Car Wash?

[Howling]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone had put their Mini's through a Car Wash (Automatic I mean ) ?

Although I hand wash mine all the time, the manual says it can go through an Auto
Car Wash ("Try to find one that operates with brushes made of textil"). I've always thought that there might be a possability of the car getting scratched with these machines.

Has anyone tried one? Any good machines in London that seem ok??

Cheers
H.

[M1OUTT]

until past couple of months my car always went thru auto car wash and not one scratch its thru them apc company or summat v gud

[Rakey]

anyone that puts their MINI in one of those awful machines can't love their MINI and should have the keys taken off them!!

Its not just the one wash, its after repeating the procress, it will leave swirl marks in the paint


If you care for the MINI or love it, you would be willing to spend time washing her with love and attention

Next someone will say they don't believe in waxing their car

[Tinkerbell]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rakey

anyone that puts their MINI in one of those awful machines can't love their MINI and should have the keys taken off them!!

Its not just the one wash, its after repeating the procress, it will leave swirl marks in the paint


If you care for the MINI or love it, you would be willing to spend time washing her with love and attention

Next someone will say they don't believe in waxing their car

Ditto

[tuscan_thunder]

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!!!!!

please, please never use one of those horrible devices. they will ruin your paint, strip it of all the wax and protectants and scratch it to pieces. who knows what detergent they use in the machines? it could be washing up liquid for all we know? it could be oven cleaner? it could be bathroom cream cleaner? a relation of mine uses a car wash and her subaru looks and feels like someone has taken wire wool across the paint.

even if it means your mini spends a few days being dirty, better to hand wash it late rather than clean it in a car wash.

now, repeat after me: ' i will go and buy a new sponge, a bottle of nice shampoo, a chamois, a bottle of polish, several new cloths and a bottle of wax. i will use as instructed and my mini will be looked after in the fashion it demands and deserves.' :-)

[lshill]

My Mini dealer is 2miles from my house and they hand wash our mini for free anytime we drive over and ask........they are the best.
PRESTIGE MINI, MAHWAH, NJ

[Oddball]

I used to put my old Cooper through every now and then and have also put the new S through once (i was short on time and just wanted to get the muck off as we had a wedding to go to ) but after the bits it didn't clean i won't be doing it again I'll be going back to loosing a sunday afternoon and doing it properly

[Kaya]

There is this BP garage near Colnbrook in slough that wash, hover the inside, wax polish adn treat the tyres for £12!!! its not bad only takes like 20 mins i use it all the time!
they also poilsh inside the car aswell!!!

PEACE

[J1JPE]

only £7.50 here in manchester

to echo other comments - DON@T USE AUTO CAR WASHES unless you like paint swirls and spending 2 hours with the scratch-x after

use a jetwash carefully if you must

Quote: Originally Posted by Kaya

There is this BP garage near Colnbrook in slough that wash, hover the inside, wax polish adn treat the tyres for £12!!! its not bad only takes like 20 mins i use it all the time!
they also poilsh inside the car aswell!!!

PEACE

[Marvin Morrison]

Guys,

I had a real disagreement with my local BMW garage about this. Turns out when they say they will wash and vacum the car when it's in for repair/service, they use a Car Wash. They explained that it is approved by BMW and they would never manage to handle the numbers if all the cars had to be hand washed. Since finding out about this I have asked them to not clean the car, as I don't trust them enough..

Had a solid black Cooper and the paint was full of swirl marks and was starting to dull. Car now sold and awaiting del. of new Cooper S in Chilli Red/White. Get the car next Thursday and will post photos as soon as.

Marvin

[speedynz]

Car wash? No thanks, not even the touch free jobbies.

Related note:
Had a 300 mile mid-winter blast recently which made my car so dirty that it was actually dark when I got inside as light could only come in the through the clean part of the windscreen!

Dirt was so thick and caked on frozen that I couldn't use the rear wiper for fear of scratches.

It was dangerous in the end but not wanting to use an auto wash I found a BMW dealer and asked if they knew where I could find a jet wash (not at all common here) they told me to bring the car round the back and did it for me, full wash, chamois and detail.

I was 300 miles from home, would never see this dealer again, never do business with them but they washed my car.

And waved when I left!

Even the dealer I bought from wouldn't have done this.