Skip to content
AutoPros.online

Automotive Information, News and Blog | AutoPros.online

  • News
  • Car Mods
  • Detailing
  • Repairs
    • DTC Codes
    • Vin Lookup
  • Reviews
  • Business
  • Home
  • Detailing
  • Here’s How Automatic Car Washes Damage Your Paint
  • Detailing

Here’s How Automatic Car Washes Damage Your Paint

Kobe Brown June 18, 2021 3 min read
Automatic Car Wash

It pains me to see all the folks pulling into automatic car washes with their brand new vehicles. They simply don’t realize the damage they’re causing to their car’s paint. I’ve been detailing cars for many years now and personally had to fix the damage caused by automatic car washes.

Swirls… all I see are swirls when I shine light on a black car that’s been through automatic car washes its entire life. The owners thought they were doing a good job keeping their ride clean, but they didn’t realize it was causing swirls and scratches all those years.

Car Washes Use Recycled Water

Since they’re designed to be environmentally friendly, most automatic car washes will recycle the water. The water will go through a filtration system, so it can be re-used again to wash more cars. It sounds great, and being environmentally friendly is a great thing – but the filtration systems are not perfect. Small pieces of debris will still make it through to be used in the “clean” water when it’s all said and done.

That grit will cause scratching on the surface of any vehicle that it gets used on.

Cheap Cleaning Chemicals

In an attempt to maximize profits, these automatic car washes use some of the cheapest cleaning chemicals to wash vehicles. Even though your car will look clean when it leaves, the acidic car shampoo has already done its damage.

If your car was waxed, it will have stripped away the wax or shortened the lifespan of whatever protective coating that’s on your paint.

If you don’t have any protective coating, then it most definitely started to erode the paint. You won’t notice it immediately, but after years of using an automatic car wash, you will begin to see the paint has faded quickly.

Touchless Car Washes Don’t Remove All Dirt

Automatic car washes are sometimes touchless, meaning the only thing that comes into contact with your car is water and soap. A combination of high pressure water and poor choice of chemicals will definitely strip away protective coatings.

The touchless washes often fail to remove all the dirt from vehicles, especially in tight areas. Wheels often don’t get cleaned thoroughly either.

Look Close! The Rotating Brushes Are Covered in Dirt

Traditional automatic car washes will use rotating brushes to scrub your car – but you don’t realize that the guy before you was in a jacked-up F-250 covered in mud. Maybe he was 5 cars ahead of you, the damage will be the same. These brushes don’t get thoroughly cleaned and rinsed off themselves, so they are going to scratch your paint the eff up!!

Hand Drying is Always the Best Option

Another problem with automatic car washes is the drying technique at the end, where you drive off and let the hot air dry your car. Even if you creep through and go as slow as possible, it’s often not sufficient. Water will continue to drip from your mirrors are other tight areas – often leaving water spots on your car.

If you decide to go through an automatic car wash, choose a touchless carwash, and be ready to apply a protective coating or spray wax afterward. Get out, dry the car, and use a spray wax and microfiber cloth to apply.

But really, avoid automatic car washes at all cost if you care about your vehicle’s paint.

Kobe Brown

Car enthusiast with a strong love for detailing cars! I’m always keeping up with the latest industry news and watching out for the newest cars to be released. Wishing a lot of these fancy concept cars would come to life but they never do. Follow me for automotive news, detailing tips and repair help.

Continue Reading

Previous: How to Safely Remove a Dealership Decal From Your Car
Next: Cleaning Dirty Wheels with Optimum No Rinse

Related Stories

Paint Correction with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Polish Polishing with Meguire's Ultimate Car Compound
7 min read
  • Detailing

Paint Correction with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Polish

November 1, 2022
Bissell SpotClean ProHeat Demo and Review Bissell Spotclean Proheat review
5 min read
  • Detailing
  • Reviews

Bissell SpotClean ProHeat Demo and Review

November 1, 2022
Quick Car Cleaning Tips – Clean Your Car the Right Way Car cleaning tips
3 min read
  • Detailing

Quick Car Cleaning Tips – Clean Your Car the Right Way

November 1, 2022
  • Paint Correction with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Polish
  • How to Increase the Horsepower in Vehicles with a Chevy 350 Engine
  • Bissell SpotClean ProHeat Demo and Review
  • Quick Car Cleaning Tips – Clean Your Car the Right Way
  • Best Electric Garage Heaters Under $200

You may have missed

Paint Correction with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Polish Polishing with Meguire's Ultimate Car Compound
7 min read
  • Detailing

Paint Correction with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Polish

November 1, 2022
How to Increase the Horsepower in Vehicles with a Chevy 350 Engine Chevy 350 engine mods
4 min read
  • Car Mods

How to Increase the Horsepower in Vehicles with a Chevy 350 Engine

November 1, 2022
Bissell SpotClean ProHeat Demo and Review Bissell Spotclean Proheat review
5 min read
  • Detailing
  • Reviews

Bissell SpotClean ProHeat Demo and Review

November 1, 2022
Quick Car Cleaning Tips – Clean Your Car the Right Way Car cleaning tips
3 min read
  • Detailing

Quick Car Cleaning Tips – Clean Your Car the Right Way

November 1, 2022

AutoProsOnline

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Amazon Affiliate Disclosure
  • Contact Us

Auto Repair Help

  • DTC Codes
  • Vin Lookup
  • Repairs
  • Car Mods
Copyright © 2020-2022 AutoPros.Online. All rights reserved. AutoPros.Online is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com | DarkNews by AF themes.