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Touch less wash battle


bigaudiofanatic

Question

So because of my very long schedule during the week I do not get home until 9.

So what I usually do is on the way home once every other week is go through the touch less wash.Well today after doing that for a month I noticed that it had stripped all my wax off.

 

So my question is this.

 

Even with super sealant "have not applied yet" is going through the touch less wash still better than getting to maybe wash my car twice a month in winter?

 

Or do I just let it strip what is wants and in the spring build the protection back up?

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So because of my very long schedule during the week I do not get home until 9.

 

So you are saying you'd like to wash your car are normal hours?

Bah!

 

I can emphathize with your schedule. I get home late (not that late usually though) and want to spend the remaining 'waking' hours with my daughter and wife.

Having a big block of time when the sun's out is rare. My 'me' time starts around 10pm.

I bought some shop lights, and am now in the habit of detailing from 10-2am.

But then again, I'm an OCD, night owl engineer :loser:

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By the very nature of touchless systems the Chemicals have to be more aggresive. If you don't have agitation to assist with breaking thru the road film then you have to do it with chemicals/pressure. or in some cases water volume more than pressure. I used to work for Ryko wash systems so I know THEIR chemicals are somewhat caustic. (The concentrate burns like crap if it gets on your skin. )

My service van was washed many times during a day with no really ill effects no paint on the hubcaps and some slight yellowing because of the wax. Of course I was doing touchfree as well as brush systems. I had one day where I ran my van thru 52 times.

I specifically remember that was a bad day. Lots of problems different locations.

My wife and I used to run our cars thru weekly. But now I'd hesitate to take our Vette's thru one as I'm sure anyone would but mainly because of the ground clearance.

Personally If the car has a good base of wax/sealant and you run it thru a touchfree sometimes to get the majority of the salt and gunk off I doubt you'll have a problem.

It will still never be as clean as a hand or an Auto brush wash I don't care what kind of hype they are advertising.

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Grub, thanks for the insight I appreciate it! I actually feel a lot better if I am in a pinch and need a quick wash now. Your answer was a lot more founded and had more substance to the one I was basing my posts off of so I apologize for not sounding as educated as I would have liked and for basing my opinions off of something that now seems to have held little merit when I look back at it.

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Grub- Thanks for posting, interesting!

 

However, i have recently purchased Megs Hyper wash to help cut the winter salt off the cars. It does have the chemical rating and a warning that it is skin iratant. After using it twice on my workvan and audi i can say with all honestly it has striped of some wax. The car doesnt nearly bead as much and takes much longer to dry with my master blaster.

 

Both cars were just recently waxed and sealed. It does cut the dirt good but it certainly did strip it slightly.

 

if that car washed used megs then im sure its a variant of hyper wash, there has to be something harsh in soap because dirt simply doesnt fall off the car when you hit it with soap. Thats why i went with Hyper wash for the winter months. Adams soap is PH balanced and does not cut the caked on road grime.

 

Megs does a decent job with getting the larger particles off, but if i were to wash one side with adams then dried it with air then the same with master blaster it still wouldnt look like i cleaned my car. The megs side would look better from a distance but as soon as you got up to it it would look like crap.

 

Actually, im thinking im going todo this and take pics. My mini is gross. Ill do one side PH balanced soap and the Other Megs. Ill dry it with my master blaster and take pics.

 

BTW: im using a foam gun attached to my pressure washer.

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I've driven in these things here and there for a while now. I can't say I have ever noticed a issue. If it does remove the wax that's fine. It's just giving you an excuse to apply more love.

 

Ya but that brings me back to square one, I do not have the time with my busy schedule to do waxing as much as i would like.

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There was a similar discussion on another forum awhile back and from what I remember someone who had experience with brushless wash systems had commented on that stripping ability of the chemicals used.

 

 

I'm sure, whoever it was, had his reasons. That's fine.

 

I've been using brushless system for years without an iota of an issue.... any issue.

 

Food for thought: this past July an Exxon gas station about five miles or so from my house had a high-tech brushless wash system installed. A lot more expensive than the usual car wash as a "basic" wash is $14. I use the term "high-tech" because I've never seen one like this before.

 

A lot more spray jet nozzles installed than I'm use to that rotate 360 as they flow with varying pressure, a moving strip of jets under the vehicle for a great undercarridge wash/rinse [as opposed to a stationary bar you drive over], seperate four circular wheels with jets that blasts the tires/wheels [they move based on the vehicles wheelbase to locate the wheels of different sized vehicles], an automatic rinse system that cleans the stamped concrete floor after every wash, and a vacum system that's more powerfull than anything I've ever experienced [read: 90-percent dry vehicle upon exit].

