I did a stupid thing today.

[longdx]

I live in central Maryland. While my area avoided much of the snow fall that hit further east and north, my car was caked with road brine solution and residue from the dusting of snow. On my way to work tonight, I stopped by a restaurant to pick up some dinner for later and saw an automatic car wash sign at a nearby gas station. The carwash was located around the back of the main building with just the exit visible from my vantage point. ( I know this forum and others have talked ad nauseum about how damaging a touchless automated wash can be on your paint. But my contention is that it is better than letting possible corrosive solutions stay on your paint). From my vantage point it looked like a touchless wash. I pulled around back and several seconds latter another car pulled behind mine. By this time, I realize that it is a swirl o matic , but I cannot go in any other direction by forward. (by this time several other cars are behind me). I paid my money for the quickest wash and to my enjoyment had both brushes for the first part of the wash followed by a powerful blast of water at the end. (instead of minimizing any potential damage, I now had both brushes attack my paint followed by high pressure barely recycled water blast my paint afterward).

The moral of the story. 1) I am an idiot. 2) Autogeek will be getting an order for some polishes after the weather warms up to repair the damage I just did. 3) I will always check before approaching other carwash and 4) I am an idiot (sometimes things need to be repeated)

[SeaJay's]

That's a tough story. But really seems like you didn't have much of a choice unless you wanted to cause a big scene.

Next time get out first and check it out! lol. Look at it this way, if you hadn't done that would you have bothered polishing out your car? If not, now you will and you'll learn from that. It sucks right now, but in the spring when you polish that thing up real nice you'll be patting yourself on the back. Just gives you an excuse to spend more time detailing!

Definitely sympathize with you though. It makes me cringe just thinking about those swirl-o-matics!

[Flash Gordon]

I live in central Maryland. While my area avoided much of the snow fall that hit further east and north, my car was caked with road brine solution and residue from the dusting of snow. On my way to work tonight, I stopped by a restaurant to pick up some dinner for later and saw an automatic car wash sign at a nearby gas station. The carwash was located around the back of the main building with just the exit visible from my vantage point. ( I know this forum and others have talked ad nauseum about how damaging a touchless automated wash can be on your paint. But my contention is that it is better than letting possible corrosive solutions stay on your paint). From my vantage point it looked like a touchless wash. I pulled around back and several seconds latter another car pulled behind mine. By this time, I realize that it is a swirl o matic , but I cannot go in any other direction by foward. (by this time several other cars are behind me). I paid my money for the quickest wash and to my enjoyment had both brushes for the first part of the wash followed by a powerful blast of water at the end. (instead of minimizing any potential damage, I now had both brushes attack my paint followed by high pressure barely recycled water blast my paint afterward).

The moral of the story. 1) I am an idiot. 2) Autogeek will be getting an order for some polishes after the weather warms up to repair the damage I just did. 3) I will always check before approaching other carwash and 4) I am an idiot (sometimes things need to be repeated)

If you wouldn't have punched in the code or dropped coin, you could've just drove through it ;)

I personally forgive you though. If it wasn't for Swurl-a-Whirl, my car would recieve no attention :bolt:

[longdx]

@SeaJays: I am more aggravated at myself for not doing my homework on this. I recently bought this car and spend a great deal of time detailing the car repairing the paint defects and swirls (prior owner drove through car washes with great frequency). Yes, springtime will call for another complete detail.

[slickooz]

I thought touchless car wash was the next best thing for winter months? Whats so bad about them?

[Flash Gordon]

I thought touchless car wash was the next best thing for winter months? Whats so bad about them?

He "thought" it was touchless :nomore:

[fancyfootwork]

Longdx, what car do you drive?

[Mike Phillips]

I pulled around back and several seconds latter another car pulled behind mine.

By this time, I realize that it is a swirl o matic , but I cannot go in any other direction by forward. (by this time several other cars are behind me).




I feel your pain and anguish... trapped with no way out....

It must have been excruciating to sit there and go through the horror of it all...


http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/wall.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/wall.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/wall.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/wall.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/wall.gif

[slickooz]

:iagree:

[Flash Gordon]

Next time you could do what this fella did. If you look carefully you'll notice this man avoided the brushes with his technique Im the MAN



- Old Man Goes Nuts In Car Wash

[BobbyG]

The Horror....The horror...

Fear not, the end of the world is not around the corner and the finish can be brought back to life....

[DLB]

The touchless washes can be just as harsh. I have seen one that is close to my house start paint coming off of wheels.

The worse part usually though is that it takes all the "shine" with it. It's usually the hot air dryers that bake on the poor quality soap that didn't get rinsed off good with the hard water. :D

DLB

P.S., I felt obligated to post in this thread...Corey will appreciate it.
(<---- ;) )

[longdx]

Longdx, what car do you drive?

I have a 2009 Rav4 in Pyrite Mica (sort of a gold/tan metallic). While not exciting, I tend to keep my cars for a while. My last when traded in had 180k on it and still looked better than my "new" car .

[longdx]

Longdx, what car do you drive?


The touchless washes can be just as harsh. I have seen one that is close to my house start paint coming off of wheels.

The worse part usually though is that it takes all the "shine" with it. It's usually the hot air dryers that bake on the poor quality soap that didn't get rinsed off good with the hard water. :D

DLB

P.S., I felt obligated to post in this thread...Corey will appreciate it.
(<---- ;) )


I do tend to agree. Usually, I will use this in a pinch and then quickly follow it with an ONR wash (if possible) and a quick wax. Not the best solution, I agree. However, I still prefer that to weeks of caked on road brine/salt etc

[fancyfootwork]

I have a 2009 Rav4 in Pyrite Mica (sort of a gold/tan metallic). While not exciting, I tend to keep my cars for a while. My last when traded in had 180k on it and still looked better than my "new" car .

Toyotas have incredibly soft clear coats. As do most Japanese cars. So yeah, the car wash wasn't the smartest idea but live and learn right?