Is The Automatic Car Wash Bad For My Vehicle?
It seems like automatic car washes are popping up everywhere in Peoria, IL these days and it’s no surprise. We live in a world of ever-growing automation and convenience. But when it comes to your vehicle, which in most cases is your largest investment second to your home, we should take a closer look into how the “convenience” of a local automatic car wash is affecting the value of your investment. Let me just tell you now, it doesn’t look good…
What if I told you that after a single pass through an automatic car wash, your vehicle will already show damage? It’s true. The fact that your vehicle comes out LOOKING cleaner on the surface is how they reel you in. But here’s what’s really going on: Automatic car washes use recycled water, cheap and harsh cleaning detergents, dirty and used wash cloths, harsh-bristle brushes on your vehicle’s paint, and ineffective products to “protect” your vehicle from the outside elements. Now lets take a deeper look into how each of these methods affect your vehicle.
Recycled water: Blasts fine particles of dirt, sand, and other contaminants onto your vehicle through high pressure water jets, in turn damaging your vehicle’s painted surfaces on a microscopic level.
Cleaning detergents: Do not properly decontaminate your vehicle and over time damage and diminish your vehicle’s painted surfaces.
Wash cloths: Continuously pick up contaminants from previous vehicles and transfer them to yours. Damaging your vehicle’s painted surfaces in the process by inducing scratches and swirl marks.
Bristle brushes: Extremely aggressive. Commonly used on the sides/lower rocker panels of your vehicle as these areas pick up more dirt and contamination from being in the fire line of your wheels. Swirl marks in your paint can be seen after a single wash.
Cheap protection: DOES NOT protect your vehicle from the sun’s UV rays, acidic bug guts, brake dust or iron particles, road salt, and other contaminants that degrade your vehicle’s exterior surfaces.
Now let’s say you’ve just purchased a new vehicle for $60,000. You get a membership at one of the local automatic car washes and start taking your vehicle through weekly. You may not notice for a couple months, but YOU WILL eventually start to see contaminants on your vehicle that are not being removed, your wheels especially are always dirty, and if you have the eye for it, your paint is becoming swirled and oxidized. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets. Not only are you losing money with your membership, but your vehicle’s appearance and value is also diminishing.
We think it’s crazy to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a vehicle, drive it unprotected, improperly maintain it, and then trade it in for pennies down the road. That’s why our main focus here at O’Connor Detailing of Peoria is educating our community about proper vehicle care. If you want your vehicle to maintain a like-new condition for as long as you own it, we can help you.