In the winter months here in the norteast it is too cold to run water from the house to wash the Murano. Can't chance the pipes freezing. The only car wash in my rural area - which actually is a nice one - is one of those "brushless" where it's like giant mops washing your car. This particular one doesn't have a dryer at the end. I'm wondering if anybody has had any problems with such a car wash regarding the antenna at the front of the top of the car or the wind deflector. Seems unavoidable to use one of these to get the road salt from under the car from the snow. Appreciate if anybody could let me know if their wind deflector and antenna survived. Thanks.
Car wash or not to car wash
MichaelMurano
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I found a touchless carwash about 20 minutes from my house! It's different from what I've seen on that weblink I posted earlier.
It looks like a garage bay that you drive your car into and park. Then you have the wash contraption move around your car spraying, soaping and drying. Within 5 minutes you're done. It did a good but not great job cleaning the car (it was salt and dirt coated to give you an idea of how dirty it was). My side mirrors still had grime on it.
The garage bay next to this one is a feather touch carwash, which IMO does a much better job cleaning.
The other downside to this style/type of carwash system is that wait times are a lot longer than ones where the car is shuttled thru the carwash tunnel. With only 2 cars waiting to be washed I was sitting there waiting 10-15 minutes just to get into the garage bay. Of course wait times depend on the type of wash ordered (basic vs. ultra wash).
My recommendation from this experience is that if your car is dirt/salt coated use feather touch. For moderately dirty cars go touchless to avoid possible scratches.
It looks like a garage bay that you drive your car into and park. Then you have the wash contraption move around your car spraying, soaping and drying. Within 5 minutes you're done. It did a good but not great job cleaning the car (it was salt and dirt coated to give you an idea of how dirty it was). My side mirrors still had grime on it.
The garage bay next to this one is a feather touch carwash, which IMO does a much better job cleaning.
The other downside to this style/type of carwash system is that wait times are a lot longer than ones where the car is shuttled thru the carwash tunnel. With only 2 cars waiting to be washed I was sitting there waiting 10-15 minutes just to get into the garage bay. Of course wait times depend on the type of wash ordered (basic vs. ultra wash).
My recommendation from this experience is that if your car is dirt/salt coated use feather touch. For moderately dirty cars go touchless to avoid possible scratches.
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Does touchless really mean "touchless" ?
I didn't think a touchless carwash really existed. We have several outside the Wash DC are in Maryland - in particular, Mr. Wash - they say they're touchless - but they use those mops - hence, they're not really touchless. A lot of the process is touchless but mops do get used during the process. Then 15 guys jump out and wipe it down at the end. All for $16. I had always assumed the term "touchless" was a misnomer.
I didn't think a touchless carwash really existed. We have several outside the Wash DC are in Maryland - in particular, Mr. Wash - they say they're touchless - but they use those mops - hence, they're not really touchless. A lot of the process is touchless but mops do get used during the process. Then 15 guys jump out and wipe it down at the end. All for $16. I had always assumed the term "touchless" was a misnomer.
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OR Non Sequitur
Definition: [n] (logic) a conclusion that does not follow from the premises
Definition: [n] (logic) a conclusion that does not follow from the premises
Re: Does touchless really mean "touchless" ?
Well, the "touchless" wash near me is exactly like mozman described. You park in the bay and the contraption moves back and forth doing it's various operations. No brushes or mops. As mozman said -- results are OK but not good or great. That's why recently I took mine through the manual power sprayer bay to really clean as much of the crap off as possible and then through the touchless system so it could be dried before I left, as it was freezing temperatures out and I didn't want a sheet of ice covering the MO.MichaelMurano said:
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Re: Does touchless really mean "touchless" ?
At least there are 30 hands wiping and drying your MO. There are only two people drying the car in my "touchless" carwash so after I get home I have to get the towel and wipe and dry myself to prevent spots! :3:MichaelMurano said:
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Anybody tried the MR. Clean drip dry system, besides me?
Re: Re: Does touchless really mean "touchless" ?
Interesting thing about this place ("The" Car Wash), was that there were more people using the manual power sprays to clean their cars than the touchless or feathertouch. Plus I haven't seen any of them dry their cars. Aren't they worried about the water icing?
Special-K - How well does your "touchless" dry your car? When I left the bay, my car was still pretty wet. I didn't have any towels to dry it off, so I drove on to do my errands. When I parked the car it was coated with little white spots. Car with white pox??? Maybe the system's blowers just aren't powerful enough. I must say that the feathertouch system cleaned and dried better.special-k said:
Well, the "touchless" wash near me is exactly like mozman described. You park in the bay and the contraption moves back and forth doing it's various operations. No brushes or mops. As mozman said -- results are OK but not good or great. That's why recently I took mine through the manual power sprayer bay to really clean as much of the crap off as possible and then through the touchless system so it could be dried before I left, as it was freezing temperatures out and I didn't want a sheet of ice covering the MO.
Interesting thing about this place ("The" Car Wash), was that there were more people using the manual power sprays to clean their cars than the touchless or feathertouch. Plus I haven't seen any of them dry their cars. Aren't they worried about the water icing?
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Soft Touch Bad?
I had a local detailing guy tell me that the soft cloth leaves swirl marks in the paint. He was telling me that if I need to go through one of those auto washes look for one that is touchless (spray jets). He showed me an example of one whether it was from a soft cloth or not I have no idea but I had the whole idea of some dirty cloth pounding on the side of my car...
I had a local detailing guy tell me that the soft cloth leaves swirl marks in the paint. He was telling me that if I need to go through one of those auto washes look for one that is touchless (spray jets). He showed me an example of one whether it was from a soft cloth or not I have no idea but I had the whole idea of some dirty cloth pounding on the side of my car...
