that is the question??? do you guys take your cars down to a carwash, or do you manually wash them yourselves. it's getting pretty darn nippy outside now, so what do you guys do?

 

Well, here in Hawaii it doesn't get nippy at all, so I wash outside all the time. I do not recommend using a cashwash unless it is a touchless carwash(I've seen these at ARCO stations). Especially for dark colored cars I would recommend hand washing your car. Although, I know what you mean about cold because I lived in WA and I would still wash my car by hand in the winter (froze my hands and *** off though). All in all, I think the sacrafice is worth it!

 

well in my case, i do both.
sometimes i washed it myself..(this is when i have so much time and absolutely no finals!!)..
other times, i take it to the touch-free car wash in irvine.
they do an adequate job of cleaning my car. now i need to take it back for a detail....

-peace

 

Seems like the car doesn't get wet enough before the strip thingies touch your car. If the car still has dirt... Swirlies and tiny scratches!

 

I stick to washing by hand. But since it gets cold here, I may take it to a touchless car wash if it gets really nasty. But, car washes with brushes and the like are BAD .

 

that's exactly what i was eluding to in this thread. i took it to the carwash about 4 blocks down, and the car looked sweet after it came out of the wash. however, when they started to dry it off with those abraisive towels, that's when i noticed the swirl marks on my black paint. needless to say i was kinda pissed off.

i don't want my car looking like it was bombed with eggs all winter, and i don't want to be freezing out in the cold washing this thing. crazy thing is, since i live very close to the carwash, i could just let them wash the inside and out, and drive it home and dry it with my soft chamois cloth so i won't get those swirlmarks.

What do you guys think?

 

The swirlmarks are inevitable (sp) on a black car. If the dealer buffed your car when you bought it it will have those swirls forever, unless you get it professionally buffed with a special buffer with two heads that will not leave a trail. The swirls that you see when they dry it could be caused by a number of things: leftover dirt, dried soap, dirty rag, etc.
By owning a black car you are cursed with the duty to take really good care of your car or have your car look like shi* within the first few months. If you wax your car regularly and polish it will not show the swirl marks as much. I have no idea about waxing in the extreme cold though. I recommend Pro products, but others on this site swear by Zaino. You are probably going to regret that you bought black if you don't love to clean cars. I love to clean and wax cars and I still regret buying black

 

Thats what I do ...

I have a SHELL Gas station close to my house which is an INDOOR SelfWash with High Pressure Washers (which uses Warm/Hot water) Hot suds and all!!
$1.75 a cycle!!!

I just bring my own bucket, and washing agents ... and spend like $6.00 and 1 1/2 hours there ... and i get a Nice wash in nice warm water and its indoors!!!!

 

I don't know about WARM/HOT water? I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere not to wash your car with water temp! I could be mistaken but correct me if I am wrong.

 

There is no need to use hot water to wash the car, you are not trying to kill any germs! Hot water will also help you to remove your precious wax layer that much faster as well. Stick to mild to cold water for washing, use linear front to back strokes, and rinse your soft wash mitt in a clean 2nd bucket before you dip back into your soap solution. Don't use dish liquid or *gasp* TIDE (I saw my neighbor using this) either. Try to blot dry with a soft chamois cloth, and at the end use a 100% cotton towel to finish up. Stay away from any car wash if you can!

I try to avoid washing when the temp will be close to freezing, but other than that I will NEVER bring my car to the car wash and always wash it by hand myself.

 

i never have time to wash my car myself. i just take it to this place where a bunch of guys wash the whole outside and vacuum everything inside. the wash job is pretty decent and the inside looks spotless after theyre done with it. costs only 10bucks and i wait like 10 min for it to get done.

 

they have this sports car wash place a little further down, and they do it 100% by hand, so I may bring it down there before I head down south next week!

I thought car washes were great when I was little, but now I know better, especially with black paint. never had any swirl marks when I washed it myself, and dryed it with a chamois cloth. actually the chamois is the best, it leaves the best shine i ever seen!

thank goodness for these forums!

 

I read in Motor Trend that we do more harm in our driveways than we do in Car Washes.

 

I wouldn't go to the car wash for a number of reasons.

