Car wash stations - rinse options

T3rminator · 12-07-2021, 04:46 PM

Committed a cardinal sin this arvo, went to one of those self served BP car washing stations. Its been quite a while since I used one. I noticed there were two finishing options, "clear coat protection" and "spotless rinse".

Curious what these are.

What chemicals are they using for the clear coat protection? And is there any effects if you get it on your windows and windscreen?

What is added to the rinse to make it a spotless rinse?

**DFB FGXR6** · 12-07-2021, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Committed a cardinal sin this arvo, went to one of those self served BP car washing stations. Its been quite a while since I used one. I noticed there were two finishing options, "clear coat protection" and "spotless rinse".

Curious what these are.

What chemicals are they using for the clear coat protection? And is there any effects if you get it on your windows and windscreen?

What is added to the rinse to make it a spotless rinse?

I'm not entirely educated on these two car wash options but some Google info suggests the following -

Clear Coat Protection -
"Clear Coat Protectant is a polymer fortified formula. This product provides a long-lasting protective coating on all applied surfaces to protect the vehicle from the environment. Gives vehicles longer-lasting protection compared to traditional waxes or drying agents. Enhances beading, high drying quality, and a bright shine."

Some car wash places also list this sort of thing as "Wax". I don't know what is in these products but clearly they are water activated spray waxes/sealants. While not as durable as a regular wax, sealant or coating, they are better than nothing at all.

Spot Free Rinse -
"Many professional car wash locations feature a ”spot free rinse“ with reverse osmosis water. Reverse osmosis reduces the TDS of water by about 95% and does assure a spot-free rinse with most waters..."

Basically meaning water that has had minerals and salts removed to prevent water spots that etch into the clear coat.

**GasoLane** · 12-07-2021, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Committed a cardinal sin this arvo, went to one of those self served BP car washing stations. Its been quite a while since I used one. I noticed there were two finishing options, "clear coat protection" and "spotless rinse".

Curious what these are.

What chemicals are they using for the clear coat protection? And is there any effects if you get it on your windows and windscreen?

What is added to the rinse to make it a spotless rinse?

There's a member on AFF who runs a hydraulic hose business, and says doesn't know the chems car wash's use but he has to replace their stainless hoses about every 2 years.

slowsnake · 12-07-2021, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

I'm not entirely educated on these two car wash options but some Google info suggests the following -

Clear Coat Protection -
"Clear Coat Protectant is a polymer fortified formula. This product provides a long-lasting protective coating on all applied surfaces to protect the vehicle from the environment. Gives vehicles longer-lasting protection compared to traditional waxes or drying agents. Enhances beading, high drying quality, and a bright shine."

Some car wash places also list this sort of thing as "Wax". I don't know what is in these products but clearly they are water activated spray waxes/sealants. While not as durable as a regular wax, sealant or coating, they are better than nothing at all.

Spot Free Rinse -
"Many professional car wash locations feature a ”spot free rinse“ with reverse osmosis water. Reverse osmosis reduces the TDS of water by about 95% and does assure a spot-free rinse with most waters..."

Basically meaning water that has had minerals and salts removed to prevent water spots that etch into the clear coat.

I bet if you follow the hose it goes to a tap around the back!.lol

Cheers Sir William

T3rminator · 13-07-2021, 12:04 PM

We had a bit of rain last night, so its hard to judge the result overnight, but there are no watermarks on the side mirrors, so seems to have done the trick.

XR.1967 · 13-07-2021, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasoLane

There's a member on AFF who runs a hydraulic hose business, and says doesn't know the chems car wash's use but he has to replace their stainless hoses about every 2 years.

Yep that's from the pre soak and a few other chemicals..
They can burn your skin quite easy if you spill it on yourself..
If the set up isn't right [ the right injectors and tips] you can wear things out a lot quicker that's for sure..
The protection coat isn't harsh on the paint and the spot free rinse is mainly to get the calcium out and soften the water buy going through a filtration system..
That's why you should all ways go in the order that is on the board at the car wash.
You can skip some but don't go back and forth..
All ways wash the foam brush with high pressure water before you use it to..
That's the biggest mistake I see people make..
Well not washing it and not wetting the car before they use it..

