Tell us more TJ. Tell us in detail why automated car washes suck. I don't use them, but I'm curious for more info.
Think if it from a business point of view. What is the point of any business, at it's most basic level? It's to make money. Now executing this at a car wash usually comes in 1 of 4 ways.
1. Self serve, you put quaters into a machine and wash the car with spray guns and brushes that are already there trying to beat a clock. We'll skip this one.
2. Tunnel system where you car goes through an automatic assembly line and get blasted with spinning rotating brushes and soap.
3. Touchless where they spray only water and chemicals at high pressure to clean your car.
4. Hand wash, where dudes with mitts go over your car, with soap and water.
Tunnel system: The brushes they use on those things rotate at a high rate of speed and will create what's called micromarring and clearcoat surface abrasions which usually manifest as swirls. Good thing is that a detailer can usually buff these things out. Do you think they swap those brushes out regularly?
Touchless: By it's very nature, in order to get the car clean they have to use very caustic chemicals to remove the dirt, which will remove wax, the primary surface protectant on your car. Also, that much pressure on the paints surface can also cause micromarring on the paint as well. Undercarriage and
wheel wells this is acceptable. On paint surface this is not.
Hand wash: This is the "least worse" It resembles what you would do at home except at a industrial pace. Watch the washers, are they using separate brushes and mitts for
wheel and tires vs. paint and glass? Are they rinsing the mitts after every car, or just using the same ones over and over? Do they dry the car with an air compressor and knock out all the water in the seams, that will streak when you drive away? Do the towels they are using look like rags you would use to wipe down lawn furniture or do they look like microfiber drying towels? Does the glass cleaner they are using on the interior of your car have ammonia in it, that can damage your tint? You should ask that question.
Back to the basic premise. The car wash is all about volume, and speed. They can't be sitting there on a saturday afternoon (when eveyone goes to get the car wash), babying your ride. They need to knock it out as quickly as possible and move onto the next car. If using stronger concentrations of chemicals to wash the car in order to facilitate cleanliness, that can strip wax, they will do it. Why? To make money.
All of this is not my infinite wisdom, but is taught at Detailing 101 Class at Meguiars in Irvine, CA. If you live in SoCal, you must go. It's free and you will learn a lot.
