I met an old friend on New Years Eve and discovered that he too had bought a MINI Cooper. He told me that he cannot fiond a car wash that will accept his car; apparently they told him there is some brake item that catches on the machine. Has anyone else heard of this? Should I be concerned?

 

i hate automatic carwashes. cant stand the idea of my paint being smacked by giant spinning brushes, and the "touchless" ones always leave the oiliest grime behind.

Best thing is to hand wash. . . . .

 

Hello Savage65,
Never heard of this being a problem, personally. We only use car washes for a winter-rinse & we've never used a wash which pulls the car along, which may be different than the set-ups which requires one to pull onto that certain spot, then the computer measures the car and goes around it.

I doubt MINI's brakes are that much lower than most sports cars. I hope someone else has had a more specific experience with this. [I wasn't much help!?! ]

Cheers!

_________________
MINI: Best horse for the buck!

 

That's the best way to do it Yucca, but here in the northern climates, we can't do it in the winter. Have to use automatic washes.

I have had trouble going through a few automatic washes. The Mini rides so low to the ground that it will sometime get caught up on the guide rail. I was going through one about a month ago, and there was this awful grinding noise coming from under the car. I was like, WHAT THE F(&! I look back and the Mini is being pushed by the mechanism, but the back left side wheel was not turning. YIKES! There were cars behind me, so I had to go through the whole wash like that.

The owner of the wash came out and said that he has another Mini that comes through with the same problems. The guy has to get out of his car to make it go through correctly. I guess the extra weight pushes it closer to the ground. This would make sense, because we were on vacation and the Mini was LOADED to the max.

I looked under the car and didn't see any damage, but I know it was caught on something. I won't go through these anymore. If it makes your car move, don't do it in the Mini. Just use the ones where your car stays in the same spot. Find a newer one that uses the newest technology. These ones leave my Mini shining.

 

What YuccaPatrol said!

 

Right after I got my MINI I took it to the carwash that I had taken my previous car to (they have ladies day on Tuesday and it's half price). They refused to wash my car saying the front was to low and it would catch on the device that rolls the cars through the wash. I was a little disappointed, but it doesn't take to long to wash the MINI (although in this weather your hand does tend to go numb after a few minutes).

 

Although my MC is just 2 months old, I have used the automated car wash twice now. It has the 2 railings that you drive your left front tire between and then a metal piece catches your tire and pulls your car along. So, you leave your car in neutral and just stay in the driver's seat. I have seen others a few year's ago where you had to get out of the car and it went through the same type of car wash process but without a driver. I can see that if your car is lowered it might be a problem as the railing appears to be high. But I have had no problems, and I did not rub or scrape on anything. It is convenient to use that here in this cold climate area, as it is very cold for me to want to wash the car myself. When the weather warms, I can (will?) wash it myself.

 

I've found that about half of the car washes in my area have rails that are too high for the MINI's minimal ground clearance. Thus, the problem is not the MINI hurting the car wash but the other way around. Best bet is to find a car wash that has sufficiently low rails and then use it consistently.

I tend to prefer the "spray it yourself" wash bay ones. And yes, up here in the frosty north we can't afford the cavalier "I never use car washes" attitude of you southerners... it's either a car wash or a salt encrusted car. Take your pick.

 

>>I met an old friend on New Years Eve and discovered that he too had bought a MINI Cooper. He told me that he cannot fiond a car wash that will accept his car; apparently they told him there is some brake item that catches on the machine. Has anyone else heard of this? Should I be concerned?

I have "banned" carwashes from my MINI rather than the other way around. In my area the carwash is happy to take my money but I do not trust that they will be gentle enough so I only hand wash my MINI.


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Mele Kalikimaka & Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

 

I use a detailer to come to my house. I have two different ones and one comes and does an OK job on my wife's Volvo and my daughter's Suburban. My other guy does a GREAT job and charges me $15.00 for a wash inside and out and $100.00 for a full detail. Well worth it. He does San Diego area if anyone is interested.

I will guarantee you will be satified with his work.

Earl

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SCURVES

 

Hand car wash, not an option in winter in general. I close off the water to the outside of my house after Thanksgiving and drain the pipes to prevent freezing. So it's a commercial operation or not at all.

As it turns out I have used my usual car wash with no problems to date, which is interesting because four years ago my Porsche 911 Turbo had a problem in the same placeand it was very low to the ground too. That time we ascertained that the problem was the 12" wide rear wheels which were fatter than the guide rail. It trashed the rim but they bought me another one.

 

:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:

I take Wanda to the brushless, 100% handwash at least once a month, otherwise, hubby and/or I clean her by hand at least every 4-5 days. I have not had any problems with the carwashes here is SoCal. Are ours different from the Northeast's?

 

For winter users - just goto a normal car wash and use their water and hose...but don't use the brush..that is what I would do in the winter and it works quite well...though the nice thing with the touchless is they do a better job and spraying the underside of your vehicle. What I would do there is just drive through for that underspray, then just keep driving (i would tell the person behind me as they would then get a free car wash) The detergents that are used in touchless car washes are alot stronger then normal car soap and can strip the wax off much quicker...so if your spending alot of time to get your MINI waxed I wouldn't use a touchless as your then reducing the life of the wax you spent much time to put on.

