I presume the spinning brushes they have in automatic car washes don't scratch the car and these handwash places don't intentionally want to scratch your car by using an old sponge with grit or something - so does anyone here never ever use a third party service but instead does it himself ALWAYS?

What about these jet washes in garages where you pay via coins/token and then you wash the car - the brushes might be old and scratchy - best to soak the car with shampoo/foam and use your own sponge? Is the 'standard' car sponge you get in Halfords/etc safe to use - or there's some newer type of microfibre cloth which is safer?

This is important if you have a brand new car with zero scratches!

In four years ive used a car wash twice.....much prefer some good old fashioned sponge and leather.

Dare you to ask this question on www.detailingworld.co.uk good advice/guides on www.cleanyourcar.co.uk

Never use a hand wash or automatic wash if you want your car to stay swirl free.

The guys on detailing world will give good advice but generally the advice will be:

Jet wash
Soak with foam and leave to dwell for 5 minutes
Rinse with jet wash
Wash with 2 bucket method using lambs wool or micro fibre mitts
Rinse
Dry with micro fibre drying cloth

I never use carwash/jetwash. I prefer to handwash using a decent washmitt.

Some carwash places now have a system with sponge brushes but I don't know if they would be any better.

Driving past a car wash scrathes the paint as does driving past "most" hand car washes You have been warned, it's far better and more rewarding to do it yourself when you can get some time in the shade.

if you can find a car wash that will give the same satisfaction and gleaming spotless lex then i will use it but untill that day or i die. i will either do it all by hand my self like today or pay a trusted garage with a good reputaion to wash it but machine is a big no no no

here,here.....

DIY only - with paintwork being so soft nowadays, why would you let anyone else do it? All the grit held in an old Mit, autowash brush is like sandpapering your pride and joy. Remember - even the best hand wash places are trying to get through as many cars as possible, so they don't clean fill soap buckets etc.

They just push grit around from one car to another, then rub it in with Old Chamois's. I don't even trust the Lexus car wash clubs, and insist I clean my own car after servcing!!

Why do people use a jet wash to clean a road car in the summer? It makes no difference and only wastes water. It can destroy the rubber seals, tyres walls etc...

All you need as mentioned above are 2 buckets, a simple hosepipe, a couple of Microfibres (never a Chamois) and 1 hour of your own time twice a month...

The flash "autodry" is excellent (rest of the kit is rubbish). Just make sure you clean your silicon blade with a microfibre (if using one) after each swipe...any grit on the blade will leave scars behind!!

I do mine by hand, or take it to a local hand car wash that takes even more care than I would (they actually clean out the airvents with a paint brush they're so fussy )

However, my car is still swirl heaven, while my brother's BMW which barely ever gets more than the odd £5 car wash has much better paintwork. The worst part is that everytime it goes to the dealers (which is very often, remember it's a BMW) they put it through their mechanical car wash which also does no damage to it!

What is BMW paint made of?

Foaming pre-wash? Ease/quickness of rinsing on warm/sunny days?
Flash unit now discontinued, but useful for those in soft/medium hardwater areas. Anything harder - forget it, it'll kill the filter in one use. Even then I've found it less useful in a relatively soft water area with each replacement cartridge I swapped in. So, unless they have a used by date, there's something not right with the extras I bought at the same time.
Will now be upgrading to this, with enough filtration to last a full year of rinsing once a week. At about £90 or so, it's expensive enough, but not overly so.