Are gas station car washes safe for new paint?
You know, the kind with huge spinning brushes..
I'm not sure if they use wax in the process, but my paint is almost 2 months old..

I wouldn't use any of those on a 10 yr old paint job.

Imagine all the stuff that gets stuck to those brushes, just scraping against your paint.
And the speed at which that stuff goes, can't be good.

And I doubt they're 100% cotton.

Those gas station car washes are evil. Not good if you really care about your paint. Hand washing is the best.

Ah, let me rephrase..
I have new paint on the HOOD only, the rest of the car has yet to be painted..
It will be painted eventually, but for now I just want it to be clean
Buut..I never thought about how dirty those things can be..good thing I asked

the last time i bought a BRAND new car, the dealer specificly told me NOT TO GO TO THOSE CAR WASHES, because it damages the paint.

And don't be so lazy, spend some quality time with the car and bond

i was watching the news a long time ago and saw a story about some ones car geting really messed up from one of those, what happend was some metal part (i think it was an antenna) got stuck in one of the spinning brushes... i'm sure you have an idea of what happend...

before i had my thirdgen i had a 96 cavalier and i went to one of those and i came out without an antenna... i was really pi$$ed. think there is any corelation?

o_o old paint new paint....I've either handwashed mine or taken it to a reputable car wash where I can watch people and make sure they dont mess up my car.

Since I got new paint though I hand wash ONLY.

do not use the ones with the brushes. all the dirt and sand get stuck on the brushes and scratch your paint. The pressure washer ones are supposed to be safe but still i would just take 30 min and wash it yourself.

Just thought I would throw in another post against those washing machines. I took my Yukon through one a long while back because I was going out of town and in a hurry, but wanted to have a clean vehicle, well, to this day, I still regret doing it. I spent a solid weekend, probably 12 hours a day rubbing out the paint. I had millions of real fine scratches everywhere. I highly advise against them!!!! Now that my truck won't fit through one anymore, it is not even an option if I wanted to...

dont even go to a brushless one..especially if u have t-tops...my first time was my last time...hand wash only nowadays

:hail: handwashing

Last time I was at one of the pressure wash ones, I got a jet of water right through the window where the weatherstripping didn't seal good. Though that's probably more my fault for not taking care of the weatherdtripping, I'd hate to go through one with t-tops.
David

The do it yourself coin washes aren't too bad, although I find it's hard to get that thin flim of dust off your paint when you just use the pressure sprayer.
If you do use a coin car wash, and the brush they supply, make sure the brush is one of the really soft kind, and clean it with the pressure sprayer before scrubbing the car down.
Hand cleaning in the dead of winter isn't really an option when the temperatures are below freezing!

i never will use a gas station car wash!

If you must use a gas station car wash, at least find one that is brushless/touchless. These wash your car with high pressure water jets. From my experience, though, gas station car washed dont clean the car very well. I'd rather wash my car at home, or at least go to a car wash where you pay to use the foaming brush and water, and wash my car myself.

Ive always washed mine by myself. But before i stored it, it needed a final wash, well not really, but u know how it is, IT JUST NEEDS IT, OK? Well anyways, it was cold, getting dark, and had limited options, due to snow coming and all, so it had to be quick.

Well i took it in, but not a gas station wash, im talking just a car wash place, where all they do is car wash. I was very hesitant at first, but i pulled up. It had the usual stuff that u would see in other car washes.

Well before i get in, i had the "usual", mouths drop to the ground look when all the guys looked at my car pulling up. After about a few minutes of compliments, i decided to go in. The guys told me not to worry, this aint gonna damage your paint or nothing. I was like ok, fine.

Went through the thing, of course before i was in neutral they did there usual "cleanup" by handwashing it before i went in. After i got out, they hand dried it to, with 100% towels, in which i saw their tags. And finally, put a very shiny Armoral coating on the tires, as well as giving me Armoral wipes for my interior.

