You may know how I feel about washing cars. I still have 5L of washing stuff I bought on impulse a year or three ago in the workshop. I don't think I'll be using it. An oppo I saw yesterday feels the same way, and he doesn't want the stuff either.
However, having a dirty car, he took it to Tesco's automatic car wash, and I went along for the experience, never having been to one of these before.
So, we turned up. You have to pay for the wash at the kiosk, and get a bit of paper with a code number on it to press into the car washing machine. Six pounds for the top-of-the-range wash, wax, blow-dry. Put in the code, and drive in cautiously until the red light says "Stop!". Off it goes. First, the car is sprayed with water. Then it's sprayed with soapy water, and off go the rotating brushes. Wash squirt wash squirt wash wash clack wash squirt wash wash. Then more soapy water, and wash wash squirt wash again. Then it was fun to see beads of water being blown around by the blow-dryer, and off we went! Next stop the diesel pump.
Um. I got out to see how good the wash was. It was *awful*. Some patches of bird muck had not been cleaned off. The wheels were not clean. The mirrors were not clean. The car telephone aerial had been torn off (I wandered over and retreived it from the washer and got shouted at). There were two deep scratches about a foot long in the paint, probably not from the aerial, straight through the colour into the undercoat. The whole car was covered in watermarks, as if it had been through a dust cloud and then been rained on.
Are these washers normally as bad as this (worse than useless)? Why use them? There's no way I'm taking my new van through one! I'd rather get the stuff out of the workshop and break the habit of a lifetime!
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Last time I used a automatic car wash on one of my own cars was when I had a Mk2 Cavalier (1990'ish at a guess). Ripped the passenger door mirror off. Only reason I used to use it was because one of my sisters worked at the garage at the time and managed to blag the car wash tokens when no one was looking.
Occasionally put the company Transit Connect through the wash, but as you've observed, stubborn marks such as bird muck and ground in dirt still remain. I grab the box of tissues from under the passenger seat and go round wiping anything clean that is still grubby.
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no they are not normally like this
the car used must have been especially ingrained dirty to the extreme
or the machine was broken to the extreme
as for aerials then you both must have missed the remove aerials bit prior to entry
one more tip ,dont decide to turn the radio on halfway through the experience if you have an electric aerial either......
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Y'all paid six squid for this treatment Walt ... consider a hand job next time effendi.
Last edited by: Dog on Fri 9 Jul 10 at 10:37
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Hell would have to freeze over before i considered taking my car into a Auto Wash
At worst my car has a jet down using the jet wash lances (this is if i need to quickly remove bird poo etc)
Apart from the fact that you pay over the odds, and your car comes out still dirty and with scratches all over (who knows whats left in them bristles) I much prefer to do it by hand i think that to use a auto wash is pure laszyness it does not take much effort to use the jet lances and although they dont clean it properly can produce better results
But I love the feeling of satisfaction looking at a gleaming scratch free car after a afternoon of shampooing, polishing and waxing - you cant beat it.
Last edited by: Redviper on Fri 9 Jul 10 at 11:28
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I will never use one again.
Used to take the company car ( an estate ) to local Tesco but had exactly the same experience - It just did not do the job properly so I tried another local automatic wash and it was worse - the brush completely missed the rear of the car so I went to the counter and complained .
Guy gave me another token and I tried again - exactly the same thing happened .
I have reverted to the local Albanian operatives who do a proper job on outside for £ 6 or inside and out for £12 and you very rarely have to queue. They also give you a free wash after every six you have paid for.
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I use one every time... only costs £2.60, get a pre wash from the guys operating it and whilst it won't get rid of ingrained dirt it got rid of most of my 3500 miles of European insects and dirt very well... I don't expect it to be prefect (who would, it only takes 2 minutes!) but it does a reasonable job for the money...
Also as my ariel doesn't come right off, I just unscrew it and fold it flat and its fine...
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>> I just unscrew (my aerial) and fold it flat and its fine...
But what about the scratches Dave's car suffered? That the aerial should've been removed is one thing - but I should hate to have scratches like that in my nice van!
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>> That the aerial should've been removed is
>> one thing - but I should hate to have scratches like that in my nice
>> van!
>>
My ariel won't come off so I have no choice but to fold it...
I'd hate to have scratches as well, but the thread asked for comments about them and so far my experiences have been positive... either it was a faulty machine or the ariel caused it to scratch the paintwork... it would have been interesting to know if it was still in use after and if any other punters had the same issues??
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>the brush completely missed the rear of the car <
Back about 1992 there was a big scandal in the UK over Saab 900s having their windscreens smashed by automatic car washes because the unusual shape of the screen fooled the sensors on the machinery. Some places had warning signs telling Saab owners not to use them.
There are a lot of auto washes around here - all the supermarkets have them - as well as a number of jetwash chains, which I miss in the UK. Recently the auto washes have sprouted signs saying 'non-scratch' or 'extra care'. So what were they getting away with before?
Personally, I wouldn't take any vehicle of mine near an auto wash but jetwashes have their uses.
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>> Some places had warning signs telling Saab owners not to use them.
I've seen several places that recommend if you own a Rover 200 series not to put it through the wash. I think it also mentioned something about if a spoiler was fitted.
