Touchless car wash ?
 

I hurt my knee and am having mobility issues. I was wondering how the touch less high pressure systems work? Took a look at one in operation and there is a lot of pressure going on. Any chance of water getting past say a headlight seal etc. I am hesitant to even use this on my EDD because it have a lot of radars and sensors for the Adaptive Cruise, cross traffic, lane recognition feature etc. Any one with any experience with these car washes?? Thanks a lot. Tough getting old but I can still shift. Mike

High pressure-harsh chemicals etc-etc. I won't use them. Recommend paying someone who knows what they are doing to hand wash it.

I'd opt to leave it dirty first... at least, until I found someone I trusted to help. :yesnod:

During winter months I pressure wash the car and undercarriage at least once a week.

If it is a touchless wash with no rim damaging rails to drive through you should be fine. I have used them on all of our vehicles for years with no problems. For the record I would prefer to hand wash it but I am one of those careful old school guys that takes 3+ hours to wash and dry a car. A lot of times I would rather be driving it than washing it so a quick trip through the car wash will have to do. For the record my vehicles usually look like new when I sell them.

I would pay someone to handwash, way too many horror stories from car washes

Ask around and find a local hand wash place. I have back and mobility issues sometimes and just cannot comfortably wash my car(s). I use a local guy that has a couple employees and a small garage to clean cars. They hand wash, dry and clean the interior (including inside windows) and do a very nice job. Price is $16 for the Corvette but I always give them $20 and they always spend a little more time on the windows and wheels. They do my Chevy Avalanche for $18 which beats the daylights out of trying to wash it myself.

I went through a few of the touchless washes when on a month long road trip. They worked quite well and did not harm anything. The ones I used were newer and did not have tracks to pull the car though. Drive in until the light says stop and wait until it says go.

The one thing I did not like about most of them I used was that to get the air dryer to run I had to use the premium package which also included some kind of hot wax. I did it anyway since my Vette is black and really likes to be dried off. The wax feature seemed to be harmless and pretty much worthless and I would have preferred just paying the couple extra bucks and letting them keep their wax.

Mine is a convertible and there was no water leaks at all from the pressure spray at the car washes.

I have a hand washing setup at home with a dedicated electric pressure washer, hot and cold hoses, and a Master Blaster for drying. I have some shoulder issues from years of abuse so other than the light washing with the MF mitt I don't like to use much elbow grease or spend a lot of time towel drying. Works for me, but a bum knee is a different story.

Sorry to hear about your injury and I hope it heals quickly.

Thanks

This is what 200,000 miles and countless touchless auto washes look like. As said upthread, no rails, ant the apparatus rotates around the car. Added benny is a good undercarriage wash which will leave that part of car cleaner than any hand wash ever will. :thumbs:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...a8a737685e.jpg

I use them all the time on road trips and when weather isn't so great. No issues :)

I heard that their harsh chemicals can strip all the wax off on your car.

They work perfect including the undercarriage for winter months or when I do not have the time... I recommend ceramic coating with paint correction and then no issues with wax being taken off..

If it is the type where you just pull in no rails and the robot goes around in the different cycles based on what package you selected they are fine.

Got to talking to a car wash owner one day. He mentioned buying hydrofluoric acid.

I'm like, "WTF!" That stuff will etch glass!" HF is one of the strongest acids out there. One drop will burn right through your hand to the other side.

I asked why they used it.

Well, in snow country, where nowadays they're spraying liquid mag chloride instead of slinging rock salt, a little HF helps get the corrosive MgCl off the undercarriage, rocker panels, etc. You've probably seen the gray film it leaves behind after a drive down snowy lane.

So I've stopped going to drive-through car washes except with beaters.

I realize "the poison is in the concentration" but still.... HF???

As long as it is a touchless wash, you shouldn’t have any problems.

I've used touchless washes on various daily drivers. Unless the car is just dusty (in which case a California Duster is the better answer) they really don't do a very good job.

There is ZERO issue using a touchless wash. As long as it's the kind you drive in, sit there while the machine goes around your car, you will be fine. Dont use anything that has wheel rails which I have never experiences for a touchless wash.

Make any rails will not do damage to your wheels!!

Well I use them when I am lazy and need the car cleaned up in a hurry but you still need to bring towels to wipe off water droplets not blown off by the blowers !!! Also I did it when the car was almost brand new and there was a driver door window leak and a slight fold in the window seal and took it to a dealer put new seal on window under warranty !!! I would recommend that they should at least do that once through a touch less washer system !!! Wayne