mmats69

Just about all the carwashes I go through (touchless of course), have an undercarriage wash. I was wondering if that is a good option to chose in the wash b/c it does use high power jets to clean.

Morgan

i do it...living in fla and going to the beach and having all sorts of crap kicked up underneath, it's always a good idea. I drive really slowly over it to make sure it gets all clean and what not. Don't you love those touchless car wash's? we have one and i always get the works and it's only 7 bucks. It's so damn hot here and raining all the time, there isn't any point in doing it by hand..

Plus-the one here does an AWESOME job!

N8theGr8

Its all fun and games until someone loses a clearcoat

Flawless

I agree with you on the heat but I can't justify taking my car through a car wash all the time. It just doesn't come out the same when you do hand wash, hand dry, and wax. If you work on the car early in the morning or in the evenings its not TOO hot. As for the undercarriage wash, I was not aware the touchless ones had that... I don't think the one by me has it. I wash by hand anyways .

Aoshi Shinomori

Is a touchless carwash one that doesn't grab your wheels?

mmats69

That's right Aoshi.

KYLiquid

from all the detailers ive talked to, and everything ive read...its not good to wash with high pressure water....it 'pushes' the dirt and crap on the surface of the paint deeper into the paint, also....if you think about it, how clean can it really be getting (not just clean looking) when you just spray soap on the surface and hose it off? If you tried to wash your haid by wetting it, then squirting shampoo on it, then rinse it out...it wouldnt be very clean...

my rule of thumb....never wash your car how you wouldnt wash yourself (nice, easy, soft stream of water....you you really wash your face with a pressure washer?) and dont put anything on the paint you wouldnt put on your skin. natural based waxes, mild soaps. soft towles...ect.

Ill take the truck thru it, or something i dont care to much about...ill never wash the 8 with anything but my hands and a hose.

mmats69

Got a good point there KYLiquid. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

Morgan

KY: i know you can reason w/me about the heat here. The touchless one up here has done great. It even gets all the crap off the bottom and every bug off too. I love it. Once it gets cooler i'll go back to hand wash's and figure out an undercarage wash some how..

zoom44

there is a joke to be made here about spraying morgan's undercarriage but im not going to be the one to post it:D

KYLiquid

ohh dont take it like im saying your doing something bad, i take the truck through those all the time (shell gives me half off when I fill up with gas) so i get the works wash on it about 2 times a month...thats the only time i wash it cause its big and black! lol.

Im not saying that its bad for it...i honestly dont know...i was just relating some stuff i heard.

The only reason I dont (at least havent yet) taken the 8 thru the wash is cause with the miata (soft top) water sprays in like a hose under high pressure, so I kinda got outta the habbit of going thru it with the car.

The paint on these cars (at least on mine) is great and looks like it hold up pretty good. I dont think your doing anything wrong by washing it...its your car afterall.

and I totaly agree with you on the heat.....

if I wash it in the shade of the tree in my yard....it keeps getting crap dumped on it...if I dont wash it under the tree I get baked alive....

most recently i just get in my swim trunks and go out after its dark, like 930pm and wash it....and keep spraying myself with the hose!

look forward to seeing you and the car for the rotor meet!

Morgan

yea...this time i'll actually get to talk to you rather than running in circles going, "who the hell owns that shitty silver rx8?! i need to tell them that their car sucks! Damnit joey! find him!" :D

mmats69

I have been through washes where the spray is more of a hard mist than it is a direct stream. Kind of like a nozzle on a hose, powerful at full stream but can be closed off to a mild mist if needed. The nozzles are cut wider so that water fans out rather than shooting a straight stream. Guess I will go to those.

KYLiquid

lol yeah, my car was in pretty poor shape with the door ding....but it will be fixed this week, so I will have it for the meet, shiney and clean!!! yaya.

Last sat I was at the corner and 'tested the waters' with an 05 RSX Type S. good times

RX-8 friend

Be very careful with high pressure wash sprays. If you direct them at the oil cooler or rad. they will bend the fins!

I find car washs (where I get to do it) useful in winter - but that's on the "beater" (2001 Pathfinder). They are good at removing salt. The RX is on jackstands in the winter so it's not even in the equation!
It gets washed by hand, dried, and polished. And polished again. And polished again. I guess by now you all realize I'm nuts. Whatever!

wisconsinben

This thread reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask. I know that the automatic (touchless or not) car washes are not the best, but are there any options when winter comes? I have to drive my 8... :-( ...and I'm not washing it by hand when it's 0 f-ing degrees out. Anybody have any other suggestions than the automatic wash for cleanin' all the salt off of her?

KYLiquid

as far as winter goes, ive washed my cars when it was 32*F or lower and there was snow on the ground, you just have to use buckets of hot water from inside and then dry it off/park it in a heated garage before it freezes.... :D

back to a more practicle approach :

Look around and try to find one of those 'do it yourself' car wash places.... you know the ones with the covered baysm and a pressure washer type gun-thing that you pop quarters in, and it can spray water,soap, wax, ect. Most of them that are located in places where it snows will switch to hot water in the winter. While i stated above my opinions on washing a car with high-pressure water....that is really about caring for the paint. I wouldnt one of those places to wash the whole car (but to each his own) but I would, and have used them to spray the under side of the car (wheels, tires, wheel wells, under body...ect.

The hot, high pressure water does a good job of blasting that stuff off the bottom of the car, and keeping it clean. As for keeping the salt/sand off the paint, thats up to you. Keeping a good coat of wax on the car durring the winter is a good idea....helps put that buffer bettween the paint and the chemicals they lay down on the road. There is often more than salt in the salt they put on the road.

The whole thing that started this thread about the under carige wash, i think they are good, I always try to hose off the under side of the car when i wash it....im just not so sure about the other stuff the car wash does.

Anywya, thats just IMO. take it as you will.