Car Wash Damage :(

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markjay

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2022 Hyundai IONIQ 5 RWD / 2016 Suzuki Vitara AWD
Car wash today:
 
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Bloody hell, hand car wash or a drive through mechanical wash?
 
markjay said:
Car wash today:

Tfr burns... Either their concentrate is too strong or they left it on to dry in the sun for too long or applied it to hot surfaces.

Some will come out, heavy polish on the door uprights. Rubbers are now lacking nutrients. Either replenish by rubbing a vinyl gel into them or go back there and their insurance should cover new ones.

Standard item to wash cars with in these places.
 
renault12ts said:

Traffic film remover

Basically truck wash.

It's a cutting agent used similar to acid for wheels but not as harsh or acidic.
 
I fear the only way to sort that out is to replace the affected trim parts :(
 
It's a hand car wash. It's in an underground car park. A place I have been using for years but now under new management, apparently.

Drove back there and spoke to the manager. He was not being unreasonable as such, though he did initially try the 'we wash hundreds of cars and never had this problem'.

He also tried to point-out the the roof rack strips and windscreen wiper covers were unaffected - only the 4 trim bits on the B pillars and the strips at the base of the side windows (and the 4 door handles). Well in spite of having similar plasticy appearance they might be made of different types of plastic, who knows...

He eventually conceded (somewhat reluctantly) that he will need to sort it out.

It was more a case that he wasn't really convinced the damage was actually caused by them, but realised he'll need to fix it, either way....

On my part, I spotted it 10 minutes after leaving the dark underground car park... and it certainly wasn't there when I drove in.

The manager laboured personally for quite some time buffing-out one of the trim bits, with reasonable success I must say, though it's still not perfect.

He then said he will need to get his Autoglym guy to spend some time on it and that I should come back next week to get it sorted.
 
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I posted at the same time as the poster above me. I know what TFR is. I was asking MJ if he thought that's what the problem was.

To be honest I am baffled. Obviously it's some sort of reaction between the top coat of the plastic trim and the detergent or cleaning agent used.

Possibly someone squirted wheel cleaner on the car by mistake, I have no idea.... and will probably never know for sure.
 
As said, traffic film remover is nasty stuff and some places are rather liberal with it!

Try a polish and/or trim restorer but I have known parts need replacing on cars due them tarnishing from this stuff. :(
 
It's a hand car wash. It's in an underground car park. A place I have been using for years but now under new management, apparently.

I use one of these and was planning to entrust them with the post-two-thousand-mile-blast-through-France clean on my slab-fronted Discovery.

I appreciate you may not want to on open forum but would you mind naming exactly which one on a PM in case it is the one I use as I'd imagine they would use a lot of TFR or similar to cope with my dead bug collection.
 
I use one of these and was planning to entrust them with the post-two-thousand-mile-blast-through-France clean on my slab-fronted Discovery.

I appreciate you may not want to on open forum but would you mind naming exactly which one on a PM in case it is the one I use as I'd imagine they would use a lot of TFR or similar to cope with my dead bug collection.

PM sent.
 
I appreciate you may not want to on open forum but would you mind naming exactly which one on a PM in case it is the one I use as I'd imagine they would use a lot of TFR or similar to cope with my dead bug collection.

All of the standard hand car wash places will use TFR in some form or other. How they dilute it and how quickly they rinse it off remains to be seen though.

Sadly with a lot of car washes their aim is to get cars through the door as quickly as possible so they'll use harsher chemicals that clean more quickly, unfortunately they're not always the most friendly either. :dk:
 
Over many years I use hand car washes most days that I work . The only thing I let them use is soap and water.

I had to use a car wash yesterday that I hadn't used before, when I arrived they where standing there with there lances ready to spray the car with whatever solution it is they use. When I told them not to spray the car they replied "how are we suppose to clean the car properly " I suggested soap and water, when I tried to explain that the solution they use would strip all the polish off, they didn't understand and weren't very happy, they where even more unhappy when I told them to use only the clothes and not there plastic scrappers. Because they where so grumpy they didn't get a tip.
 
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All of the standard hand car wash places will use TFR in some form or other. How they dilute it and how quickly they rinse it off remains to be seen though.

Sadly with a lot of car washes their aim is to get cars through the door as quickly as possible so they'll use harsher chemicals that clean more quickly, unfortunately they're not always the most friendly either. :dk:

I think the issue is that the damage usually shows after a while and they know that it is nigh on impossible to demonstrate which car wash caused the damage.

Even in my case where I drove back to the car wash immediately, the manager (owner?) was grumpy and kept muttering that they wash dozens of cars every day and never had a problem.

Although, to his credit I will say that he refrained from calling me a liar outright and did apply some (token) effort to correct the damage, could have been worst.... :D

I did not take him up on his offer to come back another day when his 'Autoglym guy' will try and buff it out. Firstly life is too short, and then if it can be buffed out, I'll get someone who knows what they are doing to buff it out (can't cost too much buffing out a small area).

If not - I'll live with it.... the car is now 10 years old and I find it difficult both practically and mentally to keep maintaining it in 'as new' condition - even my OCD has to let go at some point. *sigh*

And my COMMAND NTG2.5 is still on maps v10.0 even though v13.0 is now out... :( Yes the standards are slipping in MJ Cardom :D
 
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I think the issue is that the damage usually shows after a while and they know that it is nigh on impossible to demonstrate which car wash caused the damage.


In most cases I'd say the same, over time the chemicals and scratchy/dirty mitts take their toll on the bodywork.

That's said, Ed at Divine Detail had a client who's car he'd looked after from new. Took it to the dealership, asked them not to wash it but they did anyway.

All the chrome trims were ruined! That was one hit with TFL or some other harsh solution and prior to that it has been cared for by a detailer.
 
I think the issue is that the damage usually shows after a while and they know that it is nigh on impossible to demonstrate which car wash caused the damage.

Even in my case where I drove back to the car wash immediately, the manager (owner?) was grumpy and kept muttering that they wash dozens of cars every day and never had a problem.

Although, to his credit I will say that he refrained from calling me a liar outright and did apply some (token) effort to correct the damage, could have been worst.... :D

I did not take him up on his offer to come back another day when his 'Autoglym guy' will try and buff it out. Firstly life is too short, and then if it can be buffed out, I'll get someone who knows what they are doing to buff it out (can't cost too much buffing out a small area).

If not - I'll live with it.... the car is now 10 years old and I find it difficult both practically and mentally to keep maintaining it in 'as new' condition - even my OCD has to let go at some point. *sigh*

And my COMMAND NTG2.5 is still on maps v10.0 even though v13.0 is now out... :( Yes the standards are slipping in MJ Cardom :D

You have been set free MJ, enjoy it while it lasts for when you buy a new car again the clock resets back to being fussy about such stuff.
 
You have been set free MJ, enjoy it while it lasts for when you buy a new car again the clock resets back to being fussy about such stuff.

It does indeed :D
 

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