andy_c63

I have been looking at different options on washing my C63 during winter, but haven't been able to find a good one.

1. Automatic car washes with brushes are out of question.
2. Automatic touchless car washes are also out of question as the rails are going to damage the wheels and the guys with those dirty rugs in the end are going to scratch the finish for sure.
3. The dealer is not an option either as they probably scratch too and their car wash is not open if the temperature is below 36 F unless you service the car.
4. Local hand car washes are also out of consideration after I read horrible reviews. There is one decent hand car wash, but it is like 30 miles away.

So I already purchased a car wash kit to wash the car myself, but it is pain in the butt during winter and there is no way I can wash the undercarriage to get rid of the road salt.

Then I came across this touchless car wash system called Laserwash that does undercarriage wash and it seems to be pretty safe comparing to the other options above. What do you guys think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sWzwQ-0iGI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae19RQlJmmw

The newer version seems to be much better as it doesn't have that boot that can potentially scratch the wheels on the left side.

JaZepi

We have lots of Touchless Laserwashes here, but we also don't use salt on our roads, dirt only.
The Car wash that pulls you through kinda scared me the first time I went through, but I'm sure they don't want a bill for $1200 for a damaged rim, so I'm sure they're not terrible (went through with my c350)
Ahhhh....I love winter....heh...gotta wash lots to keep the girl clean.

drawde

Don't know too much about the touchless car washes but don't give up on finding a good local hand car wash. Might take a few but I've found one that I like and takes their time both cleaning and drying the car.

black-clk500

We have the laser car washes here too, I use them for my company vehicles and my wife's bimmer.
They're the safest automatic car washes, but they do strip off most waxes/sealants because of the harsh cleaners, but they do a decent job.

Now, my C63 will never see anything but a careful hand wash by yours truely--however, it won't see sand or salt because it's sleeping in the garage

If you're going to abuse your car in the winter sand and salt, the laser car wash won't do anymore damage than the salt

Keep it clean with the laser car wash and get a professional detailing come spring/summer--that's my .02

jvanbrecht

I will post more later since I am heading out, but I would recommend you go read some of the items over at http://www.detailedimage.com/

Its a good place to buy supplies, but the how to's and blog posts are very informative.

ps, I have no relationship with them what so ever, I just bought a few things from them.

I did take my car through the swirly machine yesterday, and was pleasently surprised that it did not strip the top 3 layers of wax off, or the sealant and glaze under the wax. It was most definitely not touchless either, but at the time it was my only option to stop the brining of my vehicle.

I did was my wifes FX35 by hand though when I got home, I have a foamaster thing, watered car down to get excess salt and crap off, used a nice quality car shampoo in the foamaster, covered the car, and gently rinsed off (did the under carriage as well) her car.

All salt gone, I should have done the same for my car, but I just finished getting the oil changed, and in a moment of weakness, I decided to give them a try.

Also, with most carwash systems, its the high pressure wash that screws with the paint, especially if they recycle the water without filtering it correctly or at all, and if they are using straight up tap water (obviously from a larger supply pipe) which has plenty of impurities, hard water, etc, that crap acts very much like sand blasting on a small scale and can kill the paint job...

andy_c63

Guys, thanks for you replies. I guess every carwash is different whether automatic or hand and many factors are involved.

Those who tend to use touchless, especially on dark color paint, does you finish have any swirls?

http://media.photobucket.com/image/s...alGuys7/15.jpg
vs
http://media.photobucket.com/image/s...s/8a4457db.jpg

JohnEnglish

The touchless car washes in my area are completely touchless. You drive in and pressure plates on the floor detect the car and a light tells you to stop, drive forward, or back up and there a blow dry at the end. Nothing other than soap and water comes into contact with the car.

After watching the videos the touchless washes in my area are exactly like the laser wash but they go by different names (typhoon wash and others).

Mort

We have one here at a local Shell station that is just like the one you describe. I think it is great. It does not do a perfect job but it does not seem to damage the paint or vehicle at all. It some places you can see a light film on the paint that it leaves behind. Mind you my truck gets pretty dirty between washes because I only wash it once a month on average. Right now it is absolutely filthy from road grime and salt residue.

My C63 is parked for the dirty & salty season.

