Touchless or Tunnel Car Wash for convertibles?

[noac]

Car washes are fine. At the end of the day, it still a Ford.

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[dusman59]

@noac WOW just WOW. Maybe someone who spent their hard earned money wants to keep their car nice and not grind dirt in and get swirls in the paint.

 

[BigSid]

On my 3rd convertible….never had an issue with the rag top and an automatic car wash. The majority of the time, I hand wash. But every now and then when it gets dirtier than I care for and don’t really have the time for that, I’ll go through an automatic one. The best part? My 2024 has a self-healing matte wrap on it so I can go through the Whip-N-Scratch or slow-wiggly-foam car washes without any damage to my paint and it gets it cleaner than a touchless wash!

 

[petemossmorrone]

I have owned 9 convertibles starting with a 67 fiat including 3 mustang converts. You can spend a ton of money on treatments and such for the top but honestly...since they started with the higher quality fabric tops I have never had any issues with the tops. In all those years the only fabric top i had to have replace had to so with design flaws where the top mechanisms would force two layers of top materinal together when the top was retracted and effective rub them together as you drove over bumps and such...wearing them out. One was a Saab and one was a Toyota. Saab admitted the flaw and actually paid half the fee. I Use my top constantly up and down...if the temps are over 50 and the sun it out the top is down. My converts have always been my daily drivers in both Northern climates and southern..I never had a garage for them!. With all that said...i never treated my tops... I ran them through car washed and never had any issues. My only suggestions...1-if you go through a car wash and it has a large overhead brush...ask them to turn it off. 2-Try to avoid driving with the top down if the top is wet. It will accelerate wear related to rubbing.

As for running your wheels through the car washes with with the Rails along the side...I have the stock 19 inch wheel....have had no issues. Keep in mind that many tires now have rim protectors (ridges that stick out beyond the rim so you dont get curb rash). The continental times mine 2024 came with have them. I would never by a tire with that feature.

 

[20ducks]

Do what you want...my preference is to hand wash. My garage is set up to wash with warm/hot water all year round and never consider a drive through no matter what the claims may be.

 

[Lgb0250]

Do what works best for you. It’s just a piece of metal,cloth, rubber, plastic, etc. you paid for or are paying for it. Many, many here think it’s blasphemy to let a car wash lay a bristle on it. I’m of the school that it’s just a depreciating asset sitting in my driveway that I enjoy immensely. I wash it anyway I feel like.

 

[DevilDog]

At the tender age of 75, I finally stopped hand washing my Mustang this year. My shoulder is shot and I actually started dreading it. Funny, I used to look forward to washing my cars and spending the entire day detailing them. I now go to the detail shop that ceramic coated my Corvettes and the Mustang. They do the exterior and interior for $40. They use a foam gun and a pressure washer. They then blow it try, so it's never touched. I takes about an hour and I can wait for it. I've never had them clean the interior, so basically I'm paying $40 just for the wash. The car looks amazing when they're done. I have it washed every other week whether it needs it or not. Best $40 I've ever spent.

 

[MButler51]

I had a conversation one day with the owner of a very good do-it-yourself car wash, and he instructed me as follows: DO NOT use the soapy brush, it’ll scratch. DO start with what he called his “most expensive” chemical, the pre-soak. Start spraying it at the bottom of the dry car working upwards (it does not work on wet paint), then, after you get the whole car soaked with that, proceed to the high pressure wash, then the high pressure rinse followed by the low pressure spot free rinse. I have found that this method gets my car very clean, with no scratches. Sometimes I apply the wax cycle between the rinse and spot free rinse. All this for around $6 in my town.

 

[Bear376]

I pick my car washes very carefully, but I have no qualms about going through a good touchless wash. In nice weather, I use the hand wash bay, and I frequently wipe with waterless cleaners. My health is worth more to me than a paint job, and my garages are not water proof.

As for tunnel or brush washes, it will not happen. My nephew used to take his Porsche through a tunnel wash and it eventually took his clear coat off.

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