delirium

I take my car to the dealership for the complimentary car washes, do they use any wax, spray wax or anything to protect the car or do they just wash it down?

Mort

Have to ask them. Probably just a hand wash. Quick and clean...LOL no more than necessary.

GHAZAN

they use a loofa and paper towels...what do you think

delirium

possible that they use spray wax, the type that is sprayed on and just rinsed off like at the gas station car washes. I know they dont hand wax.

ldtCapitan

I never let my dealer touch my car, they have one of the machines you'd find at a gas station car wash.

AZN Optics

Since you're on OC.....if you take your car to Fletcher Jones Newport Beach...they're the ONLY dealership that I'd even consider letting them wash my car. They've all been trained by Michael Stoops at the Meguiar's training center in Irvine on how to properly treat and respect paint. Watched them wash other customer's cars before...two bucket, grit guard, and clean MF.

masterstudent

I doubt they do. Mine use dirty cloth and a water pressure machine. I let them do it once and told them afterward to never touch my car again. Not that the car was damaged but it was so poorly done that I had to redo it when I got home.

AZN Optics

The ones I saw did. I walked by and talked to them and they were all properly trained. Service manager even said they advertise that their dealership is Meguiar's certified as a selling point and keep their staff trained on how to use Megs products.

Granted, it's not going to be better than washing your own car (if you know what you're doing), but it's better than most.

C300Sport

I always ask not to have my car washed but the dealer ended up doing it couple of times anyhow...guess it is just a habit for them. They did a good job but put way too much tire dressing on and I ended up having to wash the goop off the sides of the car after a few days.

Speaking of knowing what you are doing....I dropped off something at a friends house a couple weeks back. He has a newer black Volvo and I have never thought it looked that great. He was washing it one section at a time without ever having rinsed off the whole thing from the start and without rinsing off the sections he has already washed. I ribbed him pretty good about it but he just didn't seem to care much...

jctevere

I used to go to Huntington Mercedes (closest to me) and there washes were terrible, they didn't even get everything and still left the inside spokes of my rims filthy... Between that and a bunch of other screw-ups, I decided to go to Rallye. There washes are much better, pass my inspection. I never asked what they use, but it definitely felt like they used some type of wax or quick detailer, and the best part is - my rims were actually clean! Definitely would recommend them for anything.

Amaxm

"N-E-V-E-R" let the dealer wash your car "N-E-V-E-R"... You might as well run it through the automatic car wash at your local gas station... but then again, maybe you don't care - I have "3" black cars and not one of them has swirl marks and the oldest is six years old... No one will do it better than you. Just because it's free isn't a reason to have it done...

Azn_C300

He was probably using a rinseless wash. I use this sometimes and it's a must for people with no access to a hose (ie. apartments/dorms). Optimum No-Rinse (OPT ONR) is the standard out there. Just dilute the solution with water in one bucket, and a clean water in another bucket, and wipe then dry one panel at a time.

If he's using regular soap...then yeah, he's a hack

Yeah, I guarantee you no dealer will ever wash as good as I do, but there are several members here that I know for a fact just use laundry detergent and a single old t-shirt to wash their car....no different than dealer, so it's a wash (no pun intended ).

C300Sport

Sad to say it was just plain old car wash, a hose, a bucket and a foam sponge...he's a hack for sure and his swirly paint shows it. It's funny how some people just simply don't care...guess those are the used cars to stay away from.

OliverU

I was one of those bucket of soapy water, sponge, hose, and chamois guys. I'm getting my first mb in Dec. I'd like to learn how to wash it properly - how should I wash it?

ldtCapitan

pH neutral soap, two buckets, grit guards, no chamois, etc... Go do a search in the detailing forum

RLE

My dealer has a good car wash machine but the problem is the trained apes running the cars through. I remember seeing a car being dried off with a towel that had just been picked up off the ground.

When I had my black C320, one day in a weak moment I let them run it through their car washer and as I watched through the window before it was dragged in, I saw a big Samoan running a floor brush across the roof and then the trunk lid. The scratches were so bad, I never completely removed them. I damned near had a heart attack. Now, a big placard goes on the dash (don't have to ask, they know) that reads NO WASH.