yechi7

Please don't flame me.

I have an '01 Silver Coupe, bought 5 months ago. It looks pretty much scratchless (from carwashes). I've used "touchless" carwashes with OK success, but when I dry it afterwards, there is still some dirt visible on the cloth. Anybody use "soft-touch" carwashes?

David

ZaneO

I do not recommend using them. You said it for yourself...they don't get the vehicle clean.

Rubbing on a dirty vehicle *will* cause scratches.

Hand washing really is the only way to go.

yechi7

You misunderstood. The "touchless" doesn't get the car totally clean beacause it's only high power jets, soapy water, etc.

The "soft-touch" includes the high power jets, followed by large soft cloths that slosh back & forth over the car to get more dirt off.

The finish of the Silver Vette looks "scratch-resistant." I didn't see any scratches on the surface & I'm pretty sure the previous owner didn't hand-wash.

I really don't have the time to hand wash. Am I mistaken re: the appearance of "scratch-resistant"? Anybody use these "soft-touch" carwashes?

David

zonsolo

Definately not scratch resistant.

I've heard from the buffer guys and maybe one will chime in, but that vette clear is very "hard" when it comes to attempting to polish out imperfections but very soft when trying to avoid scratching.

Sounds impossible, but its true.

bugman

absolutely 100% right
My 2-year old daughter scratched the HELL out of my hood just by rubbing her hands on it last weekend (must have had some dirt on her hands). Really serious damage - took about 3 hours with a rotary buffer to fix it, but only seconds for her to cause the damage.

Well, I'll miss her, but I still have a son left .....

Also -- your coupe is silver, so it will not show the fine scratches and swirls like black, blue, red cars will. I guarantee if you go out at 12 noon, and look at the reflection of the sun on your hood, you'll see thousands of tiny scratches all making concentric circles around the sun's reflection. They're not scratches that are really deep, like someone does with a key, but shallow, tiny ones that eventually cause the finish to appear dull and lifeless.

That's the price you'll pay from not handwashing. Even WITH careful handwashing it's almost impossible to avoid eventually getting some swirlmarks. it's incredibly EASY to swirl (scratch) the VEtte clearcoat, but VERY tough to remove those scratches. On other makes, can take you 1/10th the time to buff them out, but on a Vette you're in for a long afternoon.

yechi7

I hate to ask a stupid question, but what exactly is happening by hand washing that helps the Vette avoid the scratches, as opposed to the high power jet water wash rinse, followed by the large soft cloths that slosh the soap back & forth?

David

mrosa65

Most car washes (around my part of the country at least) used recycled water. Even though the water is filtered (not sure to what micron level) eventually small enough particles are going to get through the filters and be blasted at the finish of your car.

As for the large soft cloths, I don't see them getting a through cleaning between each car that passes through the car wash. So if the car before you had a lot of dirt and mud, chances are, some of those particles are still stuck on those cloths rubbing back and forth across your paint.

As bugman mentioned, silver hides the scratches a lot better than darker colored cars.

John Ulrich

And don't forget the fact they use some pretty aggressive chemicals that try to strip of the dirt as well as all the wax & sealants you have lovingly massaged onto the car.
I use rinse water only and bring a bucket of suds from home when I hit the coin wash in the winter.
JU

Scuba Ghost

Doesn't what of the "thou shalt nots" mention not taking a Corvette through a car wash??? Let us know how hot hell is!

ZaneO

I didn't misunderstand anything. An automatic car wash will never get a vehicle as clean as a thorough hand wash.

How many times have you seen someone clean the "cloths" at one of those car washes? Between every car?

Silver is certainly not scratch resistant.