Mustang Washing - Ford Forums

fordcars1010 · 01-30-2009, 12:08

Hey guys,

I have a mustang and got to thinking about the salts from all the snow lately.

I want to clean my mustang and I'm confused about what method I should use.

At first I was a afraid of using an automatic wash, but after researching the company's site, they claim it is brush free and 100% safe for the car. I'm not sure whether I believe it. Despite the claim I can see a bluish carpet of velvet looking flaps that move left and right as the car drives through the bay.

I considered washing my car at a do it yourself bay with a power sprayer, which sounds much more safer, but then I lose the specialized under-wash that is supposed to clean salts off of the bottom of the car, one of the main achievements I was trying to obtain.

What should I do? There is a lot of salty grime on my stang and i'd like to keep it cleaned off as suggested by some websites i've been browsing.

I don't have any idea about how i'd get the salts off the bottom of my car though if I used a do it yourself bay.

**360ci** · 02-04-2009, 11:47

If you have a driveway and a hose that you can connect hot water too, that's all you need. Of course, the driveway will be an ice rink afterward unless you wait for a mild day.

I suggest going to a coin-wash where you can do it yourself. Brush drive-thru washes are OK and won't harm paint as badly as people think they would. I ran two over a seven year period and never had one complaint except from an old Mercedes Owner who lost some more exterior trim and asked if I had found anything (lol). Turned out he didn't lose it in my wash bay, but just make sure there are no loose items on the car and it'll be fine. A lot of car washes have a brush option, you have to tell the attendant that you want the brushes and he/she will activate them just for your wash; they're not necessarily used for every vehicle.

If the salt is bad enough, your best bet is to get the Stang undercoated every fall. A lot of places say twice a year is proper (once in spring one in fall), but even with 6-7 months of winter here, one undercoat will actually last two years with 20K of driving per year.

A brushless wash won't necessarily clean the paint, you'll be paying $8 or so for a wash that will leave a film over your paint. Only paint contacted items (such as brushes) will remove that film. A good car wash owner cleans the brushes before the start of each day, and sometimes throughout the day depending on brush use. If you walk up and notice a lot of black/green on a blue velvet based brush as you mentioned, I'd stay away. A little bit of discolouration is OK, but excessive black colour and other marks would turn me off right away. Hardened oil residue can cause damage to clearcoats.