Hand Car Washes

[scarface]

Recently ive become lazy in the car wahsing department and instead have been pulling into the local hand car wash places you seem to see dotted all over the place these days!

The one i go to charges £5 for a full clean, wax (wet spray on wax thing), dry with chamis, window shine, door sills, inside window shine and tire dressing, which is all normally carrie dout by 3-4 guys!

Car comes out spotless with a real nice shine to it.

Would you recommend going to these kinda places? Some people say they use cheap cleaning products for the cars, but they seem to be using all the right gear.

What you think?

 

[mrwookie]

Dependant on how anal you are with the paint work on your car TBH. If you the sort of person who would detail or pay for someone to detail your car then I would say stay away as so many hidden factors like products used, not using clean water,etc, etc.......... that its worth while just doing it yourself. If on the other hand you don't cry when you see a swirl in your paint then yea they are fine.

Would I personally use one.............no.

 

[jonjay]

Pretty much what Wookie said.

Hand car washes use dirty sponges/mitts as they been on loads of cars before and not rinsed through properly. They dont use the two bucket method so the likelyhood is they are working the grit into the car which causes the swirls and scratches over time.

I doubt the spray wax they use is any good at protecting the car. If it is I doubt they are even applying it properly however I suppose its better than nothing.

Ultimately after the 2-3 years of ownership that £5 every week (£260ish a year) is causing hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of damage. When you come to sell the car the paint will look tired so will be harder to sell.

 

[scarface]

fair point on paintwork. Not too fussed on swirl marks to be honest though.

 

[loonymoon]

Have to admit I do use them, but not every week. About once a month if the car's lucky - otherwise it wouldn't get washed!!

I like my car to look clean but I'm not that anal about it. If you do use them once a week or so then you may be doing some damage. My car is now nearly 5 years old, there are some swirls, but the paintwork is still looking bright and shiny.

I did treat it to a full coating of Collinite Double super coat wax last year (yep only once a year!) it's great stuff though leaving a deep bright shine, and even now the water still beads a little. It's a bit of a nightmare to apply and polish off but well worth the effort.

 

[scarface]

oh i dont go every week, prob 4-6 weeks, with a wash myself every 2-3 weeks. Just wondered if you use it now and again, if it would have any major impact on the car.

 

[munkyboy]

They did a test on this on fifth gear I think on what was worse. They tried three different types:

1. A Carwash
2. A handwash (by the guys like you were talking about)
3. A pressure wash with the brushes at some garages.

They had 3 brand new vaxhall astras i think and tried all different methods. The one that came out worst was the hand wash as it they put the most damage on the cars with their blades they use to take the water off. Also the mitts were causing swirl marks in the paint.

The second worst was the pressure wash, they said because you didnt know who had been using the brushes before you and how many people would have dropped them on the floor which would pick up grit and start scrathing the paintwork.

Believe it or not the carwash was the best way to wash your car if you cant be bothered to was it yourslef as it inlficted the least damage out of all the methods.

At the moment my car is in a hell of a state as the last owner put it through the car wash everytime so slowly am sorting the colour out on it. As when you clean it, it doesnt look very clean because of all the swirl marks on there. So time to save up for a rotary polisher

 

[Molehill_Mike]

When you say Mitt... I hope you don't mean a Microfibre mitt? I use this all the time? I thought the microfibre mitts were the best option?



Mike

 

[jonjay]

When you say Mitt... I hope you don't mean a Microfibre mitt? I use this all the time? I thought the microfibre mitts were the best option?



Mike

Hi Mike,

You get different grades of microfibre and designs of mitts.

A lambswool mitt is vastly superior to a microfibre noodle mitt in my opinion. You can get microfibre sponge mitts that are good but again not a patch on a lambswool mitt.

If people are using the least invasive method of cleaning and the two bucket method then lambswool mitt OR a new one, a Deep Sea Sponge will do the job perfectly.

 

[loonymoon]

Must admit the hand car wash I use normally don't use those squeegee things to scrape the car dry, they use chamois leathers. I have been to one that uses those things and they way they were banging them about on the car did really make me nervous!

 

[scarface]

Must admit the hand car wash I use normally don't use those squeegee things to scrape the car dry, they use chamois leathers. I have been to one that uses those things and they way they were banging them about on the car did really make me nervous!

yeh i went to one place that used the blade and didnt really like it. the main place i go to use the chamois and some other cloth that really cleans the windows good.

 

[jonjay]

Chamois leather is almost as bad as using those wipers. Leather doesnt pick up dirt, much like a spong it simply drags it along the surface thus dragging any potential dirt with it. Chamois are good water magnets but thats about it.

 

[xxNickyxx]

I don't use car washes at all. My mate has a valeting company so I give the car to him once or twice a year to give it a proper clean, polish and seal the paint.

He uses one of those garden blow vac thingys to dry the car, so he's not rubbing the paint dry. Mind you, he normally charges £600 a car, so he can afford to!!!!

 

[munkyboy]

The microfibre mitts are good but again if used wrong can still be deadly. My mate washed my car before and I thought he was being anal about things but then it made a lot of sense. The mitt can still pick up a lot of grit and if ur not using a two bucket technique then the grit just stays in the same bucket and not clearing off your mitt.

As jonjay said the chamois are not as good as people say. They just moved the dirt around and may scratch the paint.

My mate who helps me clean my car as he has most of the equipment and goodies we must spend a good 6 hours cleaning the car. now it is just time to get the stupid scratches and swirl marks away as it hasnt long been patched up in a few places from the previous owner

 

[scarface]

6hrs washing a car?! thats dedication! I tried the 2 wash bucket method and didnt like it at all.

 

[munkyboy]

yeh a full detail would take longer than that. The two bucket technique is the most simple. I help wash my mates car all the time and he says you should wash one panel at a time and then wash the mitt in the second bucket then blah blah blah. im not as strict on my car but that is because there are so many marks anyway but in all fairness my mates cars paintwork is absolutely amazing

 

[jonjay]

6hrs washing a car?! thats dedication! I tried the 2 wash bucket method and didnt like it at all.

I dont mean to be rude but what is there not to like? Its quite simple you have a rinse and a wash bucket. You rinse after each panel and dip in the wash once the mitt has been cleaned.

 

[alx_chung]

6hrs washing a car?! thats dedication! I tried the 2 wash bucket method and didnt like it at all.

Not sure what you mean by that. Like Maz has said its pretty simple.
Alex

 

[scarface]

having to move 2 buckets around the car, rinsing in one, just cant be bothered with it!

 

[jonjay]

Then I dont understand the point of the whole thread. Point of this section is for people who want to look after their cars. If you cant be bothered washing the car with two bucket method then taking to hand car wash is fine.