Car Wash- Your Thoughts?

[Thru the Eyes of Ruby]

So folks, we have a problem. Ruby is dirty

For a while there I bringing her in for service for a faulty sun screen and they'd run her through the new-car-wash every time. Now that is fixed and she's about 6,000 miles short of an oil change.

Unfortunatly, I live in an apartment in the city with no access to a hose. We do have those "wash-it-yourself" car washes... but what is the general consensus on the drive-thru car washes ? Would it scratch Ruby's shiny red pannels?

I have to admit- in addition to them being functional, the drive thru's are kind of fun too. I'm tempted... but I don't want to hurt her.

[dbwill]

I use a no touch drive through at my local Sams Club. The thing I like about it is that it has a system that measures the car length so you don't have the back being washed from 15 feet away. Would not use a wash that touches the car, I am afraid that the plastic would really show swirl marks from that.

[mmmeat]

Originally Posted by dbwill

I use a no touch drive through at my local Sams Club. The thing I like about it is that it has a system that measures the car length so you don't have the back being washed from 15 feet away. Would not use a wash that touches the car, I am afraid that the plastic would really show swirl marks from that.

Not all the panels are just plastic, some of them - like the red, I believe - are painted.

Your pal,
Meat.

[Thru the Eyes of Ruby]

Originally Posted by mmmeat

Not all the panels are just plastic, some of them - like the red, I believe - are painted.

Your pal,
Meat.

Hey Meat- do you happen to know what color is under the red? I asked the dealer, and nobody knew?

dbwill- good advice. Now I need to find one of those.

[rawlus®]

i thought i read in another thread that the high-pressure automatic washers can and do tend to push alot of water down into the door cavities.

i use a wash-it-yourself bay, less than 10min and less than $3 in quarters, start to finish, and that's with about 1min working on the tires/wheels with the wheel cleaner spray mode stuff. dry with either a synthetic chamois or a silicone squeegee.

[JPaul]

Re: painted panels.
It's my understanding that red, blue and silver panels are black to start with.

[hsterk]

On more than a few occasions: I wait until it rains, put my Smart car out, then after it gets real wet, hand wash it with soapy (auto detergent) water, then let the rain rinse it off, take it back into the garage, and wipe it down.

If the rain doesn't last long enough, I'll hose it down

I've noticed that the painted panels are really soft underneath the paint, and would not trust it to any automatic car wash.

I'm from a family that used to own an "Auto Laundry".

[mmmeat]

Originally Posted by Thru the Eyes of Ruby

Hey Meat- do you happen to know what color is under the red? I asked the dealer, and nobody knew?

Painted panels are all supposed to start off as black panels. I have only seen one broken painted panel, and it looked like a milky grey, but that could have just been the stressed plastic.

Your pal,
Meat.

[Kermit]

It's black - look inside your door jams and edge where the paint isn't perfect and not completely sprayed. It's black. I've also picked up a few chips too - black underneath that too.

[dbwill]

Meat,

I called the panels plastic because I believe that whether painted or colored through . Mu issue though perhaps not expressed clearly was that a touch car was will cause swirl type marks on all surfaces