Lessons learned at the car wash

[thigatl]

I will be making my first trip to the service department and I suppose it is my own fault. I hope that sharing this might help others avoid this problem.

I took my new LR4 HSE Lux to a local car wash (Cactus here in Atlanta on Ponce) and they taped my wipers to the windshield. I believe that the car wash triggered the auto wipers and one of the wipers is now stripped and does not work. So, my guess is that if I had turned off the auto wipers first, this could have been avoided. I hope this is covered by the warranty! I'll find out tomorrow. Probably not, but I am going to play dumb (be nice).

I also noticed that after the wash my mirrors were out of synch. When I used the buttons to expand them they got back on track and all is fine. My guess is that the car wash people manually pushed the mirrors in during the wash and they got off track. Hopefully this did not cause any damage, but we'll see. I will tell them not to touch the mirrors next time a retract them myself.

Hope this helps - any comments or other lessons learned appreciated.

 

[UGAgirl97]

I will be making my first trip to the service department and I suppose it is my own fault. I hope that sharing this might help others avoid this problem.

I took my new LR4 HSE Lux to a local car wash (Cactus here in Atlanta on Ponce) and they taped my wipers to the windshield. I believe that the car wash triggered the auto wipers and one of the wipers is now stripped and does not work. So, my guess is that if I had turned off the auto wipers first, this could have been avoided. I hope this is covered by the warranty! I'll find out tomorrow. Probably not, but I am going to play dumb (be nice).

I also noticed that after the wash my mirrors were out of synch. When I used the buttons to expand them they got back on track and all is fine. My guess is that the car wash people manually pushed the mirrors in during the wash and they got off track. Hopefully this did not cause any damage, but we'll see. I will tell them not to touch the mirrors next time a retract them myself.

Hope this helps - any comments or other lessons learned appreciated.

I'm so sorry to hear about your experiences. :-( My sales rep a couple of weeks ago made a point to tell me that if I set my wipers to auto (which I havent) and I go into a car wash, it will for sure destroy them. I hate that you werent warned of that too bc if I hadnt been warned, I could have made the same mistake. I was pretty sure I wasnt going to take my LR4 to a car wash and just do the washing myself, but after reading about your experiences with the mirrors, I am definitely going to only hand wash by car.

Thanks for sharing..I am sure this will help many!

 

[waltzonice]

I recall that there is a warning in the maual about making sure the auto wipers are off prior to going thru a car wash. I wish LR would have made it easier to know when the wipers are on auto or not. There should be a light or some kind of indicator.

Regarding the mirrors -- how do you manually get them to fold? The only way I know to fold them is to lock my car (I have the 2011 LR4 lux w. vision assist).

I've taken my car thru a full service car wash a few times and so far so good. No issues so far.

 

[thigatl]

I recall that there is a warning in the maual about making sure the auto wipers are off prior to going thru a car wash. I wish LR would have made it easier to know when the wipers are on auto or not. There should be a light or some kind of indicator.

Regarding the mirrors -- how do you manually get them to fold? The only way I know to fold them is to lock my car (I have the 2011 LR4 lux w. vision assist).

I've taken my car thru a full service car wash a few times and so far so good. No issues so far.

Yeah - I should have known better about the wipers. I can't wait to see what this is going to cost!

As far as the mirrors, you can hold down both of the L/R mirror adjustment buttons near the little joystick and they should fold in/out. My problem is the car wash people just physically rotated the mirrors. Hopefully they are designed to allow this since I bet it happens all the time. No issue yet for me.

 

[thigatl]

I'm so sorry to hear about your experiences. :-( My sales rep a couple of weeks ago made a point to tell me that if I set my wipers to auto (which I havent) and I go into a car wash, it will for sure destroy them. I hate that you werent warned of that too bc if I hadnt been warned, I could have made the same mistake. I was pretty sure I wasnt going to take my LR4 to a car wash and just do the washing myself, but after reading about your experiences with the mirrors, I am definitely going to only hand wash by car.

Thanks for sharing..I am sure this will help many!

Thanks for the kind words... I will likely return to washing it by hand, or go to a detail service where I get better attention to detail. I love driving my cars but hate washing them!

