Hello everyone.

I’ve been curious about car cleaning options lately. Many promise no scratches and thorough cleaning, but do they actually deliver? I recently tried a touchless car wash, and I’m wondering how well it handles tough grime, bugs, or salt buildup compared to traditional methods.

Also, how safe are these systems for paint, wax, or ceramic coatings over time? I’m looking for honest experiences, especially from people who’ve used touchless systems regularly. Are they a genuine upgrade or just a convenient gimmick?

Would love to hear your real-world verdicts.

 

thanks in advance for any help

 

They're not necessarily an upgrade. They're an alternative. The biggest reason to go through a touchless wash is if you cannot hand-wash your vehicle due to atmospheric conditions (aka the weather sucks). The selling point to touchless washers is that there's no physical spinning brush hitting your car. If you have accessories such as roof racks, offroad lights, or radio antennas - those spinning brushes will rip those items off and fling them around in a violent manner - causing all kinds of damage.

Up here in Maine, we HAVE to use these drive through washes to get the salt off our cars. No matter how supposedly advanced metallurgy has gotten in the modern age, the brine they put on the roads is absolutely brutal to ANY metal - even Aluminum.

Regardless of the supposed chemicals that the touchless washes use - its nothing compared to the damage that salt can cause (see attached picture of my Toyota FJ - this is considered "good condition" up here).

If you can't hand wash because the water freezes instantly, you have no indoor heated wash bay - touchless is your next best alternative IMO.

 

If you are planning on sipping a latte at your local concours event and discussing paint correction tips with Corvette owners, then I'm sure a local detailer will happily charge you $400 to wash your car with baby tears and sperm whale oil shampoo. For those of us who use our vehicles daily, a touch free car wash is a great way to get mud, salt, and road grime off the paint and undercarriage. I don't really understand the obsession with shine and polish, but each to their own. I run though a touchless wash once every two weeks or so, and then when they have finally stopped using salt I go to the self service and really blast underneath with the handheld jets for a spring clean.

 

I have commented on this before. I'm a carwash owner, conveyorized tunnel with soft foam brushes, all equipment from MacNeil - the absolute best in the industry.

A well maintained establishment will always deliver a clean vehicle without any risk (granted you didn't ornate your rig with aftermarket crap), I've been doing this for over 20 years now, the closed-cell foam materials used nowadays are specifically designed to 1. Not trap dirt 2. Keep bringing the natural shine of clear coat paint more and more at every wash. At my establishment absolutely no acidic products are used. Zero. On the wrongly perceived as "safe" touch-less carwashes, you'll be soaking your vehicle with extremely strong acids, which is the only way any dirt can be removed from the car (poorly I should add) without friction.

Not all carwashes are created the same - look for those who are family businesses, owner operated and maintained and not owned by private-equity as those people have no clue about this industry, all they care about is the numbers and when the equipment starts to get out of whack and not maintained, they ask why customers are leaving and going elsewhere.

Usually the busy ones are well maintained - otherwise they won't be able to be busy - I am able to wash about 500 cars / day towel drying at the end on busy days, some can wash over 1,000 /day but those are longer tunnels and cars travel inside almost bumper-to-bumper and no towel dry by staff at the exit end.

It also depends on the State you live in, weather plays a big role on the model of operation.

Those are my .02c

 

I can 2nd this 100% here in Minnesota. I buy a monthly unlimited membership for about $70 for each of my cars. In the winter I'll run them through 3-4 times a week. The salt is brutal on cars and keeping the undercarriage clean is essential here.