atilla

As per the manual the automated car wash may damage the the exterior paint and finish. How do you guys manage that?

32kcolors

Wash the car yourself.

LXMN

Go to a touchless car wash ( one with only jet sprayers, no mops or brushes).

gs4rocks

I haven't seen any car wash place that does not do more damage than good.
Even the Jet wash place, it all depends on how clean is their water.
Most places recycle the water. Imagine shooting your car with high pressure water containing tiny dirt particles.

Only way to clean the car right is to do yourself.

Lexmex

I had a car wash in my neighborhood I used for a few years (if I didn't have time to do it on the weekend with my cousins)...then one day I didn't realize they had changed the plastic bristles (or whatever you call them) and my uncle and I (and I am sure others, too) ended up doing a major polish job on the vehicle.

Other issue down here is that even if they don't use recycled water, the tap water down here is full of s..t and given that the area is a volcanic region, tiny volcanic particles can ruin the finish.

Ended up finding a jet wash place up by my 1/4 mile track that does the job.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

And then it also matters how "clean" their drying towels are.

If you are meticulous about your paint, wash it yourself. If it is a beater, at least use the touchless places.

Grumpa72

Actually, those places that recycle the water do a respectable job of cleaning prior to reuse according to an article I read. Same thing with dry cleaners - they recycle the dry cleaning solution after a filitering process.

That said, I NEVER take my car to the car wash. Even the touchless kind. I figure the touchless kind is similar to hosing your car off without wiping it off; you leave a film on it. Then the kind with the whirling bristles scare the beans out of me.

Here in western PA, on those really nasty days, I just pull the car into the garage and use lukewarm water and a wax friendly soap while washing it in the garage. I am careful to keep from spraying the walls and such. Been doing this for 16 years.

Todd

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jfelbab

In the cold ice covered north I use a Laser Touchless car wash near my home. It washes a with filtered high pressure water and soap. It rinses with deionized water and it dries with forced air. Totally touchless. It does clean fairly well but it doesn't clean like a hand wash in the driveway. Once I get my car home in the garage I use a quick detailer "Final Inspection" and go over the car with a few soft microfibers to remove any film that might still exist. The result: no marring of the paint in the last three years.

TripleDES

I think it's just a precaution in the manual. I treat the "hand" car washes as basically swirl factories. I've had my RX for a few months now and have always washed myself.

I'm even hesitant to let the dealer wash it.

32kcolors

A question: When the Lexus dealer gives you complimentary car wash, what do they drive your car through?

TripleDES

It depends on the dealer. Some have drive through washes, some are hand washes using de-ionized water. However, I haven't seen a dealer that doesn't use towels to dry. Since you don't know how clean they keep their towels (or any washing material for that matter) I'd assume just wash it myself.

darksparkz

iTrader: (1)

Yes.

Automated car washes damage the paint due to the brushes they use. The brushes accumulate dirt all day by washing cars over and over, plus their not the softest brush either. Automated car washes aim to make the car look cleaner, so they don't worry about scratching up clearcoat/paint with their harsher brushes.

Touchless car washes are good when absolutely necessary. I still sometimes don't use them becasue the chemicals are so harsh that they can strip off your wax on it, so that makes it clean but with no protection.

Even those places that will wash by hand aren't much better either. They use cotton towels that are used to dry car after car, so it picks up a lot of dirt and their just using the dirty towel to scratch your car up more.

I would recommend a place that has coin-op self-washes. You can just bring your own bucket of soap/wash mitt. Spray away at undercarriage and around the car, do a quick soap of the car, then rinse off. Not super clean, but gets the job done for the winter.