Car wash?

[Jeff32]

Winter in the upper midwest means dried salt on the body paint. Not fun hand washing in freezing temps.

Is there any danger to using a commercial car wash? I am not referring to paint or finish damage. How about the battery receiving a drenching of high pressure water.

 

[Sherlo]

Winter in the upper midwest means dried salt on the body paint. Not fun hand washing in freezing temps.

Is there any danger to using a commercial car wash? I am not referring to paint or finish damage. How about the battery receiving a drenching of high pressure water.

No problems with your concern, go for it.

 

[Jeff32]

Sherlo, thanks!

Hey, one follow question. Do you think there's a concern for curb rash? I've noticed the metal rim sticks out a wee bit beyond the rubber tire.

 

[Puddles]

Sherlo, thanks!

Hey, one follow question. Do you think there's a concern for curb rash? I've noticed the metal rim sticks out a wee bit beyond the rubber tire.

Huge concern. Everybody rashes them. If you care, get rash guards on pronto.

For me, the car feels smaller than it is, so I am constantly grinding the curb when parking. And no, this never happened before. Makes me bellow with rage like a moose, every time.

 

[ellett]

Tesla says that pressure washers can blast water into the cameras, and that rollers can damage them.

Pay the extra for a hand wash, or go to a DIY that has hand held wands you can guide yourself.

 

[Kilotango74]

Huge concern. Everybody rashes them. If you care, get rash guards on pronto.

For me, the car feels smaller than it is, so I am constantly grinding the curb when parking. And no, this never happened before. Makes me bellow with rage like a moose, every time.

Or if you really care dont take your car through a automated wash. Find a mobile detail guy in your area.

 

[SSedan]

Or if you really car dont take your car through a automated wash. Find a mobile detail guy in your area.

There is a world outside Cali, that world includes places with literal freezing cold weather.

 

[Kilotango74]

There is a world outside Cali, that world includes places with literal freezing cold weather.

Really?? I guess I need to step off the beach right? Since I live in Ca I must not know anything about cold weather? Oh wait I live in a part of CA where it where it does actually drop below freezing and hell it even snowed twice this year. Oh wait again, that's right Ive lived in Va, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Washington, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island where i seem to remember it snowing. Hell lets not leave out South Korea and Afghanistan it gets a little nippy in those two places as well. Bottom line is there are other options to automatic car washes, like mobile detailers, as i suggested.

 

[joebruin77]

I thought this video might be helpful:

 

[Fresnel]

Tesla says that pressure washers can blast water into the cameras, and that rollers can damage them.

Pay the extra for a hand wash, or go to a DIY that has hand held wands you can guide yourself.

the manual also says to only use touches car washers. also, hand washing places can scratch your paint with a lot of swirls.. that said.. I'm probably going to go to a hand wash place since there is only one touches car wash in my area and it's super far away

 

[Snow Drift]

The only issue is which mode the car is in during the wash.

• If you exit the car, and the car is rolled through, you must first put the car into Transport Mode (Towing), or else the car will apply the parking brake as soon as you exit. The car will jump the rollers and cause a lot of problems. My car wash place stops the line as the guy gets the car into Transport Mode and checks to see if it jumps the roller. In recent software updates it accepts Transport Mode right away, in the past it took a few attempts

• If you sit inside the car during the wash, then you can shift to Neutral...but, you have to sit the whole time. If you get up the car will go to park.

Also...

1. Leave a key card inside
2. Turn off auto wipers
3. Deactivate Walk Away Lock (if you need to exit), as it will prevent the attendant at the end from getting in to move the car for drying/detailing.

 

[PianoAl]

I don't think I'll ever take mine to an automatic car wash, but if you do, two things you probably already know:

1. Make sure you know how to put the car into neutral.
2. Make sure you set the wipers to non-auto.

If you have a garage, you could try one of the waterless systems that I've looked into, like this one:

I do something similar with ONR (Optimum No Rinse).

First curb rash Saturday. Aargh.

Anyone remember these:

 

[needp3d-]

go find a touch less car wash or pressure wash it yourself with 2000-3500 PSI

 

[s3da]

First, if you are not sure of what you are doing, follow the guidance in your Tesla manual. Mine says hand wash. What's concerning is that the Cleaning page gives a lot of cautions that are conflicting. Any of the following preclude a touchless car wash - no high pressure, no high pH, and no windshield fluid treatment. Yet the very same page says if you choose to use an automatic, use a touchless. Makes no sense. Some of this is covered at carwashtesla.com

 

[TarmacSurfer]

Hose, bucket, a good car detergent and a little elbow grease. Always seems to work. I’ve done it for years and the vehicles always look great afterwards and you feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. Of course there are those strange places in the world where water actually can freeze - you pretty much have to use a wand / sprayer in those places during the winter months since it’s really the only option available - I feel for you folks…

I don’t trust commercial car washes at all or whatever weird drums of multicolored glop they feel like spraying on your expensive paint job that week. No thanks. Not worth it. I can take a couple of hours on a stir day occasionally to clean things up. Makes the experience of owning more enjoyable IMO.