Touchless or not? Which is better?

 

NOT!!! Touch it! Do it yourself! Feel the dings, nicks, bugs, tar, etc. etc. And then take care of them.

 

Thanks for the info, it's black so I need to be extra cautious.

 

I am in FULL support of cleaning a car by hand by yourself, but if you really have too, touchless seems to be the better alternative. The problem with touchless is the fact that they use super-harsh detergents that can potentially destroy that fresh coat of wax.

 

I haven't noticed the touch-free washes ruining my wax jobs, but then again, I wax often. I say hand wash whenever possible, but the nice thing about touch-free washes is this, when you buy the best one, it usually has an underbody wash to gets alot of the crud out from the bottom of the car. In addition to that there's the wax that smells like bubble gum, at least that's what my kids call it.

 

I think a better way to phrase the question is: which is worse?

A friction (soft cloth?) wash will clean most surfaces of the vehicle pretty well. But any debris clinging to the brushes from previous washes is going to result in nasty scratches. And, I doubt that the brushes are really soft enough for a car's finish anyway because they must be manufactured with durability as a major characteristic. The friction wash will also completely miss small areas of the car.

The touchless car washes are almost entirely useless because it is nearly impossible (optimistically) to clean the road film bonded to your car without using some form of friction. High water pressure (abrasive, no?) and strong detergents will take the wax off your vehicle. You end up with a car that is covered in a cruddy film that looks a little cleaner than when you arrived. You can get an undercarriage wash which is good for washing away salt and mud from under the vehicle, but I'm not sure whether that water is recycled or fresh.

 

Whatever you do, make sure you use microfiber towels when you dry the car.

-Michael