 

It took them about a month to fully complete and I would often go down after a fill and check out construction. By chance, the day of completion I happen to be there for a fill and met the regional manager for the brushless wash's manufacturer. I got to asking him some questions and he was more than happy to take me into the wash's mechanical room and show me around. I was impressed with the wash bay and even moreso with the ventilated mechanical room. Two things struck me: One was the water used in the brushless wash first went through a filtration system to remove any impurities and then that same water went through a large water heater that produced an 85-degree operating temperature prior to hitting the jets. Second was that the liquid wash, wax and polish applied came from seperate large 80-gallon drums. Guess who the supplier was for each of the drum's ingredients...... Meguiars!

 

So to claim that brushless car wash strips the protective film is nothing more than generalizing. Sure, there probably are some [maybe many] that use crappy OTC carsh washes that resemble Dawn, but let's not place all of them in the same category.

 

The truth of the matter is this: Not only have paint finishes improved dramatically over the last few years on the vehicles we love to drive, but so have the wax/sealant/protectives maufactured by fabricators [like Adam's] for the same vehicles. It's nowhere near as easy to strip the protective film that quality products like Adam's provides, as people will tell you or lead you to believe. Today's professional detailing supplies are [at least] twofold in comparison to products as even as little as 5-6 years ago..... in every way [especially longevity].

 

Thanks for reading.

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How do you, that have commented, know what type of wash soap they use at brushless car washes to determine that they are "harsh" and, ultimately, will strip your protectant?

 

There was a similar discussion on another forum awhile back and from what I remember someone who had experience with brushless wash systems had commented on that stripping ability of the chemicals used.

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I use the canadian tire touch less wash and why is it that if it is harsh why does it not take all the dirt off but it will take all the wax off.

 

you'll notice when you take your car through a touchless car wash, once the car is dry, you will still see salt stains/dirt. The reason for that is you actually need a wash pad to scrub the dirt off the finish. I wash my car with a foam cannon all the time, if I don't follow up with a wash pad after when drying, my GWDT is picking up dirt.

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With salt on the car!!! That would be nuts with how many swirl marks you would create.

 

Oh I don't doubt that and I completely agree, waterless wash would be decent for something that is lightly dirty and not caked on dirt/salt.

 

However, another idea I have been using since I don't have a garage, and I do it pretty late at night when I have actually have the time, is that I just fill up my Adam's bucket with shampoo and warm water and put the lid on, drive to the local self-serve wand washers and do an imromptu wash there. I know its a bit cumbersome but at least you know you're getting somewhat of a quality wash and you wont compromise the protection you have on your car.

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I've driven in these things here and there for a while now. I can't say I have ever noticed a issue. If it does remove the wax that's fine. It's just giving you an excuse to apply more love.

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Hmm...This is all news to me.

 

I wash with Adam's all summer and warm weather myself and I take it to a touch-less all winter. Maybe twice a month for a good 4 months. By spring time, the car looks pretty much just as I left it in the fall.

 

I always do my fall detail using MSW followed by Americana....

 

By spring-time, the paint looks fine and has no very minimal swirls due to not being touched and then I do my spring detail. The claybar process is also barely that bad.

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Spot on, the soap they use in those car washes is extremely aggressive and meant to cut through a lot so it will take wax off. I agree I am just going to fill a bucket up, seal the lid and take it to the local self-service wash bays and wash my car there.

 

Could always do a waterless wash if you have a garage.

 

With salt on the car!!! That would be nuts with how many swirl marks you would create.

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I myself will take 2 buckets and Adam's Shampoo to a self wash place. Only thing that sucks about military posts is there is not a handwash station, just some with spray nozzles and stuff. So I'm sitting there for 30-40 minutes handwashing my truck. People seem to get angry at me all the time but what do they know about car care lol.

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The soap at a touchless car wash is pretty harsh and will eat away at any wax that you have on your ride. I remember Dylan tell me this last winter. In the winter I just rinse the salt off, but this winter I think I might bring my bucket with me.

 

Spot on, the soap they use in those car washes is extremely aggressive and meant to cut through a lot so it will take wax off. I agree I am just going to fill a bucket up, seal the lid and take it to the local self-service wash bays and wash my car there.

 

Could always do a waterless wash if you have a garage.

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I got a little harsher soap to help cut the grime a bit more. Sealant will help protect the car but best to apply the wax through the winter. I came to the conclusion that adding wax is ahellofu alot easier then correcting the car because it was extremely dirty. Especially this time of year with all the salt, i rather not be grinding that into my paint.

 

In the summer time ill switch back to adams 100%. as of now i use harsh soap then shoot it with adams before i touch it with the mit.

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