My truck is 7.5 years old and no swirl marks but it is Pewter Silver and not a dark color. I wash it ~ 15 times a year in the touchless wash, ~ 6 times by hand at home and wax it with McGuire's cleaner wax maybe once a year. I always get the liquid wax (Rainex I think for a while now) and it does leave a slight layer of protection and the water always beads off the paint and the windshield.

It is the physical rubbing of the car that leaves swirl marks. You leave more swirl marks doing a hand wash than you will ever get from a true automatic touchless wash.

JohnEnglish

Yeah, it's not perfect. It leaves a film like you describe (especially noticable on black cars). But it's a pretty good solution when compared to "regular" car washes or washing the car by hand in the middle of the winter.

c63canada

third winter for my c63.

It's funny that you should post about this because I just scratched my font left rim in a car wash 1 hour ago.

It was the first time went to this touchless car wash but I did not do my homework.

I didn't check to see if there was a railing system on the floor. When the door opened there where those steel tubes. even if the car wash looked recently built.

luckily I have winter rims that are 200$ each but still...

Definitely touchless car wash regularly.

Hand car wash will inevitably scratch your paint IMO

Baby Gorilla

+1.


I use the Laserwash in winter. I don't have much of a choice. It's the lesser of two evils, I guess. I'd rather have the detergents of the Laserwash than the salt and road chemicals just sitting on my paint. I find that I only have to use it two or three times per year. There are always enough "warm" days during the winter in Northern Virginia to do pretty much the same gentle hand wash I do during the remainder of the year.

ZieJuhmin

If you have a garage at home, try hand-washing it inside with the garage door slightly open. This works for me since my water valve is located inside my garage. Just use light pressure water.

coladin

I think people by and large are overly paranoid. I have been there, it is a tough impulse to fight especially when you love your car.

The easiest way to guarantee that you get no swirls is to never wash your car. Insert guffaw here or rolleyes but that is the only way....do not touch your car surface.

I am the guy with a mitt for the top and half way down the car, a mitt for the lower doors and fron/rear fascias and a mitt for the wheels. I wash my mitts after every wash. Microfiber after every wash, wash the towels, quick detail, etc...one of those.

Ultimately, as a guy who has never squirmed in a GM's office ordering a black car, I am prepared for the extra time you have to put in.

It really doesn't matter where you wash the car because you must wax your car 2-3 times a year. This is the only way to let you wash your car knowing you will have no swirls. I wash in the spring , summer and fall. Claybar and 2-3 coats, cleaner, and finishing and detail. I do not have swirls and remember that swirls are superficial and easily remedied with some elbow grease.

My cars look fantastic and no matter how dirty there is always a "glow" to the paint, if you know what I mean. I can live more with a wash that touches the car than the one that is touchless but leaves the film, I hate it although if ou do the quick detalier afterwards it helps somewhat. I am leery of hand carwashes if I don't know them, the ones who do the car in one fell swoop without rinsing the mitt and go from top to bottom and even do the wheels and then do your hood!

Just wash your car and get ready to wax away the swirls! I have a 2011 C63 Obsidian Black coming in the spring, there is nothing like a waxed black car at dusk!

black-clk500

As a detailing freak, I gotta say I disagree with a few things you posted--every car has swirls, unless it just went through an extensive polish and full detail and straight into a trailer.
Your car has swirls, you're either not using a halogen/flourecent light or completely blind
And if you can remove swirls by hand with "elbow grease" you've got the strongest elbows and the best product on the planet

To completely remove swirls, you need a machine and multiple polishes to achieve this.
I'm not the most knowledgeable person on here with performance mods, drag racing, etc. but when it comes to detailing knowledge I know a little bit--and your post had too much BS in it for me to ignore--sorry but I had weigh in--get a halogen light and shine it on your car, you'll see what I'm talking about

There's great products out there such as presoak sprays, foam guns, high pressure hose nozzles, etc.(I have all of them) to use before you touch your car with a mitt--and multiple mitts for different parts of the car is good practice, but no matter how careful a DD car will have swirls and will need polishing by machine at least once a year to look "nice" and "swirl free" IMO.
I usually spend about 10-15 hrs to clean, lightly polish and seal my entire car including rims, glass, tail pipes, etc., I do this about 6-8 times a year to my "garage cars"--a full polish will take me around twice that time with masking off trim, etc. etc. and checking each body panel as you go along.
Even after a complete polish I have to live with some panels that are not 100% swirl and scratch free, this is on cars that I put 3000-5000 miles a year on, no rain, never snow.
Any DD on the road that doesn't have swirls is just plain BS--off the saop box now!

