Carwash

I remenber previousely someone had already posted a thread similar to yours, so please search for it in the forum.

Anyway, I don't recommend taking your car to any automatic car washes. They SCRATCH the paint and leave circular swirl marks.

Now I "wash" all my cars with plain water and a dozen or so micro-fibre cloths (get them dirt cheap from Walmart). Just soak the cloths, squeeze it to not dripping dry, and wipe the car in one direction, flipping over to a clean part of the cloth often. These micro-fibre cloths do serious cleaning magic and DOES NOT SCRATCH the paint. You can even rub out tough stains like road tar, bird droppings and dead bugs. Just change to another clean micro-fibre cloth as soon as the current one became all dirty. Dump them into the washer afterwards and they'll be as good as new after wash.

No need to hosing down the car, no chemicals, no costs, takes very little time (about 15 mins for the whole car, less than the time you drive to the car wash!), gives you a good workout.

And did I mention, NO SCRATCHES TO THE PAINT?

 

Prius ain't so rare anymore. Not a bad idea to hang around and see if they can move it, though.

 

Wow, haven't heard the one 2 posts above before...

to the OP, most finish/clear coat scratching can occur during the wash process or from incomplete washing. Mine has never been through an auto car wash, and don't plan on it.

For handwashing -

Get two 5 gallon buckets. Do a search on 'Grit guards', mail order them. Buckets from our local Dale Hardware fit the grit guards perfectly. One bucket is for wash water, the other, rinse mitt before getting more soap.

Order a good quality microfiber wash mitt. I like wash mitts better than sponges. Currently using a genuine sheepskin wash mitt I like quite a bit too. $16 from Griots Garage.

Use a good quality car wash soap - Meguiars newer stuff is a good choice. Measure the soap and water to get right mix.

Rinse car first. Wash one section at a time thoroughly. When you finish the whole car, take nozzle off, with low flow water, use hose to sheet water off.

I use a little bit of leaf blower in some areas (rearview mirrors), but don't think you can dry a car completely with it. I don't even try.

Often bring the car under shelter to dry it off well as dew can form otherwise.

Good quality waffle weave microfiber towels work well for drying. Use one towel for drying a section. Don't wipe up the water with one towel and use another to buff dry, that can leave water spots.

When it's time to wax the car (seems I do it about every 5 months), it's best to claybar, especially horizontal surfaces. I don't even dry it thoroughly before claybar, just get most water off. I don't use dish soap as a agent, I use the spray recommended on claybar package.

After claying, wash car again, then dry.

One key in waxing is to applying it about as thin as possible. Makes it much easier to buff off later. In fact, the wax bottle says to apply a thin layer.

All this takes me about 4 hours or so. Waxing is a big chore doing it by hand.

I don't use Zaino and all the botique products at this point. maybe someday.

 

I usually dont have time to hand wash mine. I will never take it to a brush place. Only to places that only have the auto-sprayers. I feel it is a nice combo. Get the car clean, never have anything touch the car

 

When I first got my Prius (since it was a new model) I used to put the yellow operating directions placard that came with the owners manual on the shifter when I took it to the car wash. Now these cars are pretty common, so I'd imagine most car washes know how to operate them.

I believe they leave the car in ready mode and put it in neutral for the ride down the track, since every time I get my car back, the battery is drained quite a bit.

 

FWIW, those "touchless" car washes use pretty aggressive chemicals to clean the cars in the absence of any mechanical cleaning.

I agree with the comment on "brush" car washes, and take mine to a place where the car is pulled along a track, and is washed by hand by a bunch of guys standing on either side of the car. There are a few chains like this in my area, which I've used for over 10 years with no issues.

 

Can't you get your man to do it for you?

 

Make sure to collect all the little rubber pads in the bottom of your door pulls or you will find those missing after the vacumming.

 

SexistCabbie!!

Since getting my Prius 4 yrs ago i've never put it through a carwash..warm water and some elbow grease...does the trick,
I learned my lesson with my last car,those chemicals destroy the paintwork.
As other poster's have said,you can't turn off a Prius and leave it in neutral...leave it in Ready and shift into N

 

Love the variety of people getting their car cleaned. On one hand you have people who don't have 15 mins to clean their car and rather risk damaging the paint and spend 30 mins to go to automatic car washes and further risk the transmission/battery by leaving their precious Prius to a bunch of low paid cleaning workers; on the other hand you have people spending 4 hours labouring and spending tons of money on high tech chemicals and waxes.

