Do car washers strip of your LR3's wax?

[toddjb122]

Kind of a random question but wanted to know if I was just imagining things or not...

I "wax" up the LR3 twice a year with Finish First polish. I like it because it goes on/off easy and seems to leave good results. I'll reapply when I notice that water is no longer forming droplets on my hood, which ends up being Spring and Fall - good times to reapply anyway.

So, a month ago (still was getting nice droplets on my hood after a rain or wash) I was short on time so I went through one of those gas station automatic car washers instead of the usual hand wash. I'll tend to go through these in the winter, but skip them in the warmer weather. This one was a combination of brushless and high pressure. The next time water hit my car I noticed is laid down smooth...didn't seem to be any wax/polish left on the car?

Was I just over thinking this...or do those high pressure jets strip off the product?

 

[Kenjengrif]

I'm on a similar twice a year wax regimen, and stick to hand washes except in cold weather when I turn to the brushless washes. I always read that they are ******* paint and maybe they wear down the wax, but I figure its better to knock the dirt and corrisives off. Most those brushless have some sort of a "no spot" or "paint sealer" garbage, and maybe that's what stops the "beading up" effect. There must be a wax expert on this forum who could say for certain.

I just did McGuiers (sp?) 3 step wax to address some massive pinstriping I got at ROAV's Mid Atlantic Rally. Alot of work, and if a brushless wash could save me step one- I'm all for it!

 

[Houm_WA]

I never go through a machine car wash.

 

[codemonkey]

I never go through a machine car wash.

I see your "no machine car wash" and raise you "never wash it". The dirt hides all of the custom pinstriping from offroading.

 

[Houm_WA]

No way...if you really "never" wash it then the pinstriping is scrawled into the dirt and dust and makes it look 10 times as bad. I wash it myself and polish it with all Zaino products.

It's a lot of work though...but (random) people ask me things like "is that a 2009?" or say "wow that looks brand new" and considering it's been offroad over a dozen times, I think that's pretty good!

I don't even let the Land Rover dealer wash it after service!

 

[richpike]

I don't even let the Land Rover dealer wash it after service!

Ha - I know how that goes, but sometimes I break down and let them do it (it's the wife's car afterall - not my baby ). And we've discussed this before, but I'm also a Zaino bigot

To the original question - you shouldn't have to worry about a gas station car wash stripping off the wax/polish. The things you should be most worried about are:

1. Using a degreaser (something like Dawn) - that will immediately strip your wax/polish off. I'm always amazed at the number of people that wash their cars with dish washing detergent

2. Automatic car washes that use brushes, etc (non touchless). These have tons of embedded dirt, etc in them that will put lots of scratches in your clear coat. Not worth it IMO. Touchless are fine, but they usually don't do that great of a job cleaning the car. I recommend hand washing (even though I don't always follow my own advice with the LR3).

-Rich

 

[Cpa4S]

a good touchless with proper options can get you cleaned, wet waxed, rainxed and finished with mineral free rinse.

i wouldn't own a black vehicle if our local brushless wasn't so good.

 

[toddjb122]

thanks. good stuff.

yeah, the no contact washes (no brushes or sponges) pretty much suck. not worth the price. i'll go to the brushless (i.e. they make brushes out of sponges) in the winter months but i always find the car riddled with fine scratches when i wax it in the spring.

 

[Houm_WA]

Exactly...and I prefer to get my fine scratches from the trail if I have to.

 

[CoMclovin]

Agree with most statements here. I don't let the dealer wash my D3, and I only hand wash and wax it myself. Keeps it looking damn good, even with a few trail scars