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First can I assume that you are a pilot? VFR
Second I am in love with the thing the water here is so hard it almost dents the car when you spray it, and that de-ionizer does it's job, I would have never believed it and the soap they provide seems nice on the was. By the way I am using Insulator Wax the I was told about on the forum by Geshaw30 who said:
I've tried every brand of car wax under the texas sun and found that, without question, the best I've ever used was Collinites No.845 Insulator Wax. It, as far as I know, can only be bought on line at http://www.cgedwards.com/Marinestore/collinite.html at $14.25 a bottle. You'll toss all the other stuff you've been using-I did
Second I am in love with the thing the water here is so hard it almost dents the car when you spray it, and that de-ionizer does it's job, I would have never believed it and the soap they provide seems nice on the was. By the way I am using Insulator Wax the I was told about on the forum by Geshaw30 who said:
I've tried every brand of car wax under the texas sun and found that, without question, the best I've ever used was Collinites No.845 Insulator Wax. It, as far as I know, can only be bought on line at http://www.cgedwards.com/Marinestore/collinite.html at $14.25 a bottle. You'll toss all the other stuff you've been using-I did
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Well, I do pilot a Honda VFR Interceptor for grins.GripperDon said:
As for this Mr clean product, I find that the flow volume of filtered water is not enough so I wash the vehicle conventionally with decent water pressure and then flush with the Mr. clean soap and water gun-works best for me.
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If you note the three position twist know on the top of the Mr. Clean spray unit the left on is for soap,the center is full water pressure (by passing the de-ionizer) and only the position full clockwise is the de-ionized water and this is only used for the final rinse.
You probably knew all that stuff, but the flow from the de-ionizer is feeble but it is just for the final rinse so that the water on the car can evaporate and not leave any marks.
You probably knew all that stuff, but the flow from the de-ionizer is feeble but it is just for the final rinse so that the water on the car can evaporate and not leave any marks.
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mgthe3
I'm sorry I did miss it,
I love the Colinite Insulator wax, can't tell it wasn't put on this morning, It was so easy to apply, and the way it did not get white stuff onthe rubber or plastic edges was great..
I really appreciat that recomendation a lot.
I'm sorry I did miss it,
I love the Colinite Insulator wax, can't tell it wasn't put on this morning, It was so easy to apply, and the way it did not get white stuff onthe rubber or plastic edges was great..
I really appreciat that recomendation a lot.
I use the Mr. Clean AutoDry kit. Its GREAT! I also found out that the folks at P&G (owners of "Mr. Clean" brand) are planning to come out with a more powerful unit. Like Gripper, I use the de-ionized rinse as the last step. To me, it feels a lot like running a paint gun with fan pattern spray all over the Murano - only with de-ionized water, not paint!
As for the "touchless" wash, there are two kinds - the one that claims to be "touchless" but really uses mops instead of brushes. Mr. Wash in the DC area is that type. Dave's Car Wash on Four Mile Run in South Arlington is similar - except that also use brushes as well as mops! Both will hold dirt that will scratch your car. I have found, however, that the worst culprit for scratching is the guys that dry your car afterwards with the terry cloth hand towels. They just use them from car to car until they are too wet to dry anything and then get new ones. Problem is that the car wash doesn't really get all the dirt off so those "drying" towels pick up dirt and scratch the car.
The other type is truly touchless in that its like others describe - a garage-like structure where you drive in and park and then two huge wands come down and spray your car - no brushes or mops. As you drive out, you get the air blast dryer. Unfortunately for those of us close in to DC, those types of car washes are in the far out suburbs (nearest to me is in Reston).
Given that I caved and went to the Mr. Wash type places (the salt was THAT bad), anybody got tips for getting rid of the new swirl marks and minor scratches?
As for the "touchless" wash, there are two kinds - the one that claims to be "touchless" but really uses mops instead of brushes. Mr. Wash in the DC area is that type. Dave's Car Wash on Four Mile Run in South Arlington is similar - except that also use brushes as well as mops! Both will hold dirt that will scratch your car. I have found, however, that the worst culprit for scratching is the guys that dry your car afterwards with the terry cloth hand towels. They just use them from car to car until they are too wet to dry anything and then get new ones. Problem is that the car wash doesn't really get all the dirt off so those "drying" towels pick up dirt and scratch the car.
The other type is truly touchless in that its like others describe - a garage-like structure where you drive in and park and then two huge wands come down and spray your car - no brushes or mops. As you drive out, you get the air blast dryer. Unfortunately for those of us close in to DC, those types of car washes are in the far out suburbs (nearest to me is in Reston).
Given that I caved and went to the Mr. Wash type places (the salt was THAT bad), anybody got tips for getting rid of the new swirl marks and minor scratches?
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Swirl Marks
From what my detailer told me its near impossible to get all the swirl marks out. You can try to get it professionally buffed but that will only minimize the swirl marks.
Its funny because every Dealer I have seen uses the soft cloth (dirty mops) for there car wash. My Nissan dealer offers free car washes for all there cars they sell for life and I am hesitant to use it but its free and the car is a lease...If this was a purchase I would never use the free car wash service.
From what my detailer told me its near impossible to get all the swirl marks out. You can try to get it professionally buffed but that will only minimize the swirl marks.
Its funny because every Dealer I have seen uses the soft cloth (dirty mops) for there car wash. My Nissan dealer offers free car washes for all there cars they sell for life and I am hesitant to use it but its free and the car is a lease...If this was a purchase I would never use the free car wash service.
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