Where are Touchless Car Washes in Toronto?

[Prime Mover]

I love my Model S when it is gleaming clean, but I admit to being lazy about hand washing the car myself.
The Owners Manual has the following caution about using car washes:

"If washing in an automatic car wash, use “Touchless” car washes only. These car
washes must have no parts, such as brushes, that can touch Model S. Using any other
type of car wash could cause damage that is not covered by the warranty."

I would like to build a list of where Touchless Car Wash stations are located in the Toronto area so I can know where I can go to get my car cleaned.
The one location I have used is the Esso station at the north-east corner of Islington and The Queensway. I have been able to convince the manager there to give me the "Fill-Up" wash price as I am unable to buy gas first to receive a discounted car wash.

I called Esso about other locations, but they could not tell me if the car wash at a particular site was touchless or not.
Can anyone please also list locations where they have seen Touchless Car Washes in the GTA area?

 

[mknox]

Most of the Canadian Tire Gas Bars have a touchless wash that you drive into, put the car in Park and wait while the mechanism does its thing going back and forth and around the car. The Canadian Tire Touchless Wash in Milton is the kind that pulls your car through, and I ended up with scuffed/scratched rims there

 

[Doug_G]

Thanks for the warning... I'm currently in Milton and the car is covered in mud...

Oh and BTW the Best Western now has a fully functional CS-90. Been giving it a good workout.

 

[mknox]

Oh and BTW the Best Western now has a fully functional CS-90. Been giving it a good workout.

Funny you should mention that. I noticed the SCH site showed it as available and very nearly turned off the highway on my way by this evening to check it out for myself. I decided at the last minute to keep on going and leave it for another day. (I don't need the juice, but would like to confirm whether my twin chargers are working :smile

 

[Doug_G]

Cool. I'm leaving the hotel today, but right now it's still plugged in.

FYI, current firmware limits the current at first to 60A. Then you try to dial it up and it complains that you'll blow the fuses on your HPWC. You clear that warning and try again and it works. Rather irritating as it does this every single time you plug in.

 

[shiny]

I believe a majority of ESSO car washes in the GTA are touchless.

 

[clea]

Are there any touchless car washes that are not associated with a gas station?

 

[Doug_G]

My car is finally clean again. Was covered in mud and some bird droppings (on the paint armour thankfully).

I used a touchless wash a few km from my home - in Ottawa! Now I admit I didn't try very hard to find one in hogtown, but I was not successful.

 

[Duckjybe]

I love my Model S when it is gleaming clean, but I admit to being lazy about hand washing the car myself.
The Owners Manual has the following caution about using car washes:

"If washing in an automatic car wash, use “Touchless” car washes only. These car
washes must have no parts, such as brushes, that can touch Model S. Using any other
type of car wash could cause damage that is not covered by the warranty.

I would like to build a list of where Touchless Car Wash stations are located in the Toronto area so I can know where I can go to get my car cleaned.
The one location I have used is the Esso station at the north-east corner of Islington and The Queensway. I have been able to convince the manager there to give me the "Fill-Up" wash price as I am unable to buy gas first to receive a discounted car wash.

I called Esso about other locations, but they could not tell me if the car wash at a particular site was touchless or not.
Can anyone please also list locations where they have seen Touchless Car Washes in the GTA area?

You can go to the Petro Canada website and search for car washes and specify Touchless as well. Thats what I did to find a Touchless Model S friendly one I could use my Superwash card with.

 

[mnx]

Speaking of Touchless car washes I have a question....

On my white model S and on my last car (a white bmw) after going through as touchless wash my car was left covered in orange spots. They look like rust but are not as they are covering the plastic bits as well. Does anyone know what causes that? I didn't seem to get it on my S until I selected the cheapest of the 3 options at my local touchless car wash FWIW...

 

[Doug_G]

Funny, many years ago I had a white Corolla and it would get orange spots, too. I was thinking at the time that it was maybe pollen, but never really figured it out.

 

[mknox]

I've never seen the orange spot thing, but have always had darker colored cars.

I have noticed that if I opt for the most expensive touchless wash, in addition to the white soap that gets sprayed on the car, some kind of multi-colored goop gets dropped down before the rinse cycle. Could this be it?

I also wonder if it couldn't be rust from the car wash system itself that gets flushed out and dropped on the car (i.e. inside of metal pipes gets rusty while the car wash is not in use).

 

[shiny]

I don't think it's from the car wash. Perhaps just coincidence that you saw it after getting the car wash.

It's probably brake dust that has started rusting on your paint.

 

[mnx]

I don't think it's from the car wash. Perhaps just coincidence that you saw it after getting the car wash.

It's probably brake dust that has started rusting on your paint.

It's not rust as it's covering the plastic parts of the car as well...

 

[rogers08m3]

It's not rust as it's covering the plastic parts of the car as well...

It's embedded contamination. Every car has it, you see it on lighter colored cars. It generally comes from brakes/exhaust but it's also from environmental stuff; my wife used to work beside a recycling plant and her white car had the little dots all the time. Basically it's tiny little bits of ferrous metal that stick to the paint. Some people pick them off but that's usually a bad idea. Claybar will remove them (Canadian Tire sells a kit), or you can use a chemical so you don't have to rub clay on the car. It'll come back after a few months; on my wifes car I would clay and it would be back in ~6-8 weeks from all the metal in the air. I started using a chemical (carpro ironx) to remove it which was pretty easy, I just did it every few months.

 

[Hamza]

My car is finally clean again. Was covered in mud and some bird droppings (on the paint armour thankfully).

I used a touchless wash a few km from my home - in Ottawa! Now I admit I didn't try very hard to find one in hogtown, but I was not successful.

Hey why don't you look into Opti Coat Pro, you won't have to worry about bird dropping or water etching because it resists them to a unmatched level and it protects every square millimeter of paint.

As a added note, touchless car washes are more effective with opti coat professional. The dirt doesn't have the same hold as it does with the factory clear coat and you can go longer in between washes because the dirt doesn't hold.

 

[DRK]

It's not rust as it's covering the plastic parts of the car as well...

I had this exact same problem on a white Lincoln SUV, dealer and body shop guys looked at it and said it was from the Brakes. Suggested they Claybar also and it worked, seems to rub off with a little elbow grease. Hope that helps.

- - - Updated - - -

Best Car Wash deal out there is the Petro Canada 90 Day Card. Wash any vehicle once a day for 90 days ($12.00/per) for only $2.50 a day, card is like $200.00 incl tax. They have dozens of washes all over Ontario, and some are touchless. The one I frequent is up in Newmarket at Davis/404.