All in all, i have no complaints, and when summer comes i will clean the car myself, but if worse comes worse, i'll know where to take it for a quicky.

Later

One time I saw where this guy went through one of the washes with the brushes and the spinning brushes actually got caught up in his hub caps and spun the hub caps all against the side of the car......really ugly. About once every 5 or 6 months I take my car to the brushless car wash with the high pressure jets. I always make sure I have a passenger and a couple towells. We hold the towells up to the tops of the windows and catch all the water that enters the car. Without towells the interior will get soaked. After the wash, I have to hand dry the car cause the blowers dont work too good. I would usually rather spend the hour+ it takes to do a decent hand washing job.

my best friend took his 87 IROC through a brushless car wash. during the drying process, one of his hood louvers took flight, and to add insult to injury. driving out of the car wash he ran over it.

I took my GTA through a touchless once and never again, i GOT SOAKED, I had just bought the car and wanted it clean to show my friends,

Once upon a time I worked for a car dealer. They said not to use a car wash with the brushes. The dealer had a car wash that had flaps that kind of ran across you car as you drove through. I would stay away from any car wash that has flaps or brushes. I have seen the aftermath of them. If you use an automatic car wash go to one of the brushless. They are really good and you don't have to worry about anything touching your car that will scratch or dent it. I hope this helps.

Well- I guess I could be considered an expert on the subject. I work for a car dealership washing, waxing, and detailing cars. (It's very nice, by the way, to hand wash your car for free in the middle of December in Wisconsin in a heated garage with all the hot water and detailing products you can use!) Anyways, we've usually got 2 people doing detailing work on one car at a time. But if we've got to get a car out quick or one just needs a plain wash, my boss-who owns the local carwash- gives us tokens and sends us to theautomatic carwash. It doesn't have brushes-presoak and high-pressure rinse with blower- and as far as I can tell, it works just fine. We always need to chamois it down back at the shop, and it isn't quite up to par with our work, but it is a heck of a lot quicker and easier. And I have yet to see a scratch or scrape put in by the washer.

when i wash my car at home, i use well water and ... dish soap... lol is this bad?? And i have one of those brush things that attaches to the hose. is this bad? the bristles arent too sharp but... what do u guys use?

Yes, Dish Soap is bad, espically if you have wax or polish on your car. Dish Soap will discentegrate whatever sort of wax buildup there is on your car, leaving you with unprotected paint. Don't use dish soap unless you are claying your car down to give it a fresh coat of wax or polish from the ground up.

Yup, those brushes aren't too good for the paint......as somebody mentioned, imagine how dirty those things are from other cars???....

yeah but the brush attaches to my garden hose and it flushes all the dirt off.. or so it would seem i guess. How the hell did u get your car so shiny. that looks AMAZING.

and what about well water? is that bad? should i test the Ph or anything.

lets just say.. Zaino is your friend.

Plus, the car was kinda dirty in that pic.

zaino hey.. what is that a wax of some kind?

also those gas station car washes stink like hell. my mom took her car thru one once and *** the water smelled nasty as hell and it was a brushless one but if they use recycled water, that stuff sure waste recycled

well water is your friend! well, sort of. although it can have a lot of minerals in it, you won't have to put up with having chlorine/bromine, water softeners, and other chemicals in it.

A girl I know took her 2000 grand am through a local car wash. The place has you get out of your car and they vacum the inside of the car and do some light cleaning inside while you wait and then they send it through the car wash. Well one of the people who was cleaning the car before it went into the car wash left the passanger side window down and sent it through needless to say when it came out it was soaked and magically when she went to confront the people about it nobody could speak or understand english go figure. Well needless to say she never pressed the issue and the car wash never took responsiblity for it, I don't think she even got a refund

i would go in there with a knife and threaten to kill them. or i would call the cops.. even though they wouldnt do ****. but i would definitly not let them get away with it.

someone told me well water is bad for your car? What kind of soap is good to use