When is it safe to take my 2006 Civic into a carwash?

[JaCe]

Bought it in March this year and it's starting to attract dust on a regular basis! When can I take it to a service station car wash without damaging the paint?

Thanks!

[destrukshn]

look at the compliance plate, see what month the build date is.
usually, 3 months. i think it was.
like you can wash it normally, just normal soap after a few weeks, but buffing etc... wait i think it was either 3-6 months,

[lilwilliam]

umm dont the paint always get scratched by carwashes anyway? (correct me if im wrong) I think your better off just washing it by hand and your not relying on a machine to wash it for you :P

[nugget666]

WAs hit by hand with normal soapy car wash and bucket.

just dont go polishing or buffing for a 3 - 4 months.

[saxman]

it's never safe for the paint to be ran through one of those machines

[Kandy]

it's never safe for the paint to be ran through one of those machines
so true!!
as everyone else said wash it by hand with soap and water and use a nice chamoi to dry it off properly.
use car soap and not dishwashing detergent though, eww

[m3ntAL_l2]

^^^^^^^ did that once on my old car, not good :(
the detergent left lots of dots on the paint

[rhk]

meguires gold class car wash> mechanical car washes

also you can get a huge bottle of one of those for around 30$ (at your local supa cheap auto) and it is imo one of the best if not the best you can buy and it lasts for ages

[JaCe]

I've just found myself too busy lately to give my car the wash it requires, and with water restrictions, it's very awkward/physically difficult to wash the car as I live on a hill, with the tap at the bottom of the hill. I'm also not too concerned about scratches because now I've had it keyed, the front has scratches from some dickhead dropping something onto the side (you can see it's a slight scratch), etc... I've been using that spray on car wash lately but it doesn't work too well when there's alot of dirt on the car.

I'm thinking of trying those brushless machine washes... apparently they aren't as effective as normal machines with the huge noisy roller, but they also are alot better for your car? *shrugs* Any thoughts?

[nugget666]

I've just found myself too busy lately to give my car the wash it requires, and with water restrictions, it's very awkward/physically difficult to wash the car as I live on a hill, with the tap at the bottom of the hill. I'm also not too concerned about scratches because now I've had it keyed, the front has scratches from some dickhead dropping something onto the side (you can see it's a slight scratch), etc... I've been using that spray on car wash lately but it doesn't work too well when there's alot of dirt on the car.

I'm thinking of trying those brushless machine washes... apparently they aren't as effective as normal machines with the huge noisy roller, but they also are alot better for your car? *shrugs* Any thoughts?




But it is very strong, so it will strip off all the wax from your paint. And it will also dry out plastic and rubber trim. So make sure you wax and apply trim detailer (like 303 or armorall) on all plastic and rubber parts.

Laser car wash is still more gentle than using a brush or those roller car washes.


quoted from another thread

[theHKway]

i just go to the DIY car washes they have
$1 gets me high pressure soap spray
leave the soap on for a few mins to lift the dirt
then another $1 get me a high pressure rinse.
give it a good wipe down with a expensive chamios and its good as gold

once a week is as good as good honda!

[aaronng]

I see my quote. LOL....

Stay away from roller washers. You might as well let your car be dirty as hell rather than use those rollers. An alternative is Crystal car wash. They wash it by hand and so far the one I've used in Chatswood (it's a franchise) didn't swirl my paint badly. Not cheap at $18 though (includes a coffee of your choice). Stay away from Maroubra's Crystal car wash, that place is dodgy.

[BiLL|z0r]

Those roller washers are crap. If you like scratches you're going to gets lots then plus they leave soap spray everywhere.

[EuroAccord13]

If you want to be anal about it... They use recycled water as well.. A Big No No for me...

Stick to the good olde hand wash :D

[Zilli]

dont even take your car through a carwash if you are particular with the way your paint looks... one 15 minute wash will take hours to fix.

The second point i wanted to make is that the paint on new cars is cured for long enough that buffing and polishing wont be anyhting for you to worry about. Yes check the compliance, but thats not always a fair indication because the paint applied tto your car is not the last thing done...

i wouldnt worry about buffing a car as soon as i bought it from the showroom

[LXRY]

Dont do it to your car.

Car washes are the pits, scratch city. Try crystals like arronng qouted in earlier post. Or if you are male look for bikini wielding car washes. I know we got one in Melbourne called kittens, which i frequent often lol, if your lazy like me and enjoy want a bit of scenery at the same time...roflol

[JaCe]

LOL I'm in Sydney... didn't think those bikini washes even existed over here in Australia.

That Crystal car wash... i've heard of it but can't remember where i've seen it. I'll look into it. At $18- it's not too bad. Sure a Shell one or something probably costs like $9 which is half the price, but I'd pay a bit more to know it wasn't screwing around with my car... does that $18 include anything else? I know at work there's a $35 service which does both inside and outside of the car but that's probably for people driving expensive Beemers and the like.

[aaronng]

LOL I'm in Sydney... didn't think those bikini washes even existed over here in Australia.

That Crystal car wash... i've heard of it but can't remember where i've seen it. I'll look into it. At $18- it's not too bad. Sure a Shell one or something probably costs like $9 which is half the price, but I'd pay a bit more to know it wasn't screwing around with my car... does that $18 include anything else? I know at work there's a $35 service which does both inside and outside of the car but that's probably for people driving expensive Beemers and the like.They wash your car, dry it, clean the inside of your windows and windscreen. And you get a coffee.