Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Touch less automatic.
Sadly, if you have some accumulated salt crud on your car, like most of us do up north, touch less car washes don't do much, other than maybe spraying some harsh chemicals on your car.
The ones with brushes are more effective, but come with free swirl marks, so that's no good either.
Best option would be a hand car wash, but that's not cheap and there is no guarantee that they won't swirl your paint either.
It really depends on the car wash setup and what wash program recipe they have going with what chemicals.
As far as touchless, the ones marketted as "touchless" I think are mark vii branded washers.
I think these are 2nd fiddle to the PDQ Laserwash systems which are usually branded as Laserwash and not often as "touchless".
Even if you get the brand right; then it depends on the model of the system. Then it depends on the wash program.
But yea, it does help to do a little bit of presoak with the squeegee before going in, especially on the glass.
I usually hit one of the newest laserwashes on my way down from Lake tahoe back to SF. I went as far to email the area Laserwash sales/service rep to ask them which on my route has the newest system as they don't really have consolidated marketting of gas station car washes.
So, not a substitute for a real wash; there is a little film left; but it's better than having salt sit on the car; and it's open 24 hours and i am done in 15min. And it seems safer compared to soft-touch systems that do not have active monitoring and operators.