Car Wash Claims Brushes "Can't scratch your vehicle"

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royalkangaroo

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Entertaining story I thought I'd share. I used to use a nearby car wash with my old truck that had a drive through brush system (shame on me). Fast forward to my new purchase, a flat black GMC Sierra, I returned to this place and unfortunately let the drive through wash scratch the heck out of my truck.

No harm, no foul. A lazy Saturday with some M205 and my GG6, and we were back to black again.

My dealership right around the corner offers a "free wash" card to this place after service visits. They also have "touchless" bays, so whenever I use my card now, I opt for those.

The last time I went the "manager" tried to tell me the free wash card was only for the brush system. I explained that it scratched my vehicle and he tried to convince me for 15 minutes that it was impossible for that to happen. Even with my photo evidence, he refused to admit that the car wash could do that, but reluctantly programmed the free touchess for me.

The most ironic part is that they run a detail shop out of this car wash! Offering high priced buffing and wax services. Unreal.

 
Yep, good ole scratchless wash

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Yup. I have one of those "sand your paint off" washes complete with the "Pro detailer" bay by me.

The "Pro's" are guys who just got to the country and want to work. Rotary buffers set face down on the concrete, then back to work. A bucket of wash "rags" in the same dirty water all day, whipping air hoses into the sides of the cars. I've seen it all.

My cousin brings his old Ford plow truck there because well, it's a plow truck. I always ask to go with him to see these "Pro's" at work. Lol
 
swanicyouth said:
^ Ask to see his car & point out the scratches....
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Funny you mention that. He claimed his boss (the owner) has a dark blue truck that he runs through once a week with no issues. Really illustrates their detailing credibility... or overall IQ.
 
Back in the mid 90's I took my work(beater car) to a tunnel wash, broke the drivers side mirror off the door. This manager thinks they don't scratch?
 
Hummm...You could go and grab the manger's door mat, quirt some water on mat and his car---Then start beating the car with the matt.
If he screeches---then point made!

Tom
 
And every time he goes though a tunnel wash hearing the thumping sounds---he'll remember the matt beating on his car!

That should cure a tunnel addict! "Grin"

Tom
 
Hilarious!

I OWNED a tunnel wash, and there were sand particles embedded in the cloth fibers on the 18" rocker panel brushes. They can't fool me on that one!

The cloth is usually a hard felt type of material.

I did polish a car recently that frequents a local was with foam material on their brushes, and that car was in surprisingly great shape. You have to consider the location too. My wash was in mud country, and the other is in the city.

The old washes back in the late 70's and early 80's had bristle brushes. Plastic extrusions that when used with insufficient lubrication would leave a deposit of the extrusion on the paint - leaving a hazy appearance.

The last operator I worked for installed some bristle rocker panel brushes, but was too cheap to run enough water on them. His black Lincoln MKX was massacred by ALL of the brushes in his wash, but those plastic ones really hated up the paint!!
 
Hammer77 said:
Back in the mid 90's I took my work(beater car) to a tunnel wash, broke the drivers side mirror off the door. This manager thinks they don't scratch?
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Ha!

Me too! July 3rd, or 5th 1996 I started working at a car wash in Rochester Hills, MI.

I'm toying with the idea of doing it again, with a detail Bay I can play in....
 
Why are people getting into battles of whit with unarmed people lately on here? That "Manager" and his "pro" detailers know nothing about real detailing. WHY try and argue with them? What does it do for you? YOU and we all, know they are ignorant to what a real detail is so what does it matter? They do them and you come behind them and make money on what they mess up.
 
dlc95 said:
Ha!

Me too! July 3rd, or 5th 1996 I started working at a car wash in Rochester Hills, MI.

I'm toying with the idea of doing it again, with a detail Bay I can play in....
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Mine was at a Shell station on the corner of Middlebelt and Sibley, 2 miles south of Metro Airport.
 
Well, only way to resolve the argument is to go by there when the boss is in with his blue truck and check it out
 
royalkangaroo said:
Entertaining story I thought I'd share. I used to use a nearby car wash with my old truck that had a drive through brush system (shame on me). Fast forward to my new purchase, a flat black GMC Sierra, I returned to this place and unfortunately let the drive through wash scratch the heck out of my truck.

No harm, no foul. A lazy Saturday with some M205 and my GG6, and we were back to black again.

