Automatic Car Washes and Lexus Paint Jobs

[SCMCT200h]

I have a 2012 CT200h - brand new. We can all stipulate that automatic car washes that use the harsh bristle/brush method are evil and do damage to paint jobs. However, there are now newer systems that use sponge/foam-type washing methods and others that have cloth/rag/man-made-fiber type washing methods (I'm not discussing the high powered water methods because I've never tried them. Are these new types truly bad or are some people who swear we should only use hand washes for our Lexus' just being overly fretful? Have modern paint methods improved enough to mitigate any damage - especially with Lexus? One argument in favor of automated car-washes, aside form the environmental one, is that every luxury car dealer I've been in including every Lexus dealership, has an automatic car wash system to prepare their new cars to look good on the lot and to wash cars for their complementary car wash services - and a free car wash comes with every service visit as well. If all automatic car washes were truly detrimental to the paint, then it stands to reason that the high end brands like Lexus would not universally have these on the lot. And when examining this objectively (and from personal experience with a black car I owned in college, I must admit that a sponge, a cloth or any soft scrubber one uses by hand can take the sediment on a car and cause micro-scratches too. Are there any truly unbiased experts on modern paint jobs and modern automatic car washes out there who can shed some light on this?

[Chunky1234]

Here in the UK the Lexus Dealers wash the cars by hand.

[SCMCT200h]

OK, so it only applies to the US, but still that's a lot of dealers

[midcow3]

IMHO - I use an automated car wash in Houston called Gurdy's. It uses the cloth strips. The attendents fold your mirrors in and tape the back window washer. It costs $12 for the ultimate wash ( I think that is what it is called). Does underbody wash, tire wash and tire black, car wash and wax and blow dry. It is absolutely the best car wash I have ever used, except for the one I use on the S2000 It has NEVER scratched or harmed any car I have used it on.

At the end there is free vacuum and that and a couple of microfiber towels and your car looks brand new,

[Mobilejay]

I know I'm a little late on this thread but I have been interested in the CT's so I found this site. I would say to stay away from the automated machines. Lexus' have a pretty soft clear coat that will mar quite easily. I have polished many car and my clients never realized how bad they looked until I did a test panel. I wouldn't chance it, a quick and cheap car wash may be nice, but a minimum of $275 to polish out the imperfections can hurt some people.

[JIMSGX]

I've had my Black, 2012 CT for about three months. During that time, the car has been through the dealers brush car wash twice and other than that, I take the car through high pressure touchless washes. The paint finish is covered in spider web's... I think the paint on the car is way too soft. I also own a Black, 2005 LS430. I take it through the same touchless car washes, but it doesn't exhibit the same spider web issues in the paint. My wife drives a 2008 ES350, the color is a very dark blue (can't remember the name of the color offhand). It also doesn't suffer from the spider web issues that my CT does...

Anyone else with a dark color on their CT noticing that the paint isn't holding up very well? All three cars are garaged.

On top of it, I already have six chips out of the paint on the hood of the CT and one chip on the roof. I have the paint protection film installed on the car, but the chips are all above the hood line of the film. I have about 6500 miles on the car. Most of it highway miles. I wish I had the clear film installed on the whole hood and the front portion of the roof.

[bcarpenter]

Funny thing in Canada where we used to live last year, there were automatic car washes only (of various sorts). In the USA, seemed to be the same thing.

Here in Australia, it's hand washing everywhere. Twenty years ago, it was all machines.

[lostchild]

Most of the auto car wash don't use brushes or cloth strips anymore. They just use jet sprays. I usually go to the ones with "hand wash" which is 2 guys (1 on each side of the car) in rain coats hand wipes the car as it goes thru the tunnel.

[Matt_RN]

I think the paint is softer on newer vehicles in general because of the switch to paints that are more environmentally friendly (no VOCs or something of that nature).

This is kind of why I went with Starfire Pearl because the swirls don't show up as bad as they do on Obsidian, but now I'm kicking myself in the head because it's a three-stage paint that is incredibly hard to match, especially the second pearl layer. It's easy to get too much or too little pearl in the paint mixture. Painting my new body kit is gonna be a pain.

[SPAZZ]

Here in the UK the Lexus Dealers wash the cars by hand.

Same with my dealer.

In fact, my dealer gives free unlimited car washes with the purchase of a new car...So I'm all set anyway.

My previous car would get spiderweb swirls all over the place every time I took it through an automatic wash so I would always be cautious of that anyway.