Disaster at the carwash!
Honestly, 90% of the time, the people working at car washes are usually younger kids. Sometimes they know what they're doing, sometimes they dont, so I wouldnt risk it regardless. Not worth the irritation or the hassle of something going wrong. The smartest thing I've bought for the Z lately has been the Meguiar's car wash, I havent waxed my car yet and it always gets compliments. My recommendation to you would be investing some money into purchasing car care products and have the patience so you can do it yourself. In the long run, thats the better alternative because you are solely responsible at that point for anything that goes wrong.
Thread Starter
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 272
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From: Alabama
I know it was stupid for me to do it, but I had heard so many good things from people w/ nice cars, I just made a mistake, reason I didnt talk to them about my **** was because of that sign being up.. But I'm worried more about my tails than the rims because the damage on my rims isnt bad at all, you have to be 3 inches away to notice the damage, but my tails look like pure ***, I'll be re-smoking them today I think... pain in the ***. God I hope it didnt take my clearcoat off.... damn, I made a post a while back saying how I washed my car 4 days a week, which I did, but I was so tired of it getting dirty 20 min later.. so I stupidly made the choice to have someone wash it. never never ever again... that also goes for anyone driving my car, no one ever touches my **** again.
Originally Posted by ickysz
I made a post a while back saying how I washed my car 4 days a week, which I did, but I was so tired of it getting dirty 20 min later...
Originally Posted by JCat
Someone once put industrial detergent instead of normal car-wash soap in a car wash by me.
It actually removed the clear-coat from every car that used it.
It actually removed the clear-coat from every car that used it.
The customer will first encounter one or two arches, or often called pre-soak arches. They either apply a low ph with a mild alkali, then a high ph with mild alkali. It can vary in reverse in the industry depending on chemical suppliers and formula used. Some use a kick like running it 'hot' with hot water feeds during dilution into a hydrominder of some form. Others go corrosive some being level eight and above using sodium hydroxide, phosphorus, or hydrofluoric acid which can melt glass. Of course, however, ethically car washes are designed not to harm a vehicle's paint.
Soaps are very expensive.. and can be dangerous. and can pose problems for wastewater and local authorities. All these reasons can lead an operator to start messing with the mix. They may dilute the soap but increase the presoak time. This wasnt the way the soap was tested and can quickly damage or etch your paint and glass. I think almost all soaps are safe when used exactly as directed though..
my point being, there are so many reasons to avoid carwashes. Unless you know and trust the owner/opererator, just avoid them! It is not worth it IMO.
Last edited by tware; Jun 21, 2007 at 12:27 PM.
For the tail light film, use Meguiar's Plastx clear plastic cleaner. Works great apply similar to car wax.
Here's the link: http://www.meguiars.com/?clear-plast...Cleaner-Polish
Here's the link: http://www.meguiars.com/?clear-plast...Cleaner-Polish
Originally Posted by PETERPIT
For the tail light film, use Meguiar's Plastx clear plastic cleaner. Works great apply similar to car wax.
Here's the link: http://www.meguiars.com/?clear-plast...Cleaner-Polish
Here's the link: http://www.meguiars.com/?clear-plast...Cleaner-Polish
that will NOT fix his light.
I used to work at one as well. I wouldnt go to one. Not even a self service. You are always in such a rush and who knows how dirty those brushes are. I would only do a self service if I only used the spray gun, and washed the car with my own mitt. From my experience at an autowash-
-First off, most of the workers dont really care about the car, which should be expected since we see 100's of them a day and they are constantly being rushed by managers/customers.
-Yes, those rails are terrible for aftermarket rims.
-Our automatic wash would shove cars out and they would roll down a slow incline and slowly come to a stop in a slight dip until the "runner" could get the car and drive it over to the vacuum/dry station. Sometimes, if it were too busy, the cars would bump each other as they would come out of the wash if a car was already resting in the dip.
-Very nice cars would often ask for a hand wash, which was much cheaper then those mobile detailers. I would ask for this if you have to go to an autowash.
-First off, most of the workers dont really care about the car, which should be expected since we see 100's of them a day and they are constantly being rushed by managers/customers.
-Yes, those rails are terrible for aftermarket rims.
-Our automatic wash would shove cars out and they would roll down a slow incline and slowly come to a stop in a slight dip until the "runner" could get the car and drive it over to the vacuum/dry station. Sometimes, if it were too busy, the cars would bump each other as they would come out of the wash if a car was already resting in the dip.
-Very nice cars would often ask for a hand wash, which was much cheaper then those mobile detailers. I would ask for this if you have to go to an autowash.
Thread Starter
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Joined: May 2007
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From: Alabama
I just got back in from searching for "smoked tail light spray", no one sells the stuff, so I guess I'll have to order some off the internet... I had people look at me like I was making up **** , "uhh I've never heard of that before"... damn I just wanted to do this & get it over w/, now I have to wait :/
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From: Lackland AFB, TX
Originally Posted by ickysz
I've been hearing about some great car wash place where they hand wash your car, run it through a car wash, then hand dry it, shampoo the carpet & vacuum the car etc... So I decided to check it out, big mistake!!
First of all I kept hearing my car die & crank.. litteraly 10 times, so I went over to see .. I asked the guy if he was having trouble driving my car, he says "nah man, I havnt drivin a stick in a minute!".. I just put my head down... Then before the car wash pulls it through, he says "can you check to see if I have it in N?" so I looked & he had been driving w/ the E brake on! ... I told him & he goes "awww fo real man?? maaan I'm not trying to brake your car man, I dont have any money".... So I was getting a little pissed, then he started dragging it through, which it scraped the floor a couple feet, then it was fine.
I go inside to watch my car get washed & notice my tires are possibly rubbing against these metal walls about 4 inches high, so I'm ****ing freaking out.... then it comes out the other side & the dude drys it off, ready to go. I take it down the road & park to look over my car, I notice little scratch marks on a couple rims, so I'm a little irritated but not much, they wernt to bad, but THEN I see my smoked tail's, there usualy black black, clean looking black, but they looked dirty as hell! I tryed cleaning them when I got home but nothing came off, its not dirt... I dont know wtf this is! My tail's look like that have dryed soap or something all over them & I cant get the **** off.... lesson ****ing learned.
First of all I kept hearing my car die & crank.. litteraly 10 times, so I went over to see .. I asked the guy if he was having trouble driving my car, he says "nah man, I havnt drivin a stick in a minute!".. I just put my head down... Then before the car wash pulls it through, he says "can you check to see if I have it in N?" so I looked & he had been driving w/ the E brake on! ... I told him & he goes "awww fo real man?? maaan I'm not trying to brake your car man, I dont have any money".... So I was getting a little pissed, then he started dragging it through, which it scraped the floor a couple feet, then it was fine.
I go inside to watch my car get washed & notice my tires are possibly rubbing against these metal walls about 4 inches high, so I'm ****ing freaking out.... then it comes out the other side & the dude drys it off, ready to go. I take it down the road & park to look over my car, I notice little scratch marks on a couple rims, so I'm a little irritated but not much, they wernt to bad, but THEN I see my smoked tail's, there usualy black black, clean looking black, but they looked dirty as hell! I tryed cleaning them when I got home but nothing came off, its not dirt... I dont know wtf this is! My tail's look like that have dryed soap or something all over them & I cant get the **** off.... lesson ****ing learned.
Pictures dont serve it justice, but heres the pics for whoever wanted them
