18A5SB

The drive through I go to is full service brush - they require the car to be on Neutral at it gets on the chain carrier. I think that cancels out all pre-sense. The chain carrier keeps the cars apart. The problem happens when at the end when the car is pushed off the chain drive the driver in front just sits there instead of quickly pulling away when the green light comes on. My experience with my car wash place has been it is best to hit it earlier in the morning. The brushes are cleaner so is the wash water. The wash water is filtered and recycled mixed with some fresh water, so later it gets gunkier. Also, the place is not busy, folks doing the inside are rested, not rushed thus better job.

Richr

I am not sure I have the latest information, but I have always heard and read that the car washes using brushes are the worst for the paint finish. I had been out of the game for about 5 years, so maybe the tech has changed? I'm sticking with hand washes except on my 6 year old X5.

Rob O

My car is protected with both XPEL Ultimate film and Ceramic Pro gold ... so I'll use automated car washes whenever I can't fit in a proper foam bath / hand wash at home. I prefer touchless, although my go-to wash does have a couple guys at the end who hand dry (which isn't ideal, given how much dirt is still on the surface after a run through any touchless). Having PPF/ceramic coating means no worries about swirl marks or spider webbing though; even if that happens it's super easy to remove.

As for clearance, I'm pretty low and have not had any issues with either the pull in washes, where the systems works around the vehicle while stationary, nor 'conveyer belt' style washes. Have also been through a couple with "guide tracks" and it was fine.

JD15

Any issues with the PPF being damaged by the car wash? I'm thinking of a PPF for the front, but if it means that automated car washes are prohibited, I would have to pass.

Rob O

Nope.

CtheW0rld

My baby needs a bath so badly. It's 33 and raining right now.

For a quick wash, I use the self-spay bays followed by a wipe down with a synthetic waffle-weave chamois.
For hand-wash, I use the same self-spray. I just fill a bucket and run two cycles.
In winter I do run thru the "mop" types, mainly for the undercarriage.

The G Man

Anybody tried one of these undercarriage washer for cars?

Verybumpy

Hmm... I would not do that with such high pressure. Forcing water where it shouldn't go is usually bad.

18A5SB

I also think 4000psi is too high.

NJS5