Should I let them dry my car at the touchless car wash
 

I have been going to this Touchless car wash to get my car washed during the winter season. I do not want to stand in the cold and wash my car when it's freezing outside :(

The thing is that when the car comes out of the wash, 3-4 guys comes over and start drying the car with towels. I am scared they will scratch the paint, so should I just tell them to skip the drying part? Is it a good idea to get in the car and drive home, and let it air dry?

What do you guys think? Another idea is that I could use my own Zaino microfiber towels to dry it myself at the car wash.

What I do is if I have to use a "touchless" car wash. I drive it away without letting them towel it. I drive semi fast at a consistent speed. Then I pull into a local parking lot, break out a microfiber towel and a bottle of Detailing Spray (Users choice) and get any streaks that I can. Most of the time there aren't many at all.

Hell nah. :icon14:

Its still got dirt on it after a touchless, I wouldn't let them dry it. Touchless is ok for winter stuff, but its not really cleaning it.

A well kept soft touch place is much better for the car than touchless. Soft touch usually doesnt use as harsh chemicals and the good ones have special accommodations for spoilers. Touchless isnt as bad as people claim if you are just using it to get the bad stuff off like baked on dirt/bird poop or salt from the roads. That kind of dirt can ruin paint real fast. With that said, touch free will normally eat away most of the wax you may have left on the car. Id rather just do the blow dry over trusting a places towels that they may or may not clean as rigorously as required. If they drop a microfiber towel on the ground i doubt they instantly scrap it like i do. Another good thing to do is carry an "absorber" pad to dry off any missed areas after an auto wash.


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What color is your car?

Oh snap, junkman will give the the best advice here!

http://fcdn.mtbr.com/attachments/cal...her-84c7bf.jpg


EDIT:
after looking at the picture after posting it... its kinda... well... it looks like the dude is getting... uh... the holy ghost all up in him...

:icon17: :icon17:

It's black, this is after I came back from a touchless wash. http://i.imgur.com/e9AB03I.jpg

Hi Junkman, it's black

Perfect. :icon23:

Here's how you answer your own question. Get your camera out and using the macro function, shoot a picture of your paint so that the flash shows up in the picture. The macro function (usually denoted by a small icon of a flower), allows you to get close to your subject without the picture becoming blurry. Anything closer than 12 inches usually requires the macro function to be selected. Your picture should turn out like this.

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h...han2010_64.jpg

You can see what the "flash test" reveals. If you want to know if your your paint maintenance regimen is good or not, do a flash test. That will tell you the TRUTH. You won't have to take anyone's word for it, the truth will be staring you right in the face.

Here's a before and after shot I did of some paint I fixed. Notice how the flash is very big in the damaged paint and how small it is in the fixed paint. The reason the flash is so big in the damaged paint is because the flash is bouncing off the hundreds of scratches in the paint. This is what I call "light scatter". In the fixed paint, there is no damage for the flash to bounce off of so the light doesn't scatter. When light doesn't scatter, your paint perfectly beams the light away causing your paint to appear DEEP.

BEFORE:

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h...s/slo-cut4.jpg


AFTER:

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h...s/slo-cut5.jpg


Here's my car the first day that I bought it. Look at all the damage in the paint. The color looks dull and lifeless. There is no depth.

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h...s/new_ride.jpg


This is after I fixed it. It does NOT have one drop of wax on it in this picture:

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h.../washpics0.jpg

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h.../washpics3.jpg

See the depth? That's what damage-free paint will do for you. If you are doing anything wrong to your paint, the flash test is going to tell you volumns, especially on a black car.

So take a picture and let's see what you're staring at. At that point, I can unplug you from the Matrix and lead you to Zion. That's if you want to take the red pill. ;)

How do you fix it?

You start by watching the videos in my sticky at the top of this forum.