Wondering how many of you are brave enough to put your beautiful Lexus's through the car wash.
Last time I used one and it ruined the paintwork on my Pug 306 and now I'd never venture there again especially in a Lexus.

Wouldn't chance it as the Lexus ( toyota) paint seems to scratch very easily.... my neighbours cat made a right mess of my bonnet recently

Never take the Lexus to the car wash..


I do take the work van though

Always take my lexus through a car wash, i'm not precious

Me too, not enough hours in the day to handwash.

Hand Job everytime

I take mine to the Hand Car Wash peope ..... fiver, and it's all shiney and new again

..... just watch for the dodgey ones who run out your number plate though !

i all ways wash my one by hand i would never take it in a car wash

Never a car was!

Hand wash normally but do take it to my local hand car wash for a fiver they do a blinding job.



Which one Scarface, i know you live near me so do you use the one on Church Elm Lane?

Can't believe i never see you about!!

I had to get the bonnet resprayed too only 100 squid so not that bad, I have three cats reckon i should get rid of them incase they scratch it up?

I never go through a car wash in mine... always prefer the hand wash, although i have heard recently, that in the newer Car Wash places they use a different drying technique to take the water away... so in some ways a hand wash is good for the hand job, but a car wash gets you a blow job.

I use the one on the A1306 mate...... past the Maccy Dees .... on the left hand side, big yellow one ?

Yeah know where you mean, you should try the one in Church Elm Lane surprises me how good a job they do!

Also surprised how i never see your car about!

They provide that service in car washes now?, which one do you go to! ?

You can't see me ......... I'm super stealth mode

Hand wash or jet Wash(no brush) If i'm feeling lazy. but still wipe down after and the car

Usually always hand wash myself - but I was in a rush and feeling lazy yesterday so took it to a hand wash place: asked them to be careful as I had a few tiny stone chips on the bonnet but they pulled out the jet wash wands and blitzed away. When I checked it out after sure enough the jet has got under the stone chip and blown off a hole about the size of a ten pence piece of grey primer on my bonet. Gutted.

Never again.

Oh dear.. you going to take it back to xclusiveuk?

Yes eventually - done a touch up job for now (not pretty) - but will be taking it back for bonnet respray when budget/time allows

Should the paint come off that easily? Or did the washers put the jet nozzle like 1cm away from the chip - the muppets.

You got it - muppets indeed.

Needless to say all this happened under a huge sign saying "We take no responsibility for any damage..." etc.

Only got myself to blame really.

i'm in the same boat mate!

i was gifted with a few stone chips on a leisurely sunday drive a few weeks ago... i also managed to collect those lovely dumb flies, that like to smell bumpers and bonnets while i'm driving, so anyway, took it to a hand wash place, and they got out the jet washers...

i obviously didn't know about the chips at the time on the front bumper, but the jet wash got under the chips and ripped off about an inch of paint... leaving the primer...

i'm now waiting for some touch up paint to repair the damage...

I've had this big fat chip for about 2years, with regular hand car washes.. no peelin' here (touch wood) must be a stronger car

Damn stone chip

Um, Niraj, did I imagine it: or doesn't your dad run a body shop?

Don't settle for touch up if you can avoid it - you'll never be happy with the result especially on the bonnet. I know I'm not....

my dad has a garage but sub out our paintwork, and i already asked if i could have it resprayed, but he goes it's not worth the hassle just yet

the peel is on the lower part of the bumper, so a good mask, and spray should bring it back to satisfactory (for now) it'll teach me to not drive so fast

i'll take some pics before and after, so you can see how good my "touch up" jobs are

I'm a bit surprised by this too, ever since the whole hose pipe ban came along, I've been using hand car washes that use their jet washers right up close to the bumper and bonnet, and have had no trouble (or have I just been lucky)

I don't think paint should come off however close the washer is to it.......surely that's a paint defect?

It came off because there already was a monster stone chip there which had created a bit of a paint-impact crater that lifted off with the jet wash nozzle when the water got under it so technically the stone did the real damage but the high pressure water just made it that big bit worse. That said: mine is a re-sprayed bonnet so perhaps the quality wasn't up to factory snuff?

