Why Automatic Car Washes Are Not Safe
Drive-thru car washes will either scratch your paint, or fade and dull your vehicle’s colour (if it’s touchless)
If you are ever in a rush to clean your car, or don’t want to spend the effort to clean it yourself, than you have likely found yourself going through an automatic car wash at some time in your life, but did you know you were damaging your paint?
That’s right, whether it is touchless or one of those spin around old schools car washes, automatic drive-thru car washes damage your vehicle overtime. It’s not much of a surprise that the physical touch car washes with giant rubber and hard plastic pieces that spin around your vehicle will cause scratching. All it takes is 2-3 rounds through one of these car washes and you will notice that in the sun your vehicle has bushmarks all over it, as if you’ve driven through bushes. If this happens, a single or 2 stage polish should take it all out so there is no worry, but this will be costly at around several hundreds of dollars and upwards most likely.
What about touchless car washes? Well it is just not possible to wash your vehicle without any physical contact to remove dirt and grime. The only way these touchless washes do this is by applying harsh chemicals to your vehicle’s paint such as watered down degreasers. These remove all contaminants and grime, along with a pressure wash to get rid of thick dirt, however, over time you will notice that the quality and colour of your paint becomes dull. This is the major drawback of touchless car washes, this damage is much more costly ironically than bushmarks and scratches as your vehicle would need to be repainted as the clear coat becomes faded. Painting a vehicle is extremely expensive and would cost upwards of several thousands of dollars. Luckily, we at Clear Blue offer a paint renewal service for a fraction of that cost that renews the clear coat and restores the colour permanently.
What does all of this mean? It means, if you value your vehicle and would like to keep the car not only clean but looking shiny with a healthy paint and clear coat, you should only opt for a hand wash. Not even a brush wash, but a hand mitt wash. This could be done yourself, or you could pay detailing shop to have it done. The overall cost would be less than fixing your damaged paint by using automatic car washes, and having your car cleaned is not worth it if it will look worse each time by either having scratches or faded paint. If you choose to have your vehicle detailed, we at Clear Blue offer a physical shop, or a mobile van that comes to you and cleans your vehicle at your location!