If I go commercial, I take it to the local detailed who does a hand wash.

Ya- that would be nice to do, but hand detailes are cost prohibitive in my area plus having to schedule and wait. I prefer doing the hand wash myself, but in cold weather the touchless is a good backup.

I have had very bad experiences at commercial hand wash, car washes. My Q5 was swirled to death by a place in Dallas that when I lined up had Ferrari’s, Maserati’s, Tesla’s, etc in front of me. My little Q5 was the “poor” mans car of the lot, so thought I’d be good. Nope. After that, I stopped going to those places and do it myself with exception to a detailer going’s over it, as Mebin mentions. I’m expecting ceramic to help a lot here with maintenance / no waxing - otherwise I’ll never get it again.

I take my S5 coupe to Delta Sonic. They hand dry it after going thru machine. Hose frozen in my garage. On 3 year lease. 2019 prestige coupe tango red with sport suspension

I’m sorry — I didn’t notice the brand of the mechanism but next time I go through, I’ll try to remember to look for it. As it’s not really that close to my home & travels, I’ve only used it twice on 2 different vehicles.

The one I use is a touchless, but also does full touch (if you want that). When I drive in, it sprays water in the undercarriage - which is why I like using it. Of course, we don’t usually have salt on roads, here in Dallas but normally treat with chemicals. Either way, it’s a good way to get it relatively cleaned topic to bottom, after which sometimes I’ll come back home and give it a more thorough wash.