Car washes...

[Nafunu32]

Most manual car washes have brushes hanging on the wall that despenses soap. Are these worth using or will they leave scratches on the clear coat? I know you should use the pressure washer and spray it out before using, but I am a little skeptical about it. I have a Rallye Red Si...

[8thgenuser]

Here are a few thoughts:

1) Soap. The soap is probably cheap soap. Although it may not harm your car, it may not clean very well.

2) Brush. I wouldn't trust using brushes that were used by other people. They may have been used to clean brake dust and other wheel grime which gets embedded in the bristles. Those contaminants may later transfer to your own car and may create scratches. Using the pressure hose to wash it out first will help, but stuff is usually still lodged in there.

3) Pressure hose. There's a lot of people that claim that when you give your car that initial blast of water with a pressure hose, the pressure of the water will unlodge the contaminants on your car and while those contaminants are being unlodged, they'll create tiny scratches when they come off.

4) Make an effort to bring your own wash mitt, soap, towels and at least one bucket. Go ahead and use the pressure hose, but try to use as gentle a spray as you can. Any water is better than no water.

[jbbrann]

I never use the brushes (usually wash at home anyway), but definitely beware if you do. Some car washes have cheaper brushes with nylon bristles (similar to what I would use to scrub my tires) and those will definitely scratch. Others, though rare in my area, have more expensive brushes made from hair, but I still don't risk it.

[Silver8th]

Never never never EVER run you car through a car wash that uses brushes unless you want scratches and swirl marks. Hand wash it.

[Special Ringpop]

I don't care what you do with car washes as long as you NEVER EVER use those brushes.

Touchless, or even the newer ones with the octopus rubber thingies don't really scratch your paint (that I've noticed).

Those brushes...are evil. Think of it this way. Some teenager went mudding in his huge truck, and he scrubs all the rocks, mud, dirt, and grime out from his body, tires, wheel wells, etc. Then puts it on the rack. You come next. You get ALL of that embedded into your paint, and from what I'm hearing, the new Civics have crap paint too.

[Chris Dillon]

I work at a Honda Dealership and we run the cars through to clean them. I will not however wash my car in it unless its just a quick clean to make it look presentable for the road. I found it so funny when i first started as a porter that we do that but I'm not complaining when they aren't my car.

[Nafunu32]

I'm talking about the car washes you pull up into get out and use the pressure hose with different settings to use, for the ones who may have been confused. The reason I ask this is because I live in an apartment. One day someone walking down the sidewalk ran two fingers across my hood. When I washed my car at the car wash I used everything but the brush. As I was spraying the "spotless spray" I noticed I could easily see the lines. I rubbed and my whole car still had some sort of dark film on it, maybe asphault because I drive 5 miles down the interstate to work. I had to use my hand with running water from the hose to get it all off. Was disappointed that I wasted that money. Not sure if I can even hand wash my car at my apartment.