py0413

I got a booklet of several free touchless car washes and I wonder if it is safe to bring the RX through them? Anybody have experiences? ( I live by a small town near the coast and you can almost expect seeing bird drops on your car every time the car is parked outdoor)

RXSF

touchless as in hand wash or touchless as in mechanical high pressure sprays? Im very picky about swirls so I try to hand wash as much as possible. I cant guarantee the condition of the microfiber cloths at hand wash places. If it is the high pressure water machine kind, I would only use it as a last resort. those machines actually recycle the water and filter it, and resuse it again on the next car wash. If the filter hasnt been kept clean or if by default the filters arent smaller enough, then you are basically getting dirt particles slammed against your car.

If you arent big on washing it yourself, then those touchless car washes would still be better than the run of the mill gas station washes

AndyL

I concur. Despite it is touchless, the water may not be clean and may cause swirls or blemishes to your car over time. I also have heard the filtering of water in the touchless car wash is not generally great.

The idea is similar to using hard water to wash a car AND wait too long to dry up the car.

For the RX, some areas are particular prone to swirls and blemishes --- the rear roof black plastic, the black plastic on the windows.

DunWkg

You'll be fine. Dry your car carefully after the wash to avoid water spots.

Just buy a couple of high quality microfiber towels and a product referred to as a spray detailer and use them to get the bird droppings when you can't get to a wash. WalMart has plenty of products. Of course, I suppose living next to the ocean, bird bombs are really bird BOMBS...

happy1977

I still prefer touchless (laser) wash over those swirls. Unfortunately, there's not very many out there.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Most of the damage is done during the drying process. You can use a touchless car wash, but if you have a bunch of guys come out and dry your car with dirty rags, then it's worthless in the end. Or if the car wash didn't remove all of the dirt, you're going to end up grinding all that surface contamination into the finish.

If you don't want to hand wash it yourself, make sure you don't let the above things happen. The best way to dry a car is with air jets/leaf blowers.

If you do want to wash your car yourself, buy these items:

3 Home Depot/Lowes 5 gallon buckets - $2-3 each
2 Grit Guards (a plastic grill that seperates your water from the dirt) ~$10 each
a microfiber wash mitt (the blue one)
a sponge for your wheels
car shampoo (do not use hand soap or a dish detergent - it will strip any wax off your car's paint)
a good water hose nozzle (I like the screw fireman type)

and watch this video (this guy is the owner of Autogeek.net, he's a professional detailer)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...6069207401372#

py0413

I just went to check that place out. It's machine touchless car wash with auto dryer when exiting. It's quite nice for a quick rinse when I am lazy I guess.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

That sounds pretty good, I gotta find one of these for the colder days.

Here is a good video about car washes, mostly about the XKR though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEucVVy4HoM

DunWkg

Thanks for sharing that video. Made my morning.

I have found a car wash similar to that one. The one I found has only one "pivot arm" and I love the way it pivots front and back on the car.

Equally important, the manual bays at the same place are heated. So I auto-wash and then go into the manual bay and continue to dry and either use a spray wax or a spray detailer to finish up.

Although heated is a funny term as they just leave the water running out of every thing the keep the place warm. I'm guessing the water is recycled, filtered and heated.

Problem is, it's 40 miles from my home. Although they do have dollar off Wednesdays!!