I've enjoyed reading the varied opinions in this forum, now I must ask if others have suffered the same problem as I had today...

After getting 17" Toyo tires installed, I took my car to two different carwash places. Both times, I heard scraping underneath the car, and ended up backing out before moving but a few feet into the garage.

I live near Boston, and don't look forward to hand washing the car through the winter.

Has anyone else had problems clearing the rail guides in an automated carwash???

(I'm sure most will only hand wash their cars, so most of you will not have found this to be a problem)

 

Let a car wash attendant touch my car - Never! Imagine them scrubbing the back window (on the inside) against owner manuals warnings due to the built in antena. But then, I do live in California where my hands won't freeze to death. One time, I tried washing my car when the temp was below freezing - what a mistake that was!

Can you just wear dishwashing gloves to keep your hands warm, and use warm soapy water and a hose (assuming it's above freezing)?

 

Find a touchless car wash. You are probably scraping against the guide rails with your rims and not the car's underside (check for scratches). Touchless car washes usually don't have any rails, the ones around here use sensors to detect position and size. The underside of the 8 isn't that low, even with 17" unless you installed improperly sized tires.

Hand wash is better (as long as you are fastidiously clean with the wash cloth), then the touchless car wash. I would never use those that still use mechanical brushes/cloth. Always make sure that whichever one you use, doesn't recylcle the water.

PS don't forget to carefully remove any water around the door sills. Otherwise good luck getting in.

 

I've never understood what the big deal is about going to a mechanical carwash, especially if you live in a cold place like me where the temperature never got above 20F today (good luck finding a touchless carwash--haven't seen one yet where I live). I've worked in a few assembly plants, and guess what, the cars come fresh off the end of the assembly line and go through a MECHANICAL carwash with (gasp) brushes! Another place where mechanical carwashes are being used: new car dealerships. If mechanical carwashes were such a danger, I don't think assembly plants or new car dealerships would be using them. But hey, to each his own. If people want to freeze their hands off washing their cars in the winter, it won't bother me.

To the original poster, I think it is very possible that your reduced ground clearance could be the reason for the scraping, especially if you have the front air dam, which brings the front of the car down another 1-2" compared to the base front end. On a related note, I was driving to work on a windy day one time and a empty cardboard box (for 12 Bud Light longnecks) blew across the road in front of me. I didn't have much time to react, so I tried to maneuver the car so that it would pass right over the box. Well, the box smacked against the front air dam and remained there all the way to the plant, where it fell off when I was driving around in the parking lot. On any other car I've owned, including my 3000GT, I'm sure that box would have passed right underneath. I don't know the exact specs on the ground clearance, but it seems to me like the RX-8 is pretty low to the ground in the front, especially with the front air dam.

 

I think the most likely thing you scraped is the metal spoilers just ahead of the front wheels. They will bend, and you can bend them back. Not much of a problem.

As for washing in cold (non-freezing) weather. I use a mitt, and hot water in a bucket when I do it at home. Rinse with tap water (cold). Keeps my hands warm.

The best carwash places are the indoor ones with a wand (selectable spray - wash - soap, rinse, wax, dry - compressed air). They also often have a brush with foam, but I don't trust that. It could have been dropped on the floor by a previous customer, and have sand etc. in it. I just use the rinse with my mitt and a bucket (fill with the wand) after first blasting all the sand etc. out of the wheel wells, then wash the wheels, and then off the car. Usually just takes 3 cycles at $1 each. Two to wash and one to rinse. Then I dry with a drying towel (small one so it can't pick up sand etc. from the ground). Wring out often while drying. Drying is imperative here, as the water is very mineral rich, especially in the winter. If drops dry on the car, they look like salt drops .

 

I use the spray-wand car washes; nothing mechanical aside from the door opening Some of them don't like you to "hand dry" your car in the bay. For those ones I go at odd hours (like at night) when there are no line-ups. Then I use a California Blade to wipe off the water. Takes about 5 minutes when you get good at it.

After spending $ on my winter rims, and spending time waxing the car, I don't want it to go through a mechanical wash (mostly because they use soap). I wash the car about twice per week and just use a rinse setting.

 

I assume you are in Columbus hence the Buckeye, but the point, there are some touchless carwashed around columbus, I guess they might not be near your neck of the area.

