I know this has been discussed before but where and what kind of car washes are you guys running your GX’s through?
I have been hand washing mine (except when I have the dealer wash it) but need to see what you guys do and how the clear coat holds up to those drive through car washes.
A hand wash takes me ~2 hrs and sometimes don’t have the time!

 

Don't use car washes myslef. Once I year I give it a thorough wash and then apply a graphene coating, to windows and wheels as well. Takes about 3 hours, but subsequent washes take less than an hour.

 

Touch less Car Wash in between doing it myself. The rotating brush type is brutal to the finish ... spider lines everywhere as a result ... especially with darker colors.

 

I wash by hand, kids love playing with water at same time, they quickly disappear when its time to dry teh cars and clean up

 

Touch less carwash

 

Take to touch less every two weeks or so and use the waterless wash spray wipe downs in between.

 

... and dry with a leaf blower.

 

I have a Ryobi pressure washer that I use to wash cars. I use a foam cannon loaded with a commercial car wash to spray a thick coat of soap over the vehicle after pressure spraying the heavy, clinging dirt away with a 45-degree fan of cold water. After the foam runs off, I'll re-spray it and then use a mitt to wash, breaking loose the stubborn surface dirt, followed immediately by loads of high-pressure rinse water. I towel off the vehicle with a synthetic chamois, and follow up with a leaf-blower to blow the mirrors and bumpers dry.

One sure-fire way to wreck the paint is to scrub before you get all the dirt dissolved or at least loose before you scrub with that mitt. You'll rub scratches into the clear coat. The clear coat on Toyota products is hard as nails, however, which turns into a challenge when you attempt to correct the paint with a DA polisher. I haven't the experience to attempt such a thing so I would take the vehicle to a professional for that.

 

Thanks for the detailed procedure.
My ‘21 GX has been hand washed except for the 5 times the dealer has washed it. I use spray ceramic wax 2-3 times a year and my paint looks really good still.
Interesting to see how we all do things a little differently.