I didn’t own a car nice enough warrant being wary of automated car washes until I finally got a Car I Really Wanted: a 2012 Mustang GT just like the one below, brand new, complete with Coyote engine and frankly not much else.
For the same $25,000 or so, thanks to my X-Plan discount, I could either get a 6-cylinder Mustang with all the niceties of the Premium package, or a base GT with 412 all-American horsepower, cloth seats, and a radio (even a single-disc CD player, as I recall). I didn’t even consider the six-cylinder, and yes, I got manual – but if I could go back, I think I would have had more fun with the auto. The gearbox wasn’t particularly good, and I found it a little too easy to money-shift the thing.
Anyway, I resolved to hand-wash the Mustang, but I probably only broke out the buckets and sponges three or four times before I was over it and just went to the car wash down the street. It never seemed to harm my wife’s RAV4, and I figured any harm it might do could just be polished out – if I noticed at all, ’cause the red paint was bright. For the record, Kona Blue was my first choice, but I was extremely OK with red. And it really helped the police do their jobs, you’re welcome the police.
Now, I should explain that my local Trademark Car Wash is very nice car wash. Not touchless, but nice. That doesn’t make it any less likely grit trapped in those slappy fabric belt things will goof up my paint, but the vibe is good.
On the other hand, I would not run my Mustang (or my wife’s RAV4, for that matter) through the very sketchy car wash at the 7-Eleven on the corner. I’m pretty sure I saw sparks shooting out of the doors once, I swear. But the Honda Civic I was driving before the Mustang? I would roll the dice on 7-Eleven. I don’t see how it could have made that beater any worse, but the whole point is moot, as I really never washed it. It was silver, I live in Texas, it was fine.
And now here’s Griffin, since he piped in on Slack and has a cool car. Sighhh … I remember having a cool car.
I don’t auto wash anymore. I stopped after getting my Corvette, as the turning radius is so bad it can be scary trying to get into the drive-thru washes, and I worry about the clearance of the guide rails. Now that I have an apartment with a substantial outdoor space, I can hand-wash my cars, usually once a week. I save money, have fun in the sun, and listen to “Summertime” by Will Smith. Happy Sunday.
Mercedes Streeter
I can’t wash cars at home unless I want to piss off my condo association in the summer or freeze in the winter, so I go to those wash bays with high-pressure wands. The cool thing about wash bays is that you can bring whatever tools you want. That said, if it’s a daily or beater I don’t care that much about, I’ll go to an automatic wash with brushes.
If you live in the Midwest or the East, I don’t recommend the old-school sponge and bucket hand wash job as your only form of washing. You have to get the underbody, too. Road salt has a nasty way of getting into places that you will just never get with a simple hand wash. Go to a touchless automatic wash that has an underbody blaster, go to a wash bay, or get a power sprayer and do it yourself. Either way, just clean that crap off of the bottom of your car! There are just too many cars here in the Midwest with pretty bodies that are completely rotted out underneath.
OK, your turn: What’s Your Automated Car Wash Policy?
Top graphic image: still, Breaking Bad/Sony Pictures Television
None of my cars are collector grade, and slighlty swirled paint is better than salt-induced rust. So its auto wash year round for me, unless I’m feeling super ambitious and I’ll hand wash each once or twice a year.
Enjoy a weekly hand wash when its warm out but being in the land of snow and ice and having to turn the outside water off (just turned it back on this past weekend) so even on those few nice days over the winter still not an option. I am lucky enough to have a hand wash both near my home and work. I think the nearest do it yourself wash bay to me is 30/45 minutes away, and not even sure its still open.
I live in an area with lots of snow and road salt in the winter, so I get the Crew unlimited pass each year from about November – April. Yeah, it creates swirl marks, but I wax my cars often, and would much rather polish out the swirls each spring than deal with rust.
During the summer, I hand wash in the driveway with a bucket and grit catcher. Touchless washes don’t work when its below zero around these parts, so automated really is the only way to keep the cars clean during the winter months.
