Tunnel Car Wash Brush Scratches

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Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.

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Tunnel Car Wash Brush Scratches


We used a rental car yesterday for some product testing and while the car was here and before we did any testing I took a few pictures of the horrendous scratches throughout the entire finish caused by a brush type automatic car wash.


Look around the reflected overhead light in the center of the car hood, you can see fine line scratches running in the direction of front to back, these are the type of scratches you'll commonly see in the paint of rental cars that are repeatedly run through brush style tunnel car washes.

CarWashScratches01.jpg




Here's some close up shots... keep in mind even the sides of the car had these same scratches evenly inflicted throughout all the panels.

CarWashScratches02.jpg




Here's a cropped out section from the above picture in full size...
CarWashScratches02c.jpg



And here's a "negative" of the above to show the pattern of the scratches from a different point of view...
CarWashScratches02cN.jpg



CarWashScratches03.jpg



Here's a cropped out section from the above picture in full size...
CarWashScratches03c.jpg




And here's a "negative" of the above to show the pattern of the scratches from a different point of view...
CarWashScratches03cN.jpg



The best way to wash your car is to take ownership of the car wash process and that way you control the the process from start to beginning.


Now if you purchased a used car, or someone has run your car through a brush style tunnel wash and you see these types of scratches in the paint, no worries, we can help you remove the scratches and restore a show room new finish either by hand or machine.

It's faster and more efficient to remove swirls and scratches by machine but Autogeek.net carries all the products you'll need and through the support of the AutogeekOnline.net forum community, we will see you through to success in your garage.


:)
 
LOL I think someone is running out of ideas for articles :)
 
Dubbin1 said:
LOL I think someone is running out of ideas for articles :)
Click to expand...


This is something that happened yesterday so I took the liberty to snap some photos. It actually worked out really nice because for the demo we need something in really bad condition.

My natural tendency is to take whatever is the topic at hand and if it lends itself to use on the forum then I use it. It's been working well for a long time... in fact, I was surprised at how many people I met at SEMA last year that said things like,

"I've been reading your articles for years"


Leaders in business that you might think never even get on a forum...

Pretty interesting...


:D
 
You don't know how funny this topic can be.

Last winter I had a rental car for six weeks while working on a clients documentary project.

My neighbors saw me not only washing it, but doing a two stage correction, interior steam clean and detail, but I even put it up on my lift and pressure washed the undercairrage. The only place I drew the line was in the final wax application. I refused to use up my Fuzion so I went with Megs NXT.

I got out of my driveway just before the men in the white coats came to take me away.
 
I hope we are not running out of ideas. That's what I was talking about on my dark blue Jag. Ordered some Nattys blue ect so we will see.
 
Just to note...


Another thing I thought was interesting at SEMA last year was how many people I met in the auto industry of whom I had never met previously and of course I didn't know their names... but a lot of these people knew my name primarily from reading online detailing discussion forums.

The point being to anyone reading this, if you want some type of extended career in this industry then consider using your real name on forums like this for the reasons I layout in the below articles...


Brand Yourself, Brand your Forum Nickname and Brand your Business Name

How to choose a name for your detailing business


You don't have to use your entire name, maybe something like Bill W. or B Williams, or any combination that your comfortable with. But if you're posting a lot and hoping to create a "name" for yourself, then it's just my opinion that trying to brand a forum nickname is not the best way to leverage your time and efforts. It can be done but in the real world you'll end up having to explain "who you are" via your nickname. Kind of awkward in a professional environment.

Most people reading this have careers outside the auto industry so a forum nickname is perfectly fine and the norm... but again... if you're wanting to find some kind of niche in the auto industry, especially the online auto industry, then read the two articles above as cyber-food for thought...


For what it's worth...


:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Just to note...


Another thing I thought was interesting at SEMA last year was how many people I met in the auto industry of whom I had never met previously and of course I didn't know their names... but a lot of these people knew my name primarily from reading online detailing discussion forums.
Click to expand...

Mike don't take this wrong but I think it more or less goes along with your job at at AG and when you were with Megs. Those people more then likely wouldn't have a clue who you are if you didn't work for the two mentioned companies. I have been on detailing forums for a long time and I honestly had no idea who you were when it was announced that you were coming to AG.

On another note I couldn't use my name as my username, as it is too many people confuse me with the AG and DC Dwayne.
 
To your fist point, completely makes sense... there still has to be an interest level in the general topic to start with... this applies to an article as well as a write-up on a detail project...

Dubbin1 said:
On another note I couldn't use my name as my username, as it is too many people confuse me with the AG and DC Dwayne.
Click to expand...

Sometimes a good name is already taken...


:dblthumb2:
 
yeah thats nasty. my boss used to buy a bunch of old avis and budget rentals to sell and they all looked pretty much like that. i tried to explain the shape that they were in and he explained it was job security for me so i said alright!
 
At one time I bought a used car that was a rental car . The scratches in the paint I got out, but the scratches in the windsheild I didnot get them out . Them brushes do a number on a car.
 
...and truthfully the paint is probably the best part of a rental. Backwards doughnuts, yeah never done that in my own car. :)
 
Strange, I bought a Jeep Patriot previously used as a rental car. Luckily they must have used touchless. . . or had a good detailer.
 
Mike, I will caution you in recommending people put too much personal info on the forums. Identity theft continues to be a big problem and the last thing you want to do is make it any easier for someone to start compiling info on you. I may lean toward the paranoid being in Law Enforcement, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
 
richy said:
Mike, I will caution you in recommending people put too much personal info on the forums. Identity theft continues to be a big problem and the last thing you want to do is make it any easier for someone to start compiling info on you. I may lean toward the paranoid being in Law Enforcement, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Click to expand...

I agree.

I think I worded my articles to state for people to only do what they're comfortable with if they have a business name then that is also an option, that is brand the business name instead of a personal name.

Here's just a few examples off the top of my head of people that successfully mix and brand their business name on forums.

  • Joe Fernandez does this with Superior Shine
  • Scott Hair does this with ScottWax
  • Shawn Sullivan does this with Sully's Detailing

Here are some examples of people that mix and brand their real name as a forum name on forums.

  • Nick Chapman uses his real name
  • Kevin Brown uses his real name
  • Anthony Orosco uses his real name


When I brought up the Meguiar's Online Discussion Forum in 2004, one of the rules we established is that all employees use a real name on the forum. We allowed them to choose if they wanted to use their full name or just a first name or a first name and initial. What we wanted to implement was transparency between the public and Meguiar's employees for a number of good reasons and since 2004 it's been working very well and a number of my former co-workers use their full names and to date, no issues, for example Jason Rose, Mike Stoops, Mike Pennington, etc.


But thank you for bringing up a great point and everyone reading this do be sure to head Richy's point as he sees this type of problem first hand.

As for me, knock on cyber-wood, I've never had a problem to date.


:dblthumb2:
 
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