Car Wash

[CaptFish2003]

The beauty of white cars. I certainly wouldn’t but still you can get away with it with white, not on darker cars though!

Tell me about it. I used to take our black other car to the local hand car wash, just to find they tried to scrape off bird *sugar* without enough soap. I now sport a visible cross hatch pattern on the bonnet, wasn’t happy about that but didn’t notice it until I washed the car myself.
White is great in the summer, but gets to grubby in the winter.

 

[GRiLLA]

The beauty of white cars. I certainly wouldn’t but still you can get away with it with white, not on darker cars though!

Based on the white cars I see I assume the owners believe them to be soluble so avoid any attempt to wash them.

 

[Xdama]

Based on the white cars I see I assume the owners believe them to be soluble so avoid any attempt to wash them.

For UK I agree, worst colour I’ve ever owned …. after black. Best colour for our road spray, rain etc gunmetal grey (midnight silver to Tesla) or just silver. Both hide the winter road muck better than most other colours.

 

[yessuz]

Based on the white cars I see I assume the owners believe them to be soluble so avoid any attempt to wash them.

i think it's not feasible to wash white car every time you exit motorway...

 

[s88ats]

i think it's not feasible to wash white car every time you exit motorway...

This.

I take pride in my car, and try and make it look pristine when and as often as I can (a bit too often if you ask my mrs).

Just before Xmas, I washed my car (spray foam, rinse, shampoo, rinse, wet coat, and dry - (for clarity)) and went to visit family in the midlands arrived with sugar honey ice tea all over the rear, mainly under the spoiler and boot lid with black streaks all over.

The first comment I got about the car was "do you want to rinse it, it looks clean but you missed the back". FML

 

[Jason71]

For UK I agree, worst colour I’ve ever owned …. after black. Best colour for our road spray, rain etc gunmetal grey (midnight silver to Tesla) or just silver. Both hide the winter road muck better than most other colours.

agree.
With Anthracite alloys

 

[GRiLLA]

For UK I agree, worst colour I’ve ever owned …. after black. Best colour for our road spray, rain etc gunmetal grey (midnight silver to Tesla) or just silver. Both hide the winter road muck better than most other colours.

That is kinda just choosing the colour of the dirt for the car though. I didn't want a dirt coloured car

 

[Nick77]

With no off road parking to get a home jet wash on it, it's a bit awkward and long winded parked on the street.

So I use my local Morrisons jet wash. I put some pre-soak stuff in a spray bottle and coat the entire car before activating the jet wash. Medium pressure hot wash for the initial spraying the car down, then cold water to clean off. I also take a couple of drying towels and quickly go over the whole car to avoid water spots all over it.

Takes about 15 mins in total. It costs £3 for 6 mins on the jet wash.

 

[roblab]

1. Pressure wash off anything big
2. Spray on some shampoo with a snow foam thing
3. Cold clean water in a bucket and clean wash mits all over
4. Rinse with hose
5. Dry fairly quickly to avoid water marks

WHY, WHY, WHY do people feel the need to wash off good wax? Spray off with cold water, NO SOAP, and dry with soft cloth (I use several baby diapers). If the cloth "drags", use a little spray wax (Like Turtle Wax) and you're good to go. I've owned four Teslas for years and years (our 3 turned four today) and I've NEVER used soap on it, nor on any other of my Teslas, and my cars always look great. Using soap is a waste of time and money.

 

[Adopado]

@roblab "WHY, WHY, WHY do people feel the need to wash off good wax? Spray off with cold water, NO SOAP, and dry with soft cloth (I use several baby diapers). If the cloth "drags", use a little spray wax (Like Turtle Wax) and you're good to go. I've owned four Teslas for years and years (our 3 turned four today) and I've NEVER used soap on it, nor on any other of my Teslas, and my cars always look great. Using soap is a waste of time and money."

That will be because you live in California. Unless you've spent a winter driving on UK roads you won't know what it's like!

 

[init6]

That is kinda just choosing the colour of the dirt for the car though. I didn't want a dirt coloured car

Black looks fantastic when it's clean and in summer that's quite easy to do.
MSM is well, just grey.

 

[GRiLLA]

@roblab In the UK we have dirt, not dust. All that 'green and pleasant land' isn't at all interesting in moving under a water spray, it needs to be wiped with a wash mit to separate from the paint and then the soap to prevent it sticking again before it can be rinsed off.

In other news a California Car Duster is also entirely ineffective at any time of year in the UK as I found out to my cost.

 

[yessuz]

Black looks fantastic when it's clean and in summer that's quite easy to do.
MSM is well, just grey.

especially with all that pollen around...

 

[Peter 224]

Unsure if i'm a heathen but my approach:
- Bucket of 'tap warm' water with some nice PH neutral car soapy stuff
- Hand mitt wash across the car
- Rince off with some clean buckets
- Dry with a nice fleecey 'not scratch your paintwork' towel

Rope someone in to help and you're done in 10minutes...

Would only get the pressure washer out if i'd been driving through fields!

I do exactly that on both the Tesla and Morgan.
Well, I did until the winter.
Now I take the Tesla to the nice people in the Tesco carpark and I keep the Morgan in the garage.
Life is too short to spend it washing and detailing a car, unless you enjoy it.

 

[Nick77]

I haven't taken my Tesla to any hand-washes as I'd read that you have to be careful when jet washing over the side and rear cameras as it can damage/shift them if you use too much pressure on them.

 

[Adopado]

MSM is well, just grey.

Wash your mouth out with soap and water! A bit of sunshine and MSM sparkles rather nicely. That's why it's not called grey ... well other than on the V5 ... and by people who should know better

 

[yessuz]

Wash your mouth out with soap and water! A bit of sunshine and MSM sparkles rather nicely. That's why it's not called grey ... well other than on the V5 ... and by people who should know better

I expect the MSM to be the same as "grey" was my 65 Mondeo. Color was epic when washed and in sunshine due to shedloads of sparkles in the paint... HOWEVER this caused a major pain in the arse for local ChipsAway team as they could not match the grey color, and after 2 unsuccessful paint jobs they had to hire someone with very good spectrometer, which resulted as "Aston martin Grey" and they were not taking Grey Mondeos for service ever since

 

[thewanted]

G

With no off road parking to get a home jet wash on it, it's a bit awkward and long winded parked on the street.

So I use my local Morrisons jet wash. I put some pre-soak stuff in a spray bottle and coat the entire car before activating the jet wash. Medium pressure hot wash for the initial spraying the car down, then cold water to clean off. I also take a couple of drying towels and quickly go over the whole car to avoid water spots all over it.

Takes about 15 mins in total. It costs £3 for 6 mins on the jet wash.

Sounds like a nice and quick, low cost option. What pre-soak do you use?

 

[init6]

Wash your mouth out with soap and water! A bit of sunshine and MSM sparkles rather nicely. That's why it's not called grey ... well other than on the V5 ... and by people who should know better

In the spirit of this thread, shouldn't I get someone else to wash out my mouth, probably with a wire brush and Dettol?

 

[AutomaticMan]

Do those of you with ceramic coatings take your car to hand car wash places or do you always wash it yourself? I know you're never supposed to take ceramic coated cars through an automatic car wash, but can you pay the blokes with sponges at the hand car wash places to clean it for you? I might consider ceramic coatings, but if they mean that I can only clean my car myself with special products then I think the hassle might outweigh the benefit.