Car Washing

Ask them if they know how to drive a Prius. When they say yes, don't believe them and show them how to drive it. Then stand there and watch them anyway.

The car has to be in neutral and the fob should be left in the car.

Bob

 

I'm a newbie, only have had the 2005 for a year now but have 8 car washes experience. Take it from one of your elders ..... use only high pressure car washes which allow you to drive into position, press park, and let the equipment run around and do the job., no brushes, no people driving a vehicle they no nothing about, don't worry about your little antenna... it will survive. Show me a vehicle these days that has been touched by human hands,sponges, and /or chamois in the washing process and I guarantee I can point out the swirl scratch marks. Back in the '50's it was more practical to repaint the car every year and forego the carwash. At least it would look ok for weddings and funerals.

 

Do watch out for the rear wiper and the antenna if you go to a car wash with the whirling brushes. They can rip them off. I'd never let anyone drive my Prius, except at the dealership service dept, and even then I'm not happy about it.

I go to the car wash where you put in six quarters and you get 3 minutes with a spray wand or a foamy brush. For three bucks I can get the car washed and rinsed. I dry it with a synthetic chamois.

 

I use a car wash with spinning brushes. The kind where you drive up to the front, put the car in neutral, and it pushes you through the wash path on rails.

I haven't had any problems. I always have to clean the hard to reach spaces seperately anyway, such as the hubcaps and front grille. I forgot once to take off my antenna and it was fine, but I always intend to take it off.

I went through car washes a few times with the door panels removed (in the middle of installing sound deadening material), and I noticed that water gets inside the doors a little. This happened even with the plastic sheeting (vapor guard) attached, though it has since been discarded. I don't think this is anything to worry about. No water seems to get trapped in the door body.

 

Well, mine for one, but I hand-wash it myself, and am very careful to only move the wash mitt in straight lines and keep it very clean, so there are no swirl marks.

But I shudder at the thought of bringing it to a hand-wash place... Even those bikini carwashes that I see the girls at sometimes in the summer... As much as I want to... I just can't bring myself to have the car washed by "outsiders"

Dave

 

Hey Dave - I'm curious how you accomplish washing it in winter, I note you are from Canada. I need to find somewhere to wash it now that it's cold -- home won't do....and the salt has to come off

 

<_< To each his own...

My choice so far has been to hand wash myself, avoid Valet Parking situations, and check the tire pressures and oil level when I wash. I replaced the antenna with a short-stubby (2") antenna for automatic or attended car washes - a situation I have avoided for over a year now. So far, radio reception has been good in my Metropolitan Dallas location. If your domicile prevents hand washing, I'd advise one of the "ride your car through" brushless washes.

Simply stated: I do not trust attendants driving my Prius since the Prius is a unique car and many (probably most) attendants would not admit to not knowing "how to drive a Prius."

 

I took my two week old Prius to the car wash this weekend. It was one that you get to sit in the car as the belt pulls you through the twirling brushes and jets. I had used this place before on my previous vehicle and was really impressed with them. They take off your antenna, tape down loose things (on my old Rodeo, the back wiper was broken and would fall if they didn't), close up your side mirrors, and just do a real nice check around to make sure all would be okay when you go through the tunnel.

This was done on my new Prius, I put the car in neutral, turn off all my accessories because I'd heard stories about the battery having problems with it on in neutral, and off we go through the tunnel. Imagine my panic when I see my driver side mirror unfold. I think "ok, it's not broken, so all is fine"... then the mirror folds backwards. Oh NO! Nearly ready to cry, I wait until my poor car is out of the tunnel and hop out to check my baby. Whew! All was fine... no scratches, just a nice clean car.

Not sure if I'm going to be able to put myself through that again.

 

Dave is in Vancouver. Vancouver is not cold. Not all of Canada is an icebox.

When I lived in Fargo, I seldom washed my car in winter (ND does not use nearly as much salt as MN.) But when I did want to wash it, I did it as I said in a post above: go to a coin-operated place: It's generally above freezing inside, and the water is heated. Just be sure to dry it well so the doors do not freeze shut when you leave.

Maybe you should check out John1701a's Prius web site. I bet he has something there about washing the car in winter, and I bet he washes his car frequently. I can't imagine John driving a dirty Prius.

 

I live in the part of Canada that is an icebox in winter. My condo has heated underground parking with a car wash bay for the tenants. It's just a regular garden hose hooked up to cold water, but since the place is heated to about +22C during winter, that works ok.

I'm very careful to take my time hosing the salt off the car, especially the wheel wells and underneath. I use two buckets for soapy water, if one gets dirty I switch to the other one. As Daniel said, synthetic chamois.

Make sure you *frequently* wash out the chamois too! If any dirt is embedded in the chamois your paint WILL be scratched.

If I'm not in the mood I just go through the touchless car wash at Co-Op or Canadian Tire.