My dealership right around the corner offers a "free wash" card to this place after service visits. They also have "touchless" bays, so whenever I use my card now, I opt for those.

The last time I went the "manager" tried to tell me the free wash card was only for the brush system. I explained that it scratched my vehicle and he tried to convince me for 15 minutes that it was impossible for that to happen. Even with my photo evidence, he refused to admit that the car wash could do that, but reluctantly programmed the free touchess for me.

The most ironic part is that they run a detail shop out of this car wash! Offering high priced buffing and wax services. Unreal.

Click to expand...

I think he is telling you the truth.Im a proffesional detailers have been for 25 years I do this day in and day out everyday.If he has a soft cloth brush system like Tommy or Hanna systems depending on your cars finish it may or maynot instill scratches.Scratches come from the prep guys rubbing or scouring your paint with broom sticks.The chemicals they use are acidic and wax strippers.I had a 13 dodge challenger in that copper color brown or orange.I would use that carwash all the time and before I enter I tell them no prep and retract the rim scrubbers.Never had a single problem of swirling.South Florida has state of the art washes everywhere.Now if you go to a wash that uses nylon brushes that's a whole different outtake on this topic.
 
Hammer77 said:
Mine was at a Shell station on the corner of Middlebelt and Sibley, 2 miles south of Metro Airport.
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I probably saw it. I used to take my gf at the time on "car wash tours" back then.
 
GSKR said:
I think he is telling you the truth.Im a proffesional detailers have been for 25 years I do this day in and day out everyday.If he has a soft cloth brush system like Tommy or Hanna systems depending on your cars finish it may or maynot instill scratches.Scratches come from the prep guys rubbing or scouring your paint with broom sticks.The chemicals they use are acidic and wax strippers.I had a 13 dodge challenger in that copper color brown or orange.I would use that carwash all the time and before I enter I tell them no prep and retract the rim scrubbers.Never had a single problem of swirling.South Florida has state of the art washes everywhere.Now if you go to a wash that uses nylon brushes that's a whole different outtake on this topic.
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What if the vehicle right before you happened to be this?

d64eb7a140b82559415e21124fb306b8.png


I'd bet there's going to be a considerable amount of mudd and grit left on those fancy Tommy or Hanna brushes, enough to wind up causing scratches & swirls once they begin washing your vehicle... I mean that's like trusting the brush, even if it's made of boars hair at the local coin op. Of course a well maintained boars hair brush on it's own won't scratch your paint, it's the likely condition it's in that's the culprit.
 
GSKR said:
I think he is telling you the truth.Im a proffesional detailers have been for 25 years I do this day in and day out everyday.If he has a soft cloth brush system like Tommy or Hanna systems depending on your cars finish it may or maynot instill scratches.Scratches come from the prep guys rubbing or scouring your paint with broom sticks.The chemicals they use are acidic and wax strippers.I had a 13 dodge challenger in that copper color brown or orange.I would use that carwash all the time and before I enter I tell them no prep and retract the rim scrubbers.Never had a single problem of swirling.South Florida has state of the art washes everywhere.Now if you go to a wash that uses nylon brushes that's a whole different outtake on this topic.
Click to expand...

I did the same. I'd tell them no brush.

The $2.00 washes were notorious for not pressure washing anything. They would just drag a brush over the entire vehicle.

In my experience, mud that didn't get evacuated from deep recesses of the vehicle, would drip through the wash process. As this happens, the speed of the wash media, the pressure of the brush unit, and sand grains would work together to destroy vehicle finishes.

In a controlled environment, a well lubricated, and properly adjusted brush isn't going to do too much damage. Especially the newer foam brushes. I remember in 1996 seeing Ryko's first foam brushes at the Michigan Carwash Association trade show, in Novi MI. Today most car wash systems are at least offered with foam, if not solely using foam. It's very light material, and doesn't absorb water, silt, or sand.

More recently Belanger released their "SpinLight" lone of wash systems that utilize an innovative, unique foam brush system, which allows for much lower brush operation speeds. I was able to go through their test facility in Novi, and while it did strip the Ultimate Liquid Wax I had on my gf's truck, it didn't leave any kind of swirls.

Sonny's also offers a material with a foam core, but it's coated with a soft felt material to help clean, because foam itself doesn't clean as well as cloth.
 
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