To be perfectly blunt, there’s nothing that screams, “I’m a slob” more than someone driving around in a filthy car. Unlike a bedroom, people see your car — it shouldn’t look like it spent days twirling around in a tornado. It’s that simple, guys. There’s really no excuse! Erm, OK, we take that back — ifyou happen to live in your car, we’ll let it slide. Otherwise, be a grown up and keep it clean, yeah? That being said, we recently came across an article citing that taking your car to a car wash can actually cause some serious damage.
Well, WTF?! Cleaning your own car is a huge pain in the ass. That’s why these services exist! Well, as it turns out, it looks like we’re going to have to suck it up and stop throwing money at the problem. Speaking with JALOPNIK, Paul Lamberty, who is responsible for “all automotive OEM and refinish coatings research and development within North America” for BASF (a top-tier supplier to the automotive industry) explained:
“It’s like painting your car with a wet sandblaster. Some of those car washes, seriously, I’ve seen them where the brushes are gray to brown with dirt. I don’t care what car wash it is, if it rubs that media on the surface of the paint finish, your paint can be stripped away.”
Lamberty assured that going through a car wash a couple of times isn’t going to completely destroy your car, but, eventually it will create what’s called a “spiderweb scratch”. Go ahead and use your imagination on that one, guys. If you need to get the damn salt off your car this winter, just use the hands God gave you! Lamberty suggests using lots of water to get all the grit gently off. He follows up by suggesting using a soft clay and some towels to ensure a nice shine.
