Now that winter is getting on my x-type is starting to look like it could use a good washing. I'm a bit concerned about going to the car wash for two reasons: 1) having those big swinging cloths get stuck on the hood ornament, and 2) I recall something about the underbody wash causing problems with the ABS sensors. Any suggestions?

 

Jaguar - Car wash!! Please! No, no, no! The tlc deserved by all of the Cat class does not include a mechanical car wash! A bucket and Mr Meguiar's products as a minimum!

Just my biased opinion, as ever!

 

There are "touchless" car washes that don't pull the vehicle through. I've used those with no problems.

 

Personally, Jaguar or not I'd be of the same opinion as Astromorg.

If you have a beaten up, tatty, on its last legs daily driver, maybe, even that would be a maybe for me.

Seriously, perhaps you have a handy hand car wash that you might trust to clean it for you?
Failing that, I'd honestly suggest that you're better off leaving it dirty until you can hand wash yourself, your paint will thank you and you car will look better for longer......

See below some half and half's......these show paint afflicted by swirl marks as those inflicted by drive thru car washes and poor hand wash technique, over time....

It also shows the other half corrected to look as it should....

 

For those who don't face any weather, it is easy to say--wash by hand! When temperatures get below freezing, washing by hand is not possible because you can't rinse!

There are quite a few "touchless" car washes where I live. Turn off your proxy (if you are using one), and google "touchless car wash". You should see several where you live.

Sometimes they are essential--and yes they are fine to use.

I find it hard to believe that the ABS would be affected by water being shot up the under carriage, but I haven't done that yet on my Jag. None of my other ABS cars current or past have been affected.

This is the best way I know how to get salt off the under carraige during the winter months.

Hope that helps.

 

Well, I got a couple of buckets, one with soapy water and one for rinsing, a sponge for each and did a little wash on the sides of the care where the salt/grime was the worst. Did this in the garage where the temperature was about 45 degrees.
Next day, had the car outside, temps got down to 3 degrees. Result: frozen door handles!
Apparently, a bit of water got under the handle and never dried.
Probably would be best to leave as is until it warms up a bit. Winter is not my favorite season.

 

One thing you have to watch with the Touchless washes is the water quality. Some places don't filter their water, and I've also heard of other places which reuse the runoff. Water at high pressure with minute dirt particles and whatever other impurities would be like a sandblaster in the worst cases. I know it's a bit nitpicky, but hard water could ALSO cause some damage in the worst scenarios.
Another thing to consider is Touchless washes and a convertible. I had a 95 Mustang years ago and I took it through a Touchless........ and as soon as the water started it made it past the otherwise watertight seals and soaked the whole interior. Granted, old Ford vs New Jag will probably not have that problem, but there is always a risk.
Bucket and soft cloth for me, every time.

 

Everybody that is against the car wash is completely correct. No argument here. They swirl and scratch cars, specially dark paints. My 3 cars are British Racing Green and show every imperfection.....

HOWEVER...

My X type goes thru the pull thru car wash sometimes 2 times a week, (and not the touchless type) and then I spray the liquid turtle wax for black cars to cover swirls and imperfections. Truth is my X type is my daily driver, and I already spend too much time hand washing my E type and XJS and perfecting their paint with the Porter Cable XP. I can't dedicate that kind of care and time for the X. So far no adverse results from constant runs thru car washes.

 

Hey Jim, I have been using the Wolfgang stuff to remove swirls in my E and XJS with the Porter Cable XP....how good is the Dr. Beasley's? Have you tried it personally? I want something that's more user friendly.

 

I've never used automatic car washes with brushes in my life for one simple reason.
Back in 1970 my aunt bought a new car. If memory serves me it was a Dodge Monaco, a giant beast of an American luxury car. A week after taking delivery she decided to run it through one of those spinning brush car washes. Unfortunately the vehicle in front of her didn't lower their radio antenna and it was ripped off and got caught in the brushes. For 2-3 minutes the antenna slapped and scraped every inch of the car damaging every panel, ripping off trim pieces and chipping every window. Although insurance covered the repair it was never quite the same. It's two buckets for me and the Jag in the garage until the salt is washed away by the spring rain.

 

I see it this way, if you are worried about the car wash affecting your ABS sensors, then you had better not run through a puddle. Much more water hits the wheel in a puddle than a car wash could ever think of doing. So, from that point of view, I think people are being overly protective of their car.

As for the "brushing" of the car during a car wash, I will tend to agree that the ones that scrub your car with the big wheels, it can be hard on the paint. Granted, the kitty on the front handles it just fine. I have run mine through a few times with no ill effects. I would advise though that if you are going to run it through, the brushless ones are less likely to have negative effects on the paint.

 

I have been taking my car through a car wash with the cloth curtains for 7 winters now and my leaper has never been affected, so I wouldn't worry about that.

