Thanks for all your responses. I do wash them when I am at my home. This only concerns when I am OUT OF TOWN visiting family and friends. Just don't want to drive around there with bugs and dirt/snow on car.

 

I'm not handwashing a daily in winter......

 

I long ago dropped it, but the LS430 was getting washed maybe 2X per week. That was due to location, and we didn't even get any snow this past winter then COVID-19. I put one on my wife's SUV and being such a large vehicle imho it's worth it. $16.xx/mo.

Now I've repaired my hose bibbs this summer and was even considering putting in a sillcock. But I decided against. I had my 2 rear hose bibbs shut off for at least 5 years due to a questionable gate valve. Managed to open the gate valve, and put in 2 individual ball valves. Problem is one of the 2 hose bibbs is likely 68 years old and leaks from the stem. Tried to remove it but no, 68 years of corrosion. Was gonna cut it but it's as if the foundation was poured around it? So it's now cut off by my new ball valve, and I can use the new bibb that I installed (1/4 turn ball valve). This one can be used for car washing as well, and I have a spray wand somewhere....but we don't drive anywhere lol

p.s. I'm afraid to look at how much water costs. ok just did. Water is 1.3 cents per gallon, when I was a kid I used to get the reading for my mom, now apparently they drive around and read it from their car. It was 7 gal for a penny, and sorry this was not 1894 lol there are people becoming US Senators at my age and I am younger than the last potus. Maybe $16/mo. for unlimited washes isn't so bad after all.

 

I done ton of auto washes seems fine to me.

 

Have mine washed at least once a week at the Lexus dealer's lifetime complimentary auto wash (missed dealer's lifetime complimentary oil change policy by a few months) where the car is taken by a person in service who takes it to the back where the car washes occur, then someone else returns it washed, vacuumed, and wiped down to near the front of the building just outside the showroom. The exterior wash is mainly automatic. Have had no issue. Car always looks good, but it looks great when freshly washed, waxed, and wiped dry by the Lexus dealer.....

 

i read "Unlimited paint damage "

 

Do I run my BMW through an automatic wash? No. I only wash by hand. Does the dealership do so, when they have it? Yes. But it's like a lot of myths. I always think back to the, "if you get gas at Costco, you don't deserve a BMW." That was 2007. It's now 2020 and Costco has been top tier for a while. If you use an automatic car wash, you don't deserve a good car, because it's damaged. Where? Is this something you know as fact? lol If you don't like contractor grade hvac, you've been Tranewashed. Let's all do what we think is best and just go about life. Keep on keepin on we got such bigger problems today...

 

Everyone should do as they like. But those decisions should conform to being legal, moral, based on fact and not incorrect beliefs, and do no harm to others. Many times our cultural beliefs override logic and facts. That cannot be corrected by telling people to change. It will take centuries for the human race to become what they should be.

 

Wow, @jayclapp , a little heavy, but I get it.
I am not a huge fan of machine washes, but they have their moments, like winter washing or saving the landlords a little water bill when I am being obsessive. In the Seattle, WA vicinity we have a great chain called Brown Bear. While I share Riz1's concerns, I have never witnessed anything. They do a great job for the price, never had my mirrors pushed too hard, and the brushes are soft and always have water running through them to flush them. I do say however to avoid outlying areas with a lot of 4x4 trucks.

 

hmmmmm.....legal and moral as in Costco batteries lol There's one where the pocketbook overrode morality for sure. The old glass houses....a fine Billy Joel album.

I dunno, how much water is used when we wash at home? I did that last Sat. with the BMW. it's 1.2 cents per gallon. And I don't think a sillcock is the answer in the winter because what about the hose reel, that will freeze?

Again for me I prefer to only run the BMW through a spray wash, but I do know that the dealership runs it through the automatic wash when I go for the annual inspection. I gave up after about 7 years of reqeusting no wash. Back in 2007 M cars were bucket washed, non M were not. I don't see swirls or damage.
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My uncle builds car washes, back in 2005? He said never run a car you like through one. Today? He says it's fine. Tech has vastly improved. the thing I don't get is how much is riding on a single broadband connection, at a 2020 state of the art facility. You would think they'd do some sort of mobile broadband backup (ever go to the wash and they've handwritten a sign, sorry comcast is down). But it is cool to see the POS system is effectively firewalled off.