I came back from a long road trip with my car splattered with dirt and dead bugs. I’m usually super cheap and when I get a car wash, it’s almost always $3, the cheapest automated basic wash. But I decided to upgrade to the $12 version, in order to treat my car and hopefully get rid of all of the dead bugs.
But when going through the wash, I didn’t see much of a difference. The car spends the same amount of time in the washer, a few more soaps were sprayed at the car, but nothing really outstanding. In the end, some of my bugs were washed off, but many were still there. For 4 times the price, I just didn’t see much of an improvement.
Am I missing something? Is it worth it to upgrade an automated car wash?
If you have bugs and embedded road grime/caked on mud an automatic touchless car wash isn’t going to cut it, basic or premium. You either have to splurge out and go to a place that uses brushes or DIY with a pressure washer and a brush. It’s sucky but the money you spend keeping your car’s paint intact is a worthwhile investment most of the time. Somewhere like this is where I would go. https://octopuscarwashaz.com/
I’ve found that after a road trip if I have lots of dead bugs on the windshield what works best is to use the self serve window cleaners at the pumps to scrub the hell out of the windshield loosening and removing the bugs. I don’t bother squeegeeing the thing since from there I head right into the wash.
$3? Where the heck is that so that I can take advantage?
Winter undercarriage wash is crucial, Usually that’s the second lowest of 4 tiers, so a dollar above the base cost of $5-6. The other add-ons I do occasionally. I don’t trust places to run good brushes so I use touchless, and grime doesn’t build up if you do it often enough.