Well as I posted before i took my car out of storage a little early. Well I kinda paid the price for it last night because I got caught in a storm. And I swore to myself I would never go to an automatic car wash with my mustang, especially after hearing all the horror stories. And well I had to get the little bit of salt off the car for the time being so I figured I would try the DIY car wash about a mile away from my house. Never used one of these before and I didn't use the brush that they have because I didn't want all the dirt and grit from previous users to get rubbed against my paint. But instead I used the high pressure soap wash and it took pretty much most of the salt off until I can properly wash it myself by hand in a couple days. This whole thread might sound to you like why is this kid talking about a DIY car wash but I had such good fast results for $2.50 I wanted to bring it up. If you for some reason drive your car all winter or if you get caught in a sticky situation where you can't wash your car yourself, then definitely give one of these places a try. Definitely wouldn't replace this method of washing your car for a full on detail session by all means but a good bang for the buck.

 

Indeed, and if you bought your own high pressure wash system, you could do it at your house... and also your fence, siding, windows...

I haven't had any issues with the autowashers I've used, but then, I am very picky about which ones I go to. I actually get out and look at the shammies (and only shammies, mind) that they use. If they're really nasty, no go. If they're not being FLOODED with water/soap/chem, nosir, not good enough. Or, if it's one of those touchless, I'll watch another car go through first... if it doesn't look good enough, I'll pass.

My philosophy is this: I can scratch the hell out of my car as easily as the autowashes can. Swirl marks, rocks in the wash, all that. A bird doesn't care what it eats, and I still have to wash it off, and that can scratch too.

I've run Awesome through machines a lot. Still looks showroom new, for the most part. Couple of dings from the parking neighbors, **** them all to heck, but people still remark at how new she looks.

And all autowashes.

/I scrub the wheels with the brush at one, works fine for me.
//Not a super detail freak...
///And I don't pick dark colors anymore. Too much work. Black/dark blue exterior? Never again.

 

You can certainly use these to your advantage. Here's a video I made with one of our frequent photographers:

 

use them alot here in AZ.

 

Marc thanks for that very helpful video