 

[UGAgirl97]

Thanks for the kind words... I will likely return to washing it by hand, or go to a detail service where I get better attention to detail. I love driving my cars but hate washing them!

Ditto! I love my car, but not so hyped about washing it. I know some people LOVE washing and detailing their cars and spending hours on it, but that just flat isn't me. Lol

 

[Finlayforprez]

I will be making my first trip to the service department and I suppose it is my own fault. I hope that sharing this might help others avoid this problem.

I took my new LR4 HSE Lux to a local car wash (Cactus here in Atlanta on Ponce) and they taped my wipers to the windshield. I believe that the car wash triggered the auto wipers and one of the wipers is now stripped and does not work. So, my guess is that if I had turned off the auto wipers first, this could have been avoided. I hope this is covered by the warranty! I'll find out tomorrow. Probably not, but I am going to play dumb (be nice).

I also noticed that after the wash my mirrors were out of synch. When I used the buttons to expand them they got back on track and all is fine. My guess is that the car wash people manually pushed the mirrors in during the wash and they got off track. Hopefully this did not cause any damage, but we'll see. I will tell them not to touch the mirrors next time a retract them myself.

Hope this helps - any comments or other lessons learned appreciated.

Oh no, so sorry to hear this! :-( Hopefully the dealership will take care of it as a warranty issue. Please keep us posted! We all definitely appreciate you sharing this story with us as it gives us the warning sign to be cautious when going through car washes. I actually wash my LR4 by hand, but once in a while will bring it through a touch-less car wash - NEVER the kind with the spinning brushes!

As far as the mirrors, I just can't seem to get mine to fold when holding the L and R buttons down at the same time. I have a 2011 LR4 HSE with climate control and heavy duty packages. I keep thinking that this feature is only available on the Lux for 2011? I have tried to manually fold my mirrors, but it does not work properly at all.

Again, so sorry! Please keep us posted, we will be sending you lots of good LR4 luck!!!

 

[Finlayforprez]

I recall that there is a warning in the maual about making sure the auto wipers are off prior to going thru a car wash. I wish LR would have made it easier to know when the wipers are on auto or not. There should be a light or some kind of indicator.

Regarding the mirrors -- how do you manually get them to fold? The only way I know to fold them is to lock my car (I have the 2011 LR4 lux w. vision assist).

I've taken my car thru a full service car wash a few times and so far so good. No issues so far.

Do you use the spinning brush (touch) wash or touch-less car wash?

Regarding the mirrors, I was trying to get mine to fold by holding down the L and R buttons, but nothing seems to work? It only lights up the left light. Maybe this is only a feature on the Lux models?

Can anyone with a 2011 HSE LR4 (without vission assist) get their mirrors to fold???

 

[Finlayforprez]

Ditto! I love my car, but not so hyped about washing it. I know some people LOVE washing and detailing their cars and spending hours on it, but that just flat isn't me. Lol

Hey UAGgirl,

You should get your husband to wash your LR4 AND install the upgraded Philips CV bulbs - hehehehe! I wash my car myself, but I will say, it's quite a chore! Though, it is rather relaxing and pretty good exercise.

Are you able to fold your mirrors? I know we have the same model (2011 LR4 HSE), but I have not been able to fold my side mirrors according to what people say: hold down the L and R buttons at the same time. I am wondering if this is a feature on the 2010 models or only on the Lux, or if my LR4 is having issues.

Thanks so much!

Regards, David

 

[waltzonice]

Do you use the spinning brush (touch) wash or touch-less car wash?

Regarding the mirrors, I was trying to get mine to fold by holding down the L and R buttons, but nothing seems to work? It only lights up the left light. Maybe this is only a feature on the Lux models?

Can anyone with a 2011 HSE LR4 (without vission assist) get their mirrors to fold???

The car wash I go to is not touchless, but it's not the spinning brushes either. It's got these long strips of cleaning fabric that does touch the car. Then they towel dry the car. I'm not one that pampers my car. In fact, in the 13 years that I owned my 1998 Mercedes ML320, I've never washed or waxed it myself. I think I had the dealer wax it a couple of times when they offered some special deal to detail and wax the car, but that was it as far as waxing. I know... that's bad... but the car actually still looked pretty good by the time I gave it away earlier this year.

As for the folding mirrors -- I believe that's only on the Lux.