Why Car Washes Are Actually Bad for Your Car

consume a skillful car to a mechanized or " full - service " motorcar wash is like hold up to the best steakhouse in town and ordering your premier costa well done . It ’s a waste of money , and for bona fide car guy cable , it can be unspeakable to watch because it ’s actually pretty bad for your cable car . sure enough , there are some places that will properly launder your railroad car using skilled detailers and high - quality products , but you ’re going to make up so handily for that service , you may as well just hire someone to descend out and clean it in your own driveway . With warmer weather ultimately upon us , for the good of all cars everywhere , please learn how to the right way wash your car at dwelling house . What does that entail , exactly ?

If this vocalize like a lot of gaunt effort to you and you ’re like " thanks but nah , I ’m just gon na bump off up a automobile wash instead , " scan on . Do n’t say I did n’t warn you .

You’reliterallyspraying your car with acid.Actual acid!

This is n’t a metaphor , nor am I making some ecological point about acid rain . Hydrofluoric acid can be a tight SOB – you might commemorate it fromBreaking Bad , wherein it wasused to break up bodies .

Well , it ’s particularly well suited toeat away very fine particles … like road grime . As a result , a lot of those " pre - cleaners , " " heavy - duty cleaner , " and most wheel cleaners have hydrofluoric dot in concentrations strong enough that theCDC even emerge a warning to all railcar washing industry worker .

You’re putting about a billion tiny scratches in your paint

OK , even if you bury about the acid for a second , you ’re still hurting your paint every time you go to an automatonlike carwash . Remember those dreaded giant spinning ogre from tenner past that would maul your motorcar to get the shit off ? Those are mostly out today , but even the " soft " brushes repeatedly slap against your auto and drop back across its paint , carry with them a cluster of filth , not just from your automobile , but from the auto in front of you , and the one in front of it , etc . Each particle is basically a tiny piece of emery paper eat away at your car ’s paint .

Even water pressure can cause damage

For the sake of logical argument , act you have a smallrock chip . Maybe it ’s steel new and you ’ve never even seen it . A speedy blast of water at secretive range with enough insistence is all it take to do serious damage . If your paint happens to get pressurized water supply under it , it can draw up the exposed edge and peel out even more blusher .

Water spots are terrible for your car

Unless you ’re using water that ’s so heavily strain it can be used in a aesculapian saline solution solution , it can leave mineral deposit on your blusher if it evaporates too cursorily . Not only are water spot unworthy as hell , they ’re basically permanent – like cleaning liquid ecstasy scum off your shower , you ca n’t always get them off without ponderous - obligation shining . If you run through the gondola lavation and get back on the route without dry , or by but permit thosecool - but - worthless giant whisker blowerspush the water around , youwillcause damage to your rouge once you ’re back out in the red-hot Dominicus . dry out the car yourself , sooner in the wraith if at all possible . check that it ’s actually wry , not damp , not mostly dry , butdry .

And before someone tries to bring rainwater into this , conduct in creative thinker it ’s broadly speaking not sunny when it rains , and it more often than not is sunny when you moisten your railway car . So your pigment surface is red-hot , and thus the water disappear faster , and the jeopardy for water spot is much higher .

Hand-drying at car washes isn’t great either

Humans ! These are establish at the most expensive , fanciest car wash . They ’re the good , right ? Not quite . Take a expression at the sheet they apply . ante up attention to how many time those rag get drop on the ground and pick back up . Now go degenerate a damp shirt outside and see how much backbone it picks up . Still want it rubbing against your body ? Neither does your car .

But what if it’s an emergency?

candidly , I had a hard metre thinking this one out , because what kind of " hand brake " demand a car backwash ? But … ifyour car is as disgracefully cruddy as the Porsche in this photo and you need it sporting ASAP , then I supposeonetime is n’t going to be the death of the world . in all probability . You still want to understate the damage , though , as Mike Pennington , who direct up grooming for all of Meguiar ’s , put it : " check that and do your prep to choose the ripe possible location . Get to know the manager and the staff , as this will help to check that your automobile gets that excess chip of attention it deserves when they are working on it . "

Want more of the world ’s best Cars delivered straight to your inbox?Click here to sign up for our casual e-mail .

Aaron Milleris theCarseditor for Thrillist , and can befound on Twitter . He still find railway car washes creepy .

car wash