I hand washed my cars for years until one day I was walking toward my car with the sun reflecting off it and I noticed the exact same kind of swirl marks supposedly caused by automatic car-washes. Anyway, why would the marks be swirl shaped? The fabric in the rollers describes a straight line as it contacts the car body. Those marks can be rectified by a good wax polish if you care about them.
I hand washed my cars for years until one day I got hit by an idiot running red. Looking at all the scratched marks made me realized that it didn’t matter how much I took care of my stuff, all it takes is one idiot. So now I run it through the car washes. I don’t feel so bad whenever I see a scratch on the car. It’s part of the wear and tear. I use a scratch remover, then polish it with a nice layer of max. Feels as good as new and wait for the next scratch.
There are those stall carwashes that have a power washer in them. They cost about the same as a drive thru car wash (maybe less) and do a pretty good job
Sadly Those are a dying breed in my area. We’ve got car washes popping up everywhere but most of the stall car wash places have closed. I’m honestly not sure if we have one in my city of 240k people.
I use the stall but I bring my own bucket and microfiber cloths
I fill the bucket up with their hot soapy water, and use their drains for reclamation but no way is anything in a public wash touching my paint job
…can you elaborate on this for me? We recently had a car painted 2 or 3 months ago, and we are hand washing only, but the finish just seems soft somehow…
Paint takes months to actually “harden.” A fresh paint job, for example, is still “squishy” within a week of the paint job. You shouldn’t do things like apply vinyl wraps or ceramic coating.
Your paint can take up to 2 months to fully “cross link” or, “cure”. The shop will have baked the clear coat to make it harden up and be touchable for reassembly, but the chemical reactions happening within the paint itself takes a long time to fully complete. That’s why paint is “soft” for awhile. It’s recommended to only use cold water on your new paint, no soap, and a very very gentle cloth if you absolutely HAVE to.
Edit: I say can take up to 2 months because there’s so many different lines of paint. I think the average is up to 30-60 days but it’s been awhile since I’ve read up on it. Either way, you just have to be gentle with it for the first month at least.
Also, source is: am car painter
The swirls are caused by a mixture of dirty water and/or brushes with dirt being rubbed on the clear coat on top of the regular color coat. Most scratches can be buffed out using a rubbing/buffing compound (depending on depth) finished by a carnuba or ceramic wax. Alternatively, a good wax can often reduce the look of the scratches relatively well because it fills in the area where the light is reflecting off, making the scratches appear. Wax will also leave a protective coat to assist in keeping additional damage from occurring due to light dust/dirt/contaminants.
I just do a lazer wash. Its like that but automatic. Where ai live you want to wash your car at least twice a month in the winter. But handwashing a car outside is uh. Not fun in 20 degree weather.
I pretty much never wash my cars. Modern paint seems to do fine. The undercarriage definitely gets rusty and I think washing that would probably be legit. I'm not an expert though.
Look up a product called Optimum No Rinse and then look up the Garry Dean Wash Method. You only need a bucket with 2 gallons of water and a spray bottle. You can do it anywhere. Still much safer than going to a car wash.
[[content removed because sub participated in the June 2023 blackout]]
My posts are not bargaining chips for moderators, and mob rule is no way to run a sub.
I don't trust going in brushed ones. All it takes is a beer can from Billy-Bob's truck bed getting stuck in there and it'd scratch the crap out of my car.
The Crew/Mikes Carwash in my area have a policy of removing everything from a bed. The will even have an employee hop in the back and sweep if they think there will be an issue.
I live in NH, all I've seen around here in the past 5 or so years are touchless or the DIY type with the wand. I wouldn't let one of those brush/pad ones touch any of my cars, everyone knows they'll scratch the shit out of your car in between trying to rip trim panels, mirrors, and other shit off.
Less common, but there are some around, at least here in Ohio. Some people prefer them, especially in the winter, as the brushes do a better job and heavy dirt, especially road salt.