I would hate that to be the case, maybe worth a discussion with them?



Holding a high powered jet of water that lifts grime, and is capable of lifting chewing gum close up is going to have an impact on any damaged paint.

it's worth bearing in mind that signs which state things like 'we cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage' are meaningless, putting a sign up does not remove responsibility, (and in some cases can cause legal implications to the person who erected the sign, for example a 'danger - do not enter' sign).
although in your case, and regardless of any signs erected, the carwash operator could argue that his kit is designed for washing cars, and your paintwork was faulty, you'd have to argue otherwise, so wouldn't really be worth the hassle

Hand car wash all the time

hand wash

hand wash with zymol products,thats when i can be arsed too do it

Hand wash only.. and I get my cats claws clipped once a month

Not used an auto-brush car wash for years -

Did use the hand wash for a fiver, but one day some a*** scratched it presumably with a press stud on his jacket.

Always wash it myself, but from next Saturday will use a co. at David Lloyd centre as my some will be doing it as a Saturday job - may be get a freebie

I dont trust hand wash centres

look at the water, usually dirty from all the other cars
look at the sponges, usually dirty, and used without proper rinsing to do all areas on your car
cleaners are usually poorly paid fellow euromonkeys, with little if any language skills
i would pay them a fiver to keep away from my car

it only takes 20 mins to give a car a good decent clean
if its kept polished reguarly it takes even less !!

whats run out your number plate ??

Definately a hand wash everytime (using the two bucket method)

and definately not using a sponge, a sponge is the worst thing you can use unless you really want to screw up your nice shiney paintwork.



There is a definate method on handwashing a car which will give you the best possible chance on NOT inflicting any damage to the paintwork.

What do you use instead of a sponge ?

I use a sponge, but a seperate one for the paintwork, and make sure there is no debris in it.

The best thing to use is a lambswool washmit as it works the same wasy as microfibre cloths do

i.e. the dirt and debris from the paintwork is drawn into the fibres of the washmit which keeps it away from the paintwork so the possibilty of scratching the surface is greatly reduced.



A sponge however will always trap the dirt between itself and your expensive paintwork so that as you draw the sponge across the paintwork you will always drag the dirt and grit across the surface,

end result = lots of scratches which stand out like a sore thumb in the sunlight and therefore spoiling the whole look of the car



Two Bucket Method (for those that do not know it)



Use one bucket for your wash solution (use a good quality shampoo)

Then use a second bucket filled with clean water (preferbly with a gritguard in the bottom) for rinsing the washmit in between dips in the bucket containing the wash solution, that way you decrease/virtually eliminate contaminating the wash solution with the debris you have just taken off the paintwork.



There is a little bit more to it than this but it'll give you the general idea.



HTH

Yep 2 bucket method all the way.

nice how-to here

i used to bring it to a garage to get hand washed . but no more i think im the only one that knows how to take care of my car now it may take 5-8 hrs to get it sparkling to the way i want it but at liest i know i wont scratch the car

Handwash almost every time without fail. If I'm in a hurry, I'll use a jetwash but always wipe down afterwards.

hand wash every time. its not worth payin for a car wash to find da car is still dirty and ur wheels arent clean. do it urself i say

I have a contact in the local Texaco, get the jet washes for free whenever i want! is there such a thing as over washing your car?! I do it at least twice a week. Ive put a few small scratches on it though when the hose is stretched over the car. Whats the best stuff to use for hand washin?

hand wash or jet wash. NO car wash

Got to hand wash, only yourself can do a proper job as it's your motor and your the one who has to drive arond in it.

Bought mine brand new on the 1st March 2006.... As long as I own it it will NEVER see a car-wash !!!!

The Ed !!!!!

Hand-jobby for me - so to speak

I've got to admit, I have used a car wash a few times, but only because I was being lazy! would never use one for my tezza though, a big no no! don't want any nasty scratches!

Glad to hear it lol

J

Hand Job every time