As far as taking it through a car wash, I personally think a lot of the "hysteria" of going to a car wash or that are cars are too "classy" to be washed by a machine rather than by hand seems a bit is overblown. The pictures above I highly doubt are from cars that went through a car wash one time. To get that amount of swirling it looks like a car that has been neglected for quite a while. Same with the reused water stories with all the grit particles bombarding your finish. That sounds like a lot of hype and marketing more than anything. I'm not saying that there is no effect from going to car wash, just that I personally do not think the harmful effects are as bad as a lot of people think. You polish and wax your car on a regular basis and generally take car good care of your car I would think in 10 years the finish would look the same car wash or hand wash.

I personally would rather wash my car myself as I find it therapeutic and enjoy doing it, along with polishing and waxing it. But like another poster said, easier said than done when the high temperature doesn't get above 10 degrees F for days after several inches of snow come down and the roads are caked with salt. How many people can afford the time and money to regularly take a car to a hand wash/wax detail establishment on a regular basis.

 

Hey Spike, I'm sorry I can't comment on the Dr Beasleys as I haven't used it myself, its a stock photo to show how the cars paint should look and how it can look.



Alfa - Of course you have a valid point. Taking your car through a drive through car wash one time, perhaps even two or three will not make it appear as per the pic in my post above......At least its highly unlikely.

Repeat use of this type of car wash though will slowly but surely wreck your cars paint, so slowly you may not notice until its like the pic I attached previously

 

On touchless. The OP asked about using a car wash to get rid of salt on the car for the winter.

The point about car washes with spinners etc is a legit concern. As for touchless car washes using run off, I find that hard to believe. It would ruin their washing system.

I have a friend who owns a chain of these kind of car washes. They come with two filters to filter the water. They have to have them in order to protect the equipment--very expensive repairs othewise.

Hard water spots would only be an issue if you washed the car and left it there. Most, though not all, have a dryer, or you will drive off and most of the water would be blown off. Either way, this is low risk.

NOTE: I assume the car is waxed, which further reduces the risk.

Driving around with salt on your car is far worse, than not having it washed. It gets through the wax, and then pits your clear coat.

Washing by hand, as noted above, is not only painful in cold weather, but difficult to dry, causing frozen doors, handles, keyholes etc. And that is if you can get water out of a hose at all.

So, to the OP. I have used touchless car washes with no ill affects for years, other than they do not clean as thoroughly as a hand wash.

With reasonable awareness, find a touchless car wash and sleep fine.

 

All I know is that when my car looks like this (which is usually most of the time between December and March) whether or not a car wash does incremental damage to my paint is the last thing on my mind. Been doing this in winter since I bought it and the paint looks great after I clay bar it and polish it up come spring.

 

I don't drive my XKR in winter if there is any chance of snow, ice, water or other mess. However puddles sometime make a mess. I use one of those self-serve spray places for a quick hose down when necessary. Course, it doesn't get much below freezing during the day around here. We do get about four snow storms a year, but it usually goes away within a couple weeks, if not sooner. I have a truck for snow days. It's not that I so much don't want to drive in yuck weather, but mostly that I don't trust OTHER drivers.

 

Jim,

Check right at the back of the boot - you're bound to have it. Last time I looked you had every cleaning and polishing product known to man in there.

Graham

 

Funny guy.....lol

Ok, so I have a few cleaning products in the boot of my car, some new microfibers, a wash mitt, some wheel cleaning products, a few shampoos, some brushes for both interior and exterior, a litre of oil, change of clothes, windscreen wash & water, baseball bat, heavy duty jump leads, wd40, safety boots and hi viz jacket. I've got a few polishes, waxes and glazes and old microfibers for wheels and clean up along with Sonax full effect and tyre dressing of course.
There are a few different car scratch products such as ScratchX and T cut of all things too.

I also have an extended wheel wrench and of course the plastic sockets so as not to damage the alloys, Wet n Black, interior air freshener ( usually Febreze ), 2 air con bombs, white spray grease, Autoglym vinyl and Rubber essential for interiors..........

There may be a few other odds n sods such as maps, safety beacon for emergency use ( useful for the hard shoulder when there is serious traffic jams ) a plug in air pressure line, some detailing clay and lubricant and a few misc items, but..........

There is absolutely, positively no Dr Beasleys in there for sure

 

OK, so I went to the touchless car wash today. Paid my $10 for the "deluxe" wash, including undercar wash. When through fine, no problems. Except, it really didn't get much cleaner than before.
So, I think the best strategy would be to pre-wash the worst parts in the garage, and then run it over to the car wash for final wash and rinse.
When my mother was elderly she used to have a Buick, and before a big rainstorm she would soap it up and then drive it around in the rain to rinse it off. We all thought she was loosing it. Now I think maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Or maybe now I'm loosing it...

 

There has been several threads by forum members reporting check engine lights and other types of error messages being triggered immediately after going through a car wash. It's not so much the amount of water hitting the car but the high pressure nozzles that are used especially UNDERNEATH the car that may be causing this issue. Why take a chance?