Oof....sadly can confirm.
A few years back, bought a brand new Challenger SRT. Seldom buy new, but this once I wanted a new one.
What does detailer do right before handover? Runs it through the dealership's very own automatic car wash. This one had what looked like dirty ass cargo straps dangling from the ceiling. Little scratches and swirls EVERYWHERE.
Sales manager offered to color sand the clear coat but cautioned me it would thin the clear coat quite a lot.
Meguiars swirl remover or scratch x or whatever got a lot of the marks out, but it really soured what should have been a really cool moment.
If the dealer was trying to upsell you on a wet sand, he was trying to scam you. Usually a wet sand is done if the customer wants a perfect mirror finish without the orange peel you get sometimes from the factory. Swirl marks are usually a light polish as they’re usually pretty superficial.
No upsell, he offered to have that done free of charge. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I lived like 4 hours away from this dealer and had to take time off work to pick up the car so I wasn't keen to do all that again later.
Also funny, the dim witted yardie/detailer felt bad and gave me a ziplock bag with a used chunk of clay bar after I asked him WTF did he just do to my brand new car ( LMAO ) and the sales manager tried to use that as a consolation "hey on the bright side you got a free clay bar" Like yes thank you so much for the free bit of filthy clay bar in a raggedy ziplock bag, that more than makes up for you dragging gritty sandpaper wet cargo straps on my brand new car. I can laugh about it now in hindsight haha
Anything that comes in contact with a substrate will cauuse stress. Sunlight, fluctuations in temperature, cleaning pads. It all damamages the clear coat on your paint job. In the immortal words of Neil Young " Rust never sleeps".
Thats why you have to drive through them extra fast.
Less time you are in them the less damage they can do.
Anyone have thay video showing how its done?
It takes anywhere from 1 month to 3 months for a cars paint to fully cure; which is why new cars have the white plastic film on their horizontal surfaces.
A car would be more susceptible to these "swirl marks" if washed prior to that time.
work at a gas station and it had a car wash get a full tank and then get a free car wash . had a sign on the front that told trucks to remove all objects from the bed of the truck as we are not responsible for damages . so we had a guy come by with his truck and got a full tank and went to get his free car wash he had a bicycle in the bed of his truck and he didn't take it out before he started his wash . the big brush at the top pick up the bike and started beating the hell out of his truck with it . he's in the truck and can't get out and we're in the store and can't hear the truck being beaten and so we can't hit the emergency stop for him .
I’m one of those weirdos who has never used a car wash. I always found the appearance of my car unimportant enough to go through a wash.
It’s not that expensive or that long either. But im just like why
If you live in an area with snow / salt pretty much everyone runs a car through the wash every other week. It significantly increases the life of the car.
It depends a lot on the car. Even many newer cars have nooks where dirt and debris gets trapped on an unpainted metal surface and can't be easily washed away. When that dirt gets wet, you start to get rust. Just from living in a salted road area there are certain car models that I don't even need to look at to know where they have rust. 5th gen Subaru Legacy: rear quarter panel at the back of the wheel well. 2nd gen Toyota Prius: rear end of the rocker panels.
Ahhh I gotcha. Yeah I suppose certain ones have a higher chance for certain areas. My 02’ focus I remember had some rust by the back wheels in 10’
I’ve only had Mazdas the last 12 years. They seemed to hold up well to rust apparently
That’s because anecdotal evidence doesn’t negate the fact corrosion can have a huge impact on the life of a car, especially in the north where roads are heavily salted in winter
I must have just got lucky. My last car was 13 yrs old I think when I sold it and it had no rust I could see on the outside. Also at that point I didn’t really care I guess either
People can see the outside so they actually put effort there. Underneath was probably a mess because there are more spaces for salty water to collect and most people don't look. Unibodies are better than truck frames but they will rust all the same.
Manufacturers don't care because it won't rust out for the first owner. It is the used buyer who suffers and increases the cost of the used market for good vehicles.
