We EXceL at Making Cars Look Great!
There are 4 primary ways of washing your car. They are an automatic car wash that pulls your car along a conveyor through a tunnel with various brushes, water jets, and other equipment designed to remove the dirt from your vehicle. The second one is an automatic touchless car wash. This variety uses powerful water jets and detergents to remove the dirt and grime from your vehicle but does not employ any spinning brushes and such as in the first method listed. The third is a self-care car wash that is outfitted with all the supplies necessary to manually wash your car yourself. There are normally foaming brushes, and a power washer hose that can dispense cleaners, rinse agents and even waxes/sealants for your car. The fourth method is where you manually wash your car using a hose, bucket, car wash, wash mitt and washing your car by hand. Each of these methods have their pros and cons.
Pros: This variety is quick and easy. Drive up, pay your fee and let the tunnel wash begin. Many employ a variety of brushes or fabric strips to clean your vehicle, offer cool flashing lights, have signs to tell you what is happening, can dispense various protection products such as waxes and sealants, wheel cleaners, and employ strong dryers to blow off the water as you exit. When finished your vehicle looks clean and shiny and off you go.
Cons: This method is costly. Possible detergents, abrasive brushes, and fabric strips that pick-up abrasives can damage your paint, trim, and possibly body panels such as spoilers, ground effects, and other such niceties. As wash equipment that wears and is not maintained properly makes all those issues mentioned even more likely. The damage can be minor such as light scratches in the clear coat on the tops and sides of the vehicle, water spots, or more extensive damage such broken trim pieces, and deeper scratches in the vehicle finish.
Pros: This variety as mentioned above uses high powered water jets to rinse, apply detergents, re-rinse and if wanted apply a wax or sealant to protect the surfaces. Touchless car washes as the name implies do not uses and brushes or equipment that touch your car.
Cons: Touchless car washes do not typically get your car quite as clean as Automatic Washes that employ brushes and such. Using this method more frequently is one way to offset the use of damaging equipment such as brushes but also increases the cost. Another possible negative of this type of wash is the detergents maybe harmful or damaging of your vehicle finish stripping of waxes/sealants, or even causing paint to fade.
Pros: Having a heated space to wash your car in the winter is nice. No need to drag out your own hoses and supplies, nor purchase car wash if you elect to use theirs. You have control of what you use and don’t use and can bring your own supplies as some car owners do just taking advantage of the space, water, etc. If you don’t have the pace to wash your car at home this a safer method than two listed prior. I would, however, mention that using the “foaming brush” may not be a good idea if it has other contaminants already in it.
Cons: You do have to do the work yourself (laborious). Those waiting behind you can become impatient if you are too particular, and some wash bays are not always kept very clean.
Pros: This method allows you to use the products and equipment to best wash your car and maintain its appearance. It is by far the least likely method to damage your vehicle assuming you have some idea of what you are doing. Will likely result in cleaning your car better than using the other methods listed.
Cons: It is laborious. You need to have a suitable space and supplies to do the manual washing. It uses more water than previous methods listed.
It is good to bear in mind that detailers like EXL Auto Detailing offer hand washing services that are safe, effective and produce the best finish. At EXL, we use a hand wash method with grit guards in our buckets that trap the dirt so it isn’t easily picked up again when dipping your wash mitt. We use car wash that is safe and effective for removing road grime, we thoroughly rinse and then dry the vehicle using microfiber drying towels that are regularly cleaned and dried. We, also, offer additional surfaces such clay treatment, decontamination to remove brake dust and tar, and apply hydrophobic spray sealants to safely protect your car and give it a beautiful shine. No, we are not as convenient or fast like the automated car washes. However, when spending upwards of $50K to $100k on a vehicle, why risk having hundreds or even thousands of dollars in damage inflicted by automated car washes.
The two bucket car wash method is a technique to clean your car without scratching it. The steps are:
I use premium grade products to beautify and protect your car. Using a powerful extractor I can remove deep stains out from carpets, floor mats, and upholstery. I use various buffers for paint correction, compounding, and applying polish and wax coats. This enables me to leave a beautiful shine, without any damaging swirl marks. In fact, orbital buffers are the perfect tool for removing swirl marks.
My shop is around the back of my house and I am able to accommodate any vehicle less than 82″ tall.
I am committed to surpassing my customers expectations and providing professional and exceptional quality. If you are interested in having your car detailed, please call for a free estimate and an appointment. EXL offers pickup and delivery within 5 miles.
Call Steve for professional auto detailing on your car, truck, or van!