182 - Car Wash Friendly

[JonK]

Ive had my artic blue for a couple of weeks now, cleaned and waxed several times, but no longer have access to driveway for a while.

Ive got one of those American car washes near me where the car goes on rollers through those bristle things.

Can anyone advise as to whether I will lose my spoiler, splitter, paint!! if I chance it, am I better off waiting until I have a driveway again?

Reason I ask is that I took my 206 gti through it just before I part exed for the 182 and it broke one side of the spoiler away....

 

[RS-Steve]

Never take a car through a car wash!!

They kill them

they scratch the paint an ya dont know wots on the brushes from the car b4!! Ive seen a car go in and somebodys aierial was stuck in the brush!! Made a rite mess!!

 

[JonK]

Cheers for that, if this doesnt get another post, I aint going near it!!!

 

[telford_mike]

Car washes = death to cars

 

[jon_r]

I would never use one. - a jet wash fair enough, but a car wash, ooo no no no no.

 

[VX-Tony]

Agree with Silver - dont put it through a car wash!

It will scrath the paint - youve seen cars that in the sun have swirl marks all over the car - thats what a car wash does - bad news.

If you cant wash it yourself then take it to a hand cash wash place, anything but a car wash.

 

[Ian_182]

Dont go near them,especially with metalic paint,youll never get the swirls out of your paint.

ian

 

[Lee]

Id rather leave it dirty than have the paint ringed by a car wash.

 

[SOOTY]

CAR WASHES ARE EVIL.... By yourself a nice powerful Jet wash to rinse.. Ive got one of those Karcher things, i rinse the car of all the thickness, wheels etc. Then get out the bucket and give it a good old manual scrubbing with a sponge and some good soapy / waxy stuff!

 

[Weeman]

I used to run the my polo gti through the car wash, but it was a company car and It had been crashed twice by me, and broken into by scroats, so the shine had been taken off it, hence i didnt give a sh*t. I dont have access to manual washing, I use jet wash and jet brush thingys, but always run my hand through the brush a few times to make sure there is nothing nasty on it/in it.

 

[black kro]

Took my non-182 thro ONCE

couldnt find a JetWash - CarWash scratched the plastic wings to fu**!

NEVER AGAIN

try a weekly Jetwash and quick leather to keep the crap off for now

 

[Lee]

I used to have a Panther Black Focus as my company car. As the state of the company got worse I lost interest in the car. When I did wash it I used a car wash just because my misses enjoyed it.

It completely wrecked the Metallic black finish. It would have taken a lot of waxing to get it back to its former glory.

 

[Lunner]

never, never use a car wash - wrecks the paint

 

[AndyG]

Er, just to get sad for a moment, how *does* everyone wash their cars?

I stick a couple of watering cans over it, to soften up the crud, then using warm water with good squirt of Autoglym shampoo, i use a very soft car brush to remove the dirt, rinse thoroughly and shammy... Then polish if can be arsed.

However, i still have the swirl effect. I was once told that a very soft brush is better than a sponge, as sponges just grind the grit into the paintwork, scratching it more worserer. Yet i still have very very fine scratches, or swirls when you catch it right in the sunlight...

Any ideas folks??

 

[shteeve]

i use a pressure washer to blast the crap off the car, then use a sponge with warm soapy water to clean the car, then a cold rinse followed by chamois leather to dry it... polishing comes after that if i can be arsed.

 

[Balders]

Same as Shteeve - although I dont use chamois leather. Instead Ive got a blue micro-fibre cloth thingie (havent got the fogiest what they call them but they flog em in Halfords - different grades too - got one of each). Does a much better job than the leather IMHO. Rather expensive though.

 

[FATBOY]

quick rinse with hose,then a hand scrub with sponge using 1 cap full of car shampoo in warm water,then rinse of,then chamois leather,then wax/polish,then go round with back to black for all the black bits on car,then clean windows using window cleaner,then hoover inside thoroughly,wheels are cleaned by sprayin wheel cleaner on them and then rinsed off and dried thoroughly.....

 

[mr sheep]

caused swirls on my car badly only went through twice

 

[BRUN]

wash, and polish, in lines and not round movements, then you wont get swirl marks

personally id never use a brush on my paintwork, they seem far too stiff to me to use on the bodywork, even soft ones

i use a Meguairs microfibre wash mitt