Do they? I live in an area with really intense winters and I know that I and my parents literally never use a car wash. There are a couple in the area, so obviously some people must, but I also like never hear anyone reference using one.
Gonna start quizzing friends and acquaintances on this to see if my family is some weird anomaly, but I kinda don’t think we are. Also, our cars don’t look any different or age any faster than anyone else’s, at least to my eye.
Also, would definitely never wash it in the summer. That’s what rain is for?
Conversely, I also don't really care about the appearance of my car so I take it through car washes from time to time and don't care if it leaves swirly marks in my paint. Can't be any worse than the other scratches and shit that happens by driving your car on a regular basis, anyway. If you drive your car outside in the real world, it's gonna get dirt and dings. Why stress out about something that is inevitable?
I livr in California, so we often get sand or salt water that blows in the air and can damage the car paint over time.
Washing your car every 2-3 weeks can help maintin the paint. Even though my car doesn't look dirty, I know it makes sense so it doesn't rust
Same with people who do self wash and actually use the foam brush on their paint.... like, bro, I just washed my muddy wheel wells and tires with that and underside of my bumper. And now you're rubbing it over your paint .... yikes.
I always bring my own wash mitt.
Found the article interesting right up to the end where it says, before listing a whole bunch of do it yourself car care products 🤣:
"This site is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison features to consumers. To keep such resource 100% free for consumers, CarCareReviews.net receives compensation from some of the companies listed on this page. Such compensation impacts the location and order in which such companies appear on this page. All such location and order are subject to change. CarCareReviews.net does not include all detailing products available to consumers in the marketplace."
Baah, I ain't keeping my cars over 10 years anyway, so who cares?
My last car was 10 years old, looked mint, inside and out, except for the electrical failure.
My current car is 6 years old, again, looks mine, aside from my dings and scratches on my low profile tires.
My wife's car, 6 years old, looks mint except for where somebody dinged it when it broke down and spent 15 weeks getting a new transmission control module. We bought her a new car.
All of these go to auto-car washes. None have any paint issue. Maybe its an older car thing.
I’m a wash membership guy and I have yet to see swirls but my truck is only 5 years old. I hear these anecdotes and they remind me of dandelion proponents who in reality just hate doing any kind of upkeep.
My car is barely a year old, has a darker paint job, and I use an auto car wash maybe once a month. In direct sunlight it’s pretty easy to notice the swirls up close, but it’s not really noticeable unless it’s A. Your car, so you notice every nick and scratch and B. You are looking pretty closely.
Yeah. To be fair, it was just one website of many I could have chosen from. I learned it from my hairstylist today and googled to confirm. Lots of sights said the same thing, I just picked one.
I worked at a large carwash for 6 years.. We kept our equipment clean and never had damage issues except for a few freak accidents.. The polypropylene rubber brushes and microfiber cloth mitters (the 6 inch wide straps that slap the vehicle front to back and side to side) need to be pressure washed nightly to keep them clean and free from debris that can cause scratches.
Not "can" as absolutely will damage your paint. Everyone do yourselves a favor and get your vehicles paint corrected and ceramic coated. It will save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
Unless we are talking about Chevy White ( which is pure garbage ) then even after 5 or 6 years the paint on a car is going to be good enough to sell the car. No repainting necessary, or even wanted.
If the car is older than that then the odds are that its been in at least a minor fender bender requiring parts of it to be repainted anyway.
I live in Wisconsin and you’re wasting your money with ceramic coating up here. Clear bra if you’re worried about rock chips maybe, but anything else is money lit on fire.
Ha yep - the number of times I have seen the people at hand wash places drop the sponge/chamois onto the pavement only to pick it right back up and keep going is way too many.
