If you have Ceramic Coating or Wax applied to your paintwork, you can be sure it will be degraded or completely stripped after a couple of runs through one of these touchless car wash systems. Harsh ChemicalsĪs I mentioned above, one of the other methods of cleaning these touchless washes implement is the use of extremely powerful and harsh chemical detergents to break down the dirt on top of the paintwork.Īgain, I feel that these harsh chemicals are not clear coat safe in the long run and I wouldn’t recommend any car be exposed to them over an extended period. This excessive force from the jets can send debris from a heavily soiled vehicle across the paintwork and end up leaving scratches on the paintwork.Īside from the scratches, I don’t like the sound of any excessive force on the clear coat of paint and I am sure that if you are constantly running a car through these types of washes, it will damage it over time. To make up for the lack of friction, touchless car washes operate with a much higher force of pressure than your typical automated wash with brushes. While the touchless washer is deemed Safer for your paintwork, they are not completely without risk. So, with all this lack of friction going on, are they safe for your paintwork? Are Touchless Car Washes Safe for Paint? To help close the gap, touchless automatic car washes usually use a combination of high pH and low pH cleaning solutions to break down the dirt, to try to make up for the lack of friction cleaning. When it comes to touchless car washes, the use of High pressure can’t completely replace physically touching the surface of your paint to get it clean. The main components involved in washing a car ( Automated or Manual) are The difference is that instead of brushes it uses high-pressure water jets and more powerful chemicals to lift the dirt from the paintwork. In these systems, nothing (other than water and detergent) will physically come in contact with your car. But are they any safer/better? And are they an effective solution for washing your vehicle?Ī touchless car wash is an automated car wash, without the use of brushes and bristles.

In these new types of systems, nothing but water touches the vehicle’s exterior. This is not the type of risk you want to take with your pride and joy.Ī lot of these systems that use brushes are outdated and more modern ones are now “ Touchless” Systems. I have often heard of wing mirrors or antennas being snapped off with ease. These systems are far from gentle on your car and can often use excessive force as they work their way around the vehicle. I have seen the damage they cause first hand and it can be quite severe. This can end in some serious scratches being inflicted on your cars paintwork and you can guarantee you will end up with some medium to serve to swirl in your finish. These brushes will be dragged across your paintwork, often with great force. What happens when you bring your car through next? Hundreds of cars go through these systems every day of the week, and as a result, the brushes will pick up all of the dirt from these cars. The brushes and bristles on these systems are packed with dirt and debris. So if you are not already aware, and I assume that most readers of this blog will have the common sense to know this, below are some of the dangers of these wash systems The Dangers of Automated Washes ( Touch ) The Brushes The average joe doesn’t consider ( or even know ) the implications of running a car through an automated wash system that you would find at most petrol stations. If these automatic car washes are so bad then why do most of the general population use them on their cars? One word. One question I regularly get asked is how do I feel about automatic car washes, and right off the bat I will tell people that they are the root of all evil and will more than likely damage your cars paintwork and degrade the finish while giving your car a sub-par clean.

Swish car wash