 

My misake. The little spoilers in front of the front wheels are acually rubber, so even better.

 

Alphapenguin,

I just moved from Columbus to Detroit for my job (Ford). I now live in enemy (Wolverine) territory unfortunately. Haven't seen any touchless carwashes around here yet, but it's a big place and I'm sure I'd find one if I drove around enough.

 

The second carwash also has a wand wash, and that is exactly how I was able to clean up my new beauty.

The scraping I wrote about occured as the rear part of the car passed over the rail. I'll be taking the car to a trusted body shop in a few days so they can inspect any possible damage. My concern was that the scraping may have left some metal unprotected, and I absolutely don't want any rust. The carwash rail was only on the left side of the vehicle, but it was certainly metal to metal rubbing. I wanted to post this so that others might be more careful....I will also check the new wheels to see if that is what rubbed.

Thanks for all the good comments.

 

sounds like you the kind of guys that love their car very much, then I suggest you don;t go to auto carwash, I use to go to those carwash back in the day with my accord and after a while it all scrach up, as for hand washing you can try those soft carwash brush that has a handle on it to wash you car:D

 

One thing to keep in mind regarding the assembly-plant-carwash. It may be similar in design to the ones "down-the-street" but if it's washing off-the-line models day-in an day-out, the brushes and chamois and other parts that contact the fnish are not washing some "mud-hogger" immediately in front of you. If the car in front of mine at such a wash has 4 pounds of mud or grime on it (counting the junk in the fender wells), I'm not at all convinced that some of that filth isn't retained in the brushes and the dangilng scrubbing chamois that wash the next car.

Add to that, the don't-give-a-damn attitude on the part of the people who "finish" your wash and those places spook me. My dealer gave me a month-long pass to a local car-wash that I'll never use.

I have used the brushless washes on occasion. I've got no complaints there. But you still need to towel-dry the car.

 

FirstSpin: good points. I think I'll still take my chances though, because I haven't found any indoor do-it-yourself places around here. I guess I could just drive my backup vehicle for the entire winter (3000GT), but where's the fun in that?

 

Still no posts of anyone else having a problem with their cars scraping the rails at a car wash. Given my two experiences, I will take the shared advice that the manual wand wash works fine.

 

I had a friend that worked in a car wash years ago in Rochester, NY. They had a "special" undercarriage wash to remove dirt and salt deposits. But they never used fresh water, so all they ended up doing in spraying salt water in every nook and crannie.

 

It sounds like they had a special way of hurting cars wahoo. On a very peripheral topic....they always take more money for the extra wash, but how do you know if you are getting anything for the extra money?

 

Like I said in another thread, Automated car wash are just plain old EVIL. Avoid them at all cost. Self served coined car wash are far better than any of the automated ones and cheaper too. In the winter time, just have a habit of going there once a week and for a couple of bucks, you can save your car from salt and dirt building up on it.

 

In the winter, I go to automated touchless washes, and then get out and dry and polish for about 20 minutes, it doesn't get as cold here as it does in Canada, sometimes, rarely, it gets into the negative Fahrenheits, it's just as good as a Spray yourself carwash, and not as cold as handwashing. It just takes a good dry to get all the excess dirt, and to clean the wheels, never had a problem with scratches or the car scraping.

 

I have been through two types of touchless washes; one has two rails running lengthwise on the driver's side and your tires go in between which could scrape your wheels and possibly something underneath the car, the other just has a small bump that you go over with your front driver's side tire and once you clear the bump, you stop and that is when the wash comes on. With this type there in no real way to scrape anything and I have a very low Miata that has never scraped.

Yes, I do run my Miata through touchless washes when it is too cold or I just need a quick rinse. I would never take it through a wash with brushes or go to a place where they had wash it with rags that are not clean. I agree that hand washing is the best way to do it but we all know that there are times when a quick trip through the touchless wash is the only alternative.

I would take a look around and see if you can find a touchless like the second one that I described.

Good luck,

Kirk

 

There two places you could have you car hand washed in the winter months. But the cost is higher.

1. Cambridge Side Gallery

2. Atrium Mall in Chestnut Hill

Hope this helps!!!!

 

Is anyone aware of any touchless carwashes in the Detroit area (west side)?