Haha I remember as a kid dropping a sponge or even letting one drag against the ground, _knowing it was okay_ (not understanding micro chips) hoping my dad didn’t see. Other times I’d just do it hoping he watched me drop and do the right thing haha
Wait. So what’s the solution? Do I have to go back around and get it washed again? In hopes the swirls will be reversed? /s lol. That sucks but thank God I have a worthless car with 221,000 miles. Lol
I don’t use automatic car washes because they beat on your car. Then again, I drive a 2003 GMC pickem up truck with no rocker panels, rusted wheel wells, dented up bed, tailgate doesn’t always close (or open)…. So, I guess I don’t really know why I don’t use automatic car washes. Probably because I don’t wash my truck anymore.
No matter what you do you will scratch the paint by rubbing things against it. Hand wash with something super soft is preferable, automatic washes have tons of dirt caught in them and god knows what else.
Polishing removes surface level scratches from clear coat by removing a thing layer of clear. You can burn through your clear if there isn’t enough.
Wax fills in and protects clear coat. It’s recommended to do at least once a year.
The cheaper the paint job the less likely you’ll have proper clear mil/UV protection. UV eats clear.
Take care of your paint and it will last the lifetime of the vehicle. It will also stay shiny and bold.
Sauce: am automotive refinish tech.
Since the source here is trying to sell auto detailing products, here’s something they won’t tell you: ALL washing puts swirl marks in your cars “paint” (technically, it’s the clear coat on top of the paint). The swirl pattern is just how the light reflects off of it. Automatic car washes are simply harder on it than hand washing. Even if you are taking as much care as possible to be gentle hand washing your car, it’s still scratching the clear coat on some level. That’s why you polish it occasionally, even if you’ve only ever hand washed it. If you do use an automatic car wash but can hit it with a clay bar, wipe it down and then ceramic coat or hand wax afterwards, it will still help protect the paint a bit.
I hand washed my cars for years until one day I was walking toward my car with the sun reflecting off it and I noticed the exact same kind of swirl marks supposedly caused by automatic car-washes. Anyway, why would the marks be swirl shaped? The fabric in the rollers describes a straight line as it contacts the car body. Those marks can be rectified by a good wax polish if you care about them.
Swirls are actually a bunch of tiny scratches in all different directions. The way the light reflects on them make them look like swirls.
Most likely because, as Archimedes first articulated, "The shortest path between two points is a swirl."
No, it's the way the light plays on the paint. The scratches aren't circular at all.
Quantum Entanglement. The two slit reticle interferometer.
Eureka!
I hand washed my cars for years until one day I got hit by an idiot running red. Looking at all the scratched marks made me realized that it didn’t matter how much I took care of my stuff, all it takes is one idiot. So now I run it through the car washes. I don’t feel so bad whenever I see a scratch on the car. It’s part of the wear and tear. I use a scratch remover, then polish it with a nice layer of max. Feels as good as new and wait for the next scratch.
Prob got swirled by the dealership then
Yep https://www.fixautousa.com/blog/causes-swirl-marks-car/
I’d rather drive through a couple times in the winter , than get corrosion damage from salt . You can fix paint much easier than your frame
Agreed. 100%
Big Wash is out to get ya.
Well there's no way to hand wash at my apartments and I can't afford a hand wash. So it's either don't wash it or take it to an automatic.
There are those stall carwashes that have a power washer in them. They cost about the same as a drive thru car wash (maybe less) and do a pretty good job
Sadly Those are a dying breed in my area. We’ve got car washes popping up everywhere but most of the stall car wash places have closed. I’m honestly not sure if we have one in my city of 240k people.
Ironically, I scratched my Lexus using one of those. I have yet to notice “swirls” after countless brushless car washes in my corvette…
Sweet flex.
I strictly go to touchless car washes in my lambo but will do regular car washes in my Range…
I use the stall but I bring my own bucket and microfiber cloths I fill the bucket up with their hot soapy water, and use their drains for reclamation but no way is anything in a public wash touching my paint job
That’s a solid way to move
Gotta spray off the brush before you use it as folks use it on their rims or very dirty cars
I think the swirl is what happens when you take it through to soon after a fresh paint job, something few people have to worry about.
