Car wash?

[plowery21]

Many years ago i went down the detailing wormhole. After many days researching, I learned to never use a drive through wash for multiple reasons. It can be a pain, but I two bucket hand wash with lambs wool mitt, Adams/Chemical Guys products and use the Chemical Guys electric pressure washer and foam cannon. Just picked up my 2024 AT4X from Charlotte, NC. Thankfully we dont have the salt mess down south (although this last winter storm they did brine the roads). Have an appointment on the 22nd to get this beauty ceramic coated and paint protection film added to the full hood, mirror caps, headlights and front paint areas. Plan on keeping this one for a while, so its an investment.

 

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[gemarsh]

Many years ago i went down the detailing wormhole. After many days researching, I learned to never use a drive through wash for multiple reasons. It can be a pain, but I two bucket hand wash with lambs wool mitt, Adams/Chemical Guys products and use the Chemical Guys electric pressure washer and foam cannon. Just picked up my 2024 AT4X from Charlotte, NC. Thankfully we dont have the salt mess down south (although this last winter storm they did brine the roads). Have an appointment on the 22nd to get this beauty ceramic coated and paint protection film added to the full hood, mirror caps, headlights and front paint areas. Plan on keeping this one for a while, so its an investment.

Welcome.

 

[pinebaron]

Many years ago i went down the detailing wormhole. After many days researching, I learned to never use a drive through wash for multiple reasons. It can be a pain, but I two bucket hand wash with lambs wool mitt, Adams/Chemical Guys products and use the Chemical Guys electric pressure washer and foam cannon. Just picked up my 2024 AT4X from Charlotte, NC. Thankfully we dont have the salt mess down south (although this last winter storm they did brine the roads). Have an appointment on the 22nd to get this beauty ceramic coated and paint protection film added to the full hood, mirror caps, headlights and front paint areas. Plan on keeping this one for a while, so its an investment.

Sounds great!

 

[Grayson]

I use to love detailing, now the time isn't there so I am going to pay someone to do it.

I need to throw the Rupes buffers on eBay, thanks for the reminder

 

[Don S]

Last month we towed the truck behind our motorhome to Quartzsite, then Sedona and stayed our last few nights at Williams, which is at the base of the Grand Canyon. On the way to Williams, we drove through a snowstorm and salted roads.

Even though we may be on a camping trip of two weeks to six weeks, the truck gets cleaned regularly. I found a touchless car wash in Williams. You pull up to a roll up garage door, insert your money and the door opens. A single arm comes around and I believe the first wash is hot water. Then a second wash and finally a rinse. I've NEVER had a touchless system clean any vehicle that well....plus it blasted the undercarriage. There wasn't a missed spot on the truck.

When I bought the truck new, I did my own ceramic coating. Because the black plastic always looks like crap after a while, I ceramic coated that too. I have a BacFlip tonneau cover and that starts to look bad after a couple of years unless you 303 it every two weeks. So....as a test I ceramic coated that too.

After five months I haven't had to do anything with the plastic. I still like to detail the truck before a trip or maybe every other month, but I have a terrible back. My solution, I bought one of those really nice and expensive Viper rolling garage chairs. I just roll around the truck and spray detail from the ground up to the windows without getting up from the chair.

Lastly, mine is white and with the ceramic coating, I'm not seeing any paint issues after running it through a local car wash a couple of times a month. My truck is a mall crawler, but for those who truly use theirs off road, brush and dirt will damage the truck more than a car wash.

 

[AT4guy013]

I'll be the odd man out and say I use a drive through car wash with brushes! I thought I'd get back into washing my vehicles but the monthly unlimited pass I have is just too easy. Go through and twice a month and my monthly cost is absorbed for the pass. To my previous Benz thru it and after 3 years, nothing obviously wrong with the paint but you could see swirls on pano roof. I can live with that. Always say I'll keep the vehicle for a while but something else comes out a few years after purchase and it's somehow in the driveway!

 

[kobra357]

I'll be the odd man out and say I use a drive through car wash with brushes! I thought I'd get back into washing my vehicles but the monthly unlimited pass I have is just too easy. Go through and twice a month and my monthly cost is absorbed for the pass. To my previous Benz thru it and after 3 years, nothing obviously wrong with the paint but you could see swirls on pano roof. I can live with that. Always say I'll keep the vehicle for a while but something else comes out a few years after purchase and it's somehow in the driveway!

You’re not alone . A few of us have said we use brushless and brush washes. I did it 30 minutes ago. I will say it again I purchased my truck to be used as a truck. It gets very muddy and needs a bath often in rural MT. I don’t have the time to wash it by hand. That said to each his own.

 

[Teegunn]

You’re not alone . A few of us have said we use brushless and brush washes. I did it 30 minutes ago. I will say it again I purchased my truck to be used as a truck. It gets very muddy and needs a bath often in rural MT. I don’t have the time to wash it by hand. That said to each his own.

I live in MT, up in the mountains, and the roads going up to my house plus my qtr mile steep, winiding drive, to my house, usually has snow/ice until mid May (probably not this year as you know it's been less snow, less cold and warmer but my drive will probably still have snow/ice until late April this year). Also a contrator so on muddy jobsites a lot. I don't even wash my truck much in the snow months. It gets dirty literally driving back up to my house.

I know I should wash it some anyway, but rarely do in the snow months. Summer, still not a lot because the dirt/gravel/rock roads up to my house mean an immediate coating of dust.

Mine is my work truck and daily driver. It is about impossible to keep it clean with these uses and the conditions I live in. I am not up to daily cleaning it.

 

[Mattman]

I have been driving my new truck in all the crap and salt we have here in new york. It need to be washed badly. I have done the self spray wand one and it really dosent take off everything. Still leaves some stuff on the sides of the truck after it dries. Has anyone taken theirs thru a touch less wash or one of those ones that spin? I know that this truck is wider than my old 2002 silverado and dont want to damage anything. Also wondering if high pressure wash would hurt the very expensive tailgate?

Find a decent diy spray wand wash… all are not maintained the same. One that also has the separate “pre-soak” foaming wand. Coat the entire truck in that, top to bottom. Let it soak in and do it’s thing for a minute or two and then wash it off/wax as normal. Should remove all that road film/grime and usually the bugs too.