Touchless car wash

[kgvjec]

Just a quick question on the touchless car washes. I have a wash up the road from me which has an automated touchless car wash. You pull your car into the bay and a motorized arm goes around your car covering the top and sides with some sort of soap 2x and then uses a high pressure rinse 2x around followed by lower pressure and a quick blow dry. I tend to use this wash during the winter months because of the temperature and it truly being touchless. My concern is in the soap being used and the pressure of the water. Would one or two of these washes strip the wax off? If my wax is fresh it still seem to get water beading but just wanted to hear if anyone had more knowledge of this type of wash.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Touchless car wash

I don't have any personal experience taking a car through any type of car wash as I have always washed all my cars myself by hand.

That said, forum consensus is that if nothing is physically touching the paint to loosen the dirt on the surface so it will rinse off, then cleaning chemicals strong enough to chemically loosen the dirt must be being used.

There's a number of threads on this with members that use these types of car washes posting their opinions, maybe try a search using the terms,

Touchless

and see if you pull anything up.

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Here's an interesting thread on this topic, maybe the OP can update us on his system?

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26577&highlight=touchless

[Megafast13]

Re: Touchless car wash

I and many others use Touchless Washes in the winter. They are the best option because you don't want to use the DIY Car Washes and you also don't want to leave the salt on the car either.

The soaps most likely won't strip your wax, but by the time winter's over it probably will.

[3Fitty]

Re: Touchless car wash

I and many others use Touchless Washes in the winter. They are the best option because you don't want to use the DIY Car Washes and you also don't want to leave the salt on the car either.

I don't think they are the best option at all. I'd rather go to a DIY with my own bucket and soap.

The soaps most likely won't strip your wax, but by the time winter's over it probably will.

So, your telling me that a soap, strong enough to remove road salt with a simple high pressure rinse WON'T remove your wax?????? WHAT??????? How is that possible?

[Tuck91]

Re: Touchless car wash

I dont really like the Automatic Touchless Car Washes and in the winter i wash my truck in my garage but if that wasnt an option i would go to the DIY place where i could at least have some control of where that high pressure water is being sprayed, which would be on the wheelwells only. I think those soaps will remove your wax but im no expert so i couldnt tell you for sure

but winters just about over anyways

[new2detailing]

Re: Touchless car wash

I

[new2detailing]

Re: Touchless car wash

I agree from an OCD perfectionist standpoint, the "touchless" car wash is not the ideal solution. However, with that said, I do use them during the winter months. If it is warm enough, I will apply a spray wax (was using NXT spray, planning on buying UQW). My philosophy is that it is better to remove salt, mud, grime et al that can marr or even accelerate damage and wait to do a proper detail when the weather cooperates.

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: Touchless car wash

I try not to drive my car through winter but if I need to and if I need a wash in the cold weather, I will go through the touchless, spray only wash... so from December to sometime in March I don't hand wash my car... even if the wax strips off it's better than scratching you'll get from some 'quality hand wash' place...

[gjohn28]

Re: Touchless car wash

In the past I have used DIY and touch-free washes in the winter months because I felt losing some wax protection was better than allowing dirt and road salt to sit on the finish. It also gave me an excuse to wax the car again, anyway. A lot of touch-frees also have the under-carriage wash which is convenient.

That said, however, I've recently switched to a rinseless wash (ONR) for the winter that I like a lot. If the car is really dirty, I'll take it to a DIY first and use the rinse cycle only to remove as much salt/dirt as I can before using the ONR in my garage.

[CharlesW]

Re: Touchless car wash

As is the case with most things, not all car washes are the same.

Some use recycled water for all but the rinse cycle. Don't be upset with the owner, he may be required to do so in his area.
Those I would try to avoid, not because I have any good reason, but I don't feel comfortable that the filtering will remove all the contaminants from the water.

In my area, I have yet to find a touchless or spray wand wash that will remove all the road film. Try gently wiping an area with a light colored towel after you complete a wash. Chances are very good the towel will be dirty.
It seems unlikely that a process that doesn't remove road film is going to remove wax.

A trip through a touchless to knock the heavy crud and do aomewhat of an underbody wash is the first step in my winter washes. From there, I go home and finish up with either a waterless or a rinseless wash in my garage. Heating my garage is not a big problem and getting rid of the small amount of water left on the floor from a rinseless wash is not difficult.

FWIW, I have more water on the floor doing the wheels and tires than I do from washing the rest of the vehicle. That's probably because of my process, but so far I haven't figured a way to avoid it.

With a waterless wash, there is no water to be concerned about.

Something that just crossed my mind, (short trip), I'll have to try using the rinseless wash on the body and the waterless wash on just the wheels. I don't need to "Think outside the box", I just need to think.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Touchless car wash

In the winter, when it is just too cold to wash outside, and for me that has to be pretty cold ( Post #11 http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...652#post293652 ) I will use the DIY to only rinse off the mud and crud and then use the spotfree rinse. I then come home and use a waterless wash like QEW or ONR and re-wash with a mitt. Works for me!

Tim

[CharlesW]

Re: Touchless car wash

In the winter, when it is just too cold to wash outside, and for me that has to be pretty cold ( Post #11 http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...652#post293652 ) I will use the DIY to only rinse off the mud and crud and then use the spotfree rinse. I then come home and use a waterless wash like QEW or ONR and re-wash with a mitt. Works for me!

Tim

No argument with what you do, but what you are using is not a waterless wash.
This is an area of a lot of confusion and misinformation.
A waterless wash is just that. No water is added to the wash process by the end user.
QEW, ONR, and several others are rinseless washes and do require the end user to add water.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Touchless car wash

No argument with what you do, but what you are using is not a waterless wash.
This is an area of a lot of confusion and misinformation.
A waterless wash is just that. No water is added to the wash process by the end user.
QEW, ONR, and several others are rinseless washes and do require the end user to add water.

Oh geez....

I guess people may mistakenly call it a waterless wash as they are not using a hose to continually rinse the finish. But yes water is being used in a bucket to rinse the mitt. So while there is not a constant flow of water like a traditional washing session, I should have called it a no rinse product instead of providing misinformation.

Tim

[CharlesW]

Re: Touchless car wash

No argument with what you do, but what you are using is not a waterless wash.
This is an area of a lot of confusion and misinformation.
A waterless wash is just that. No water is added to the wash process by the end user.
QEW, ONR, and several others are rinseless washes and do require the end user to add water.

This evidently reads a little more harsh than I intended and much more so than it needs to be.

Oh geez....

I guess people may mistakenly call it a waterless wash as they are not using a hose to continually rinse the finish. But yes water is being used in a bucket to rinse the mitt. So while there is not a constant flow of water like a traditional washing session, I should have called it a no rinse product instead of providing misinformation.

Tim

Tim:
My apologies.
While I did feel your information could be taken wrong, I did not feel you were intending to "misinform" anyone.
Charles-><-Charles

[Chesney09]

Re: Touchless car wash

Winters here in NW PA can be a pain in the butt, leaving a **** load of salt and anti-skid behind in its path. Normally I take my truck through the laser wash where its only the 2 wands that spray the top and sides of the truck with soap and water, just to get the major heavy **** off the sides and wheels so it doesnt get stuck in the mitts. Plus I get the underbody "Rinsed" as well so I can't complain. Then I go home and wash it like I prefer to inside a heated garage and once every say 2 times of doing this I spray some UQW on it to hold until weather breaks so I can do my spring detail . Luckly that looks to only be a week or two away. YAY!!!!