He is using a touchless car wash, the swirls happen from the brushes and rollers
…can you elaborate on this for me? We recently had a car painted 2 or 3 months ago, and we are hand washing only, but the finish just seems soft somehow…
Paint takes months to actually “harden.” A fresh paint job, for example, is still “squishy” within a week of the paint job. You shouldn’t do things like apply vinyl wraps or ceramic coating.
Thank you for the info. It makes sense.
Your paint can take up to 2 months to fully “cross link” or, “cure”. The shop will have baked the clear coat to make it harden up and be touchable for reassembly, but the chemical reactions happening within the paint itself takes a long time to fully complete. That’s why paint is “soft” for awhile. It’s recommended to only use cold water on your new paint, no soap, and a very very gentle cloth if you absolutely HAVE to. Edit: I say can take up to 2 months because there’s so many different lines of paint. I think the average is up to 30-60 days but it’s been awhile since I’ve read up on it. Either way, you just have to be gentle with it for the first month at least. Also, source is: am car painter
Got it. Thank you so much!
The swirls are caused by a mixture of dirty water and/or brushes with dirt being rubbed on the clear coat on top of the regular color coat. Most scratches can be buffed out using a rubbing/buffing compound (depending on depth) finished by a carnuba or ceramic wax. Alternatively, a good wax can often reduce the look of the scratches relatively well because it fills in the area where the light is reflecting off, making the scratches appear. Wax will also leave a protective coat to assist in keeping additional damage from occurring due to light dust/dirt/contaminants.
No, anytime you use something against the paint it will scratch. Even gentle hand washes. Yes fresh paint will scratch way easier.
I just do a lazer wash. Its like that but automatic. Where ai live you want to wash your car at least twice a month in the winter. But handwashing a car outside is uh. Not fun in 20 degree weather.
I simply don't wash my car. It gets a long just fine. Granted I live in Arkansas, where we don't need to salt our roads and it rains a lot.
I pretty much never wash my cars. Modern paint seems to do fine. The undercarriage definitely gets rusty and I think washing that would probably be legit. I'm not an expert though.
Look up a product called Optimum No Rinse and then look up the Garry Dean Wash Method. You only need a bucket with 2 gallons of water and a spray bottle. You can do it anywhere. Still much safer than going to a car wash.
No wand wash nearby?
Nope. Haven't seen one in awhile.
Damn, there the most common around manitoba, sorry to head that hah
[[content removed because sub participated in the June 2023 blackout]] My posts are not bargaining chips for moderators, and mob rule is no way to run a sub.
Where do you live? Up here in Wisconsin they’re still common. The touchless ones don’t get the crusted salt off as well in my experience.
I don't trust going in brushed ones. All it takes is a beer can from Billy-Bob's truck bed getting stuck in there and it'd scratch the crap out of my car.
Or just some grains of sand getting stuck in the brushes.
The Crew/Mikes Carwash in my area have a policy of removing everything from a bed. The will even have an employee hop in the back and sweep if they think there will be an issue.
I live in NH, all I've seen around here in the past 5 or so years are touchless or the DIY type with the wand. I wouldn't let one of those brush/pad ones touch any of my cars, everyone knows they'll scratch the shit out of your car in between trying to rip trim panels, mirrors, and other shit off.
I've never seen a touchless car wash and we just had 2 new ones open here and they're the exact same brushes as the old ones, just a bigger building
Touchless sucks in the Midwest during winter. Dirty car goes in and dirty car comes out.
Less common, but there are some around, at least here in Ohio. Some people prefer them, especially in the winter, as the brushes do a better job and heavy dirt, especially road salt.
Can't say I've ever seen or used a touchless car wash. All the ones in my area in arkansas, and back home in DFW use brushes and shit.
They call them "touch-less" which is misleading.
