To help out in juggling the hectic schedules most everybody deals with each day, there’s nothing that beats the convenience of an automatic car wash.
It removes dirt and grime from your vehicle quickly, efficiently, and it feels really good to tick off another item on the never-ending to-do list.
But are automatic car washes the best way to clean your car, or is the equipment causing potential damage to your car?
Read on to weigh the upsides and downsides of automatic car washes.
Types of Car Washes
To sum it up, there are two car wash options available to you.
Soft Touch
The lightweight cleaning agent used during a soft touch wash is made of closed-cell foam. In addition to the cleansing and lubricating effects of the foam, cleaning is enhanced by the use of wet, gentle, soap-filled felt cloths. All put together, they do a good job of getting the car clean.
Once entering the wash, computer-controlled pressurized water, soap, and foam work across the entire surface of the car to clean off all the dirt, grime, and pollutants.
Cleaning is followed by a low-pressure water rinse to remove all soap and residual dirt from the entire surface of the car. The soft-touch experience ends by slowing moving through a high-pressure dryer.
Up Sides
- Since gentle cloths make actual contact with the vehicle during a soft-touch wash, it does a good job of cleaning, even in hard-to-reach areas.
- Because the soap and foam is worked into the car surface, it does a nice job of removing stuck-on dirt, dust, and pollutants for a sparkling shine.
Down Sides
- Because cloths come in contact with the car’s movable parts like windshield wipers and antennas, the risk is higher for potential damage.
- It’s important for car wash management to change out cloths and monitor water pressure to reduce the risk of damage, including body paint scratches.
Touch-Free
A touch-free wash uses no foam or cloths to clean the car, rather it does the job by using a cleaning agent and high-pressure water.
Since there is no foam, cloths, or anything touching the car, the possibility of scratches from anything coming in contact with the vehicle is eliminated.
The high-pressure wash is controlled by computerized sensors, which are able to follow the shape of the vehicle to ensure a complete surface wash.
Up Sides
- No risk of damage from anything coming in contact with the car.
- Because of its sensor-controlled precision, there’s less water waste.
Down Sides
- Tougher to clean tricky, hard-to-reach areas.
- No contact with the car means that grease or grimy spots might not be removed.
- Computer-controlled sensors need almost constant monitoring to work properly for each and every car wash.
- Stronger cleaning solution may not work well on all types of car paint.
Conclusion
While nothing compares to a thorough hand washing, automatic car washes are fast, convenient, and do the job of keeping your car clean. Keeping your car clean goes a long way to preserve its good looks and value.
While you do your part in keeping your car clean, call on the auto body and paint professionals at Downtown Autobody in Rohnert Park for all your collision repair and car paint restoration needs.