Umm, spraying your car at home with a garden hose is not the same as going through a car wash which has much higher water pressure directed at the car in waves.
And what's this 'dirt gets into the paint'? Not on a clearcoated car.
But my post was challenging the idea that all Auto Car Washes 'scratch' a car as has been suggested. I say you are proabably doing less damage in a touch-free car wash than washing by hand .... now I agree that I can do a better cleaning by hand, but in any case a hand washng is not always possible... at least not where I live where we have something called winter. And during this season called winter, bad stuff accumulates underneath the car that needs to be cleaned off. A good automatic car wash does that. So, it's silly to suggest that I love my P5 any less than those of you that live in places like Florida where you can wash your car by hand all year...

 

That we can do
it does not matter that you have a clearcoat. wash your car well and then feel the paint with your hand. you will feel little bumps and imperfections. those are contaminants in your paint. thats what products like meguires cleaner supposed to get rid off. it does not matter if you have a clear coat or not and if its an economy car with $500 paint job or a ferrari with $50000 paint job, unfortunetly the paint gets screwed up. yes, i can see why you would take your car to a touchless car wash but i don't see how somebody would even think about taking their car to a wash with brushes after some redneck with a huge 4x4 that came through right after going off-road in his truck

 

thanks for all the comments and opinions everyone! it's been a big help. although, i never thought i'd spark such a debate with my little question.

happy driving everyone! don't forget... that's why you bought your car... right?!?

ttyl
c.

 

actually, there are a lot of SVT Focii around here and almost all of them are blue. There will be a lot of them on the road. Don't get me wrong, they are great looking and quick, but I am not convinced they will be a collectors item. Now if it were a UK Spec Focus RS...drool. I dig the phosphorescent blue color on those things. As for how it all relates to this question, I think it can have a lot to do with the clor of your Pro...I would never take a black one through a gas station wash with the bruckes and stuff, but white and silver...or a sanddrift ES or something, forget it, no problem, you never see "angel hair" on those finishes. It is tough with the really touchy colors, though. I know the brush marks may be there on the silver and white, but you just don't see it. If you get bad marks, though, pick up some Boyd's restorer...took me two days to apply and remove to my Dad's Impala SS after an unfortunate "brushing" but WOW. It has a really oily consistency and is hard to get on and off, I mean hard...but I have never seen results liek it..unbelieveable. Should be at 18+ bucks for a small bottle.

 

lol, very well said

 

-Hey Yellow MP5,
I'm looking for a Mazda club in south florida, and I was that you are part of the "Intense Performance South Florida Mazda Club".
Could you give me and info on this........<......?
Lata........peace,
Squirrel's_PR5

 

what about a coin op/ DIY wash? lol

 

hey whats up?
what do you want to know? all the cars in the club are protege/5/mp3, there is one 323 and one guy who owns a p5 also owns a miata. his wife drives it. most of the time we get together on fridays/saturdays at the tower shops. when the cops break everything up, we go eat at dennys or hooters/cruise the beach/drink, play racing arcade games (i am still numero uno).
some people also auto-x their cars. ask ez as 123, he was there last friday for the first time. we have club stickers and shirts. we drove to atlanta (nopi) as a club a month ago. everybody had a lot of fun. it was awesome. we help each other work on cars such as suspension tunning, stereo and intake installs.