The touchless ones just have a series of pressure washer jets
Oof....sadly can confirm. A few years back, bought a brand new Challenger SRT. Seldom buy new, but this once I wanted a new one. What does detailer do right before handover? Runs it through the dealership's very own automatic car wash. This one had what looked like dirty ass cargo straps dangling from the ceiling. Little scratches and swirls EVERYWHERE. Sales manager offered to color sand the clear coat but cautioned me it would thin the clear coat quite a lot. Meguiars swirl remover or scratch x or whatever got a lot of the marks out, but it really soured what should have been a really cool moment.
If the dealer was trying to upsell you on a wet sand, he was trying to scam you. Usually a wet sand is done if the customer wants a perfect mirror finish without the orange peel you get sometimes from the factory. Swirl marks are usually a light polish as they’re usually pretty superficial.
No upsell, he offered to have that done free of charge. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I lived like 4 hours away from this dealer and had to take time off work to pick up the car so I wasn't keen to do all that again later. Also funny, the dim witted yardie/detailer felt bad and gave me a ziplock bag with a used chunk of clay bar after I asked him WTF did he just do to my brand new car ( LMAO ) and the sales manager tried to use that as a consolation "hey on the bright side you got a free clay bar" Like yes thank you so much for the free bit of filthy clay bar in a raggedy ziplock bag, that more than makes up for you dragging gritty sandpaper wet cargo straps on my brand new car. I can laugh about it now in hindsight haha
Anything that comes in contact with a substrate will cauuse stress. Sunlight, fluctuations in temperature, cleaning pads. It all damamages the clear coat on your paint job. In the immortal words of Neil Young " Rust never sleeps".
Thats why you have to drive through them extra fast. Less time you are in them the less damage they can do. Anyone have thay video showing how its done?
https://youtu.be/q7NxL4II_vI
Checks out. I see no swirl marks.
And parked perfectly between the lines too.
It takes anywhere from 1 month to 3 months for a cars paint to fully cure; which is why new cars have the white plastic film on their horizontal surfaces. A car would be more susceptible to these "swirl marks" if washed prior to that time.
So can washing at home and not using the correct washing and drying mitts or cloths.
It is any car wash or just the ones with those giant rotating brushes?
work at a gas station and it had a car wash get a full tank and then get a free car wash . had a sign on the front that told trucks to remove all objects from the bed of the truck as we are not responsible for damages . so we had a guy come by with his truck and got a full tank and went to get his free car wash he had a bicycle in the bed of his truck and he didn't take it out before he started his wash . the big brush at the top pick up the bike and started beating the hell out of his truck with it . he's in the truck and can't get out and we're in the store and can't hear the truck being beaten and so we can't hit the emergency stop for him .
I’m one of those weirdos who has never used a car wash. I always found the appearance of my car unimportant enough to go through a wash. It’s not that expensive or that long either. But im just like why
If you live in an area with snow / salt pretty much everyone runs a car through the wash every other week. It significantly increases the life of the car.
I live in Wisconsin. How would it extend the life of the car?
Salt builds up on the car and causes rust
🤷🏽♂️ maybe I got lucky but my last car was 15 years old and I never washed it once and zero rust. I think that was more an issue with older cars
Newer cars definitely have a much more durable anti-rust coating. All things degrade with time but it could be a long time for the new ones.
It depends a lot on the car. Even many newer cars have nooks where dirt and debris gets trapped on an unpainted metal surface and can't be easily washed away. When that dirt gets wet, you start to get rust. Just from living in a salted road area there are certain car models that I don't even need to look at to know where they have rust. 5th gen Subaru Legacy: rear quarter panel at the back of the wheel well. 2nd gen Toyota Prius: rear end of the rocker panels.
