Do you take your Model S to the Car Wash?

[PeterK]

@PeterK: Some of my roof rack mount covers have flipped up each time, but none have snapped. Now I'm wondering if (and how) I should secure them before my next trip. Is there any kind of temporary tape (e.g. painter's tape) that would be safe to use during a touchless wash?

@paulkva, like you I don't have time to do otherwise so while touchless is far from perfect it comes out looking much better and gets bad things like road salt off the car. I have had a few hand washes when in for pano roof and other fixes at the SC, and will spring for a seasonal detail wash, but touchless will continue to be the primary cleaning.

I've been thinking I should tape the roof rack mount covers down before going through. Next time I'm at the hardware store I'll pick up a roll of the blue 3M paint edging tape and try that.

 

[mknox]

I've been thinking I should tape the roof rack mount covers down before going through. Next time I'm at the hardware store I'll pick up a roll of the blue 3M paint edging tape and try that.

Good idea. The touchless wash I go to does not use high pressure water, but the blower / dryer always flips those little hatches up!

 

[bareyb]

They use that blue tape at the wash car to tape down the rear wipers on SUVs.

 

[PeterK]

Tried the tape last weekend. It stayed on, held them down, and peeled right off.

 

[Chris TX]

Took my 2wk old baby to the car wash yesterday. It has VERY good reviews and we had ICEPOCOLYPSE the week before which left salt/gravel dust all over the car. LONG line at the wash, so I pulled around and saw it was one that you coast through, being pulled by a wheel on a belt. Also, there was a two-sided rail that guides your left wheel throughout the whole procedure. Very quickly, I put the car into "Very High" suspension, turned off traction control, and turned off creep. Those three settings made it a breeze to roll on through the wash. When it was all finished, the end result was back to "brand new" after a few wipes of the towel. Now, I want to just keep her in the garage until the proverbial "trip to Grandma's" next week.

 

[bareyb]

Is anyone out there daring to take their cars to a Car Wash or are we all hand washing?

UPDATE: Well. So far, I've not taken my Model S to the Car Wash yet. Not even a Touchless one. I bought a Foam Cannon and a whole bunch of Detailing Supplies and I've been doing it myself at home. I just put on two coats of "Butter Wet" Wax and it looks ridiculous. It's awesome having a car that you can take care of and have it look so good. This is as close to a "show car" paint job I've had on any vehicle.

 

[Doug_G]

This time of year it's pretty much impossible to hand wash your car around here. I tried washing my Roadster once on a "warm" December day and ended up with soapsicles hanging from it.

They closed the local wand wash outfit. The next-closest one is far enough away that the car isn't clean by the time I get home. So this winter I'm taking my Model S to a touchless car wash.

 

[kevincwelch]

My winter routine:

1. Wash every 3-4 weeks.
2. Drive to the local self wash and use the spray gun to knock off the dirt, salt and grime
3. Heat the garage with the propane heater
4. Use Optimum No Rinse with warm-hot water.

It's lot easier if you have a coating since the effort is significantly reduced.

 

[dratifk]

My guess is for those that have full XPEL protection its ok to take the car through non brush car wash. We don't have much selection here but we do have the carwash with long strips of soft cloth which waves back and forth. My experience with touch-less is it fails to completely take off the roadsalt and grime.

Anyone have any thoughts of Car wash and XPEL.

 

[bareyb]

I've seen a lot of pictures on detailing sites of scratches that people get from Car Washes. Even the ones with the Felt "Fingers" because they transfer the dirt and grime from car to car. I'd love to know if anyone who has a Tesla and is taking it to a regular Car Wash, if they are getting any scratches. Washing by hand takes a LOT of time and usually by the time I'm done I'm too tired to wax it. I'd love to just take it through the Car Wash but all the horror stories give me pause…

 

[William13]

I warm my garage with the model s windows down for 30 minutes. Then I use a two bucket technique with very warm water and two wash cloths. I wash one panel at a time starting at top and going down. Two gallons total water. Dry at the end. 20 minutes total elapsed time other than prewarm. BTW I have xpel ultimate which makes me not worry about scratches.

 

[RainmakerJL]

caddieo

Got my car wrapped within a couple of weeks of getting her the end of January (full front & 4 doors). Have brought her in for the steam wash over a dozen times since then and it has not affected the wrap in the slightest. They clean a lot of high end cars there, many of which have protective wraps.

They hold the wand emitting the steam far enough away from the body for the temperature to go down just enough to still clean the car and not affect the paint/clear coat/wrap.

Aaron

Aaron did you take it to birdies in rye? Or somewhere else for the steam? I have a full xpel and going for first wash this weekend....

 

[bareyb]

I warm my garage with the model s windows down for 30 minutes. Then I use a two bucket technique with very warm water and two wash cloths. I wash one panel at a time starting at top and going down. Two gallons total water. Dry at the end. 20 minutes total elapsed time other than prewarm. BTW I have xpel ultimate which makes me not worry about scratches.

Actually, it can scratch pretty badly if you aren't careful, just like paint.