Car Wash drive thru or at home?

[Jus Cruisin]

Hand wash April-October drive through November - March ($29.95/mo, daily wash ability). They hand spray initially, then lots of soap followed with flappers, rinse, blow dry, then chamois flaps over the top and tire shine. Finally they hand dry off the drops. I've used them since moving north. When I lived in Florida, always washed in the driveway. All my stuff is black, too.

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[Blue Chips]

As to truck washing, road salt is my biggest concern. To deal with that, I made an undercarriage washer out of PVC pipe, some cheap plastic nozzles, and a quick-disconnect garden hose fitting.

I'm considering having my Ford undercoated with a lanolin- or wax-based coating, and I want to be able to rinse off road salt without damaging the undercoating. The automatic car washes around here have undercarriage washers, but I wonder if they might be a bit too powerful, and besides, driving the truck home from the car wash could pick up more road salt.

I already had an undercarriage washer attachment for my pressure washer, but it's way too powerful and would probably remove soft undercoating quite quickly. It's also a hassle to set up the pressure washer every time I want to rinse off the undercarriage.

My solution was to make a simple washer that connects to my garden hose to gently rinse off the salt, hopefully without taking any of the undercoating with it.

I can use the washer on any above-freezing day in the winter, and the slope of the driveway allows the water to drain off into the woods. A while ago, I fabbed up a garden hose setup that lets me pull out the garden hose through a fairlead that I installed (see photo), then simply retract it back into the basement when I'm done. The valve handle is outside, and the hose is connected to the valve inside the basement, so it never freezes.

I simply pull out the hose, connect it to the undercarriage washer, rinse the undercarriage with three or four passes under the truck, disconnect the washer, retract the hose, and lay the washer upside down at a slight angle to drain. About two minutes to set up and two minutes to put away. "Slick as snot on a glass doorknob," as an old friend used to say.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

As to truck washing, road salt is my biggest concern. To deal with that, I made an undercarriage washer out of PVC pipe, some cheap plastic nozzles, and a quick-disconnect garden hose fitting.

I'm considering having my Ford undercoated with a lanolin- or wax-based coating, and I want to be able to rinse off road salt without damaging the undercoating. The automatic car washes around here have undercarriage washers, but I wonder if they might be a bit too powerful, and besides, driving the truck home from the car wash could pick up more road salt.

I already had an undercarriage washer attachment for my pressure washer, but it's way too powerful and would probably remove soft undercoating quite quickly. It's also a hassle to set up the pressure washer every time I want to rinse off the undercarriage.

My solution was to make a simple washer that connects to my garden hose to gently rinse off the salt, hopefully without taking any of the undercoating with it.

I can use the washer on any above-freezing day in the winter, and the slope of the driveway allows the water to drain off into the woods. A while ago, I fabbed up a garden hose setup that lets me pull out the garden hose through a fairlead that I installed (see photo), then simply retract it back into the basement when I'm done. The valve handle is outside, and the hose is connected to the valve inside the basement, so it never freezes.

I simply pull out the hose, connect it to the undercarriage washer, rinse the undercarriage with three or four passes under the truck, disconnect the washer, retract the hose, and lay the washer upside down at a slight angle to drain. About two minutes to set up and two minutes to put away. "Slick as snot on a glass doorknob," as an old friend used to say.

You might have made a prototype of something you could sell. I like it.


EDIT - Hello Shark Tank?

 

[tjtennispro]

I voted hand wash at home but I’ve actually got a monthly membership to a place that is hand wash only. They do great work and I’ve used it on both my cars.

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.

 

[MJG44]

I have a monthly membership to a drive through facility.

I don't go for the undercarriage wash option until the spring, in which I get it done a few times then head over to a local dealer to apply a rustproofing film for the undercarriage.

It's the spring thaw that starts corroding things due to the salt of the winter.

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