How-To: Wash Your Car at a Self-Serve Car Wash

Our friend Joel over at Dethroner posted a cool bit today about how to wash your car properly at those high-pressure self-serve car washes. From the post:
“For [Joel’s friend] Mike, washing cars is therapy. Hell, he’d wash yours if it needed it. I asked him to explain his technique, honed as it has been through hundreds of washes. After the jump: his system for a ‘quick wash’ — a sort of pock-me-up for a dirty ride, but something less that a full-blown clay-and-Q-tip makeover.”
First of all, I totally understand where Mike’s coming from. Back when I had more time to myself, I used to spend a good chunk of the day washing my cars. The apartment complex I lived in had a “free” high-pressure wash, and it was almost always abandoned in the middle of the day. So I spent a good bit of time there getting my own therapy.
Anyway, this is a cool post and you should check it out.
Car Wash: The Pinoy Power Shower Hour [Dethroner]
Only bit of advice I have about those self-serve car washes is to make sure to check the thermometer before you wash your car.
I went to college in Syracuse, and it may as well have been the arctic circle – because it was cold, snowy, and nasty from October through May if you were lucky. (side note at one of my best friends’ graduation, it was May 12th, Mother’s Day – and it SNOWED!!) In any case, I digress… My point being that cars tended to accumulate filth rather quickly – and I, being rather fastidious, liked to keep it clean. The only option up there for me back then was one of these self-serve car washes. On one particularly frigid day I happened to drive by the car wash and noticed a few open bays. Well, I began as I usually do with a little bit of a rinse, and started on the passenger side and worked my way over to the driver’s side. By the time I came across the front of the car to put some soap on the passenger side – it had already frozen into a solid sheet of ice!
I ended up having to quickly run to the driver’s door and open it before it became glued shut – even then I still had to yank pretty hard. Needless to say, I wasted a few quarters that day.
Using some of the new pressure washers actually makes it tolerable. It’s important to clean the interior portions of the wheels to remove brake dust and other gunk once in a while. I’ve noticed that I get the best results with 600 to 1,000 PSI for cleaning a car. No need to go crazy, but staying clean is important. Makes you feel better!