car washing horror stories

A local car wash shop will use the same 5 gallon bucket of water on numerous cars until the water is dirty and needs replaced. Same rag used by one guy all day long. You always see lots of bath towels hanging around on the rusty hand rails. Unfortunately many people take their vehicles there because these guys must know what they are doing. They have a shop.
 
Went to a fundraiser car wash for an auto tuning shop. They specialized in drifting vehicles but also carry alot of mods for other vehicles. Well there were alot of vehicles getting washed, minus mine (I just donated and turned down the wash), BMW's, Infiniti's, Lexus's, some really nice cars. Well while in mingle mode I ventured over to the car wash station and saw nothing but two 5 gallon buckets with water so dirty it looked like a mud puddle and terry cloth towels. No sight of a mitt, sponge, or anything. One of the guys even dropped a towel and just rinsed it off and threw it back in the bucket. I was thinking, "man that terry towel is probably filled with sand and rocks and now the bucket is too". I wanted to go school them on the proper way but I'm sure outside opinions were not welcome. I went with a large group and after listening to my advice most of them also turned down the wash. So at least my friends common sense prevailed.

Oh yeah, years ago I saw my sister-in-law scrubbing her Chrysler New Yorkers roof with a wire bristle brush. My wife got her to stop but the damage was done. Thankfully it was a beater, lol.
 
generic wash shampoo + diesel fuel + carnauba to make a wash solution.... and tons of diesel fuel to get engine bay clean and black..... I didn't even dared to ask what was in the leather cleaner + conditioner..... I know it's in good faith because it gets the car clean and black and most people really think diesel is very safe, but my heart trembled when I saw that and I couldn't say a word....
 
While I was washing my car during the weekend, I saw the driver of the house across the street "wash" the two SUVs their household has. Using a rag and a water hose, he wets the tires, and scrubs them with the rag. He then wets the the car, and then scrubs the bodywork. After he finishes the first SUV, he then moves right on to the second. That's right - no car shampoo used, one towel, and no drying. I wonder what he was thinking watching me with my multiple buckets, brushes, mitts, towels and electric blower.
 
I was the worst that I used to know. I've always tried to keep cars clean, but never really had the nicest car and never owned black. The only black car in the family was detailed by hand 20 years ago (and he did an amazing job from what I remember).

Fast forward to my first 'new' car...2008 Black Honda Accord. I do everything in my mind to keep it clean, including washing it once a week at the local car wash. There was a Lambo in there, so it must be good, right? 80,000 miles of me going to random car washes and using the do-it-yourself bays WITH the brush and I bump into a guy buffing out a Lexus so deep you could swim in the hood. I ask him what he's using and he tells me Collinite, shows me the bottle and I leave confused but intrigued.

Fast forward another few thousand miles, a couple episodes of Two Guys' Garage and now I buy my own Collinite here. Never been back through a car wash tunnel since (but the occassional bay for the high-po rinse). Still have some swirls to contend with, but...baby steps.
 
Two guys at work have new f150's. They were talking about washing and waxing. I listened, and then printed the "How to Wash" article (available here) for each of them. They understood what detailing was when I told them that was step 1 (of at least 3) for a new vehicle.
They don't think I'm crazy, they are just turned off by the extra work.
 
After some of the things that have been listed here i think its possible that a swirl-o-matic would be better than a 'hand' wash in these circumstances. Maybe that's how car washes can say safer than hand washing because these things are what the average person really does...
 
DJ Richard said:
A neighbor just got a new suv and about a week later I saw the daughter spray something onto a broom and proceeded to broom off the car and then the mom yelled at her for doing it wrong and told her to spray more stuff on the broom.
Click to expand...

Any guess as to what the 'stuff' was?

I'm guessing WD40, lol.
 
I've seen 2 goodies just by walking down my street in the past week. First one was a kid, probably 17 or 18 washing an altima in the driveway. As I was passing, flop goes the sponge onto the driveway, dip, keep washing..... I just shook my head. The other was just a big fat no-no when I watched an older guy drive his 'Vette into a charity car wash for the local grammar school. A few parents and a ton of kids. I couldn't watch.....
On any given day though, I watch livery cab drivers sit out front and wipe their paint with paper towels and windex.....
 
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Neighbor across the street from me has a mobile service come every week to wash all 3 of their cars on Saturday mornings. I've usually finished or am about to finish whatever car of ours I am doing by the time they arrive so I watch. They first spritz the car with a pressure washer (yes spritz and I am being kind), then dump a soapy bucket of water over each car and go car to car with the same wash media (worn out mitt) and rub the stuff around and then pressue wash rinse. They dry using the same terry towel for each car by rubbing it around. For this incredibly detailed wash they charge $20 per car. I never say a word but won;t let thme on my side of the street for fear.
 
garyg7133 said:
.....
On any given day though, I watch livery cab drivers sit out front and wipe their paint with paper towels and windex.....
Click to expand...

Haha that reminds me. My buddy bought a race bike that had tons of swirls and scratches on it. He said it bothered him so he had me correct them. After about 3-4 hours of correction I had it lookin good. He took it to the track, along with his other race bike and had someone ride the one I corrected. So when they were racing each other, the rear tire on the one I corrected broke loose at about 70mph and went down. Slid perfectly straight. Luckily the rider was not hurt at all and the bike only had scuffs in one spot.
Fast forward to last week. Bike was dirty has heck with dirt, dust and rain spots all over it from being caught in the rain on the truck. Well we were getting ready to race and he proceeded to give me and another guy paper towels and glass cleaner to clean it. Needless to say the swirls are back in it.
Here is the bike
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/37885-kawasaki-zx14.html
 
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