Not all automatic car washes are created equal! Using an automatic car wash you risk being the culprit of swirl marks, especially on darker-colored cars. Swirl marks are very difficult to get rid of once they have shown up. Cars with wider wheel widths or a low profile will sometimes have problems with automatic car washes. In this case, you may fall victim to scratches and scrapes on your rims or the undercarriage of your vehicle. Keep in mind the spinning brushes and the dangling cloth pieces that do most of the washing. These may be quick, efficient, and fun for the kids to look at, but if you’ve got a car that you want safe from swirl-marks and contaminants then this is the wrong path for you. Most people don’t realize that these brushes have touched hundreds if not thousands of other cars, collecting dirt and debris along the way. That dirt and debris is like acid on your paint surface!

Most automatic washes will use either air drying or a hand drying with a towel. These methods tend to leave extensive water spotting and exterior scratching respectively when compared to a proper hand drying with a clean, microfiber cloth.

Also, think twice about spray-on wax. This typically adds at least a couple bucks to the cost of the wash and while it doesn't hurt anything, it's no substitute for hand-applied polish/wax. Spray-on "wax" may provide a short-term gloss enhancement, but doesn't protect against UV sun damage the way hand-applied wax does. Ditto the cost of having an attendant spray Armor All (or a similar protectant) on your tires to make them shiny. The cost for this extra can be equivalent to the cost of buying an entire bottle of the stuff on your own.

Claying, polishing and waxing helps to remove embedded contaminants, as well as to restore the luster of a damaged finish, which is done when you hand wash your vehicle. None of these steps have a comparable step in automatic washing.

Wheel and tire cleaning is an exception; the heavy-duty cleaners used by the car wash do a great job of removing baked-on brake dust, etc., that can otherwise be a real chore to clean on your own, using over-the-counter cleaners, a hand brush and a hose. It's especially important to keep aluminum alloy wheels clean; brake dust can eventually permanently stain them if it's not regularly cleaned away.

Should time not be a factor, hand car washing tends to be better in every way when compared to automatic washes. Hand washes along with the corresponding additional steps such as claying, polishing and waxing should be done whenever time allows, for best results.

ATX-HandWaxandWash, LLC uses microfiber towels to detail your vehicle! Each car gets their own microfiber towels during the detailing process and those towels are washed or discarded after each detail.