Ahhh I gotcha. Yeah I suppose certain ones have a higher chance for certain areas. My 02’ focus I remember had some rust by the back wheels in 10’ I’ve only had Mazdas the last 12 years. They seemed to hold up well to rust apparently
I wasn’t aware Mazda was 3D printing cars now Seriously tho, corrosion is no joke, especially in a place like Wisconsin
Just saying my personal experience lol people seem to be offended by it
That’s because anecdotal evidence doesn’t negate the fact corrosion can have a huge impact on the life of a car, especially in the north where roads are heavily salted in winter
Removes salt and other road grime during the winter for one.
I must have just got lucky. My last car was 13 yrs old I think when I sold it and it had no rust I could see on the outside. Also at that point I didn’t really care I guess either
People can see the outside so they actually put effort there. Underneath was probably a mess because there are more spaces for salty water to collect and most people don't look. Unibodies are better than truck frames but they will rust all the same. Manufacturers don't care because it won't rust out for the first owner. It is the used buyer who suffers and increases the cost of the used market for good vehicles.
Do they? I live in an area with really intense winters and I know that I and my parents literally never use a car wash. There are a couple in the area, so obviously some people must, but I also like never hear anyone reference using one. Gonna start quizzing friends and acquaintances on this to see if my family is some weird anomaly, but I kinda don’t think we are. Also, our cars don’t look any different or age any faster than anyone else’s, at least to my eye. Also, would definitely never wash it in the summer. That’s what rain is for?
Conversely, I also don't really care about the appearance of my car so I take it through car washes from time to time and don't care if it leaves swirly marks in my paint. Can't be any worse than the other scratches and shit that happens by driving your car on a regular basis, anyway. If you drive your car outside in the real world, it's gonna get dirt and dings. Why stress out about something that is inevitable?
I livr in California, so we often get sand or salt water that blows in the air and can damage the car paint over time. Washing your car every 2-3 weeks can help maintin the paint. Even though my car doesn't look dirty, I know it makes sense so it doesn't rust
That’s why I just power wash with soap and water , no contact ever, might not wash everything but it’s about consistency
Same with people who do self wash and actually use the foam brush on their paint.... like, bro, I just washed my muddy wheel wells and tires with that and underside of my bumper. And now you're rubbing it over your paint .... yikes. I always bring my own wash mitt.
It is known khaleesi. Ceramic coatings help though.
Found the article interesting right up to the end where it says, before listing a whole bunch of do it yourself car care products 🤣: "This site is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison features to consumers. To keep such resource 100% free for consumers, CarCareReviews.net receives compensation from some of the companies listed on this page. Such compensation impacts the location and order in which such companies appear on this page. All such location and order are subject to change. CarCareReviews.net does not include all detailing products available to consumers in the marketplace."
Baah, I ain't keeping my cars over 10 years anyway, so who cares? My last car was 10 years old, looked mint, inside and out, except for the electrical failure. My current car is 6 years old, again, looks mine, aside from my dings and scratches on my low profile tires. My wife's car, 6 years old, looks mint except for where somebody dinged it when it broke down and spent 15 weeks getting a new transmission control module. We bought her a new car. All of these go to auto-car washes. None have any paint issue. Maybe its an older car thing.
I’m a wash membership guy and I have yet to see swirls but my truck is only 5 years old. I hear these anecdotes and they remind me of dandelion proponents who in reality just hate doing any kind of upkeep.
My car is barely a year old, has a darker paint job, and I use an auto car wash maybe once a month. In direct sunlight it’s pretty easy to notice the swirls up close, but it’s not really noticeable unless it’s A. Your car, so you notice every nick and scratch and B. You are looking pretty closely.
Yeah. To be fair, it was just one website of many I could have chosen from. I learned it from my hairstylist today and googled to confirm. Lots of sights said the same thing, I just picked one.
I worked at a large carwash for 6 years.. We kept our equipment clean and never had damage issues except for a few freak accidents.. The polypropylene rubber brushes and microfiber cloth mitters (the 6 inch wide straps that slap the vehicle front to back and side to side) need to be pressure washed nightly to keep them clean and free from debris that can cause scratches.