When I got vinyl decals covering the sides of my last car I was advised that automatic washes would decrease their life, so I just went with either sponge and bucket at home or, more often, wash bays with the high pressure wants when you do it yourself; they ended up lasting the life of the car. My current car has fewer decals on it (still a couple) but I keep up the same habit, no automatic, just myself either in my driveway or in wash bays.
Touchless as desired. I’ve gone through a brushed one here and there and it was fine but I’m still haunted by the sound of a dealer’s brushed carwash ripping the rear wiper off a Prius years ago. Before I had a shop vac handy I usually sought out touchless + vacuums included, the one I liked changed ownership and quality/service dipped so I stopped going.
I do the self-serve bays with wands a good bit, remembering to hit the brush with the jet before I use it. Similar price as an automated but I know I can focus on some spots if I need to from bird droppings or whatnot that an automated might not fully get off. I have also done the method as mentioned bringing my own items for a more thorough job. Even just a quick wash of windows + wheels can go far, to blast tree sap off or getting the bulk of set-in grime and dust. Clean wheels can do a lot to make it look cleaner than it is. And then hit the highway for some air drying, because it would just get dusty on the drive home anyway if I dried it proper.
I used to be so particular in handwashing my cars, family’s cars…but have cooled off a lot. I still like to but it’s generally more of a project than it’s worth for a simple daily and I figure even an automated is still more than many average people are doing to keep their cars clean. If I hand wash it’s more in anticipation of a day I’ll do a full clay bar etc. I will probably explore some of the no-rinse setups, feel like those were cautioned against when they were newer on the scene but are more proven now. It makes sense now that I have my own driveway that isn’t covered but has some shade, and it’s not a real convenient hose/spigot setup.
I use them on everything but I try to go to places that manually spray your car down first. I figure they’re getting all the big grime off before the cars go through the brushes. It’s never been a problem.
I bring the Q3 through the automated wash, its black and 9 years old at this point and it shows, but its not a super car and nothing a bit of polishing on a weekend can’t fix if I’m so inclined. My wife brings the GLI through an automated wash once or twice a month. Its white and only 3 years old and looks fine. Again its not some rare beast so we are ok with washing it that way when it needs it.
Hand wash the Fiata only. Only time it gets auto washed is whenever the dealership remembers to do so after oil change. The winter car however gets auto washed almost exclusively because screw hand washing when its 20° F before windchill.
There was a time in my life when an automated car was wasn’t going to work, but for different reasons that I’ve seen mentioned. I’m 76 and my earliest CW experience were when I owned a Toyota Corolla which was all of 12 feet long (?). The drive through type washed were always out of my financial reach but we did have a Robo Car Wash, the type where you parked and the robot circled the car. However, the circle was a preset dimension and when the unit got to the back of the car the water didn’t even reach my trunk! As I was still a young man living at home and dad never shut the outside spigot off, I managed to do a frozen finger hand wash. I did spend many hours hand washing in a driveway, especially throughout my homeownership days. That Robo remained in business for many years and was my go to wash for a quick job although I did start frequenting the drive through types. I never owned anything I wasn’t comfortable driving though a CW.
Now I’m retired and living in a Condo in the Berkshires. We do have a Robo type wash nearby for winter washes and they have the wand style as well, but we also have a hose bib at the condo and it’s’ an acceptable practice to DYI here. I even wax the cars under the tree although the vacuuming is done at my garage.
I have a monthly membership to the local tunnel car wash. I go through at least weekly. More in the winter when salt is everywhere.
We have 6 cars and none have been to an automated car wash under my ownership. They have only been hand washed. 3 bucket method: 1 bucket for the wheels; 2 buckets for the car. If the car is dirty enough, I sometimes use 2 wash mitts – one for the upper part of the car and 2 for the lower part of the car. They all have had paint corrections and ceramic coatings. Hand washes is the best way to keep them looking great.
