'd be willing to bet that they run them through their car wash on a monthly basis, and I'd be willing to bet that it will have swirls in the paint. I specifically asked my dealer not to run it through their car wash or hand wash it, in fact I have it permanently written into my service notes not to wash my car. I have a very very slight swirl where I think they ran it through prior to purchase.

I hand wash mine every Sunday regardless of what the coming weeks forecast is.

ITDude

I have a black 2015 GS350 and my wife drives a black Infiniti. Both the Lexus and Infiniti dealers offer the free washes. I too have quite a drive to the dealer, so I have only used the service a few times. I have been impressed with both dealerships on the quality of their car washes.


I live in Dallas and I almost have to wash my cars before the sun comes up in the summer to avoid spotting. I have just recently started using the dealer for my washes, and plan to do it more in the future. I think it is a nice perk, even if I have to drive a little and wait.


My Lexus dealer is building a new dealership closer to my home, and I will definitely use it for my car washes once it is open.

ItzFilyO

It's a hit or miss. I took my GS in twice and it came out clean but my dad took the CT once and it came back with a deep scratch on the lower front bumper (the idiot porter must've hit the railing) and a lot of scratches on the fuel cap area and rear bumper from the broom brush. It didn't completely buffed out. He told me about it like few days after and I said there is no point going back since u already left the dealership and they won't admit crap.

The last time I took my car in for an alignment I was hoping they didn't wash it but they did and u bet I checked every inch of my car for any damages and I lucked out again.

I don't even trust those full service car washes anymore, one time my car came back with a scuff on the rear bumper and tire slashed, wheel scratched. If u look at the guy that soap ur car with that brush, it's really scary. Man they swipe the shyyt out of ur car like it's shyyt. No more! I do my own washes now and if it ends up scratched I know it's done by me. lol

blacksun

I have this perk at my dealer as well and used it often for the first few months.

An automatic wash will never beat hand washing, but the dealer wash was fast and convenient. Yes it left swirl marks, but that's just a fact of life when you have a black car. No matter how careful you are (even when you hand wash) they will eventually show up. All you can do is slightly delay the inevitable.

I stopped going when I got my body kit and lowering springs. The wheel guides along the floor wouldn't clear my lip so that was the end of that.

metrathon

On a side note. I don't believe in swirl-free black cars. I had 4 blackies so far and if you sneezed on them, they would get swirls. I tried Opti-Coat, 99 buckets wash method, gypsy magic, nothing worked. If you guys have a true and tried method (that is not trespassing into insane territory), please let me know.

ItzFilyO

My silver gets swirls too if u look closely under the sun.

metrathon

Maybe clear bra the whole car?

ItzFilyO

I used to be overprotective with my cars but now I just drive the hell out of it and enjoy every second I have with it. It does put a big grin on my face every time I passed those ricer Civics though. I didn't even wanna look at my front bumper when washing cause there are so many chips.

bclexus

My Lexus dealership (largest in the U.S.) has two car washes, and it's located just 5 minutes away. However, I've never used it... I don't want just anyone driving my car, and I don't want anyone touching the interior (vacuuming, cleaning instrument & glass, etc.).

ITDude

Who is larger, Park Place or Sewell?

Sevn86

I use to be the same way, I've started to change my perspective and let things slide as they're just cars. If something happens it can be fixed (for the most part), if not then it can be replaced. There are more important things in life.

blacksun

ItzFilyO/ Sevn86 - Thanks for being brave enough to admit this. Honestly sometimes it seems like everyone in this forum is super particular about detailing their cars and preventing swirl marks in paint. It started to make me think I was the crazy one for not hand washing my car with baby tears and a unicorn-skin shammy.

dchar

I use to take my car to my local Lexus dealer for washes since that was a perk for customers that bought cars from them. They did a pretty decent job most of the time. I took it every other week until they recently stopped the free washes mandated by the city due to the drought. Now I'm back to hand washing it. I enjoy washing it, but I hate seeing all of the chips on my front bumper.