Scratch your car for $5.00

[Mike Phillips]

Scratch your car for $5.00

That's what we call charity or fundraiser car washes. I've organized and been in charge of a number of fundraiser car washes over the years as my daughter was a Cheerleader all the way through school and as well intentioned as a bunch of giggling high school girls can be you seriously don't want them washing your car if you care about the finish quality of the paint.

The same advice goes for any other organization putting on a car wash, including Football Team, Tennis Team, Church Groups, etc.


Even after doing my best to hold a mini-class for all the cheerleaders and explain to them the basics of how to correctly wash a car, I've watched in horror as these girls would drop a brand new wash mitt onto the pavement of a parking lot and then pick it up and go right back to washing a black Mercedes-Benz or fill-in-the-blank.

I understand and appreciate the idea and good intentions of anyone conducting a charity or fundraiser car wash but it's a fact that the masses don't know anything about clear coat paints including how easily they are scratches and more importantly how much work is involved in removing swirls and scratches as well as the fact that removing swirls and scratches mean removing a little bit of the thin and precious clear layer of paint.

For this reason, what I've always recommended to people that want to help out the cause is to pull into the car wash, hand them $5.00 and then leave.

DON'T LET THEM WASH YOUR CAR.


Help the cause but don't let them touch your car. Now that's a Win/Win deal.

[Flannigan]

I avoid these at all costs as well. But the fact is that the majority of car owners either don't care about swirls or don't even know what they are. I can't even begin to count the number of people who have told me that swirls are normal, and all cars have them no matter what. I know there are a lot of people on this forum and others, but it's really only a tiny segment of the population that cares for their vehicles the way we do.

[Mike Phillips]

I avoid these at all costs as well. But the fact is that the majority of car owners either don't care about swirls or don't even know what they are. I can't even begin to count the number of people who have told me that swirls are normal, and all cars have them no matter what. I know there are a lot of people on this forum and others, but it's really only a tiny segment of the population that cares for their vehicles the way we do.

That's absolutely correct.

The difference between a swirl and squirrel

For clarification...

This is a Squirrel



These are Swirls




Big picture
Some people don't care and some people just don't know or understand the risks involved with letting well-intentioned but unqualified strangers wash their car.

Hopefully, with the volume of people that visit this discussion forum, we'll educate the people that do care and the result will be the charity car washes will still be able to raise funds they just won't have to wash as many cars.

That's even a better deal for the car washers...

[Setec Astronomy]

LOL, I was thinking about this when I read your "hand wash" thread.

[guess23959]

if you think about it, its basically the same thing as a carwash. i mean really, do they wash out the bucket and rags from the previous car? dropping stuff on the ground, little things like buttons and buckles and bracelets/watches dragging across.

[Marc Hufnagel]

or drive a friend's car and enjoy watching the college sorority girls get wet. LOL. Agreed, I'd never take my car to one of these charity washes. I do it or else it doesn't happen.

[ryanbabz71]

I cringe every time I see those fundraising car washes. Cant believe how packed they are. I agree with the pass them the money and peel out of there

[CaneCharger]

Yep, I just give them money...

I saw them drying towels on the blacktop then pic those same towels and dry the car...YIKES

[ProMoDe]

saw one the other day with a 10 year old using a gas powered pressure washer. I cringed at the sight.

[Dubbin1]

$5 and wet cheerleaders are well worth the swirls