Amazing!

 

I used to be so good about washing my car rather than the car wash, but now live in a condo. The one suggestion made about just using water and clothes I can do, but always thought you had to hose it off first and after washing. Lately have gotten the purple bird poop on it and would like to remove it ASAP. Any other wax suggestions, preferably the quicker ones. Never see people washing their cars here so guess they all go to carwashes . . .

 

Hello everyone,

You forget that many car owners (Prius owners included) who leave in apartments have no place/garage/dedicated parking/etc to wash their car by hand. So, either you choose a gas station with hand-washing or an automatic car wash. Using a hand-washing gas station means that you must wait quite a time, which I have not due to peculiar times of my work. No gas station here will start washing your car at 18-19.00 hrs in the afternoon! I have found an automatic car wash close to my home without those rotating brushes. They have a special washing system, something like enormous size mops, which are moving laterally. The drying is done by hand with microfiber towels.
During the washing I stay "in" the car with the power "on" and the shift in neutral.
Before vacuuming remember what Penny's Dad said: Make sure to collect all the little rubber pads in the bottom of your door pull. I already lost 2 of them but I made copies from a usual mouse pad we use with the computers
Can someone explain to me what is this "clay-bar"?? Thanks

 

A clay bar is used to remove surface contaminants (rail dust, tree sap, etc.) from the paint. It's literally a bar of a clay like substance. You spray the paint with a lubricant, then gently rub the bar over the surface, and it shears off the contaminants.

Try this--after washing your car, put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and rub it over the hood of your car. You'll feel little bumps in the paint. After claying, the paint is smooth as silk

I've been using Clay Magic on my cars for decades--more info here:
Clay Magic Auto Clay Bars - The Best Auto Detailing Clay Bar for Car Care

 

Personally, I'll risk a bit of finish damage, which I'll be able to repair come spring. When it's below 0 degrees F I'm not going out there with any bucket of water hot, cold or frozen. The car wash at least gets the darned salt off of it.
Tony Renier,
Green Bay, WI, USA
Latitude 44° 31' 9" N

 

I don't let anyone service my prius except the dealer anymore. When I got my car windows tinted awhile back they could not figure out how to start/park the car despite me telling them how to.

Rather not risk anything happening to the car b/c someone does not know how to operate it.

 

Never a problem with the carwash I've been using since before the Prius. They use manual brushes on the wheels, soap it up with mitts floating in a deep basin, losing dirt between uses, the carwash is then touchless. Drying people use clean cloths.

So taking the antenna off is a non-issue.

I guess if you're obsessive in SoCal, this would be brutal. I did a year there on a sabbatical, and a co-worker told me her husband put a car cover on his baby in the garage to keep the cat from putting prints on it. LOL

 

Personally I'd rather wait untill the weather is not so cold to do the car cleaning myself. I routinely clean my car even in -10C with a bucket of warm water and a few micro-fibre cloths. If the winter grime of salty ice is too thick, don't squeeze dry the cloth too much but move another empty bucket beneath to collect the dripping water. Wipe with a top-down direction and flip the cloth to a clean part every time, change to a new cloth often. Dress warm with hood over your head and wear long rubber gloves over your sleeves.

This can even apply for people living in apartments cause no hosing is required. Just don't do it in a snow storm. If it feels too cold just break up the cleaning in 5 mins sessions once a day, cleaning different parts of the car every time.

5 minutes a day in the cold won't kill you; laziness will, at least it'll kill the paint of your car. You'll end up saving time from those long car wash line-ups.

 

I'm from a school of practicality. I love my GenIII, I get it washed when it gets dirty. But I am not going to spend the extra effort to keep all swirl marks, and totally avoid wear-n-tear paint issues. The Chicago winter road salt, and summer road construction, makes it a no-win situation for me. And i'm really ok with that. I hope to have this car for a long time, but it is not worth my time to keep it in "antique" pristine condition. Just another tool that I want to take good care of. But my extra time will go towards my hobbies and family. We all find our own hobbies and comfort levels. i.e. "What ever floats our boat".

rich