Automated car wash

[SubSlr88]

Automated car washes make me shudder even thinking about them.

When I lived in Denver a work-mate of mine took his fairly new car into get the winter road salt and crud off during some nice weather.

The car prior to his had one of those magnet mount CB antennas on the trunk - it got torn off in the rotating overhead brush, and no one noticed (everyone is inside watching the neat things happen.) When my buddy's car got to that brush, it proceeded to beat the hood, windshield, top and trunk of his car with the antenna end sticking out of the brush. . . not a pretty sight! Cracked windshield and lots of dents up and down the metal work.

Of course, the wash operator points to the sign pointing out that they weren't responsible for "antennas, mirrors, etc" and my buddy had to report the damage to his insurance company.

[PerryA]

I've only been through the 'robo' washes that are spray arms and no brush or anything touching the car. They'll get the dust and a little grime off, but it's not as good as DIY. The only problem was the wash/rinse arm kept going after it reached the end of the car like it was washing a conventional-length vehicle so the back didn't get the same treatment as the rest of the car. I thought these things had laser dimensioning devices or something to ensure they could get over and around your car. If so, they clearly don't look at the length, just height and width.

[jsenka]

A2Jack, thanks for the reply.
That may be little far out unless I'm in the area. I'll check with some local places as well.
I'm in Ypsilanti. Red/silver Passion.

[BigWarpGuy]

Perhaps one could try one of those self serve car wash places? There used to be alot of them but not so many nowadays.

[jetfuel]

...geeeeezzzz people...bucket of soap and a hose...towel and California blade gets the smart squeaky clean in less than 10 minutes....how do I know that?...that's what it takes my kid to do it......

jetfuel

[rwjrn]

I don't have a kid to clean my car. It does take me a little longer than 10 minutes to clean my car. It depends on how I'm feeling whether or not I take it to a wash. The one down the street from me doesn't have any brushes, just jets of soap and water. They have guys with brushes that give it a scrub as it goes by. I've been to several different auto washes and never had any leakage.

[jwight]

Originally Posted by jetfuel

...geeeeezzzz people...bucket of soap and a hose...towel and California blade gets the smart squeaky clean in less than 10 minutes....how do I know that?...that's what it takes my kid to do it......

jetfuel

Pretty good plan if you're not in Cleveland or Buffalo from Dec - March.

[RocketJohn]

Here in Denver one needs to find an auto-car wash to get the mag-chloride and winter grime off in sub freezing temps... hand washing in your driveway, NOT GONNA FLY...

good to know the smarts work in the auto-setting

[jsenka]

I've tried the hand wash routine, but after about mid-November, the water freezes quicker than I can wipe it off!
Plus the hose is can be a real PITA to coil when frozen!

[fly4fun]

You guys need to move to AZ.