I do agree with you about a clean black cars!

coladin

If you need to shine a halogen light to find swirls...I guessed you missed the "overly paranoid "part of my first sentence!

Look, as I said, every car has swirls unless you never touch your car surface, missed that part too? My car inclulded although as I keep my vehicles the swirls are not an issue if I do get them which typically shoe themselves by the time another wax is in order. I have black cars and my cars respond to my treatments very well because it is done quite often. If you are using a machine all the time, I really don't understand why you would need to, in all honesty, your panels should be babybutt smooth all year, why go nuts with the machine? Elbow grease to the ones who know how, works really fine because people with orbitals tend to cake on the wax, way too much which is unnecessary...but to each their own . My forearms are huge lol!

As a "detailing freak" myself, I disagree that a waxing has to be done "at least" once a year. In Canada, it simply won't cut it, I don't know where you live, maybe you can get away with one...I do mine three times, spring, a summer refresher, and in the fall to prep before winter.

Maybe you misunderstood me. My point was to a detailing freak, like you and I, I think it is not really relevant where you wash your car in the winter. You go to your touchless car wash and it leaves a film that requires waxing in the spring. You wax it in the spring. You go and do it yourself? You need a waxing in the spring. YOu have a guy you trust handwash your car? Guess what? You still need a waxing...that is my point. Short of some loser who scratches your clearcoat byt doing an incorrect handwash, carwashes are not as scary as some make it seem.

black-clk500

Every car has swirls regardless if you use touchless or not.
As another poster said the touchless uses such high pressure it can sometimes "sandblast" the paint.
And from the factory, cars come with swirls after they prep them for shipment--every car has swirls unless it was just polished out and put in a museum.
Please shine a halogen on your car after you "clean" and "wax" it you will be shocked!

I detail my garaged cars 6-8 times a year (check my post in bold), not sure where you got once a year, I agree that's not enough in any climate for any type of consistent protection.
And using a halogen is not overly paranoid, it's what any detailer will use to identify trouble spots.
And using an orbital frequently with the right polish causes very little to no harm or thinning of the clearcoat--as I mentioned in my earlier post, I do a total detail including heavier polishes about once or twice a year depending on the car's needs.

You say you're a detailing freak, but don't use halogens or an orbital--you need to look up the definition.
And waxing is different than polishing--let's get that clear too.
Finally, I don't care if you have arms like Popeye, polishing by hand is doing you no good whatsoever, but if it makes you think so, more power to ya!
If you're serious about detailing visit some detailing forums and read up, I am mild compared to some of the guys out there

You seem like an alright dude, so don't take it the wrong way, but if you want to come see what a "swirl-lite" black car looks like come visit me in MA she's in the garage staying warm

coladin

Maybe you need to look up the definition of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder!

I think all of us carguys, some more than others are borderline OCD when it comes to their cars...where we park, our routines and techniques are repeated ad nauseum, searching the perfect finish, we have all the symptoms.

Obviously you are nuttier than me, and would love to see your black on black C63, must be nasty clean. I use the orbital but frequently after a wash will do a hand wax. The hand wax won't last as long, but maintains what you have started, if you know what I mean. It also goes on a lot easier and off as well if your surface is kept...well I don't have to explain this to a guy who does this 6-8 times a year! Like I said, I have three kids under 10 and maybe my detaliaing has fallen a little off the wayside with time constraints plus washing and waxing the wife's R Class has probably taken my "detailing freak" status down a notch or two.

We'll see come May what happens when my black C63 shows up, I even went with Sahara beige to make my likfe even more difficult!

AZN Optics

What you'll want to use is a Rinseless Car Wash for your winter care. There are a few offerings out there, but the best I've used has to be Optimum No Rinse (OPT ONR). www.autogeek.net/optimum-no-rinse.html. Another option if for lightly dirty vehicles is Water wash like Optimum Opti-Clean www.autogeek.net/optimum-opti-clean-32.html. Just spray and wipe. I wouldn't recommend that though for heavier contaminants.

As for winter protection, you mentioned that your waxing doesn't last long which is true with most carnauba, and if that's an issue for you, you can look towards synthetic sealants or even sealant/wax hybrids. For winter care, it's hard to beat Collinite 845, one of the longest lasting LSPs out there. You can still top it with a wax to give you a bit more of a pop, and still have the protection.