Car Wash

[Dead]

She didn't even wash the car? What a lazy b!tch!

[selyaT]

I'd rather lug buckets of water to wash my car than let someone else lay a finger on it or use one of the car washes like car lovers with their recycled water full of chemicals.

I agree with the first part of your sentence... I take a sponge to work and wash mine in the manual high pressure bay at our servo...

But what chemicals are left in recycled water??? Our recycler returns it to a drinkable state. Do Carlovers use sh!tty recyclers?

yours might but most of the car washes around do not return the water to a drinkable level and suffice to say I won't be trying it anytime soon. The gov't has a standard that the water must be "purified and treated" and most of these companies recycle their water to just make the standard which is safe to touch but not to drink. It's like potable water but worse cause it's only for washing cars not watering plants so who cares. Over the last 5 odd years I have detailed that many cars that were owned by people who consistantly use these automatic car washes and the paint work is usually in a state of desperate attention. Damage from the nylon bristles that 'don't harm the paint' or those wonderful brooms or just the acidity and toxidity of the water.

Classic example is a customer who had a 2 year old Commodore VY at the time. Plain red in colour and wanted me to do a polish on it to sell. I asked what condition it's in and he said he washes it about once a month at a carlovers style of car wash. When I got to detail it the paintwork was very badly streaked and the bonnet,roof and boot all had severe water marks and the start of severe oxidiation. I asked if the car was garaged and yes it was every day. So I had to cut it back quite agressively to remove the stains etc etc and got it come up a treat. The guy was as happy as Larry.

Two weeks later he called and wanted me to give the car a quick clean as he had to use it and it rained as someone was wanting to look at it. I couldn't as I was busy so he said he'd do it. He went to his carwash again not thinking and washed the car. he got home and let the car dry itself a bit before chamois drying it. Where the water was sitting it had already marked the paint although not as bad as before as the polish had saved the paint from some of the damage. So I had to go back and re-polish the car again to remove all the marks.

Obviously the water is contaminated with chemicals to breakdown the greases and oils and reduce the acidity to a safeish level. But at what cost??? I went to a car wash and got a sample of water. Using my pool chemical kit I tested the water. The acidity level was extremely high to the point of almost being off the scale. Levels this high not only cause paint damage over time but also cause rust.

Hence why I NEVER use them on any of my cars no matter how good or bad they are. It's just too bigger risk to take.

I've seen a carwash on the Gold Coast that has a disclaimer notice at the entry of the complex. Nobody prolly ever reads it but they basically have a water tight clause stating that any damage is entirely at your risk because they have warned you. It also says that if you have a dark coloured car then they advise you don't wash it here as it could be damaged.....

Basically all I needed to read to make my mind up <_<

Yeah that's dodgy as, ours in drinkable so I'll use it on my car... we won an environmental award for installing the recycler

[steinny72]

Hand Car Wash

$15

St Ives/Terry Hills (at the back of the AMPOL petrol station - heading towards mona vale, Opposite HART)

[CAP]

Silverbullits comments are certainly true, but in VIC we have no choice - Our stage 3 restrictions mean Commercial Car washing only. Not washing at home even with a High Pressure hose.

So the only thing we can really do here is use our own sponge/wash mit and buckets, but we still have to use their water.

It just means needing to pay more attention to polish and waxing.

Since I purchased my car, it's pretty much always been washed at a commercial wash. But my car is given a wax twice a year (In Autumn and Spring) and the duco is all good. But naturally, if I never did this, and used the 'brooms' they have at the wash all the time, it would be a mess!

[selyaT]

Silverbullits comments are certainly true, but in VIC we have no choice - Our stage 3 restrictions mean Commercial Car washing only. Not washing at home even with a High Pressure hose.

So the only thing we can really do here is use our own sponge/wash mit and buckets, but we still have to use their water.

It just means needing to pay more attention to polish and waxing.

Since I purchased my car, it's pretty much always been washed at a commercial wash. But my car is given a wax twice a year (In Autumn and Spring) and the duco is all good. But naturally, if I never did this, and used the 'brooms' they have at the wash all the time, it would be a mess!

We're on the same restrictions here - no car washing except at commercial outlets with recycling facilities.

But yeah I take sponges, I only use the brush on the wheels