mmutlu

What do you guys think of laser wash? Do the type of soap they are using ok? Any regular goers? It's pretty common in where I live -western NY- and it seems like a good alternative to hand wash considering it's touchless and there's no one at the end waiting to scratch the paint with a dirty towel.

Mach430

What is this? I'm from Southern CA, and I've never heard of it. Do they actually use lasers to wash your car?

awiner

I have never heard of this either. I'm also form So. California. Can you please elaborate.

young

i am also from southern california, land of carwashes! and i've never heard of laser washes most advances and breakthrus of carwash technology has occurred in SoCal.

i just think its kind of funny that your replies were qualified by saying your from SoCal as if people should know. was i like that when i lived there? probably

DrMike

How could this be? Some new trend for autos and not originating in SoCal? Laser wash must be some marketing trick.


(working my way out of junior status)

Mach430

I don't still don't know what laser wash is, but I'm going to hold off and wait for laser wax and laser detail.

mmutlu

Sorry for the confusion guys.. That must be a NY thing. But here it is: http://www.pdqinc.com/laserwash-4000/index.shtml
Well, appearently not many people has experienced it

David N.

I think he is referring to a regular touchless car wash, except it dries the car with hot blowing air. We have many of these here in Toronto. They're all owned and operated by various gas stations. Nothing new or spectacular. I don't know where the laser part comes in. As for the wash solution, well nobody knows for sure what's in it. But it must be very acidic if it can eat dirt off of the car without the aid of a brush. You may not get swirls from going through one, but you may strip all your wax/sealant off.

Flashman

LaserWash is so popular in Florida, I noticed that MOBIL has even private labeled it in some new gas stations ("Mobil Laserwash 4000").

All it is is a touchless car wash that uses a laser to see where you car is.

I've used them for over five years, they work fine. But the soap is pretty strong stuff as the jet-powered-water stream, so it does tend to strip off my car's wax. I mostly use it when lazy and I know I will be re-waxing soon. No harm otherwise.

Rick

Fuzzo

When I had my car washed by the dealer the other day, he just ran it through their car wash and I believe it is the same touch-less car wash that someone mentioned earlier. So i'm assuming if the dealer is using it, would it be ok for us to use it..... or would you say that the dealer is just trying to get all the cars out as quickly as they come in.....

anyone else know what their dealers use....

greg230

the large dealerships by me use touchless types.... i wonder just how abraizive that soap is???

greg

ps someone should send a sample of laser wash car fluid to the wax guys, see how it treats all the waxes

awiner

Greg, you allude to a very good point. Soaps used in car washes more often than not tend to be very alkaline. This means that these soaps will strip off wax and polish. You may ask why would car washes use such a soap ? The answer is simple. Alkaline soaps not only remove wax, but remove tar and grease easily as well. I would be very interested to see some impartial website (Like Waxtest.Com) perform a test like this.

For myself, I try to set aside some time every weekend to hand wash my car. I'm too **** to let anyone else touch it.

young

greg,
where did you get your car and where are you going for service? devon?

i got mine at R&S but goto Devon b/c its a lot closer.

David N.

I agree. Well said, especially the **** part. I'm the same way.

greg230

keenan mercedes in doyelstown.

very ncie folks over there, since they are a smaller dealership they seemed to value my dollar a lot more then mb of princeton

greg

edit| service through keenan as well. service manager sends out a flatbead with a 240 or m loaner and loads your car on it, and takes it back to doyelstown

i dont think i could be more pleased.

awiner

David N., I'm glad to see there are more people that are as **** as I am. I regularly read your posts regarding detailing and do indeed think I have met my match....

roozy21

some 1 on 1 with my car ..lol:p

CunningLinguist

The strong chemicals of touchfree washes have spotted the black trim on my car.

I'm about ready to use the two-bucket method.

Buellwinkle

The theory behind touchless car washes is that since nothing touches your car then it can't damage or create swirls in the paint. To force the dirt off the car with concentrated high water pressure you are actually forcing the abrasive dirt particles against your car at high pressure. I would never use the full pressure of my garden hose let alone a high pressure power washer on my car. I have a high pressure power washer but I use it to remove paint from my house or fence before repainting it or cleaning my driveway. I prefer a high quality hand wash to the touchless ones or I'ld rather do it myself.

bagwell

Lazerwash uses hi pressure water/soap to wash the car...(which doesn't work if the car is dirty from being driven in the rain)

Anyway from an auto-paint guy I know....he says never use high pressure to wash your car....handwash it only !!