shamusom

Seeing as winter is coming up soon, I am wondering what the consensus is about touchless car washes? I am a new Audi owner (2009 A4 Quattro), and am wonder what most people do to get the salt/grime off during the winter? I hand wash the rest of year.

I keep hearing differing opinions about touchless. Like it's to harsh on the finish, it blasts the dirt against the car, wrecks the finish, etc...

So what do you do? Just spray down in the laneway?

thx..

wailshark

I don't do touchless, just seems like hard jets shooting at your car...but then again I don't do automated car washes in general.

I usually wait for a decently nice day and go to one of those coin op places and spray the salt off. If you have a heated garage you can spray it down at your home though.

shamusom

I don't do automated car washes either, but what's the difference between touchless or the spray that comes out the coin op places? More or less the same, no?

thanks.

awcjacobs

Yea, I think the force of the water from the touchless or the gun at the coin-op are the same. But at some coin-op, they do have settings that reduce the force of the water. I have seen some dirty vehicles come spotless out of the touchless, so the chemicals are strong. But I must admit I have used the touch less, but I would rather have the winter road grime off the car.

Last year I started going to this indoor facility where you pay by the minute, so I bring my own bucket/mit and other supplies. I don't think they really do not mind as they are getting more money.

I find it really helps if you do a thorough detail with a good quality sealant before winter. Then in the spring do a good cleaning, especially the under body.

shamusom

Thanks for the info. I just did a wax job a few weeks ago. I will see how long I can spray my car down in the winter. My garage does not freeze, so I can keep the hose going all winter. Perhaps just a quick spray down will help things.

Anyone else??

wailshark

I've been through a touchless in other peoples cars and the force seemed way stronger than a normal coin-op place or pressure washer.

Nothing but anecdotal evidence to back that up though.

shamusom

I know what you mean. Plus at a coin op, you have the ability to back further away from the car if you want.... more control. thx!

g-ride

Touchless always leaves a film of dirt that shows wen it dries. As wel it can miss spots

shamusom

So far this winter I have going to coin-op pressure washer places and standing further back so as not to damage the paint by being too close... gotta get rid of that salt and dirt!

mikeh

This is strickly my opinion but I avoid any car washing when the temperatures are really cold. First off there is the fear of freezing the rubbers around the doors and tearing them. Also, when its really cold salt has no effect on the metal. When you warm it up and add water then the brine solution has the opportunity to creep into the cracks and seams. So do I drive around in my beautiful S4 looking like trash? NO......I wait until the temperatures hover around the freezing mark and either wash by hand or go to a spray booth and do a combo of hand and stand back to rinse. Then in the spring take it to Crown for undercarriage desalting. Hope this helps.