Any thoughts about "Touchless Car Wash" for old Volvo?

Will it damage the paint on my 1993 240 sedan?

 

Plain soap*, warm water, and carnuba wax.

This is hard to find anymore. It shouldn't have ammonia in it,
skin softeners, antibacterial agents, or be concentrated. Just
plain soap.

That leaves basically something like Ivory - like the stuff
you use on baby clothes and maybe one of the cheap brands.
IIRC, Chyrstal White Octagon comes in unscented and works
pretty well as it's pretty close to plain soap.

Wash and wax takes a little time, but it's worth it doing it
the old fashioned way.

 

It's a little cold to do it yourself in some parts of the world. On the
really cold days I will goto the touchfree because there is a dryer, so my
car doesn't ice up as badly... They are safe on the paint, but don't do
nearly as good a job as done by hand.... They also don't take 2-3 hours ;-).

 

I think the original poster means a product they sell on TV infomercials.
You smear it all over the car and then wipe it off again with a clean cloth
(like the way you wax). No soak down, rinse, or chamois.

 

No, actually, I meant a car wash that is "touchless". As Rob said, in
some part of the world you have 2 feet of snow on the ground and it's
darn cold to wash your car. Spring, Summer and fall is not a problem,
but washing a car at below freezing temp!!!!!

In any case, after spending more than an hour searching the net, I
found someone who did go through a touchless car wash with a '89
corvette and the car needed a new paint job after. Must be pretty bad
since the car wash owner agreed to pay $2,000, but the corvette owner
wants them to pay the $3,900 he was quoted.

Thanks for your replies.

 

I've never even heard of a touchless car wash, what is it?

 

I did too. It's crap. You have to lift the dirt off the paint and
suspend it. Carefully. Or else you create tons of micro fine scratches
from the crud. Soap and gentle washing does a good job. smear+dirt and
wipe off just sounds like asking for trouble to me.

 

AH!

It's a car wash that uses no cloths/brushes and instead uses nothing
but high pressure oscillating jets of water.

As you might imagine, it's simmilar to the self-service coin operated
car washes of doom(tm) that you commonly see around town. Poor job
and hard on the finish.

 

Weird, never seen one.

I know what you mean about those self serv washes though, they do generally
have a foam brush for scrubbing so you can do a decent job, but it's not
much cheaper than an automatic wash and takes more time. They do work nicely
for cleaning oily old engine compartments and washing down parts like
transmissions to make them ready for an install.

 

You can see a pic at the link below.

It costs the same than old fashioned car wash (with brush and all).

http://www.hanscom.af.mil/66SVS/touchless_car_wash.htm

I don't deny it does a good job. BUT, water penetrates the keyholes
of doors and trunk. Water freezes and you might not be able to
lock/unlock. Also, the water pressure is so strong, I ended up with a
small amount of water in the trunk. And some soap residue above the
doors.

My only concern is damages to the paint and all. That will be one
hell of a dirty car if I cannot find a location with a garden hose AND
cold water and must wait until it is above freezing to wash it. Maybe
I should move to Phoenix

 

You drive in, and hit stops. Then a system of jets washes your car under
super high pressure. Starts with an underbody cleaning, then mists the car,
lets it soak in, sprays on the soap, lets it soak, then it does the wheels,
the rocker panels, then it will wash the whole car with water, apply a wax,
and clearcoat sealer to the car.... and then you drive your car thru a
heated air dryer system, and it comes out only slightly damp..... My VW and
Volvo 960 handle touchless washes with EASE, the paint looks good after
going thru it... I'm happy, works well in the winter.

 

We don't have much other choice in Canada in the winter.... my car gets a
good coating of road salt on it each week.... In the worst of winter im
paying like 10 dollars a week to keep the salt from eating my car....
Nothing we can do here, just a fact of life. When the summer comes I get out
the wax and goto town on the somewhat "abused" paint job.... It's no wonder
Ontario cars rust out or have peeling/faded/downright aweful paint on
them.... Luckily out 960 doesn't see much of the winter, and is in nearly
showroom condition... Our 2 VW's see the abuse, and after 12 years we had to
retire our old Golf because water was leaking in thru tiny rust perforations
around the windsheild and killing the electrical system. My 4.5 year old
Golf's paint is already looking kinda ugly compared to a 2003/4 model.

 

That sucks, you almost need plastic or stainless cars in those areas, around
here it's rare to see significant rust on even a 30 year old car.

 

I'm no far from you in Rochester, NY and we have the same problem.

Here we have two kinds of touchless car washes. There is the Laserwash
4000, which is an automated car wash that has no employees you can see.
There is also a Delta Sonic which is a gas station that has a touchless
car wash called "Super Kiss", but this one is much more like a brushed
car wash of old. It only has some hanging felts that snake fore and aft
after some blue soap has been placed on the car. It has an air knife
dryer followed by a soft rag equipped human that dries the car. You
also get an underbody wash and some "clearcoat protectant".

Conveniently, they also offer a three cent discount per gallon on gas if
you buy the Super Kiss wash.

This is the one that I use all the time. The wash is about $10, but it
has a "return in 5 days free rewash" (no questions asked).

My problem is to get from the car wash to home without getting the salt
spray all over the car again, so I take odd routes at low traffic times
and at lowered speeds. It's a goofy game.

I use a Canadian service called Krown Rustproofing. You go once per year
and they shoot thin oil inside your body panels and in areas where rust
typically develops. The supposed advantage of the Krown process is that
it gets into nooks and crannies where the thicker Ziebart would never
get. Their motto is "It has to drip to work". When you get it done,
your car drips this thin oil for about two days. It's not too bad, and
so far (for the last 4 years) I think it has stopped much rust. But you
need to do it every year. I don't know why they don't offer a similar
service in the US, but I've never seen it. Only costs about $75 a
treatment when Canadian/US exchange is considered.

Every four years I have a complete rust removal with metal replacement,
and a complete repaint. I get it done very economically (1/2 US Prices)
in Canada at a shop that specializes in this kind of work. People think
I'm nuts, but I love the car, and it's cheaper than new car payments.

PS: I do this on my pristine '78 245DL with 250000 current miles.

 

For sure, the paint still fades like crazy tho if you had
stainless/plastic.... Salt in the winters, and holes in the ozone layer
under a bright sunny day in southern Ontario ruin cars..... I've seen some
North American cars with peeling paint, that aren't even 5 years old...
Ontario is hell on cars.... up to 40°+ C with the humidity in the summer,
and down to -35° or less in the winter, with the windchill. Cars running too
much antifreeze sometimes overheat in the summer, drained batteries in the
winter that seemed fine in the summer because they ran so nice, no one
checked them out.... If you don't wax 3 times during the warmer season your
coating will not make it thru the winter.