<b>(1)</b>Car washes don't really wash. They just move dirt around. If you car has dirt stuck on it, and those chamois-type flaps that slap onto your car, they'll just drag will just put scratches in the car.

<b>(2)</b>Most car washes use recycled water with bleach in it to clean the recycled water.

So when you car comes out of the machine it has less wax on it from the bleach and then when they towel dry it off they are wiping dirt around that is still on this car.

When you clean your car you need to be careful. Just because you are washing your car at home, doesn't necessarily mean it will look better. The most important thing to take into consideration is that everything needs to be CLEAN! Clean sponge, clean towels, clean bucket. I would also suggest getting a California Water Blade. It's works awesome. Use one of those wash mits. Not the foam sponge. Put it through the washing machine after every use. Use two buckets. One for the soap and one to rise out the wash mitt. This way you don't put dirt back into the bucket.

I can post some other tips if you'd like.

 

I would certainly disagree with this statement! Can you clarify what the Motor Trend article was saying that we do wrong?

I aggree with NickStam above and several of the tips he lists are standard practices of mine.

 

I bundle up and do it myself. I wear regular gloves with Playtex rubber gloves over them. This keeps the water off of your hands, and the regular gloves naturally keep your hands warm. I wear a jacket which doesn't absorb water also. It is definetly worth it.

 

What the hey is a California water mitt? Has anyone tried the Zaino products that everyone raves about? Is it worth the money and the effort of following a regimen?

 

Ha ha - that's a good one. But who knows, maybe he figured he'd wash his dirty car with his dirty laundry and get it all done in one fell swoop?

 

get it done by someone else and then detail yourself. take it to a place where they have BRUSHLESS HANDWASH. the job's not necessarily as good as you can do yourself but it saves SO much time.

then... take it home and detail it yourself. usually those guys at the carwash places don't to a very good job. (i paid $40 for a crapjob of a hand wax... biggest regret). so yes, get the basic wash at a reputable HANDwash place.

in L.A.? there's a place on Santa Monica and Westwood that's supposed to be pretty good (Speedway, i think). Bluewave's where i normally go b/c of the coupon on the back of the Vons receipt (couple blocks east of SM&Barrington). there's also a place out in Temple City... EXCELLENT place... no clue of the name... sorry.

okaybye.

 

And I am currently now over winter school break. what you guys must understand is that there are many different kinds of automatic washes out there. The one that I work in is state-of-the-art (only a couple years old now) and can sometimes wash 600 cars a day. We have perhaps 2-3 complaints per week not including ripping the rear wipers off of POS old minivans We haven't had many swirl mark complaints at all, and if we do, we send them down to our detail shop and get it buffed out. It satisfies a lot of people. True, we use recycled water, but it's cleaned very well before its resprayed. and we prep the cars with pressure spray guns before they go in the tunnel. Give us a tip, we'll do a better job

anyway, what it boils down to, is we're all car freaks here. Car freaks like us shouldn't go to automatic washes unless they are stuck or have been to it many tims before. they can be risky, but some are really good. Automatic washs are fine for the brainwashed public who change their oil every 10,000 miles and wax their car every 4 years

Just my 2 cents!

 

do you know what the cross streets are for the temple city car wash? thanks

 

Yup, don't go to any car wash if you don't want swirl marks and/or scratches to appear on your car. I have a black car, and I usually bring my car to those brushless car wash shops to get it washed. The brushless car wash might not damage the paint, but I can't say the same about the towels the people use to dry my car. I think the towels are the main reason for the swirl marks and scratches. Since my paint is already messed up, I just bring to the car wash, and get it wash. Whenever I get my new paint job, no more car washes for me.

 

just got it. it's on Mission and San Gabriel.

 

that's the main problem, those asses use regular towels to dry the car. the surface of the towel is incredibly harsh, even on my skin it is abraisive. my poor car has been sodomized, and it's nothing I can do about it now. Can I get rid of those swirl marks left in the paint (can i buy a buffer and do it myself)?

poor bastard next to me had an old chevy caprice, after his car got sanded down by the towels, the sun made it look like someone let their cat loose on the paint surface.