 

I have traditionally washed our cars myself. As we live very close to the beach in Florida, fine sand tends to accumulate in nooks and crannies in the engine compartment. My guess is that eventually that sand will find its way to seals and bearings, so about every 6 months or so I wash down the engine compartment. I warm up the engine, use soapy water, use a paintbrush on oily areas, and then hose it clean, and this routine has never caused a problem with a standard car (12 volt system). Since I just got our 2005 Prius, I wonder if engine compartment washing would still be in order given the increase in electronics and the possible presence of 207 or 500 Volts. When you turn the car "off", where does the battery disconnect occur? At the battery, or somewhere around the converter/inverter?

 

The traction battery case contains three "system main relays" that will connect and disconnect both the positive and negative battery cables to the battery.

When you do your washing, I suggest that you use as little water as possible, and keep the engine valve cover and electrical connectors (especially the orange ones) dry.

The reason to keep the valve cover dry is because the spark igniter rubber O-ring seals are not very good and it is possible for water to seep into the spark plug wells. Should this happen, your engine will suffer misfire and the igniters and spark plugs may need to be replaced.

The reason to keep the electrical connectors dry is so that water will not get into them, potentially causing terminal corrosion and intermittent connections. The orange connectors signify high voltage, ~200 VDC from the battery cable leading into the inverter, and ~500VAC from the inverter to the transaxle.

 

Boy, people sure are careful! I have used a pressure washer, a hose, and a brush on a hose to wash under the hood. No problems. The high voltage is -OFF- when you turn the car off. There will be voltage on the capacitors. Those lines are -very- well waterproofed.

In the winter I use the car wash (often called car/truck wash) where you pull in, put in $1, and it gives you 3 min. or so to use:
Wash - they use warm water with soap. I avoid this position. Who knows what soap they use?
Rinse - this is what I use exclusively. I use a microfibre towel to dry the car. It's small enough that I can control it so it doesn't touch the ground (and pick up sand etc).
Soap brush - it looks nice to clean the car, but who knows how much grit is on that brush?
Wax - again, I avoid this. Who knows what wax they use?
Air dry - this is a blower to blow the water off the vehicle. I hand dry.
Vacuum - this is to clean the inside of the vehicle.

It costs me from $2 to $4 to clean Pearl at these places. I do the wheel wells first, then the outside of the car (starting from the top and working down). Then I do the "inside" of the door jams. I use silicone spray to chase the water away from the door rubber seals. It's good for the seals. I use LPS water based silicone spray (it's rated for food equipment as well). I do dry the door jams and seals before treating them with the silicone. It gets applied only once a year, and works well. No frozen shut doors yet!

Pearl usually stays clean one to two days. :|

Soon I'll be back in the back yard washing with a hose and bucket. Oh, and drying with the microfibre towel. I don't use soap. It's potentially corrosive. It -does not- "lift the dirt off the car" as some claim! Where do people get these ideas?! All soap does is remove oil.

Pearl has no swirl marks.

 

OT for cold climate washes: consider trying Optimum No Rinse. I use it to conserve water, but others use it with a warm bucket of water to wash in the wintertime.

 

I would recommend hand washing. I use a Mr Clean Autodry system, and it works well... when the water isn't too hard. I've had to rig up a filter to try to help reduce spotting. My water softener seems to leave a lot of potassium residue in the water.

NEVER let your sponge touch the ground!! NEVER!!! Never let anything touch your paint that has touched the ground. Even your 'clean' driveway. It can pick up small particles that can then get ground into your paint. That causes streaks and swirls.

 

I used to detail cars professionally...you need to use soap when you wash the car, find a good automotive shampoo that you like...it is not corrosive. Don't use dish soap. The soap provides lubrication between your washing media (your mitt or sponge) and the paint and it encapsulates dirt to avoid, or minimize scratching.

If you don't have swirls after spraying your car off with the pressure washer and wiping it down and washing with no soap...I'll give you my car. Your paint color hides swirls, but if I hit it with my halogen lights I use when polishing paint...you'd go nuts with the swirls you've put in the paint with that washing regimen.

Yikes.

 

Optimum No Rinse (ONR) works GREAT. If you don't want to use a hose for ecological or practical reasons this is what you should use. Use a good microfiber pad and a waffle weave microfiber towel to dry like Scott does in that video and it will come out great.

Scottwax (the guy in the video) is an extremely good detailer, he's a member on Autopia, the detailing forum I post on.

 

Microfiber drying is very old school. Lots of rubbing on the paint which fatiques the wax & causes static electricity on the paint which attracts dust & dirt and plus you then need to wash the microfiber when your done. Waste of time & water.
This is superior and much quicker: I can get all the water off the car in like 60 seconds. No water spots.Try it you'll never go back to microfiber:

http://www.superiorcarcare.net/calwatblad.html?gclid=CMmrkdeu6ZkCFROU7QodLB3QQw

Sold in most AP's stores and I think Walmart. It works really good.

 

Microfibers have been around for about 8 years. Old school? Terry cloth and chamois drying are old school.

I have a Claifornia water blade and don't care for it. For one if you let any debris get on that leading edge it will scratch, two I still have to go around with a microfiber and dry the paint because the water blade doesn't dry around emblems and trim, etc. Takes more time to me.

What I do is blow out all the seams and everything with a leaf blower and then go around with my waffle weave microfiber towel and dry up whatever is left.

Good microfibers won't scratch the paint as long as there is no debris in them.