Car Wash (touch only)

Quick question.

Faced with a new England winter (think brine saltwater everywhere) on the roads my truck is seeing the effects from the salt. Its 12 years old but i really would like to see it last another 15 years.

So i have near to the house a touch only car wash with a monthly $20 unlimited pass.
The touchless has a $60 dollars a month unlimited charge. Neither are on the way home and touchless is further than touch car wash. I can't justify the $60.

Side Notes: i have young kids and work 40 minutes from home, usually 6 days a week. Drive the truck as little as possible due to gas prices. But it does get used at least once or twice a week. Sits in an unheated garage (but the garage is attached and it does stay warmer than freezing if the temps outside are in the 20s or above.
I do fluid film once a year, but I'm at the point where i need to hot wash the undercarriage and touch up the welds that are showing some rust (por15) and re-coat.

So, question:
is it worth sacrificing the paint for a touch car wash to keep the frame rinsed from salt? Or should i just keep to hand washing the few times a year I can or touchless wash once a month?

After 12 years the paint is not perfect by any means but i don't want to make it worse.

Trucks black so the car wash will leave its toll.

 

What’s the point of nice paint if the frame is gone from rust? Also, is the car wash going to spray the underside?

I you can always have a paint correction done..

 

I think is more of the terror i feel for the truck when those car wash brushes are attacking the truck as i can just feel the debris on those brushes from the rust/etc that gets trapped from other new england cars.

But your correct. the paint can be repaired.

 

Do the wash places only offer monthly subscriptions? Or could you go 2x month and pay each time? $10/wash should get a under vehicle spray off.

if it gets above freezing, get a hose and sprinkler, and set that up in your driveway for 10-15 min (under the vehicle).

 

yes that idea would work great if i was set up to drain water from the garage in the winter. Sadly nothing like that is in the plans currently. Would like to insulate the garage for heat, when needed as changing the radiator yesterday in 11 degrees was chilly but New England is tough as a heated garage and salt on your frame may make the corrosion worse or help to speed it up.

Thanks for the suggestion (i might pick one of those up for the summer).

 

I live in nj and deal with the same salt problem. I don't have a touchless carwash anywhere near me. As much as I don't like it I use the regular carwash and detail the truck in the spring. As others have said paint swirls are better than rust.

 

Regular Car wash places do little underneath the truck. Id say get er cleaned up and get it coated underneath. There is a thread on the canadian part of the forum.

 

Lots of undercoating options.
If you look hard enough you can find arguments for all of them (against). I'm a fluid filmer, just been lazy the last few years.

But, i agree that's probably my best bet.

 

I’ve been trying to find a car wash that deals with the underbody winter salt and grime. This is the best I could find near me in NY. Dealing with salt baths everyday.

This “sergeant” option has “underbody blasting” which kinda sounds good and risky depending on the operators. Anyone have experience with this?

 

Pretty sure you'll find that's just spraying from underneath.

YouTube has a car wash (modern marvels) i wonder if you watched it all the way through if they would cover any of this for undercarriage.

 

to quote Austin Powers.

Gives your undercarriage a little "how's your father?"

 

What about Salt Away or the like, that is used to clean boats. It requires spraying with a water hose and has a pre-mix sprayer like a garden feeder, but seems like a good option for heavy salt areas. Hopefully you’ve got a few above freezing days you could figure out how/where to use it

 

I may have to try that Amazon link option. Would much rather do it myself.

Finding above freezing days is the real issue

 

Just get the car wash subscription and be done with it. These people don’t know about the cold. Like someone else said, what’s the point of perfect paint if there is nothing left of the undercarriage?

 

well, here in Canada, the weather is subzero most of the time this time of year and the carwashs are 99% the type that just hush hush spray underneath, not worth the money. Id rather go to a self serve car wash and do only the pressure wash underneath at 3$ a shot.