phusnikn

Recently got an E500 the dealer told me to get it hand wash if possible any reason why automatic washes are not good? I really dont have time to wash it myself and there seems to be nothing but drive throughs in my area.

Barry45RPM

A "brushless" automatic car wash is fine. I know the purists will wince... but how long are you going to keep your car, and do you show it competitively? Its better for the car and the finish to be frequently washed than not washed.

I've used brushless drive thrus for 20 years, and always got top dollar at trade in time. My car is considered to be in "Excellent" condition by all except the multi coat wax job folks.

Benz-O-Rama

The problem with brushless automatic car washes is not so much what it can do to your finish (swirls etc....) but what they do to your brakes and wheels. When you drive up to your local car wash, no matter how close it is, your brakes and wheels are gonna be hot. Then they get sprayed down with some sort of chemical then blasted with cold water. You do that enough, and it's going to promote warped rotors.

benzvibes

Your paint can be damaged if they dry your car with dirty rags.

I like to do it myself but on days like today... when it's just too hot and my car is dirty.. I have to pay someone.

jagata

Anyone that cares about their rims will not go through, the rails that guide you through will curb rash them not worth it. I only went through when I had my Navigator. Wash at home and get to know your car better.

sgaar

Pardon me for not buying this one. Your roters will also get sprayed with water and other residue from the road itself when driveing in the rain and going through the puddels.

03see2thirtyk

dirty rain water vs. chemicals from automated car wash

one can be prevented the other can not. I like washing the car myself whenever time/weather permits. Its like the alone time I spend with the car caring for it and tending to it. Other than the alone time pushing it hard up and down the highways. I see no harm either way and I think the service dealer is an automated wash itself is it not?

DWP

I would never, ever put a car through an automatic car wash unless, maybe, it was a rental. My operating assumption is that the car that goes through just before me will be a Jeep Wrangler fresh from the annual Cross-Sierra Offroad Mud-a-thon. If my precious time was too occupied to hand-wash the car, it would just have to stay dirty until I had enough time.

sgaar

When it comes to my personal car wash preference, well I am leaning towards the automated was such as Autobell. However, I do was my car by hand on occasion since you get to see any damage that needs attention. I don't think water on the rotors or not should determine how you wash your car. There are MB owners/drivers that live parts of the world where it rains much more that it does here and I am sure that MB took that into consideration when they designed and manufactured the brakes. A much greater danger to the rotores is to break hard and come to a full stop and hold there for some time that will cause an uneven cooling of the rotors since part of the rotor is coverd by the brake pads and doesn't cool at the same rate as the rest of the rotor.

Depending on what type of car wash you use (stationary or one the car is moveing through) the the cooling issue by water being sprayed on the rotor is much less since the car is moveing.

So I guess the advise is to not make hard stops and if you do roll slowly forward to cool the rotors evenly and to use a non-stationary carwash.

rickyfanmdr

Fortunately I have a good hand wash place close to me. I would never do an automated car with with brushes. I keep my cars a long time.

Just a thought. I work in real estate, and the office arranges to have a crew of hand wash people come to the office a couple of times a week. I don't use that service myself, but you might check with your local real estate office (or something similar). Or how about a college student? I worked my way through college hand washing and detailing cars. Some kids work these days, don't they??lol

LNL

Alhtough I prefer a hand wash, it's not always convenient, especially when it's in the 20's and my car is full of salt. I go to a brushless drive-in carwash with no rails at the gas station I use most of the time. The water is not recycled, but is fresh with each wash. You drive past undecarriage sprays onto a pad and stop the car. The washing mechanism moves back and forth. It has been upgraded several times, and I've used it for years with great results.

Lou

saffrontiger

Since day 0ne, I've hand washed the car with multiple coats of Klasse wax/sealant. I've read enough on this forum to know there are the Zaino fanatics and others who swear by their wax. What I do know is that all of us would agree that hand wash/wax combo is the best for your car. I think more importantly it gives me a chance to think, and really appreciate the car especially once it is all done. Try it out and I believe you will be hooked.
BTW, right now we have a drought and terrible heat wave in Dallas. To make matters worse we have watering restrictions for the past 5 weeks that prevent us from washing our cars.

moldyhands

i personally take my car to the benz dealership every week if possible. i think they use an automatic system, but i've only done it twice, and i've honestly never thought to look

i had a subaru before this car and subaru paint is horribly weak. however i would do car washes at least every two weeks and the paint was always good. i hand wax every 3 months though. i think if you do this, you'll have nice looking paint (barring any damage from debris). but since it's the dealership doing the wash for me, i'm not so worried about that.

as for the rails and curb rash on your wheels. never hit a rail going into the wash in my life. as for warping your rotors. it's possible, but if you have well maintained brakes it's highly unlikely. if they're within tolerance limits, some cold water won't hurt them.

lig

I never take my personal vehicles to a car wash - even the "soft touch" variety at the dealer.

When it became clear that I wouldn't be keeping the W211 beyond the 2 year lease I did bring it in for washing. It did introduce tiny spiderwebbing to the clearcoat.

Hand wash at least weekly, frequent Cali car dusting + spray detailer, wax as u dry, semiannual claybar and whichever wax I happen to have (although it's usually NXT) applied with the random orbit PC is my usual regimen.

velvet fog

Add me to the hand wash crowd. The local Merc dealer just switched from hand wash to some advanced brushless blah de blade blah system so I'm done getting my car washed there. I usually do my own car on saturday mornings anyway. The reason I don't like drive throughs is they usually miss alot of dirt in the cracks and hard to reach areas. The first time the dealer used their fancy new machine on my car I had to wash it again after I got home. Also left lots of water spots.

zam2000

Got my cars thourght gas station car wash every other week, some are brushless, some aren't (I'm a bit of suprised, the (latest) one that just installed near my company have brush, and guide to push the car, and it really cleans the car).

