Using a car wash.

[JohnV6]

I usually wash my cars by hand but am considering using a car wash was on the zs given it's size and the foul roads after all the rain. Has anyone used a car wash? Do you remove the whippy areil?

 

[salty]

Predictive text, is a git innit?
Yep, I'd remove it.

 

[MG Clive]

The whippy aerials usually just unscrew from the base.

 

[Rob24]

I've only ever used an automated carwash and always remove the aerial.

Rob

 

[Data]

It definitely just unscrews from its base.

On using a car wash. My very good friend who has a brand new VW Golf took it to a Sainsbury's supermarket based car wash (it's not owned by Sainsbury's) to get it cleaned. He REALLY REALLY wished he hadn't. Looking at the paint work afterwards made you want to cry. The car was covered in swirl mark scratches that were not present beforehand. Intermixed with those were larger scratches going in zigzags across the bonnet & roof. The people that washed it were totally untrained in how to wash a car. It's been confirmed it is going to cost £3k to repair the damage (new clearcote needed). He only picked up the car 6 weeks earlier.

 

[Giller]

I usually wash my cars by hand but am considering using a car wash was on the zs given it's size and the foul roads after all the rain. Has anyone used a car wash? Do you remove the whippy areil?

whippy areil, just found my new drag queen name. Ta.

I'm guessing you're talking about the full automatic drive in washes given the aerial question?

Personally I wouldn't, seen too much in the way of paint scratching over the years from those, like wise I never use the commercial hand car washes, they tend to use non PH neutral washing materials and acid based wheel cleaners which are fast and clean the wheels but with continued use will result in stripping the lacquer off alloys.

 

[Micropop]

If I use automated carwash, I only go for brushless. Those brushes are full of dirt and will instantly ruin the paint.

 

[Eclectic]

You could of course replace the whippy aerial with a sharks fin type...