Every time you wash your car they say your doing some kind of damage to it..
Even if its just water out of the tap..

T3rminator · 13-07-2021, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR.1967

Yep that's from the pre soak and a few other chemicals..
They can burn your skin quite easy if you spill it on yourself..
If the set up isn't right [ the right injectors and tips] you can wear things out a lot quicker that's for sure..
The protection coat isn't harsh on the paint and the spot free rinse is mainly to get the calcium out and soften the water buy going through a filtration system..
That's why you should all ways go in the order that is on the board at the car wash.
You can skip some but don't go back and forth..
All ways wash the foam brush with high pressure water before you use it to..
That's the biggest mistake I see people make..
Well not washing it and not wetting the car before they use it..

Every time you wash your car they say your doing some kind of damage to it..
Even if its just water out of the tap..

Thanks for the summary. Whilst I haven't used it for some time, the clock wise selector was quite intuitive. I didn't use the clear coat rinse as I didn't want to put a layer of something on my windscreen that might make it hard to see at night. I did use the spotless rinse.

Have always also thought "what if some scumbag decided to stick a pin in the brush, that would ruin everyone's car". So did high pressure hose the brush before using it. A whole lot of crud came out, guessing someone with a mega dirty 4x4 came in before me.

The whole process was actually very quick and convenient and the result is semi decent. I can now understand why people use it. I see people with really expensive cars use it at my local BP all the time.

Bossxr8 · 14-07-2021, 12:59 PM

Anyone who uses those dirt filled brushes has rocks in their head.

danzvtil · 15-07-2021, 12:31 AM

Im pretty sure the polymer in the clear coat protector is just there to visually fill in the scratches made by the brush.

zilo · 15-07-2021, 06:35 AM

They recycle the water, you never end up with a properly washed car.
Unless you have been off road and covered in mud i wouldn't waste my money.

.:4:. · 15-07-2021, 11:36 AM

So semi unrelated, my car was filthy so a ran it through an automated wash. However this one doesnt have the flappy flaps or the brushes. So it just ran high preassure water for 2 passes, detergent or whatever for 2 passes and so on. So as to be expected it wasnt 100%, but it took out 90% of the work on a filthy car. Got it home, hosed the car down and a quick run over with a clean microfibre and the car came up good. I still need to do the wheels and wax the car properly, but thats when time and effort insue.

T3rminator · 15-07-2021, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by .:4:.

So semi unrelated, my car was filthy so a ran it through an automated wash. However this one doesnt have the flappy flaps or the brushes. So it just ran high preassure water for 2 passes, detergent or whatever for 2 passes and so on. So as to be expected it wasnt 100%, but it took out 90% of the work on a filthy car. Got it home, hosed the car down and a quick run over with a clean microfibre and the car came up good. I still need to do the wheels and wax the car properly, but thats when time and effort insue.

Sounds like the "touchless" system that I see every now and then. Surprised to hear they are effective on a dirty car!

.:4:. · 15-07-2021, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Sounds like the "touchless" system that I see every now and then. Surprised to hear they are effective on a dirty car!

So touchless yes, but effective sorta no. They get to most places but not the nooks and crannies. So if you want a proper job there is a bit of do the rest yourself. And also, the waxing, better done by hand. But as a lazy starter to knock off the multiple passes big bird did on my car hanging dumps on it in my driveway... it took a lot of the work out of it. And the water preassure at my house isnt much better then a man with prostate cancer. Also, i dont own a preassure washer. So yeah, the lazy way out. Still required extra effort, but atleast no flappy bits or robo brushes. But if you dont have to drive far for the convenience of getting the car atleast sprayed down, its a 5 minute affair.