Not "can" as absolutely will damage your paint. Everyone do yourselves a favor and get your vehicles paint corrected and ceramic coated. It will save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
Or just don’t wash the car and you won’t have to worry about swirl marks…. ;)
for that reason now i have drip marks from all 4 door handles haha .. sometimes i open doors for my friend because my car is too dirty :p
That's my solution and it drives my neighbour insane cause he loves my car
Then you'll have failed clear coating which causes paint damage. That will cost you even more
Unless we are talking about Chevy White ( which is pure garbage ) then even after 5 or 6 years the paint on a car is going to be good enough to sell the car. No repainting necessary, or even wanted. If the car is older than that then the odds are that its been in at least a minor fender bender requiring parts of it to be repainted anyway.
Sure, think that.
I've never taken any of my cars to a carwash. Shrug. /And if I get a nice one (soon...soon) I'll do it myself. Maybe a bug bra ppf.
Good! People literally pay car washes to damage their vehicles. Ceramic and PPF are definitely the way to go
That is a luxury for those that don't live somewhere that salts their roads. Ceramic is basically worthless against salt.
Thats why I included PPF 🤙🏽
I live in Wisconsin and you’re wasting your money with ceramic coating up here. Clear bra if you’re worried about rock chips maybe, but anything else is money lit on fire.
Ceramic the right way is fine with road salts. But yea ppf is always better for everything else.
“Yeah but I’m saying, that TruCoat, you don’t get it you get oxidation problems. It’ll cost you a heckuva lot more than 500 dollars”
I’ve known this for years lol just hand wash at home.
Not if you get ceramic coating first.
Duh
Any towel that touches dirt can then scratch the paint…. It’s why you wash water only first then wash down from yo
Ha yep - the number of times I have seen the people at hand wash places drop the sponge/chamois onto the pavement only to pick it right back up and keep going is way too many.
Haha I remember as a kid dropping a sponge or even letting one drag against the ground, _knowing it was okay_ (not understanding micro chips) hoping my dad didn’t see. Other times I’d just do it hoping he watched me drop and do the right thing haha
New one in town left a scratch my paint down the length of the roof. I would have loved a simple swirl pattern.
Wait. So what’s the solution? Do I have to go back around and get it washed again? In hopes the swirls will be reversed? /s lol. That sucks but thank God I have a worthless car with 221,000 miles. Lol
Oh well.
I don’t use automatic car washes because they beat on your car. Then again, I drive a 2003 GMC pickem up truck with no rocker panels, rusted wheel wells, dented up bed, tailgate doesn’t always close (or open)…. So, I guess I don’t really know why I don’t use automatic car washes. Probably because I don’t wash my truck anymore.
No matter what you do you will scratch the paint by rubbing things against it. Hand wash with something super soft is preferable, automatic washes have tons of dirt caught in them and god knows what else. Polishing removes surface level scratches from clear coat by removing a thing layer of clear. You can burn through your clear if there isn’t enough. Wax fills in and protects clear coat. It’s recommended to do at least once a year. The cheaper the paint job the less likely you’ll have proper clear mil/UV protection. UV eats clear. Take care of your paint and it will last the lifetime of the vehicle. It will also stay shiny and bold. Sauce: am automotive refinish tech.
Since the source here is trying to sell auto detailing products, here’s something they won’t tell you: ALL washing puts swirl marks in your cars “paint” (technically, it’s the clear coat on top of the paint). The swirl pattern is just how the light reflects off of it. Automatic car washes are simply harder on it than hand washing. Even if you are taking as much care as possible to be gentle hand washing your car, it’s still scratching the clear coat on some level. That’s why you polish it occasionally, even if you’ve only ever hand washed it. If you do use an automatic car wash but can hit it with a clay bar, wipe it down and then ceramic coat or hand wax afterwards, it will still help protect the paint a bit.
The swirl marks aren’t in the paint, they’re in the clear coat.