First Time at the Car Wash

My first car wash was the spray-only kind. The KOA campground my Mom's 5th-wheeler is parked at has some sort of clumpy white powder forming the driving surface of their road. It was clinging to the car after the rain that came through on Saturday wet both the car and the 'dirt' road. A good soaping and rinsing took care of it, though. Maybe the ToyoGard provides easier removal?

One thing I noticed was that the sprayer has enough force to lock the doors. I saw the lights blink several times while washing, but didn't know what was going on until I was done and the car was locked. No problem, just another 'huh' on the list of Things That I Noticed That My Car Does.

Anyone have the car lock during some 'touchless' wash?...

 

Who said never a dumb question?

:roll: Just got my Prius. I've yet to go through the car wash. (NO valet) Will I just set it to Neutral like most drive through car washes? Any special concern I should have with the Prius while going through the car wash?

 

I have only run my 04 Prius (3500 miles) through the car wash only once and got tire damage (passenger front on the outer wall).

The tire had to be replaced, apparently, in spite of my heads-up to the car wash employees. The small clearance of the vehicle makes it difficult to gauge where the tires are and this tire apparently hit the metal tire guides just the wrong way; damaging the tire.

I talked to the car wash owners who mentioned that they read about special hybrid problems with some car washes in a pro car wash magazine.

I've been afraid to try it again. (This type of wash guides the vehicle through the wash process with the vehicle unattended via a guide that pushes the vehicle through.) This is in Southern California and the car is washed by hand through this process and dried by end in the parking lot.

Nobody else has this problem? If so, it must have beena one time deal and maybe I should try it again.

 

Arrrgh!!!

I can't believe youse guys run your babies through a car wash!

My long term experience with most car washes is that, unless it's the family van or full-size pickup and you don't care too much about scratches, crazing of the wheel covers or chemical fading (on my black '91 Mercedes last year - broke my own rule), wash your Prius with your own loving hands.

Only way to get a good job done right with no problems.

Also, when you do it yourself you become familiar with every square inch of the sheet metal, door sills, wheel wells, etc. You are the first to know if anything is out of kilter.

Also, the touchless systems uses extremely high pressure; I noticed the finish on my factory stock Mercedes alloy wheels was slightly crazed on all four wheels after this experience. The pressure created thousand of tiny cracks in the outer clear coat on the center disc and the three pointed start logo.

On an '04 Prius, this could be important over time; the hood and rear hatch; they are fabricated from sheet aluminum - much softer than steel. I have aready spotted a tinypaint ding on the hood; there's also a small dimple under it from the hit. Aluminum don't rust, but it is solfter.

For the record, I like the use of aluminum - don't get me wrong here.

I understand that sometimes you just gotta run it through because of time or weather. Just consider doing it your self when ever you can. Your baby gonna luv ya for it!


Bob

 

As someone in SoCal, I will continue to use a car wash. A well-run car wash will use just 25% of the water that I would at home and the waste water from the car wash is partly recycled (grey water reclamation) and then goes through the city's sewer treatment system.

If I were to wash my car at home, I'd use more water and the suds would either go down the storm drain (which then goes straight to the ocean here) or into my yard.

I used pretty much the same car wash for 9 years on my old Subaru and the finish when I sold it was pretty much pristine, no oxidation and no crazing. They wash the car with big mitts by hand and then it goes through the conveyer for a rinse and wax application. Then it's driven out to the drying area where a fellow gives it a wipe down.

I haven't taken Dyna in for her first wash yet. I'll tell you if anything of note occurs.

 

I hand-wash mine as well. Takes me about an 60-90 min to do a decent job of it including hand drying.

Of course, Vancouver being what it is, there's no shortage of water to wash cars with

My typical routine is this:

- Rinse off car with a spray nozzle to remove surface dirt
- Using a wash-mit with soap, wash roof, then hood, top of door panels, and back.
- dump out water and rinse bucket&mit, refill with cool soapy water.
- wash windows with mit - do door to mid-level with mit. Wash mit and leave to dry.
- Using cotton towel with very light pressure, wash lower door panels and lower front/back of car.
- Rinse with spray nozzle
- Spray on wheel protectant
- Take nozzle off hoze to get a good stream of water and allow to flow over car surface to help in the drying process (causes water to sheet-off instead of bead).
- Use drying shammy to remove residual water.

Looks great, and doesn't take that long. I agree with the other poster about car washes damaging surfaces. I took an older car through a rotating brush wash some years ago, and later noticed that it basically sanded the clear coat. Extemely nasty.

Even touchless washes put enough pressure behind the nozzles that I don't feel comfortable going through them in a new car.

That said, sounds like the Cali wash that you mentioned is a low-power wash that just uses the automated system for rinse/wax instead of the full wash cycle (which is the damaging part) - that should be OK.

Dave