Why my cars never will never go through a drive through carwash

[Pennywise2]

Today I went to a gasoline station to go put gas in the mustang.
After I went to pay for gas coming out I seen a brand new 07
Midnight Blue Metallic Hummer H3 with dealer tags that just came out of the
drive through carwash that is on the side of the gasoline station.
After looking at it closer I seen the Manager of the carwash taking
pictures of the top and drivers side of the new H3.Sure enough the
whole drivers side was scratch to heck deep too.
One of the mechanical arms that hold the wipers must have
malfunctioned or something.
This is why I hand wash all of my cars and my cars will NEVER
get driven through a carwash as long as I own them.
Handwash your mustangs guys it's worth the extra time.

 

[Stangsgrl]

I saw a lady in a C5 vette go through one

 

[GDawg]

I would never let a machine wash my car. Besides, I have a soft top and that would definitely get destroyed. I go to the car wash where they have the bays and I do it myself. Once in awhile I'll do it at home.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

This goes double for verts.

If you must do a spray and wash wand style where you spray the car yourself but never a drive through.

 

[Shiroelex]

I can't go through them at all. Last year, a plow threw all kinds of schmutz all over my car while it was parked under my carport, so I wanted to clean it off. It was too cold to stand out there and clean and dry it myself, so I decided to go through a nice, touchless drive through one, that has the towel dry guys at the end. I pull through, and the guy lines me up for the track. As I am pulling in, my car literally jumps in the air. 315s do NOT fit in the track!

 

[04GTMustang]

a friend of mine's harley davidson f150 got scratched goin through one of those car washes. I will never ever take mine through. O and i use to work at one and ive seen cars that come through and get their mirrors ripped off lol and cars that get a window knocked out and the whole inside soaked. And cause it was kids workin it all sometimes they left open the sun roof lol it was bad.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I am going to confess that once I took my vert through a drive through car wash. It was the best car wash in town so I thought it would be ok.

I specifically told them NO AIR BLOWERS ON MY VERT TOP, SHUT THEM OFF WHEN I GO THROUGH.

Of course they said they would do so and of course they did not. The top sounds real bad from inside the car when hurricane force air blowers are pointed directly at it.

Never again...

 

[dimeadz]

This happened to me in 1997. I went through one of those places with the towel boys at the end. I pulled my 95 Gt a 1/4 way out, the barn style plastic doors shut on the sides of my fenders. I was pissed. They paid for it to be repainted. Never again.. It's better do it yourself.

 

[bluextc]

I went ONCE to get the undercarriage wash after they salted the roads, and saw them use the wheel brush all around the license plate on the car in front of me I told them NO wheel brush on my car at all and then stood there to make sure they didn't, and that was the last time I have been to a car wash.

 

[Pennywise2]

I would never let a machine wash my car. Besides, I have a soft top and that would definitely get destroyed. I go to the car wash where they have the bays and I do it myself. Once in awhile I'll do it at home.

I agree Gary those blowers will eventually ruin your convertiable
top if you have one.Also if you have dust or dirt on the roof or trunk
of your car the blower will blow it acrossed the trunk lid and put fine
scratches on the top of it.You can not go through a carwash and avoid
the whole situation all together.

 

[94GTHO]

yea even though I work at one that we hand dry the cars and wipe the wheels and such, I dont put mine through. The other day my manager asked how I keep it clean since he never sees me wash it there. I just laughed and walked away.

 

[MrGame]

i go to a drive through hand-wash, they have guys in the bay that rub the car with mits and then it gets rinsed and towel dried. Not a bad deal

 

[hotmustang331]

My GT has NEVER seen one, and it never will. That high pressure is bad for the paint, and thats why I dont do it.

 

[COramprat]

Just put the vert top down...that way it won't get damaged.

 

[1fast03pony]

Definitely hand wash your mustangs... its not worth damaging your car for a little convenience

 

[tag4car]

I work for a chain of conveyorized tunnel carwashes. Our washes are safe enough to walk through without a scratch on you, its the people working at other washes that are the problem, vehicle recognition is extremely important to customer sastifaction. several auto manufacturers request special treatment for vehicles I.e, antennas must be removed from all mustangs, all jeeps, explorers, caravans and more. Full wrap retractions for grand prix's, honda pilot and oddyssey. it's a highly computerized operation http://www.washnet.com/products.html . i'm proud to say we stand behind any damage our washes have caused 100%, We elimanate any possibility of fraud by utilizing 16 cctv cameras throughout the tunnel .

i'll answer any questions or specs you want to know.

1. Blowers, Our tunnels have up to 14 blowers that output 4,800cfm at 190 mph.
2. High Pressure Water, 900psi manifold pressure distributed through 14 zero degree aerated stream nozzles.

joey

 

[hotmustang331]

^But all that pressure is what we are worried about. That pressure will eventually peel off the clear coat on our paint, if you use those regularly.

And the 190MPH blowers are what the vert guys are complaining about. I personally like the blowers (when I drove/rode in other cars going through a car wash) as they do work well for drying the car off.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Blowers + verts = teh suckage

 

[tag4car]

Blowers + verts = teh suckage

i had a loaner 07 v6 vert while i was getting a fuel pump put in and i drove it through, it definetly makes a racket. i agree that the high pressure water can't be the best solution but fortunetly for us most customers are far from concerned about the finish as we are

later guys

joey

 

[DonRich90]

I saw a car wash a number of years ago where one of the large vertcal spinning brushes that wash the sides of the car ripped off a short piece of chrome trim off the side of a Pontiac. The piece of metal got hooked in the brush and beat the passenger side of 3 cars before anyone realized what had happened. Last time I used a car wash.

Don