I used to take my cars to a local car wash that did a hand wash as the car was pushed on a track. I thought my cars looked great and couldnt imagine a better result.

Now I'm horrified and will never let these people touch my new IS 350 when it arrives! I cringe when I think of all the crap in their wash mits, the terry cloth towels they re-use over and over to dry and the crap they are spraying on my vehicle as it goes through the wash.

Am I now being over paranoid?

My intention is to never let anyone wash my car now that you all have scared the heck out of me.

No. I would never let anyone wash my cars. It takes more effort but the result is worth it and knowing that you did the detailing yourself is even better. Now you just have to go out and get some quality products and a lot of microfiber towels

There is SO much to know. 99% of the population can't imagine the level of knowledge and effort required to properly wash a car...

I'll be stocking up soon. I need to do my research first. I am finding that there are no clear winners when it comes to detailing supplies and radar detectors; just personal preference.

Theres one here where I am (fresno) They actually do a great job 90% of the time, Its an old carwash that the removed all the mechanical washing equipment, and replaced it with two guys in raincoats scrubbing as the conveyor pushes you along. I used to take my truck there and its taken me three years but my girlfirend finnally takes her 04 tahoe there now. They even have paint guns (their actually using binks) that spray the "armor all like stuff" on anything that is plastic or rubber. its cool. But I took my Lexus there when I just bought it to get it a good wash for the first time and I asked them if my GS400 would be ok with the 20" wheels and being lowered, and two guys crawled around on the ground and told me shure thing. So I went ahead and did it. Whats to hurt, two people with fuzzy hands washing my precious. When I got home I was doing some last touches to the wheels and started thinking, damn, these wheels sure look exspensive, and I went online to see if I could come up with anything on them. When the price of each wheel poped up I almost fell out of my chair, thinking damn I got lucky with the car wash thing. Turns out wheels were 20 "lowenhart BR5's at $1500 a piece .
Well my drivers side rear wheel started leaking air shortly after that. I took them off to test out the stock wheel I picked up as spares and was doing a good cleaning and looking for a nail or something and Bam, the inside edge was bent and cracked. I found a wheel shop in town who look at it and said, go through any carwashes lately? I asked why he asked and he said its fairly common for the tracks to do this kind of dammage, he said it normaly will bend and the the stress will cause the crack over time. He did a great job fixing it and it cost me $100.
So the moral of the story is:
I wash my own car now and I dont worry about no dammage caused by a machine.
Lessons learned the hard way.