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I use our local one, at the Shell garage. I pay the minimum £1.99 and I've not had a bad experience so far.
I unscrew the aerial off the Note but the Vitara's is in the side of the screen frame and doesn't even retract. So, I open the door pull the top of the aerial in and trap it in the door frame. A few drips of water come through but I'm prepared with a paper towel.
Having 5 spoke alloys, I move the car forward a foot or so when the rollers have finished the back. Then , the wheels present a different aspect to the rollers on their return.
No blow dry....the sun and wind are free.
Ted
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>> Y'all paid six squid for this treatment Walt ... consider a hand job next time
>> effendi.
>>
Where can I get a decent hand job for about £6?
*Permission to snigger*
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I use one occasionaly - in the winter when the car is filthy and its to cold to bother. There is one near work that is stand alone - not part of a petrol station. They have a couple of guys who prep your car with some spray cleaners and a prush to get the bugs off before you enter the machine. You drive onto a conveyor belt and it pulls your car through. Works quite well, and the only bit I have noticed it misses is the side windows where the machine cant reach around the wing mirrors.
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>> I use one occasionaly - in the winter when the car is filthy and its
>> to cold to bother.
The problem with that is your car is scrubbed by the gritty brushes from the car before you, and your grit is used on the car behind you. I have seen "No touch" high pressure car washes that use chemicals and water in other countries, but not in the UK.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 9 Jul 10 at 20:22
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Hosepipe ban round here now. Ironic really. Usually the wettest, dreichest part of the country. S'pose that'll cream cracker the car washes too. Could try the orbital sander on the flies I guess.
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Exact description of the one I use Mikey... and the brush they use (after spraying the car with the sprays) are put into a *very* large container of water, so I don't recon there is an issue with that part of it...
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>> I don't recon there is an issue with that part of it...
>>
Just the grit from the bottom of the container and the big rotating brushes then.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 9 Jul 10 at 21:32
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I have always used car washes, as I live in a flat. I have never had any damage to paint or aerials.
That said, I dont entirely trust the Tesco type. I always use the ARC or IMO type where the car is pulled through by a conveyor chain.
According to the signs outside they recycle all the water (presumably through filters) so will be unaffected by the hosepipe ban.
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>> ........... consider a hand job next time ...........
Don't be dirty!
;-)
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A colleague regretted putting his car through an automatic car wash. Someone else's aerial was caught in one of the side brushes and it made a real mess of the car's paintwork.
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>> A colleague regretted putting his car through an automatic car wash. Someone else's aerial was
>> caught in one of the side brushes and it made a real mess of the
>> car's paintwork.
>>
The Passat has a 120k on the clock and a few paintwork dings caused by my carelessness lifting stuff in and out of the car, so I'd be quite pleased to get a full respray at somebody else's expense!
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One bucket of water with car shampoo. One bucket of clean water to rinse. One sponge. Wax twice a year. Works for me.
No hosepipe ban here yet. We're in the most populated part of the UK but the water company is very hot on storage and recycling here, and so they should be (Water tastes awful). It does annoy me when I see people watering their lawns all night with a sprinker though.
Last edited by: corax on Sat 10 Jul 10 at 12:30
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>> (Water tastes awful). It does annoy me when I see people watering their lawns
>> all night with a sprinker though.
>>
Better to filter the water through their garden than the local sewage works.
Cant tell the difference between tap and bottled water here, I wouldnt drink the tap water south of Carlisle. I think London water tastes foul.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 10 Jul 10 at 12:49
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>> I wouldn't drink the tap water south of Carlisle
Scottish tap water is pure nectar compared to this stuff, and you don't have limescale clogging up the bathroom either.
You'll probably find this amusing, but when I go up there walking, I take half a dozen 2litre water bottles and fill them up. The water seems to be especially good after rainfall - it has a nice sharp taste to it, presumably from the peat.
Sorry for thead drift.
Last edited by: corax on Sat 10 Jul 10 at 14:02
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I think I've used one of these automatic car washes 2 or 3 times with temporary company cars, the results were mixed but not great.
I now use a bucket of water, sponge, car shampoo, a shamois leather and what is sometimes termed 'elbow grease' (although I feel there must be a double-entendre in that expression somewhere).
Otherwise, the inevitable risk is damage to your car, if that and the poor finish bothers you less than the effort of washing a car then I'm sure the automatic washes will suffice.
On the subject of removing bird-muck, firstly it should be done as is soon as is practical after you spot it and secondly it must be soaked first to avoid scratching the paint (an auto car wash can't do this), best method is a bit of wet kitchen towel left on it for about 5 minutes, it looks 'daft' but it works. Otherwise it will very likely damage your paint, again - not a problem if you're not particularly bothered by such things.
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...I now use a bucket of water, sponge, car shampoo...
I use the two bucket method.
When the first bucket is finished, I get a second one.
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There's a hole in my bucket.
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...there's a hole in my bucket...
Then fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Hole_in_My_Bucket
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I use a "soft touch" automatic car wash near where I live. It uses wool based material instead of brushes and my old Merc looks great when it comes out. Unfortunately my company car has a few nooks and crannies that don't get washed, particularly behind the door mirrors, the arial on the roof and at the bottom of the tailgate. I'm sure I'll get around to sorting these bits out at some stage.
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Automatic car wash. - VxFan
