Touchless car wash?

[TINOONIT]

I always hand wash my baby but sometimes I need a quick wash...
Do any of you go through a touchless automatic car wash on occasion????

Please let me know...... Thanks.

[Rick Tinley Park]

Take towels -- most likely you'll have a leak or two.... The Sky and touchless are not well matched

[1Man1Sky]

Personally, I would never take mine through a machine wash. If I want a quick wash I take it to the quarter wash and spray down ONLY. I never use the brush there. It doesn't do a very good job, but it doesn't scratch either. If I want a good job I wash by hand.

[SilverRedLineSky]

Did the touchless in our Vette vert, will never do that again it was like having the windows down. Water came in where ever it could. I would think that the Sky will do the same. Took longer to clean up the water than if I would have hand washed.

[SKYJACK]

We Take Our Sky To A Touchless Car Wash All The Time. We Use Two Towles, One For The Top Of Each Window. A Few Drops Come In When The High Pressure Jets Hit The Windows Just Right. Then We Drive It Home As Fast As We Can To Blow Off All The Water Drops. By The Time We Get Home Its Dry Enough For Us To Wax It. We Then Put It In The Garage And Its Ready For The Next Run.

Speeking Of Next Run --- Come On Virginia, When Is Or Next Get Together.
HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL SOON
BOW4BUCK ( JACK AND PAULINE )

[KentuckySky]

I find myself taking mine through almost weekly. The water does come in through the top of the windows when the spray is coming from below. The touchless dosen't do a good job but its gets the loose dirt and street salt off. It will also powerspray your convertable top protectant off so you will need to reapply it afterwards. That's been my experience. I love my lit'l Sky but it's just too dang gone cold to be outside hand washing! She'll have to wait for warmer weather.

[Rob the Elder]

The problemwith commercial car washes is the acid in the water. They use chemicals that allow it to clean while being touchless. The fabric will be damaged by the acid in the water. Washes that use brushes will remove the clear coat on the finish as well.

I never take a car that has a finish I like or a convertible top into a commercial wash. I do take the jeep and my truck but I wax them as soon as I can after and just put up with the damage.

[MidniteBlues]

No never on my personal vehicles, and definitely not the Sky. Down here I noticed that the touchless car wash use well water, not fresh water, so on top of the harsher cleamicals used in a touchless, (which as stated above remove the tops protection, it also removes your wax/polish/sealant) quicker than a hand job. Now add non-filtered contaminated well water is bad all around.. I rather leave my car dirty than use a T-car wash..

[idkfa]

i take mine to a wand wash every week to keep the dirt off. In the apt complex there is a no washing rule.

Apply their spray wax for a little added protection between full detailings. not too expensive ~~$5

[sidejam]

Up to now, I've been using a touchless car wash. It does leak in a bit but if you know where to hold a towel, it's not too bad. I bought a roof cleaner and sealer, so as soon as winter's over, I'm going to use it. I think there might be some coin wash places around here that are heated, so I'll probably try that tomorrow and see how it goes.

Can someone remind me why I bought my Sky in black??? My silver Ion Redline was so much easier to maintain...

[JohnD]

SPIRIT goes through a "hand wash" place all the time. The process has a rack to apply the soap and do the rinse, but there are guys to rub it down along the way.

Automates brushes will whack the heck out of the finish. And "touchless" washes use high-pressure jets that force the convertible top out of the way and then force water in through the gaps that it creates.

For me, the commercial hand wash works great. (Many brush places do offer a personal hand wash for only a couple of bucks more - at least here in California...)

[Sky-High-Cliff]

I know what you mean by having a Black Sky, mountain cedar is blowing all over the hill country of Texas, my Sky is a greenish white, in just an hours drive.

[Showtyme5]

This sounds pretty annoying. I'd be driving my Sky in the winter and would need to get a lot of washes to clear salt off my car. How bad are the leaks? I wouldn't want to do handwashes WEEKLY during the entire winter!

[1Man1Sky]

As I said, I take mine to the quarter wash and use the high pressure sprayer to get salt and loose dirt off. It doesn't get the greasy grime off, but its better than scratching the finish by going through a machine wash.

In the winter you just need to deal with the fact that your car will be dirty until you can hand wash it in the Spring. But, I still recommend going to the quarter wash to get the salt off...always gotta try to keep that salt off of your car.

[duck833]

The leak is not to bad on mine. I just take two large micro fiber towels with me. When the high pressure wash hits I hold one on the right window by the front upper corner and one on the left. That is where my water comes in. The towels catch almost all of it.

Then I usually drive to a dry place in the parking lot and hand dry the rest of the car. I don't hardly drive Duckmobile at all in the winter, especially in the rain, but I have used the high pressure wash a few times and will continue to do so.

[Equilibrium]

My car wash is touchless and does hand detail as part of a package deal. I've been taking it there for almost the entire 6 months I've had my Sky.

I have had not water enter the cabin nor has it ever gotten any humidity or moisture inside.

[BlueSkyRL]

I use the touchless all the time, but only the lowest setting because I don't want all that cheap wax on the finish. The microfiber sits in the waterfall box and only comes out to catch the small window leak when the spray is coming from the back of the car. I have noticed that this winter I am not driving the SKY as much as last year....heck of a lot more snow this year

[Bogie]

Hand wash only..by me.

Although it gets cold here in DC, I can usually find a day above freezing here and there to wash it. As long as it's above 35, I'm on it. I might skip the wheels if it's cold enough.

I have this interesting aversion to cold. Either I can put up with it more than others, or I'm better at ignoring it.

I don't drive it when the salt is down.

[jayman]

I've found with the touch-less washes that those with circular sprays don't cause any leaks...those with sprayers shooting directly at the windows will cause some leaks along the top window seal....i agree with the post above...drive it home fast...apply the wax and reapply the Raggtop....getting the salt off outweighs some water droplets

[michigan_sky_guy]

One think that I've found is to turn the HVAC system on high fan (vent/heater/ac) to pressurize the inside of the car a bit. Be sure that it's not on recirculate!!!

[ku4zs]

I occassionally take mine to the touchless that Tornado's (gas station chain??? ive only seen one ever) has here. It is touchless, but not very high pressure, so it does not leak. Does a reasonable job.

[bronzestarsky]

Originally Posted by Rick Tinley Park

Take towels -- most likely you'll have a leak or two.... The Sky and touchless are not well matched

Yup, took mine thru a touchless car wash, and had two leaks in the same place, one on each side. It was one of those high-pressure washes, with the arms that pretty much spray water at the side and across the top, back and forth. During the side-sprays, when the arms were coming from the rear to the front, I got a run of water at the very forward edge of the windows. Since then, I just hand wash mine, use a leaf blower to get the water out from behind the mirrors, headlights, tail lights, side "gills", front grills, wheel lugs/valve stems, rear spoiler, rear license plate, etc., then use one of those fake chamois to final dry. Once that's done, I use some furniture polish or some other spray polish on a terrycloth towel for the final surface cleaning. Also use armor all, diluted 50%, on the wiper arms and OnStar antenna, to keep them nice and black.