Prius and Automated Car Wash

I had a Jetta with a similar antenna and the MO was to remove it before running the car through a car wash.

When I bought my Prius I got a 'stubby' antenna so I don't have to do that any longer. They're relatively cheap and worth it, IMHO.

BTW, I've yet to run my Prius through a car wash. All it takes is to have a recently off-roaded pickup in front of you and you'll get your finish scratched. I always hand-wash, even when it was 35 degrees out yesterday. Call me a fanatic.

 

it's not THAT bad... it's 47 degrees out!

because my car is black, i avoid auto washes at all costs, but we did run it through a few times while on vacation. touchless washes haven't hurt the antenna.

 

Like Galaxiee and her DH it has to be touchless or hand wash for ours. I do it most times but there are a few of the HW and TLW and they do a reasonably good job. The manual recommends removing the antenna and it unscrews fairly easily.

 

I would never run any car through a car wash that wasn't touch-less or touch-free. Always locate the car wash that has the spray nozzles.

There are many different types of spray car washes - each having their pluses and minuses. I have identified several of the spray types below:

1. JETS THAT RAPIDLY MOVE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

This type of spray car wash has high-speed jets of water that spray from a nozzle that rapidly moves from left to right. The nozzles are attached to a moving arch that passes over the vehicle. Several nozles are attached to the top and side of the arch.

I have found that this type of nozzle is very forceful and can even shake your car left and right as the arch passes above the vehicle; however, the effectiveness of the spray is not very good. I believe that the spray is not very effective because it does not contact the car for a very long period of time. Potential reasons are that the arch passes too quickly over the car and as the arch moves, the nozzles are moving in a perpendicular direction compared to the arch.

Rating: 7.5 / 10.0

2. STATIONARY JETS

This type of spray car wash is the same as the moving nozzle spray as noted in #1 except that the nozzles do not move. There are many more nozzles on the arch; however, the lack of additional movement makes this type of spray wash even less effective.

Rating: 5.0 / 10.0

3. SPINDLE JETS

This type of spray car wash has the moving arch, with nozzles; however, the nozzles are attached to the perimeter of rotating wheels. The number of nozzles attached to the rotating wheels vary, but I've typically seen 3 - 4. I actually prefer the 3-nozzle variety.

I believe this type to be the ultimate touch-less / touch-free spray wash. As the arch begins to pass over your vehicle, the spinning wheels add an additional movement factor to the wash. On top of this, the rotational movement of the wheel and nozzles make contact with your car far more than the other spray nozzle washes do.

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

So, my tactic for keeping our cars clean through the salty winter is as such:
- Zaino right before the weather becomes too inclimate to hand-wash the vehicle
- Touch-free car wash at least every 2 weeks, or whenever the snow subsides enough to get a good wash in
- Zaino once the weather returns to 60 degrees

 

No problem. Touchless are easy to find around us, but the people who open them are cheap and don't have any of the really nice touchless washes. Granted, I haven't looked very hard, the only 10/10 touchless I've found was in Louisville, KY while visiting my wife's family. 7+ hours of driving just isn't worth a good touchless wash.

 

Avoid those giant rotating brushes at ALL costs! I don't care how "gentle" they claim to be, you'll get hazing and swirl marks on the clear coat. If you insist on using such a place, the antenna is easy to remove.

I go to touchless car washes here when I'm not in the mood to wash it myself. BTW my condo heated underground parking has a wash bay.

The touchless car washes I go to that are "full service" an attendant spritzs surfactants on the car before you drive into the wash bay. The attendant will also go around with a high pressure wand to blast off the salt and crud.

The water jets in the wash bay first spray more surfactants, follow up with a high pressure blast of water. Several rinse cycles follow, then you drive ahead to the drying bay where hot air blasts the car dry. It's usually a 10 minute procedure, costs me $10, and is zero effort.

 

I just purchased a 2006 in KY and the dealer had a few points about automatic car wash and the antenna.

1) Removal is not needed and not suggested.
2) If you remove the antenna be sure to remove any entraped water before reinstallation of antenna
3) Caution water is uncompressable - trying to screw the antenna back into the hole filled with water to can cause you to strip the threads on the antenna and/or socket.
4) Water expanses as it freezes so even if you do get the antenna back on as you drive down the road the wind chill can freeze the water even at temperatures above freezing causing damage to the socket and / or antenna.

Hopefully helpful - Frank

 

The best car wash I've found is in in Louisville off of 146/La Grange Rd. near Pewee Valley. It's hidden behind the gas station right by 265.

 

One of the FIRST accessories I bought for my Prius was a stubby antenna to simplofy car wash use. In my case, the stubby antenna is 2" long, bought on eBay, shipped from Germany. I have a strong signal area (Dallas Metroplex) and have not noticed any deterioration in reception. I do keep the original antenna aboard for cross-country driving where the signal is weaker.

I do prefer to wash the Prius myself and Dallas weather usually is mild enough to allow that.

 

Wanna trade climate zones?

 

no kidding!