 

One of my friends took his through a car wash, something got stuck up, and the Mini fell off the tracks, causing a mess. So I guess it depends on the wash. If the car wash owner says he can't wash it, he's just covering his butt, you can't blame him... just avoiding lawsuits.

 

We've actually got a Car Wash out here where the car rides on the track, but it's hand washed! Instead of passing machines doing the washing, it's a group of guys at every station who handle it. Surprisingly enough it's even competitively priced. I still do a better job myself, but for the winter "de-salting" it works....

 

I used to hand wash all my other cars, but must be getting lazy. I've found a local, brushless car wash that pampers my car. The people there always seem to take a little bit of extra care with it and all for the low price of $12 for a great inside/outside job. Plus, it's really comical to see four or five grown men working on all corners of such a little car. The car, dirty and wet, gets descended upon by the five workers all but obscuring the car from view and when they pull away there it sits all dry and shinny.

 

I will not use auto / brushless car washes anymore. I cannot prove it, but after seeing my former wheels (Prodrive P1's) get scratched and scuffed in "odd" places, I can only deduct it was the car wash. Whether it was the lower profile tires, or the style of the wheels, I know use a hand wash place or do it myself.

 

Wow.. I never thought of this problem... I live in the Chicago area and can't hand wash in the winter. I perfer hand wash over anything because I know it is done right. I have a touchless wash nearby that actually works great. There is another wash where you drop off your car and walk on the other side of the glass wall. I used it once and didn't have an issue. Guess I'm going to check that out carefully before I go again.

 

most of the newer touchless washes that you don't roll your car
through work fine if you don't lower your car. If i do lower the
MCS, it's going to be on KW's.

i have this problem on my other car which is lowered and i'd hate
to raise it (its on a coilover kit) just to fit her through the darn
car wash. So i don't drive her in the snow/salt.

 

I NEVER take my Mini through an automatic car wash. The brushes can do a number on your paint if something happens to be stuck in them. Also, I have the Hsport springs and don't think I could clear the rail anyway. This time of year in upstate NY I try not to drive it too much anyway but, if it needs a wash, I go to a touchless wash. Some are a lot better than others although, even the best are no substitute for a wash by hand.

 

Do it yourself bay wash occasionally in the winter (so I don't crack the skin on my hands!), hand wash the rest of the year....small luxury of living in SoCal.

 

Yes you should be concerned. I just noticed some damage to a rubber boot cover on the drivers side rear wheel lower section of the shock absorber. I drive a '03 MCS with 17 inch wheels and the rear wheel suspension assembly is very low.
Last week I took it to a car wash with the push through rails for the left side of the car. I checked whether they had plastic protection on the rails (they did) to protect my wheel rims from scrapes etc. But didn't imagine that the inside rail would tear away the rubber protection on the shock.
So be warned.
That's the last time I take my Mini through a car wash.

 

Car washes slaughter your finish long-term, however, when your car is a car-sickle or has a "salt finish" white luster, you are better off to get it washed than let the layers of dirt grind @ the paint. My plans of action are usually -
1. DIY wash 2. touchless wash 3. manual wash (if over 32F) 4. car-wash.

Also, going into the tracks are very hard on your sidewall and can actually effect your alignment in extreme cases- beware

I took my Corvette C5 thru a car-wash a few times, it fit with 275 rear-tires, and it is certainly lower than an MCS. I did have one place refuse me, but i never had a problem at the other places.

 

There are car washes and there are car washes. In San Diego, they are almost ALL hand washes. Sometimes the car gets pulled through a soap machine, but the washing is all done by hand. Somehow, some of them still manage to suck. The MINI and the BMW don't visit them. Nonetheless, if I lived in the snow belt, I would use a commercial hand wash if I could find one.

I have the cavalier "never take it to an automatic car wash attitude" but I had it when I lived in Chicago, too. Hand car washes are a dime a dozen in Chicago. There is literally one every three blocks or so if you look. In the city, of course. Some of them are way better than others, but the price is usually competitive. A very good wash that sticks in my mind was Gold Coast Car Wash on New Orleans if I remember correctly. That one was expensive (about $20), but they did a fabulous job, including blowing air out of all the crevices with a compressed air hose. If you pointed anything out that bothered you, they fixed it.

Car washes with brushes are bad for the finish. They just are. Self wash bay brushes are worse. But if you don't have any choice, either is better than leaving salt on the car. Come to think of it, there are potential dangers with touchless washes too. They recycle the water and some of them don't filter it as well as they could, so you get high pressured grit sprayed at your car. Yeah, call me paranoid.

 

I am all "car wash"ed out. After many tries over the years of the latest and greatest automatic car washes, I have found that I can still do a much better job by hand washing the car. If you want to protect your paint, and your wax jobs then don't go near a car wash.

Cold weather makes doing it yourself more difficult, but is still the way to go. If it is above freezing, you can wash a car. You just have to be quicker and wear water proof gear so you don't get soaked. Even a quick hand wash will get more winter crud off the car than a typical car wash without damaging the paint..