So it's the time of the year where day high is below 0C so I went to an enclosed manual car wash this morning. Wanted to use my mit and bucket I brought to wash the car after using their pressure washer but although the place was almost deserted, except for the employee and another customer (place has 8 bays), I was told I was not allowed to use them and had to use their brush. The brush did feel soft and the employee mentioned that people with $100,000+ cars use them without issues to the paint. So, how do you feel about the soft bristle brush at a manual car wash?
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How do you feel about the soft bristle brush at a manual car wash?
- Thread starter SylvainG
- Start date
I would't be a fan, but you're probably fine. My biggest gripe is the repeated use of the same brush over and over. What's their rinsing/cleaning procedure of that brush? Little bits of sand and road grime could certainly get embedded in the brush if not cleaned thoroughly. Were you allowed to use your own chemicals or did you have to use theirs as well?
linuxguyInMD
Member
joebruin77
Active Member
I definitely would not use such a brush. Even if the brush itself is soft, there is likely to be some sort of dirt particles from other people that previously used the brush. Those small dirt particles can act like sandpaper, creating micro scratches in your clearcoat.
TFSMotorsport
Member
Candleflame
Active Member
i had to use it a few times as i do roadtrips as sometimes the car looks really aweful and the insects etc just have to be taken care off.
It caused lots of marring but it also caused a few visibile scratches which had to be polished out.
It caused lots of marring but it also caused a few visibile scratches which had to be polished out.
The employee’s relationship with his boss isn’t my concern, only what touches my paint, I’ll choose to use my own products. If I don’t want their brush on my paint, then it makes little difference to me what the employee wants, the brush will not touch my paint.
Micro scratches aren’t really a problem for him. I’d have to live with them. Whether others wash their expensive cars with his brush doesn’t affect what I do, how they clean their cars is up to them. Since he seems highly motivated to get you to use that brush, what he says in order to convince you is suspect. Even if true, the expertise of those expensive car owners may be far less than one would imagine.
I’m skeptical of all claims, I want proof. When I haven’t been skeptical I’ve sometimes been burned. Not every time but often enough.
roblab
Active Member
I use a manual car wash exclusively and have for my last four Teslas. I never use a brush. After spraying, I dry the car with baby diapers, which are soft. I never remove the wax, since it doesn't get dirty, so after wiping off the water, I'm done. I've done this for years on all my cars. Never wash with soap, dry with soft cloth (baby diapers are best) and drive away happy. The spray removes any large particles of dirt, and the diapers remove the remaining "dust". And they then go in the washer to renew them.
Washing off wax and then re-applying it is a total waste of time and resources. If you feel you need to apply more wax, you can do that after you've cleaned and dried the car with plain water. As I stated above, I've been doing this for decades. My cars always look nice. Removing wax is sorta like removing the old paint on your house before painting it again. Totally unnecessary.
Washing off wax and then re-applying it is a total waste of time and resources. If you feel you need to apply more wax, you can do that after you've cleaned and dried the car with plain water. As I stated above, I've been doing this for decades. My cars always look nice. Removing wax is sorta like removing the old paint on your house before painting it again. Totally unnecessary.
What?? I think you may not understand what using "soap" does, as well as the wax. Wax doesn't get dirty. And soap, proper car wash soap, doesn't remove the wax.
heavyD
Member
If you ever see a black or dark colored vehicle that has fine circular swirls all over the paint, it's highly likely they used the car wash brush. People (especially pickup truck drivers) use those brushes on their filthy wheels, bumpers, tailgate, etc. and all that dirt stays in the bristles and mimics sandpaper on your paint. These should never, ever, ever be used on paint especially paint as soft as what comes on Teslas.
It looks as if we each have our own ideas about how to keep the paint perfect. A brush shouldn’t hold grit, the grit should fall out, unless of course that truck had some sort of glue like substance on it, like pitch or tar. It’s the bristles that I think might be a problem, they start off with very soft ends but with use those ends wear leaving the coarser “stem” parts of the bristles.
I think diapers and microfiber are probably equivalent, before we had microfiber it was soft cloths for all of us. As far as soaps go, there’s the gentle soap that breaks the surface tension of the water allowing it to lift the dirt, then there are the powerful detergents that dissolve and remove the wax. They each have their place but for general washing I want something that simply wets the car and loosens the dirt.
A water wash sounds good, the ideal is a distilled or deionized water rinse, so no spots. If plain tap water is used, the evaporting water will leave deposits of whatever is in the water. Calcium or other divalent ionic salts are likely to be unsightly and abrasive left behind after the water has evaporated. So is one better off leaving the tiny spots or soaking them up with a soft diaper wipe? I vote for the diaper. Microfiber is the best of both worlds, that is until you get into discussions of the edge bindings, those are not microfiber so they can be of concern for tiny scratches.
The bottom line is that some of our paint will make it 5-10 years with nary a scratch and some us will have paint that will get weathered, not just from washing but from blowing sand and dust that hits at 60-70 mph as we drive. We try to keep it factory fresh but driving takes its toll. Driving, overhead birds, trucks picking up small stones, construction zones, road tar, acid rain, pine tree sap, it never ends.
