I learned a hard lesson with so called "touchless" car washes with my 2008 Tacoma. I still have the truck, but the paint on the hood is ruined. Good luck to you. Just my opinion.
Is it safe to go through car wash?
- Thread starter Buppi
- Start date
Winter exists. There is nothing easy about handwashing between November and April in the mountain west.
My Land Cruiser is already scratched to hell. It’s an off-roader. A typical car wash will never do as much damage as the branches I’m driving through. For anyone that’s trying to keep their paint pristine, of course they should only hand wash. That’s not most people.
I go to car wash only to clean undercarriage. Otherwise foam cannon, good chemicals and waxes. I am retired and have plenty of time for the hand wash.
This is the last vehicle I plan on buying, so trying to take care of it. I have 2 Tacoma's (beaters) I still drive. I am not an off roader. Beach and camp ground is about it. I live in FL.
I like hand washing when I can, and have been considering getting a foam cannon to make it a bit more efficient. Unfortunately the time of year washing matters most (winter, to remove road salt) hand washing just isn't an option.
My truck is black and is parked outside, and local water is pretty hard, so it's pretty much an exercise in futility anyway.
A foam cannon is a fun tool (I have one) but it doesn’t make washing your car easier or faster. You have to deal with it - fill it with the right amount of soap, mount it on the hose, clean it up after. Etc.
Maybe worthwhile. But the easiest and fastest driveway wash, IMO, is a bucket, a mitt, and the same sprayer that’s on the hose already.
Right? That guy lives in Florida.
Yes. FL Boy. It's warm here year round. We're in Hurricane Season here now.
I hand wash my LC every Wednesday after work. I'll post time stamped pics before and after later when I get home from work.
Personally, I like to keep a nice, protective coating of dirt on mine!
This is the way!
If automotive soap is corrosive, imagine what magnesium chloride deicer does to paint.
While you’re thinking about that, consider that when the mag chloride gets on there it might be three weeks before it’s warm enough to keep the water you spray on your car from turning your driveway into a hockey rink, and when it is warm enough it’s on a Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 but it gets dark at 5.
Or you could run it through the wash on the way home.
Or Maine…
Allow me to add Chicago.
