Sometimes people in the south forget where they're living

[Oaktree]

Most places with the ads here have a "mute" button; usually the second button down on the right side. If they don't allow it I don't go back. One chain has done away with the commercials or whatever they were. They must have gotten the hint since so many of the mute buttons were worn out from being pushed so many times.

Come to think of it I haven't seen any with the ads in quite a while now.

 

[Sigarms]

That was me. The one I usually go to, you drive in, park and shut the engine off. I didn't know that this one was on the conveyor until the attendant started screaming at me. There were no signs anywhere, I paid my money and followed the line of cars so had no idea.

You may not have known the procedure, but I highly doubt you don't know how to put your own vehicle in neutral when you need to do so. My son told me they are not allowed to touch anything due to liability issues, so if YOU don't put your own car in neutral and it gets "dragged along" via their automated system, it's on you LOL

At least I believe this place tells you what to do when you get on that "conveyor".

Every once in a blue moon I'll get a quick wash at the one gas station. You drive through it until the red light comes on, STOP, put it in park, and let the thing do it's job. Green light comes on and you drive out. Pretty easy but the actual building is small, no "car pulley" system.

 

[Peace]

You may not have known the procedure, but I highly doubt you don't know how to put your own vehicle in neutral when you need to do so. My son told me they are not allowed to touch anything due to liability issues, so if YOU don't put your own car in neutral and it gets "dragged along" via their automated system, it's on you LOL

At least I believe this place tells you what to do when you get on that "conveyor".

Every once in a blue moon I'll get a quick wash at the one gas station. You drive through it until the red light comes on, STOP, put it in park, and let the thing do it's job. Green light comes on and you drive out. Pretty easy but the actual building is small, no "car pulley" system.

We have one like that at the Chevron filling station too.
I like the long pulley system better. it has red, white, blue and pink led lights as my P/U travels along. At the beginning it shoots different colored lines of foam soap that has a pleasant bubble gum scent. I always turn the cab blower on to get the full effect. For an extra $3 it has a wheel scrubber then sprays some tire shine at the end before the blower. There are a couple of long rows of vacuums that are DIY. Pre COVID, they would give you an air freshener and a blue hand towel too. They have done away with that practice now.

Its very cool to hear you talk so proudly of your son! A big thumbs up!

 

[Jstpssng]

You may not have known the procedure, but I highly doubt you don't know how to put your own vehicle in neutral when you need to do so. My son told me they are not allowed to touch anything due to liability issues, so if YOU don't put your own car in neutral and it gets "dragged along" via their automated system, it's on you LOL

At least I believe this place tells you what to do when you get on that "conveyor".

Every once in a blue moon I'll get a quick wash at the one gas station. You drive through it until the red light comes on, STOP, put it in park, and let the thing do it's job. Green light comes on and you drive out. Pretty easy but the actual building is small, no "car pulley" system.

My problem was that they had us stacked in so tightly I kept my foot on the brake so that I wouldn't roll into the car in front of me. I guess the conveyor didn't like that.

The car wash I normally use just takes the top layer off, leaving a coating of dirt. If you pay for the clear coat, that layer of dirt becomes part of your finish. I mostly do it to get the windows clean.

 

[Sigarms]

I like the long pulley system better. it has red, white, blue and pink led lights as my P/U travels along. At the beginning it shoots different colored lines of foam soap that has a pleasant bubble gum scent. I always turn the cab blower on to get the full effect. For an extra $3 it has a wheel scrubber then sprays some tire shine at the end before the blower. There are a couple of long rows of vacuums that are DIY. Pre COVID, they would give you an air freshener and a blue hand towel too. They have done away with that practice now.

The time I did one with all the lights up this year up in Geneva NY when we took a week vacation up at the finger lakes. I remember going for the high dollar ($20) one with all the options, and honestly, would never pay that $20 again.

Only my son and I went on that trip as my wife had to stay with my dad who was living with us (my wife went to Georgia with her mom after we got back from NY so I'd be home). My son was born and raised in NC, and never spent any time up north other than a couple trips to my dad in Pennsylvania and his grandparents when they lived in Vermont. Now that he was driving himself and into cars somewhat, he couldn't get over how many "newer" cars he saw that had rust on them.

There is a place in Winston Salem that charges $24, you get out of your car, then the attendant drives it to the "conveyor belt ride" and you walk to the customer "lounge area". Thing is, and the only nice way to put it is there are a bunch of immigrants there who basically vacuum, hand dry exterior, clean the car inside and out AFTER it gets off the conveyor belt (those guys work on your car for like 15 minutes and they all seem to do a great job). The car is almost as good as detailed, and I've been highly impressed with how clean the inside (everywhere, including the trunk) comes out. Thing is, I'm not going to have guys work on my car cleaning the inside out without me tipping them $20 as I'm certain they most likely work for peanuts. Pretty expensive car wash at the end of the day, and I'll only take a car there perhaps once a year, but it's the best I've ever seen a car clean inside and out.

