Keeping your car clean is a common goal for many car owners. You take pride in the appearance of your vehicle and want it to look its best at all times. To do this, you need to regularly wash your car, either by doing it yourself or taking it to a car wash. Automatic car washes are a popular choice due to how quick they are and the affordable cost. If you’ve ever wondered how these car washes operate, here’s what you need to know.
Types of Drive Through Car Washes
Before you drive to your nearest car wash, it’s important to know the difference between the major types of automatic car washes. There are essentially two main types — touchless and soft touch. Each has its pros and cons, and you should see which system a car wash uses before deciding which one is right for you.
Soft-touch car washes use soft cloth and foam bristles to wash the vehicle. These materials make direct contact with the car, often allowing for a more thorough cleaning, especially in harder-to-reach places. However, if applied too forcefully, or if dirt and other debris is not removed before use, they can actually damage the vehicle.
The alternative is a touchless car wash. In this system, the car wash uses high-pressure jets to clean the vehicle. The only thing that makes contact with your car is the water and cleaning solution, which can reduce the chance of damage to your car. However, this system does not always provide the deepest cleaning.
Ultimately, it’s best to read customer reviews of any car wash you are considering. Regardless of the type of system used, you want to ensure your car is in safe hands and that you’ll get a thorough cleaning. Often the best way to judge this is through previous customer testimonials rather than the method the car wash uses.
Decide on Services
Once you arrive at your local Grand Forks car wash, the first thing you need to do is decide on is the services you want. Most car washes offer a basic package that washes and dries the exterior of your vehicle. Then, depending on the location, they may offer additional services for an extra fee. For example, they may provide interior or undercarriage cleaning, or offer to use more premium cleaning supplies. Go through the list of options available and decide which one is right for you.
Drive In
After picking the type of service you want and paying for it, the next step is to drive your car into the service station. Some locations allow you to remain inside the vehicle throughout the wash, while others ask you to step out and wait inside. In either case, your car goes onto a conveyor belt and is put into neutral. From there, the conveyor belt pulls the car through the service station so that no one needs to operate anything inside the vehicle.
Pre-Soak
The first step inside the car wash is the pre-soak. During this stage, the system applies cleaning agents designed to break down dirt and grime. The car goes through a metal arch, out of which several small nozzles spray the liquid cleaner.
The Mitter Curtain
After being soaked, your car then goes through the mitter curtain if you are at a soft-touch car wash. This is a series of long strips of cloth, which gently begin to wipe away dirt from the horizontal services of your vehicle, such as the roof and hood. These bits of cloth move side to side slowly, wiping your car as they do.
Foam Applicator
After passing the mitter curtain, then comes the foam applicator. It’s at this stage that your car receives the cleaning agents, issued from nozzles placed around the outside of the vehicle. During this stage, your entire car becomes covered with colorful foam, which works further to break down dirt and debris. The cleaning agent used depends on what you selected at the beginning of the process.
Scrubbers and jets
To remove the foam from the vehicle, your car will then pass through a series of either soft scrubbers or water jets, depending on the type of car wash. In soft-touch car washes, you’ll see scrubbers both on the sides and top of your vehicle, softly scrubbing away each surface. With touchless car washes, high-pressure jets do this work instead.
Rinse
Once it finishes scrubbing your car clean, the car wash will then rinse away any remaining cleaning agents. Your car passes through a similar metal arch as it did in the beginning, where water gently washes away any remaining chemicals and foam.
Drying
Finally, there’s the drying phase. Car washes handle this phase in a few ways. Some places use high-powered fans, while others use heat to dry the vehicle. Others prefer to use people instead, who will wipe down your car with clean towels after it exits the service station. At your local car wash, you may find that they use one of these methods or a combination of them to dry your vehicle.
Finishing Up
If you didn’t choose any additional services, such as interior vacuuming, your car is now ready to go. This entire process typically only takes a few minutes at most, assuming there is not a line of customers in front of you.
Once you’re done, your vehicle will look new again. It’s a fairly affordable, simple, and quick process that everyone should consider doing for their car if they want to keep it looking great. Not only that but regular car washes can even keep your car in better condition for a longer period of time, boosting its value when the time comes to sell or trade it in.
To learn more about how to take proper care of your car, or how our dealership’s car wash is the perfect place to take your car, feel free to contact Rydell Auto Group today. We are experts when it comes to car maintenance and car detailing, and we’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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