Car wash memberships

[Chapap]

Thinking of getting my wife a membership to a local car wash… the big kind that drags your car through and has all the brushes and lights. We used to hand wash and hand wax, but that has turned into an annual event. Think she’d like her car being shiny enough all the time rather than being really shiny for a few weeks.

So what do yall think of all the levels these places have? Level one is wash, level two is wash and wax, additional levels add a bunch of fancy things. Is it all bs? I’m guessing the wax is real enough, but can’t imagine the lava, tricolor, copper-chromium-ceramic-ruthenium stuff being anything more than the same cheap soap.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

I forget what's in the premium wash at the car wash I used to frequent, but that was what I generally chose. I would recommend that you take a few towels along (SOFT!!) and buff the vehicle after you take it through the car wash. I always found that my (black!) Fit had a film on it after. Dang, that car looked good after I washed, waxed, and buffed it!

 

[CrabGuy]

I spend $8 at the local acid trip/light show drive through car wash using a coupon to save $17 on the Super Wash. Unfortunately that baby snot they spray on the tires makes the truck skid like black ice if it rains too soon after the wash. I usually spray off any excess when I get home. For $8 I won't even mess with handwashing it myself. It does a great job on the E350, it still looks like new.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Thinking of getting my wife a membership to a local car wash… the big kind that drags your car through and has all the brushes and lights. We used to hand wash and hand wax, but that has turned into an annual event. Think she’d like her car being shiny enough all the time rather than being really shiny for a few weeks.

So what do yall think of all the levels these places have? Level one is wash, level two is wash and wax, additional levels add a bunch of fancy things. Is it all bs? I’m guessing the wax is real enough, but can’t imagine the lava, tricolor, copper-chromium-ceramic-ruthenium stuff being anything more than the same cheap soap.

So… back when I worked for Autozone, I was often sent to take a vehicle through the wash. Most of the time I was told to take it up to the local “touch less” wash and all that really did was hose the big chunks off the white paint, never really got it clean. The few times I got to run them through one of the washes with the brushes and all did a better job.

I‘ve never really had a vehicle I could take through a wash on the road long except the one Bronco II at college and I’m not even sure there was a car wash in that little town back then. My first Ranger spent most of its time with a cap with ladder racks on it (any type of ladder rack is a no-no for the scrubber washes) and my Green Ranger didn’t last long before it got the cap from my first one. F-150 ended up with ladder racks really quick, dump truck is a no-go, choptop I’d get as washed as it would, 88 only made it 3 months on the road, and the 92 with faded paint and rust holes didn’t really need a wash. Plus I can hose anything off at home if I want and I used to work at that a lot.

I have been “backstage” as it were at a local car wash. Owner was selling and hired me to do a few things. Then I struck a deal to tear down and remove a metal garage building that the new owners didn’t want. There has to be miles of air, water and soap lines in those places. I don’t know how different all the stuff really is, but I should have taken a couple pictures of the chemical room there. Racks of all the different soaps and waxes and stuff and tanks for solutions like the bug wash and salt remover and all. Everything was air driven for spraying that stuff and they had two huge compressors, they were at least 80 gallon if not bigger.