Hi everyone, I've had my car for three days now, and guess what. It needs a wash! I've heard the nightmare stories about car washes, and I know we have some experts in our midst, so I thought I'd ask for some suggestions.

I'm looking to keep my car clean and, most importantly, protected. I'm not necessarily looking to have the glossiest finish at all times. Just want to know what to do to keep my paint in good shape.

Can anyone recommend a good car wash around Denver? I'm open to doing the wash in one place and then doing some additional manual labor in my driveway, if that's one way to go.

Or is there another DIY wash day coming up?

Thanks!

 

A good wash with high pressure is good for your MINI. No brushes or hanging devices they use to scrub the top of your MINI.

High pressure washes are good, if you have loose trim, it can blow off, but then you go to your MINI dealer and complain, they will put it back on as warranty.

I do the high-pressure wash on both MINIs, then I dry with a waffle weave towel and finish with Hydro or Hydro Max from Prima Car Care to give it the protection and shine my MINIs love.

Wax with a quality wax every 6 months or 1 time per year, if your lazy like me. I use Prima Banana Gloss and sometimes Epic.

Don

 

Great info! So I can just go to one of those pay-as-you-go spray nozzle dealy-bobs?

I'm making a list and will pick up the stuff that you mentioned. Much appreciated.

 

Ditto what Old81 said but once I snuck in my own bucket of soap and filled it there, using their spray nozzle to fill up and rinse...but only when it wasn't busy (most of them take credit cards now with a $3 minimum before you can hit the "stop" button).

I'll go through a drive-thru if it's really needed but none that have brushes or anything that would touch the car and none that require you to drive on any tracks.

 

i don't know how inconvenient it might be located for you, but here in brighton there is one called ferngully that is an automated high pressure and i've always used it with other cars. it's the only place that always gets everything clean that other automated places miss, and it's cheap.

 

By all means!! stay away from car washes with tracks!! I made that mistake once!! GOOD GOSH what a nightmare that turned out to be!!

 

I'm guessing had washing is not a possibility ?

If not and you have to use a car wash, do not hold those pressure wands too close to your car. Not only could you get some air in the line and cause the tip to damage your car when it whips around, but you will strip the wax right off the car that way.

Most of them say No Hand Washing but if you go during non-peak hours, nobody is going to bother you about it.

 

Oh no! What happened?
I've only used one of those once in my last car (a Nissan rogue) and it somehow bent the hell out of my front license plate, so I never went again.

 

Yep, my wife didn't have her mini a week, and went through the $3 car wash in Cheyenne (paid $8) and it had the bushes. We then could see where the brushes scrached the car all the way around. Not deep, but you could see it. That was the last time I'm taking a new car through one of those places. I will take an old beater that needs the dirt knocked off, but not a nice paint job.

I always have clean dry towels in the car, when I go through the pressure car wash, I simply dry the car off, with one towel, followed closely with the dryer of the two towels. I think you pick up a lot of left over dirt that way.

 

Hey jen, Well before I entered the automatic car wash I asked them are you sure my MINI will be okay to go through...they said YES no problem at all..So I lined it up on the tracks and it began to get pulled through..till about half way through wamm..it got stuck bad.. so bad they had to shut down the whole car wash..They tried to reverse the car wash but no luck...then they took apart part of the car wash and had to call a tow truck to lift it out...what a big mess that was.. they knew I was very upset.. but to make a long story somewhat short my MINI came out with no damage.. But I learned my lesson there...about a week later I noticed a big sign on the outside of the car wash that said.. NO MINIs!!

 

Ummm...wow...

 

Quick update: I stopped by Elevation Auto Spa here in Lakewood, where they carry all of the Prima products. Got the Hydro and Banana Gloss and some towels to start. Jesse there was great, and gave me a demo of the proper procedure.

I think Brighton might be a little far for me to try the one you like, Jen, but who knows? I can easily see myself going entirely out of the way for all manner of errands.

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I look forward to putting them to use.

Too funny. That sign probably spared someone else from the same heartache.

 

Ha ha I think it has!! The sign is still there.. Worst part about it was the day it happened the car wash was really busy... there were 3 cars behind me in the car wash and a good 10 more waiting to get in.. what a mess!!