5 car wash mistakes that can seriously damage your car
Tips for motorists

5 car wash mistakes that can seriously damage your car

Most motorists prefer to keep their four-wheeled friend clean. Someone chooses specialized sinks for this, someone likes to polish with their own hands. But in the first and second cases, mistakes are often made that can harm the car. Let's figure out which of them are the most common.

5 car wash mistakes that can seriously damage your car

Too close

Looking closely at a car wash worker, you can often see that he tries to keep the nozzle of his tool as close to the body as possible. This is done so that the dirt is knocked off as efficiently as possible. Arches are processed with special zeal.

Meanwhile, at a water jet pressure of up to 140 bar, the car's paint experiences remarkable stress. The surface of the paintwork as a result of such exposure is covered with microcracks. As a result, after two or three years of intensive high-pressure washing, the paint will become cloudy, and this is at best.

If there are already areas subject to corrosion on the surface of the car body, the “shooting” of the body with a “Karcher” is many times more dangerous - metal microparticles break off from the car. Careless or improper handling of the washing tool also often affects the condition of decorative plastic overlays, they are damaged no less quickly than the paintwork.

In any case, the gun should be kept at a distance of 25 or more centimeters from the body, it is also not recommended to knock down dirt at a right angle relative to the surface to be treated.

Washing an overheated car

Direct sunlight will adversely affect the paintwork. But the scorching sultry sun is not so much dangerous for a car as sharp temperature drops are terrible. And worst of all, when a stream of cold water hits an overheated car.

The consequences of such "hardening" are not immediately visible, problems manifest themselves over time. Temperature fluctuations and exposure to moisture damage the varnish by causing microcracks that are invisible to the naked eye. After some time, microdamages begin to let moisture through, and there it is not far from corrosion.

To protect the body from the troubles described above, on the eve of the summer season, it is worth spending some money and effort on additional polishing. The body and glass of the vehicle will be protected from cracking by slow cooling by the air conditioning system just before washing in hot weather. If possible, it is recommended to use warm rather than cold water for the procedure. The same applies to washing a “frozen” iron horse, for example, after a frosty winter night on the street.

However, the staff of car washes that care about their reputation are aware of what to do with a very overheated car; before the procedure, the car must be cooled down for a few minutes.

Departure in the cold immediately after washing

A common mistake that many car owners make in the winter is insufficient drying of body parts. To avoid potential trouble for this reason, attention should be focused on the quality of compressed air blowing at a car wash.

Drying the vehicle through the sleeves in severe frost leads to freezing tightly door locks, “gluing” the gas tank cap and other “surprises”. Due to the careless attitude of some "specialists", after washing, external mirrors, parking radar sensors, and other elements of the car may become covered with frost.

To prevent this from happening, at the end of the procedure, it is recommended to “freeze” the car a little (5-10 minutes) by opening the doors, the hood, moving the wiper blades away from the windshield. The locks of doors, hood, trunk lid, gas tank hatch should be closed and opened several times, then they definitely will not freeze.

If after washing the vehicle goes to the parking lot, you should work out the brakes by accelerating and braking several times. This slightly unusual procedure will reduce the chance of pads sticking to discs and drums.

raw machine

At the car wash, the car must be thoroughly dried not only with compressed air, but also with rags. Often, the worker simply blows out some places in the car very quickly, without bothering to dry the door seals, locks, fuel tank cap and other elements.

It will not be superfluous to make sure that the washer has blown all the nooks and crannies, for example, the mirror locking areas. Otherwise, the car will immediately collect dust, and in winter it will be covered with ice, which will negatively affect the condition of the body and moving components.

Be careful under the hood

The engine compartment must be kept clean, this is an indisputable fact. But before entrusting the washing procedure of this critical area to specialists or undertaking wet cleaning at a self-service station, it is worth clarifying whether high pressure is used.

Modern cars are replete with all kinds of sensors and other electronics, which can be very easily damaged by a jet of several tens of bars. Plus, high pressure water can get into the openings of the control units. Torn wires, battered radiators and paintwork are just some of the troubles that lie in wait for improper use of washing devices.

There are several common mistakes that can be made when washing a car. Avoiding them is easy if you follow the recommendations discussed in the article.

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