Car Wash drive thru or at home?

[fordtruckman2003]

First time I've had time to wash my truck since buying in April.
Really just started because I added a vinyl to rear window and washed the whole tailgate before applying F-150 logo sticker.

I have ONR with wax and that is what I used on my 2011 for 12 years. It never saw a car wash outside of the dealer prep where they probably ran it through a brush wash as most do.

I bought this truck used and the rapid red does really well hiding dirt better than I expected. If I didn't go past the door edge it's hard to tell that I cleaned it.

I can tell based on swirl marks down side of truck that this truck spend part it's life going through a drive thru wash. It's really only visible in the bright sun or under florescent light so not terrible.

My 82 year old neighbor is a smartass. I'm out here washing truck and he said you know they have places now you can drive thru they do that for you.

My question for all and poll above, do you hand wash at home or do you go drive thru?
I'm about 50/50 at this point because the paint is already swirled so I might just say F-- it and get the unlimited wash option at Indiana Mike's/Crew car wash.

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[Pedaldude]

I’ve owned two vehicles that had previously been owned by people that had a monthly pass for going to the car wash as much as you want. It’s so dusty here that you can wash your truck and later that day it’s covered in sand. Just sitting for a month; my truck looks like it’s a decades long barn find.

These cars that were machine washed 3x a week have the hoods, roofs and corners of the panels to bare steel within a few years. The owners don’t seem to care, since they trade in or sell for the newest model.

I imagine that machine car washes outside of the desert aren’t as bad but I’ve seen brand new cars go through a gritty machine wash just once and it looked like someone went heavy with a dual action sander on the paint to scuff it up for Bondo!

Just spraying water on the truck doesn’t get the sand off, since it’s got a decent static cling going on, you really need to let some soap sit on it and let it do its job emulsifying the particles and suspending them where they don’t stick to the paint so that you can ultimately spray it off. Just trickling some dirty water on the truck and then beating it with rags covered in filth and grit isn’t going to do that!

 

[bfastr]

I am an oddball in that I enjoy washing cars in my driveway. however. We do have a monthly pass for the wifes older Flex that goes thru at least once a week. Honestly, it does a pretty good job. its a well maintained place so I am sure that helps. But I always cringe thinking there is a possibility it ripped an antenna off the car before me and is about to beat the crap out of mine with it.

I prefer to hand wash my truck. but its been thru the machine and it will go thru it on occasion.

 

[rtf150]

hand wash only.

 

[KingDavid]

Get a professional paint correction and a very high quality ceramic coating treatment (3-5 years). Then find a local touchless car wash and run it through there whenever you want to wash it. I'd use an electric leaf blower or something similar to blow off any remaining water from that wash and you're good to go.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

Get a professional paint correction and a very high quality ceramic coating treatment (3-5 years). Then find a local touchless car wash and run it through there whenever you want to wash it. I'd use an electric leaf blower or something similar to blow off any remaining water from that wash and your good to go.

Thinking about getting ceramic coat. I thought the paint was in good shape until looking at it more in bright light. Today found lot of previous paint touch ups and many more little rock chips needing touch up. Thankful the color hides a lot and can't see the spots from distance.

Not perfect, but it will do until November ish when I do a wash before winter.

 

[nrmedic]

It's a truck. It considers it a luxury when it goes through any car wash. Otherwise, the rain does it for me.

 

[Kidder]

Anyone use the foam "cannon" method?

 

[leecm]

I hand wash my own truck using a two-bucket method and grit guards at the bottom of each bucket. I bought an electric power washer and a foam cannon, but have only used them (in addition to the two-buckets) once because I'm lazy.

One thing I didn't consider when buying my first truck was how much harder they are to hand wash compared to cars. They're bigger, taller, and have more surface area. Needing a small step latter to be able to reach the whole roof with a washing mitt, and even to reach the middle of the hood closest to the windshield isn't the easiest task. I'm sure there is some type of wand that you can use to assist with hard to reach places, but that introduces a risk of hard, abrasive instruments rubbing up against your paint.

Definitely more work than washing any of my past cars, but I get it done.

 

[RcFlyer330]

Anyone use the foam "cannon" method?

yes i do but its only for the extra lubricity of the foam for my contact wash. if you just spray foam the vehicle then rince it really does nothing. This also depends on the soap. with a high or low ph soaps you can just spray and rince just like a touchless carwash. the issue with high or low ph soaps is if you use them wrong they will damage the paint so you should stick with a ph neutral soap.

 

[uk_brewer]

did one step paint correction and ceramic coat on mine. After spending the time on that it’s hand wash only. Exception being winter, then I’ll take it through rhe touchless to remove road salt.

 

[Davexxxx]

I wash at home but use a foam cannon and pressure washer.

I used to occasionally use a brushed carwash on my 01 but I saw a vid where the black plastic pieces between the doors on the newer trucks, get swirls really badly from them, so touchless only for this one.

Foam Cannon ... If its really dirty, you can see the foam lifting the dirt and sliding off, even before the rinse but I can also still see the wiper limits on the windshield so, its not getting everything.

If I have time and am in the mood, after washing, I'll then go over the whole thing with a ceramic detailing spray and microfiber cloths as well as hand clean the windshield.

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

I use a foam cannon then hand wash. I feel like the biggest thing to reduce swirls is a quality drying towel, I use a leaf blower then a microfiber drying towel. And then I will usually mist on some technicians choice ceramic detail spray. I have an Adams graphene ceramic coating waiting to go on, I plan to polish then apply it over the holidays!

 

[amschind]

Mine lives outside so my only real stipulation is nanoceramic.

 

[cb4017]

Anyone use the foam "cannon" method?

I've generally hand washed my vehicles over the years. I started doing it with my F150 but the size of this darn thing and being an old guy make it tougher than it used to be.

I watched a few Youtube videos about foam cannons and ended up buying one.

It does make washing the truck easier.

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