<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Efrain:
I always wash mine by hand; it takes me about two hours. also, I don't use any soap unless there's squashed bugs, especially on the grill and windshield. I would never take it no ANY car wash! Eventually the soap they use will affect the car paint. Although if you trade in your car each year, that shouldn't be a concern than.
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Eventually the soap they use will affect the car paint.
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Where in the HELL is that statement coming from?
Having owned and operated an auto detailing biz for many years in CA I can assure you that the soap the car washes use will in NO way harm the paint or anyone who comes in contact with it.
In CA and I elsewhere there are "hand car washes" places where a couple of guys are in the tunnel with there hands in the soap washing your truck as it passes by. Do you really believe that if the soap was harmful these washers would be allowed to standing in it and working with it 8 hours a day?
Most of the soap used in the auto wash industry comes from one or two places in the country and is simply branded for various companies use. In most cases it is the same stuff that you can purchase over the counter at your local auto parts house, it just comes in 50 gallon barrels to the car washes instead of a few oz's to the end consumer in stores.
You're truck is in much greater danger of getting its paint damaged by those twirling brush things or the dangling cloth's that trap dirt and other crap as they drag off extra water before the truck goes to the blowers at the end. The cotton towels you're using to dry your truck in the driveway are causing more damage to the paint (swril marks from the drying effort) then the soap ever will.