Automatic Car Wash

[Biff]

After washing, then what? Sham wow? Chamois? Towels?

[motordavid]

I use my backpack gas powered leaf blower to zing off most of the beaded water...
then my fave ol' bath towels, (lifted from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo), and some microfiber towels.

I wonder how that ShamWow! would work...
GL, mD

[Biff]

I like your system mD. But Tokyo is a little bit too far to go for me. I'm going to check out the micro fibre or Sham Wow - hopefully more wow than sham.

[Naz24]

I use a California water blade to get rid of most of the water (wiping the blade ever couple strokes to make sure no dirt had accumulated). Then finish with my "waffle" microfiber drying towel. Works like a charm!

[LeMansX5]

I use the blue microfiber towels bought from Costco.

[Kloogy]

I get free washes from the dealership and once a week it goes in for a full handwash/ express mini detail. My E92 got the same. When I turned it in, they raved about how it looked pretty much new. I don't subscribe to the Anti Car Wash Mafia. Make sure it's a touchless place or done completely by hand. I have a very busy life , as well as a robust social one. I don't have time to spend 6 hours going through my vehicle with 7 different waxes.

[ard]

Originally Posted by Kloogy

I get free washes from the dealership and once a week it goes in for a full handwash/ express mini detail. My E92 got the same. When I turned it in, they raved about how it looked pretty much new. I don't subscribe to the Anti Car Wash Mafia. Make sure it's a touchless place or done completely by hand. I have a very busy life , as well as a robust social one. I don't have time to spend 6 hours going through my vehicle with 7 different waxes.

I'd love to take a look at the paint on your car with the waxes and fillers stripped off.

"By Hand" can be as bad as a 'touch machine wash'... it all depends on what is in the rags they use, and what they are really doing with a 'detail'.

Everyone has a different threshold for 'paint quality'... we have members here who don't know that they are looking at orange peel, a paint defect! Same goes for microscratches. BMW dealers generally use liquid wax to cover most of the defects that drive detailers nuts...keep applying it and the customers are happy. Go a few weeks without and you'll start seeing the real paint.

I generally do a full detail twice a year, and can do a wash/detail in the time it takes to drive to the dealer and back. \

So I guess I am in the anti car wash mafia, without a robust social life.


A

[stockguru]

Unless you are doing it in a heated garage, no one hand washes it themselves in the northeast. Also, with the dirty salt stains and snow we've been getting, I get my car washed twice a week. I'm not lucky enough to have that much spare time.

For those that zaino, do you use that on the running boards as well? Mine are beginning to show the whitish staining seen and discussed in other threads.

[boyce89976]

Here's my freshly Zaino'd X5d... overcast today, so the shine doesn't POP as much in the pics as it does in real life, but the last pic gives a good idea of how good the paint looks now (I know, my '97 Nissan has a flat tire) after 7 hours of washing, polishing, buffing and detailing.

[kck7]

Nice. When you can tell details like the flat tire in a reflection that's a pretty good surface.
In fact I think I also see some rust on the brakes on that pickup

I'm of the 'minimal work' school. I'll wash and maybe even wax it myself if get the time and inclination, but of late those have been hard to come by.