Clear Bra & Ceramic - can’t go through car wash?

[MJH_102383]

Forgive me for what maybe an amateur question… on all our cars we generally do ceramic and clear bra / PPF and of course we would never take Porsche cars through a gas station type car wash…. But the decent ones that are $15-20 a wash that generally use the shammy type things to dry the car at the end. More often than not I’ll dry it off myself even further with a shammy, etc.

I was told that going through a car wash removes the ceramic coating and defeats the purpose? I guess I am just not sure how this is any different than washing the car with a sponge and drying it with a shammy towel.

Furthermore, I am thinking perhaps if I have my local shop do a full PPF then full ceramic perhaps I shouldn’t be taking my car to the car wash 2-3x a week? I am OCD and starting to wonder if a detail spray and cleaning up the wheels might get the job done rather than taking it to the DIY or automatic (as referenced above) car wash.

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[Fedex77]

It shouldn’t remove the ceramic, but I’d check with your products warranty to see how to best care for it. If anything your car with full PPF will fare better in a car wash than a regular car which will get scratched up.

The nice thing about PPF and ceramic is that all you need to do is simple wash. I use a rinse less product from XPEL that works really well. Takes like 10 min to apply and towel off. I do it every 2 weeks since it’s so dusty in the summer

 

[BarryC]

Some car washes will use harsh chemicals to remove the dirt that could effect the ceramic coating, I would imagine the PPF could still be susceptible to swirls and scratches from any machines as well. Two bucket method all the way for my cars.

 

[MJH_102383]

I just ordered a bunch of eco waterless car wash stuff from Chemical Guys so I am going to try and start going this direction because frankly I never let my cars get more than a little bit dirty.

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