I put my Smart through a automatic car wash

[Suze]

Originally Posted by h20m0f0

Nothing but hand washing here, Noway I'm trusting by baby to a robot built for big cars...... It takes me 5 mins to wash my car anyway why would I go to the carwash

5 mins? No Way! or Noway as you say. I spend 10 minutes with my smart after the auto wash.

Do you leave it wet and spotty? You can't even get all the soap on and off in 5 minutes.

When I hand wash my smart it's 20-30 minutes, including windows.






5 minutes. HA!

[EdwardDennis]

Originally Posted by h20m0f0

Nothing but hand washing here, Noway I'm trusting by baby to a robot built for big cars...... It takes me 5 mins to wash my car anyway why would I go to the carwash

Fine choice. I always hand-wash my motorcyles and use an electric leaf blower to dry. Same with my Smart-- only takes a few minutes and eliminates swirl marks.

Wax it up periodically using (several) well-laundered, clean, 100% cotton cloths and you're good to go...

[Fuse 11]

Originally Posted by Bremer Speck

I tried to go through one of these laser assisted drive-through car washes, where the laser beam detects the front and rear ends of the car to determine its proper positioning in the car wash. It refused to accept the shortness of the Smart and had me move forward and backwards several times and then it shut down. This was a $10 experiment.... :-(

Had that happen Sunday night.
Laughed myself silly over it -- the machine just couldn't believe my car was that small!

-Rusty
"Mine's smaller. I win." -Me, commenting on a passing Mini. Or Fit. Or Yaris. Or, well, anything with four wheels.

[epbrown]

Originally Posted by Suze

When I hand wash my smart it's 20-30 minutes, including windows.
5 minutes. HA!

I tend to baby my cars and wash them once a week, but because of that I've honed my car wash routine down to 10 minutes. That's rinsing the car, soaping it, rinsing again, and drying.

The Smart I don't intend to coddle though. I took it thru one of those drive-thru bays with the spinning brushes on Sunday, it was fine.

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by epbrown

I tend to baby my cars and wash them once a week, but because of that I've honed my car wash routine down to 10 minutes. That's rinsing the car, soaping it, rinsing again, and drying.

The Smart I don't intend to coddle though. I took it thru one of those drive-thru bays with the spinning brushes on Sunday, it was fine.

You should be able to baby it this weekend, gona be a heatwave.
45 deg on Sat

[PerryA]

Originally Posted by Bremer Speck

I tried to go through one of these laser assisted drive-through car washes, where the laser beam detects the front and rear ends of the car to determine its proper positioning in the car wash. It refused to accept the shortness of the Smart and had me move forward and backwards several times and then it shut down. This was a $10 experiment.... :-(

Love the pre-shrunk comment. I went through one of these laser washes and only had to pull up and stop. It didn't recognize where the actual rear of the car was, so it went back too far and the spray wasn't strong enough to get the back completely clean. Otherwise, it was fine. No jostling around pulling up and back. It may just be the way the individual machines are calibrated.

[SmartJoeMN]

I just ran mine though a laser guided one, it found the front and the sides fine, but goes back to far which is fine because the pressure when it sprays on my rear window pushes the window in and sprays water inside, so I just reach back and hold the window and not as much leakage.

I can't wait for summer so I can wash it with a hose...

[Neonspinnazz]

I'd probably hand wash it during the summer
(I do as good as a job as the local detail shop )
And use the nonlaser-guided touchless automatics during the Winter.

[jimvw57]

I use wizards. It smells like the windshield washer fluid the factory uses.

[wiltjk]

Perhaps I'm [over] influenced by my overseas colleagues, but my recipe is:

• One bucket warm rinse water
• One bucket warm sudsy water
• One wash mit
• One chamois
• 30 minutes of "personal" time with my smart

Very low impact on the environment this way and the garage with a space heater suffices in the cold months.