Automated car washes have recently become popular. They are the easiest way to wash your car. Though professionals with different types of equipment offer car cleaning services, people prefer getting their vehicles cleaned by automatic machines. However, there are some hazards to it. Let’s explore the pros and cons of an automatic car wash.

1. Types of Car Washes 

A car wash is one of the necessities of maintaining a car. Cleaning your vehicle inside and out is crucial for safety and aesthetically pleasing purposes. Regular cleaning accentuates the life of your vehicle and gives it a higher resale value. The different types of car washes available are: 

1.1 Conventional Hand Wash 

Hand washing your car is the safest and most trusted method by any industry specialist. Anybody can wash their vehicle using their hands and some pieces of equipment like a scrub, cleaning supplies, and polishes. However, you must be careful about what tools you use to wash your car. 

The conventional method of car washing is to make the car dust-free using a water spray or a hose. Then, using a towel or soft scrubs, rub enough soap over the body. Once the soap is applied, you can rinse and clean your car using a hose. 

Though this method is the safest for your car, it is time-consuming and drains a lot of effort. 

1.2 Professional Car Cleaning Services 

Most professional car cleaning services concepts coincide with the conventional hand wash. This method involves a team of car cleaning professionals working on your car. 

The car cleaning professionals are well-versed in the advanced equipment and technologies used. This process takes longer and is expensive at the same time. The final output of professional car cleaning is the best among all the other methods. 

1.3 Automatic Car Washes 

Automatic or touchless car wash is a pioneering technology in car cleaning. Most of us are well acquainted with the heavy machinery revolving across the body of our cars. The car coming out of a conveyor belt with tons of soap and water sprays. 

An automatic car wash is the quickest way to wash your car. It cleans the vehicle quickly and is relatively less expensive than a professional car cleaning service. The quality of car washes varies according to the type of material and cleaning tools used. 

There are different types of automatic car washes: 

1.3.1 Tunnel Car Washes 

Tunnel Car Wash is the most common and traditional automated car wash. The rotating bristles or brushes rub all over the car, along with loads of water spray. This method is now considered old school but is much safer than advanced technologies, as the bristles don’t use abrasive characteristics. 

1.3.2 Soft Cloth Car Washes 

As the name suggests, soft cloth car washes use a soft cloth to automate the process. This method uses the principle of a body massage and cleans or massages the car using soft clothes. However, the clothes have some abrasive qualities, resulting in damage to your vehicle to some extent. 

1.3.3 Touchless Car Wash 

Touchless car wash uses cutting-edge laser technology to clean the car without touching it. This approach isn’t paired up with the abrasive characteristic as most of the process is touchless. However, this method doesn’t clean your car like the abovementioned techniques. It just gets the job done. 

Prolonged use of touchless car washes can degrade the finish and appeal of your paint as different types of chemicals are used in cleaning. 

2. Advantages of Automated Car Wash 

An automatic car wash has the following advantages over the conventional methods: 

2.1 Less Water Consumption 

The traditional scrub and hose cleaning method involves wasting a lot of water. Even with careful cleaning, the amount of water used is much higher. An automated car wash system is designed and fabricated to use as little water as possible. The water efficiency is much better. 

2.2 Saves Time 

Automatic car wash is quick and more efficient than the typical hand-wash cleaning. In today’s tech-advancing world, you are saving time, which results in saving money. Though the costs might be higher, the time saved would compensate for your input cost. 

2.3 Customisation Options

Automated car washes have the upper hand on customization options. It allows you to curate your cleaning from scratch. You can decide the type of cleaning you want based on your vehicle. Automated car wash can deliver the cleaning you want with precision. 

2.4 Environment Friendly 

When you wash your car by hand, the drained soap water isn’t wasted properly and leads to waterways. However, automatic car washes are designed to recycle wastewater. Hence, the amount of sewage is negligible. 

3. Disadvantages of Automatic Car Wash 

3.1 Water Spots 

The unfinished parts on the exterior tend to have water spots after cleaning. These water spots dissolve with the clear coat, making the spot permanent. 

3.2 Incompatible Detergent or Soap 

Many luxury and sports cars come with lavish and premium quality paints. Such paints require extensive care and precise maintenance. The cleaning soap or detergents used in automatic car washes are general for every car. If it’s not up to the mark of the paint quality, then it might accidentally damage the paint. 

3.3 No Polishing

Most automatic car washes do not offer the facility of car wax or polish. A thorough polishing is a must to keep the elegance of the paint constant for years. However, some retailers have hired executives to manually polish customer’s cars after cleaning them at an extra cost.

3.4 Stuck Threads and Bristles 

Cars with vast body and panel gaps are prone to getting stuck with cleaning threads and bristles. After prolonged use, the lines and bristles hung out of the cleaning supplies and clung to these gaps.

4. Final Words: Impact on Car Paints 

The most concerning factor around automatic car washes is their impact on OEM car paints. 

Most car washes use coarse and harsh brushes and clothes. The strokes from such materials cause micro scratches on the upper coat of the paint. These scratches are circular and are highlighted in direct light on the spot or under sunlight. 

Excessive cleaning can even lead to a diminished quality of the clear coat of paint. Simply put, the paint on your car may look dull or faded. If the car has metallic paint, the pearl effect won’t appear after a wash with such techniques. 

Debris and dust often get stuck between the brush’s bristles. While cleaning, this debris might accidentally fall onto the body of your car paint and can even get stuck to the paint.