OK....this may be a dumb question...but seriously, is there anything wrong with going to carwash to wash an s197? My dad is kinda old, and doesnt want to have to wash his car by hand all the time..so would it be OK to take it throught the local Drive and Shine? I cant really think of any reason not to, except for a possibility of getting tiny scratches or something....but I think it would be safe....what do you think? Do you HAVE to hand wash these things?

 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

car wash = very bad

car washes make the baby jesus cry!!!!

lol!!!!

seriously if you must, you must. it depends on what you can live with, but car washes will undoubtedly put swirls in your finish and possibly worse and not to mention from my personal experience they tend to not do a very good job of cleaning the car to begin with. Swirls can be taken out though.

 

If you must use the car wash, use the touchless ones with the water jets.

 

Touch Free Only......... Because of water restrictions here I use one down near my house, and it works great.

I once used a brush auto and lost a spinner.

 

A good son would just wash the car for Dad ... problem solved

 

A good son won't even wash the car for his mother......

 

Maybe the Mr Clean Auto dry would be a good solution. I have it to use in the winter months. It works well and isn't too expensive.

 

He would if he ever wanted a ride anywhere other than school

 

did it yesterday

 

Ahh He's still too young to want more than that Still a Mamas boy though, and wherever I go he wants to.

For Non Auto washes, I am in love with armorall wax and dry and wash and dry with Chamois to suck off the water.

The Mr. Clean auto dry sucked I thought. Left Streaks.

 

April,
Go to Wal Mart, back in the auto section. Find the RV supplies- there should be a separate small section. Look for the water filters that have fittings for garden hoses. Run your water hose through it and watch the difference. I use a small high-pressure sprayer and put one on the input. Drying usually isn't even needed.

 

Cuts down on hand drying, leaving no spots.

 

If my car is just slightly dirty, from light road spray in summer, something like that, I'll run it through a car wash (water only kind), then wipe it dry afterwards with a speed shine type product. Winter time, if it's extremely dirty (snowed a few days) I'll wait till it's over 35 degrees and do it myself at a doityourself car wash. I have taken it to a full service "soft touch" car wash maybe 3 times over the last 2 years, during the winter, when it was too cold to do it myself (frozen lines at the doityourself) and it was too dirty for the water only to get it clean. Yeah, I got some light swirls in it, but I also have a butt ton of rock chips so what's the difference.

It's my daily driver, what are you gonna do?

 

My experiences with the car washes are bent antenna's and scratched rims or flat out flat tires when they come out that of course they say was that way when it went in.

Haven't been through one in years.

I use the do it yourselfers

 

The newer touchless ones do a fair job if you can't find the time or it is too cold outside. They at least knock the dust and dirt off without breaking anything.

 

i was thinking of doing this for when it gets way too cold, but the only thing that scares me is those metal bars that you have to try and line your wheels up with on the drivers side.. so that you go in straight. i'm afraid they'll scratch my 64Ws if im the slightest bit off..

 

It's not that bad, the car washes are wide enough that you should have no problem fitting in between the rails. I've been in many different touchless carwashes and no problems at all. No paint swirls, no damaged parts, decent cleaning especially if it is really dirty.

 

Touchless only. Do not go to one with those spinning sandpaper wheels.