Automatic car wash

So I take my new raptor through the automatic car wash last week oblivious to the inherent danger in doing so.

Everything went well. The manager came out, pushed a few buttons and changed some settings, and voila...clean truck.

On the ride home I start thinking about the width of the raptor and the potential issues I could have experienced. I jump online and see all the posts warning of these dangers.

Lesson learned. I'll be hand washing from here out. Anyone else use the auto wash?

There's a touch free car wash near my house next to a Shell gas station. Works ok if there isnt too much dirt or mud.

~~~

SMH......

That was covered in my owners manual.

DiSanto said:

So I take my new raptor through the automatic car wash last week oblivious to the inherent danger in doing so.

Everything went well. The manager came out, pushed a few buttons and changed some settings, and voila...clean truck.

On the ride home I start thinking about the width of the raptor and the potential issues I could have experienced. I jump online and see all the posts warning of these dangers.

Lesson learned. I'll be hand washing from here out. Anyone else use the auto wash?

Click to expand...

No need to automatically worry and obsess over this. A couple of years ago, my city put in a new $5 MILLION Metro Express automatic car wash. I took my 2014 Raptor through there for over a year, never had a problem, truck always looked great. I'm an OCD type person as well...so that must be mentioned.
I plan on taking my 2017 Raptor through here as well; have complete confidence in this state-of-the-art facility, and their tiresome continued maintenance. Now, I will say, not every vehicle is safe to take through here. I took my new Stingray through last summer a few times, and on like the 4th pass for the summer....I finally made contact with one of the chrome rims on the wash track--put a small, albeit substantial for an OCD individual, chip in the finish. Never will take a sports car through there again. But for trucks, including extra fatties like the Raptor (width), there is no problem whatsoever. Total godsend, as my time is extremely valuable, and this auto wash saves me massive quantities of it for more lucrative activities.

I take mine weekly through automatic car wash.
Big lifted trucks go through it as well.
Must be a bigger automatic wash compared to the horror stories I hear.

I have had nothing but bad from auto wash, only been thru 3 times, only 1 fairly good. I must be lucky, got a local place, hand wash, hand dry, vacuum, wipe all down (get out yellow lad hair), windows, tire stuff and all. 25 bucks! Great!

An automatic car wash will result in swirls, scratches, and faded out plastics, too. They are bad for more than just your paint, they can also scratch or otherwise damage plastic and rubber trim, even scratch the glass if the spinning brushes or octopus legs have embedded dirt or gravel in them.

Skip the touchless wash, too. They use harsh chemicals to attempt to clean the car without touching it, and these chemicals will degrade or strip off any sealant or wax on your paint. With a strong sealant, it might take a few times, with a wax, it could be gone in one trip through. The harsh chemicals are also bad for the plastic and rubber trim, and will bleach them out over time.

Use your best judgment for your particular situation. You are going to receive impassioned cases made, especially on the "don't ever use auto washes" side. If we are talking all original classic autos here, absolutely, I would say don't risk it with automatic washes. However, as an OCD person, I have found that things I intrinsically obsess over turn out to be details obscured by 99% of the population. I've had 49 vehicles since I started driving in 1998, and have taken care of them all to a level that is deemed unreasonable by most. However, I have also utlized automatic car washes over the years, and with careful dicernment, I have never been demerited for my used vehicles' market value. So, ultimately, use your best judgement. For my situation, hand washing, at least Raptors, is not tenable for my life. Very thankful automatic car wash user here .