 

[Sigarms]

My problem was that they had us stacked in so tightly I kept my foot on the brake so that I wouldn't roll into the car in front of me. I guess the conveyor didn't like that.

Makes sense. My son even commented on how sometimes accidents do happen with cars there.

Thinking about it more, I really like that place I mentioned in my previous post because you get out of your car in the "bay area", walk to the lounge, and the guys there take care of the rest.

When you have cars lined up like cattle, it's nice to take the idiocy factor out the equation that you're bound to get when you increase the amount of people in one place (not referring to you).

 

[Rustyiron]

We used to have our best days after a $now event at a self serv with an automatic carwash in the mid Atlantic region. We had heated floors in the bays and "weep" and blowout cold weather systems to stay operational, but freezing temperatures and car washing are definitely a huge challenge.
In the warmer seasons people tend to make an event (at home) out of washing the cars. Not in the winter!

 

[mrmikey]

When I was younger, 16 (ohhh sooo many years ago) I used to work in a carwash. The type with the conveyor, rotary brushes etc. I've seen so many cars damaged in them, some drivers fault, some operators fault. I've got three examples.
First one, you gotta realize this is when antennas were telescopic. We were supposed to retract them (even tho the signs said the driver was supposed to) as far as possible so the last overhead brush wouldn't tear them off. This brush was 24" or so in diameter full width of the car. I forgot to retract one and when it got to the last brush, it got wrapped around the bristles, torn out of the bottom section and proceeded to beat the living crap out of the right/top side of the car. Driver was pi$$ed. Boss got out of it because it was signed not responsible both for retracting them and any damages.
Second one. The first spray is recycled water to remove the first layer of dirt and just wet the car down. Water goes into an underground settling tank and is sprayed over the complete car via high pressure nozzles. Boss, being a cheap aZZ was always slack pumping the silt out of the settling tank. One long, sunny weekend the tank filled up to the intake and no water. So, a couple of us said, "heck, we can push the silt away from the pickup until we get a pumper and carry on' ....which we did.
First car thru after we did this was a nice, shiny fairley new Cadillac. Ever heard of hydro blasting....I think we discovered the process, least ways that weekend we did. The car came out without a shiny bit on it other than bumpers and windows. The driver was old and apparently either blind or not very observant and took off, never to be seen again.
Last was no ones fault..kinda. There were two overhead drying blowers/nozzles at the end. Not sure but they were at least 20hp apiece. You couldn't walk thru them or they'd blow you over.
An old but nice Chey convertable was going thru. When converts go thru, you were supposed to manually lift the blower up so it didn't ride on the contact wheel like it does on a hard top as there was..well..no hard surface on the roof of a convertable.
The dryer guy at the end had gone for a nature call and neglected to tell anyone. Contact wheel went over the hood, up the winshield and sunk into the roof a couple of inches as it was 6" or so ahead of the actual blower nozzles. The front edge of the roof opened up a bit which let the air blow into the cab of the car pretty much pressurizing it and blowing the roof up. You gotta think, a convertable roof is meant to take air from the outside, not the inside, it's not really a pressure vessel. If I remember correctly, they did go good for that as it was operator error.

 

[daugen]

the carwash in my home town is terrible. Often the equipment is broken, you can see things not spinning around when they should.
Thankfully car wash 40 minutes away is outstanding, completely the opposite. Challenge is I have to drive some small shaded country roads getting home and they
always remain wet and messy for a while after a snow. But at least you get the salt off for a little while.

I had to sell a nice Ram p/u I had bought used after body shop who fixed the rear right quarter told me to sell it. It was a rotter. A NJ car with tons of salt on it.
so I always get the wash with the undercar spray. With the most wax package, 14 bucks in nearby doylestown. But if I want the whole car done, then I'll drive to the other one further away.
They have a literal army of people waiting at the end to finish off the car.

I got my Volvo washed when it was about 34 degrees out but it was a sunny day and the place was open at 9:30am.
It will be closed in this very cold weather. Also public danger to leave a frozen ice slick out on main road.

there are some amazing youtube videos of folks doing crazy stuff in car washes. Stepping on gas, brake, crashing into other cars.
I try to hold back a little ways and my favorite place doesn't get cars close to each other at all.

what's the point, since the two folks out front trying to dry off your car before it freezes can only work so fast.

I wonder if car washes have optional heaters at the end to blow hot air on the cars. Something to warm up the metal so the water can be blown/dried before it freezes outside
but you sure better open all your doors and run a towel around the rubber seals. At least the driver's door.
Am thankful I have a garage, unheated as it is.

like many of us, all my house outside water is turned off for winter.
In my fantasy land, I always wanted an oversized heated garage with a wash booth and a floor drain.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I wash my truck at least once a year even if it does not need it, lol!