As long as one has a preferred way to clean the car and the cleaning doesn’t add to the daily paint stressors, then it’s a good thing. Some of us add films that protect the paint. Most of us use surface protecting treatments, things that covrer or bond to clearcoat, and shed rain. Even then some waxes such as carnubas will eventually harden and form micro abrasive particles.
For me, it’s a pressure washer, gentle car wash covering the car in foam from a foam cannon, a careful rinse, and an electric yard blower to blow off most of the water, then a microfiber cloth to soak up the very tiny residual droplets. Any fine dirt that’s not removed gets a spray of waterless car cleaner and a microfiber wipe, done with a rolling technique so only fresh microfiber touches the paint.
Any of you that show this much concern could wash my car. I’d be happy knowing It’d be in excellent hands.
I think diapers and microfiber are probably equivalent, before we had microfiber it was soft cloths for all of us. As far as soaps go, there’s the gentle soap that breaks the surface tension of the water allowing it to lift the dirt, then there are the powerful detergents that dissolve and remove the wax. They each have their place but for general washing I want something that simply wets the car and loosens the dirt.
A water wash sounds good, the ideal is a distilled or deionized water rinse, so no spots. If plain tap water is used, the evaporting water will leave deposits of whatever is in the water. Calcium or other divalent ionic salts are likely to be unsightly and abrasive left behind after the water has evaporated. So is one better off leaving the tiny spots or soaking them up with a soft diaper wipe? I vote for the diaper. Microfiber is the best of both worlds, that is until you get into discussions of the edge bindings, those are not microfiber so they can be of concern for tiny scratches.
The bottom line is that some of our paint will make it 5-10 years with nary a scratch and some us will have paint that will get weathered, not just from washing but from blowing sand and dust that hits at 60-70 mph as we drive. We try to keep it factory fresh but driving takes its toll. Driving, overhead birds, trucks picking up small stones, construction zones, road tar, acid rain, pine tree sap, it never ends.
As long as one has a preferred way to clean the car and the cleaning doesn’t add to the daily paint stressors, then it’s a good thing. Some of us add films that protect the paint. Most of us use surface protecting treatments, things that covrer or bond to clearcoat, and shed rain. Even then some waxes such as carnubas will eventually harden and form micro abrasive particles.
For me, it’s a pressure washer, gentle car wash covering the car in foam from a foam cannon, a careful rinse, and an electric yard blower to blow off most of the water, then a microfiber cloth to soak up the very tiny residual droplets. Any fine dirt that’s not removed gets a spray of waterless car cleaner and a microfiber wipe, done with a rolling technique so only fresh microfiber touches the paint.
Any of you that show this much concern could wash my car. I’d be happy knowing It’d be in excellent hands.
Stew-2
Member
I used to work at a place next to a self serve car wash and would see guys pull in and scrub dirty greasy engine blocks in the back of their trucks with the brush and 20 minutes later the next guy would pull in and use that very same brush to clean his pride and joy. No car wash brushes for me ever since.
When I used to go to these, I would just drip the foam from the brush all over the car, then use my own mitt. And frankly, if stone employee told me I couldn't do this, I'd find another car wash. Sure how boys would love that.
Am I the only one that pictured someone running Huggies all over the car?
You know honestly I was against these types of car wash and automatic car washes. But at the end of the day I’m like screw it. Why bother worry about such things. And this is me who used to pressure wash and use only new microfiber clothes. I just don’t have time dote on my car. I’ll get it detailed and properly polished but on the regular I’ll just take it to the car wash and be done in less than 10 mins.
You sound like my wife, except for the part about having it detailed. For her a car is simply a way to get from one place to another. The paint gloss doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t rust, door dings happen, and following trucks and replacing cracked windshields isn’t a worry.
I’ll take the time and effort to keep it as new as possible for as long as possible. I park further out, I don't mind walking a few hundred feet to avoid tight parking places. When I park I look at the door edges of the adjacent cars and if they’re badly chipped, I move to a different spot.
You got the car to use. I understand that.
But scratches and chips do bother me and the time and trouble to avoid them is worth a bit of extra of my time and a bit extra of my effort. And when I park, I look back at my car and I appreciate that after five years it looks as good as the day it was new. It isn’t really a lot of time and trouble but it is some. For me it’s worth it. For you not so much. For her not at all.
And. In the end it matters not a whit.
It’s a little like those high school car wash fund raisers. It’s been a long time ago now, but the memory persists. My wife took my car through one of those, happy that she’d surprise me with a cleaned car, and that she’d tipped well. I said “NOooooo…..”. They use the same old cloth rags to wash all the cars, they use the same bucket of soapy water car after car, the buckets and the rags accumulate sand and silt. They think they know how to wash a car but they don’t, not really, not a clue. I showed her the car outside, now covered with lots and lots of new surface scratches all sparkling in the sun.
We give them the money, we buy whatever they are selling, we support their causes, but they never ever wash our cars.