For winter washes, it helps that I have large, heated garage that has a hose spigot as well as drains in the floor. I also have an undercarriage attachment for my high pressure washer. We don’t use salt on the road here in CO, but it’s still good to get all the grime and “sand” off. Here’s the attachment I use. https://www.carsupplieswarehouse.com/products/mtm-hydro-under-carriage-cleaner-2-0
I used to own more expensive cars that I cared about the paint on. I now own a 98 cherokee that I could care less about as far as the paint goes. It’s actually really freeing. Every few weeks I run it through shine time. They have free vacuums.
Never. This was something my fiancee had to learn when we moved in together. Our cars are only ever hand washed at home, with 2 buckets, a grit guard, various specific mits, and a foam canon.
I hand wash all our cars. Most people don’t care enough that it matters, and that’s absolutely understandable. But yes car washes do create scratches, and the chemicals can be too strong, risking further damage, some worse than others.
I spent so much time only having cars with roof racks or something that didn’t work with the automated car washes that I don’t even consider them an option anymore. I always use wash bays.
My cars are usually crappy, and yet I am still too cheap to pay for a car wash. In Maine winters I used to do the “Casco Car Wash” which was to clean all the glass, headlights and taillights with the bucket and wand at the gas station. Even now, I will only splurge for the $4.00 coin spray wand to blast off the salt underneath and then on the paint. The rest of the season I just wash them at home from time to time.
Tommy’s Express Car Washes is where it’s at.
Touchless car washes actually do more damage to the finish of your car than touch car washes. They wear down the outermost layers of the surface and dull them. Ford and other automakers actually have changed the formulations of paints based on people thinking touchless is better when it’s not. Touch car washes have all of the obvious downsides, but if are run properly are better for car care. You may be more likely to have swirl marks, but that’s just because on the touchless the swirls are just smeared over the entire surface.
I have a Lexus GX 550 Overtrail and I take it through the car wash regularly. I couldn’t take my 4Runner TRD Pro through because of the rack, and it killed me. I like a clean car!
Pro tip: keep tire shine spray foam at your house and after the tires dry and your car is freshly washed do it. Your car will look way cleaner for longer because we are all dumb naked monkeys and the shininess actually does work.
Touchless car washes use harsh chemicals that also wear down your rubber and seals.
Newer cars use water-based paints not solvent-based like older cars and this also helps them stand up to car washes. They have ceramic-infused or nano-based top layers, whatever that means!
The user manual for our 2024 Rav4 Plug-in calls for touchless car washing only. We asked the dealer where they are located, and they didn’t have an answer at all. We did find some that were in cities that we only visit when we have to go to a specialist doctor or a Costco run. We finally looked around closer to home and did find one. No idea of why Toyota only recommends a touchless, but as we bought this one (got out of the lease cycle), we will follow that recommendation. I still pull out the towels and dry off the glass, open the doors, and dry off the door edges and body door edges as well.
In priority order…
I absolutely hate washing cars, but I also don’t want to ruin them. So I use the touchless ones up until there’s too much that they’re missing, and then I bring it to get detailed by a guy in the next town over. In the winter, though, getting those underbody washes is vital, so I do the touchless one every week or so.
Not even once.
Depends on the car. The RAV4 and twelve year old F-150 are basically appliances, so automatic car washes are fine. We do spray their undercarriages with Fluid Film every fall, though.
The Miata lives in a garage during road salt season, and it gets hand washed or sprayed in an in-bay wash.
When I owned my cars, I would either bucket wash or wand wash them myself and never went to auto washes. Now that both my cars are leases, I pay $18 per month (per car) for unlimited washes at a local chain that has very nice machines (even though they aren’t totally touchless), and they do a great job. I haven’t noticed any paint damage, although I’m sure I would if I looked closely enough. I take my cars through the wash pretty frequently because I like them to look clean but also because all the sensors on them need to be clean to function properly. I wax the cars once a year with Collinite 845 Insulator wax.
My policy is never. I will never subject my car to a car damaging wash machine that ultimately does a shit job of cleaning.