Once a while, I spray that instand wax or EagleOne nano wax on them, and they look quite shiny.

I tried to wash my car before, but it always took couple hour for wash & dry. Now I use my Sat morning for other thing. Beside, in SoCal, your car will get dirty after Mon. Too much dirt.

I put uprade pad on both of my cars, so none get that pathetic brake dirt.

If I have a classic or collection car, then I would personally hand-wash it.

revstriker

Here are the things that I don't like about automatic car washes, in no particular order:

A lot of them use recycled water. That means the water is collected, filtered, and reused. This means the water is not as clean as it could be.

High pressure water. Great for powerwashing your fence, not so good for the car.

Dirty Brushes. Nothing hurts your finish more than the dirt from the last SUV being brushed across your car.

Commercial car wash soap and waxes. Nasty stuff. Some of the soap that used will actually strip off any wax on your car.

Cheap drying towels. Sometimes they don't even wash them, they just run them through a dryer. Not to mention the people using them don't normally know that you don't dry a car by wiping in circles.

Many other things such as the tracks damaging rims, using wheel cleaning brushes to clean the body, etc.

And don't think that those "U wash it" places are any better....

revstriker

Gas Station car washes are probably about the worst ones you can use. They are also moving away from "touchless" in a lot of cases because they don't clean as well as the brushes, especially when it's trying to clean a big dirty SUV.

AndrewAZ

I say its better to keep your car dirty than to take it to an auto wash or a handwash place... Auto wash and handwash places around me all use high pressure water hoses, problem with that is the nice layer of dirt and dust on your car is now pelted with a high pressure stream of water and ends up acting like a sand blaster. Plus you always run the risk of something getting broken or stolen from a car wash.

If you are in a rush or cant wash a car go find a do it your self spray wash. Bring your own bucket and own soap (I recommend meguiars brand car soap) fill your bucket with water and soap, now here is the trick use the spotless rinse only and rinse the car (I only use this since its a very low pressure stream of water) now after the car is nice and rinsed off wash it (never use the same sponge/lambskin that you use on the paint on your rims, and always start from top to bottom), well after you are done use the spotless rinse again and bam your done...


Now I can wash an ML like that in less than 20 mins, I spent 3 mins on the pre rinse and filling up the bucket (use the high pressure to fill up the bucket but do it carefully or you will just end up with a tons of suds an no water) then I spend 10-15 mins washing with the soap (dont keep feeding the machine quarters only put in for 3 mins when you do your rinse/ bucket fill then dont put more in untill you are ready to rinse) and I always spend 4-5 mins with the spotless rinse to make sure I get all the soap off. For the other cars I hand wash at home only and that takes 4 hours which includes waxing.

Benz-E-r

I believe in germany a car can only be washed at a "registered" carwash or at a designated location, Autowaschstraßen or Waschplätze, for environmental protection. I believe there is little driveway car washing in Germany so many cars go through a car wash. There was a story on it I think when MB came out with the nano paint. I trust that a good modern car wash here is no (or not much) worse. The real risk in my opinion is getting some grit suspended in a solution on the "rags" from the vehicle in front of me, but I'm more likely to get a stone kicked up into my car or damage in the winter with the gravel they toss on the road (hey they call it ROCK salt for a reason!!).

Regarding the "recycled" water that was commented....unless you get your water directly from a fresh mountain stream I would trust recycled car wash water (assuming it is a good car wash company with modern filtering and softening equipment). It is no different than what the water goes through to your tap with what comes out of the ground or city supply in many built up places today. In an area with naturally hard water you still need to soften the water from what the city/town provides.

revstriker

Just a quick note.... I've heard that the "spotless rinse" is mixed with an additive to help the water "sheet" off of your car. Don't know if this is true or not.

revstriker

This is not true. Water from your tap is "drinkable" meaning it's been filtered and treated to a certain level. Water at the car wash is just filtered to remove dirt and oil. It's considered "Non Potable". Maybe some of them use higher tech systems and have cleaner, softer, water. And it might even vary by state.

And by the way, I used to live in Germany and the car washes there are no better than the ones here. I don't know if they all use non potable water (although I know the ones for the trucks did). It's also pretty common to find a car wash at the local Esso (or other brand) station.

AndrewAZ

mmm good point I never thought about that. I just assumed they used purified water like on the Mr. Clean. But the place I go to the water does not sheet off it just drys clear, usually I hop on the freeway which is down the street and then most of the water comes off, but if you are unlucky and dust is blowing you will get nice dust spots. I will check into it next time I wash the car about if they use an additive.

unclebenz

Never Ever Take A Mercedes To A Car Wash It's Just Like The Car Wash Says- Not Responsible For Damages, I Take My Everyday Car To The Car Wash But I Personally Have Never Seen Any Luxory Cars At The Car Washes Around Here, It's Better To Wash It Yourself And Keep The Value Of The Vehicle. It's Just Wiser Not To Bring A $60,000 Vehicle Through A Automated Car Wash, If You Want To Take Good Care Of Your Car You Have To Do It Yourself!! "if You Want The Job Done Right You Do It Yourself"

adam_benz33

It's the seals on that hard tops is what you have to keep an eye on when going through car washes