Which do you use and why? Which one gets it cleaner. If it matters we have “real” winters here, meaning snow cruft and salt that absolutely must be removed.
Edit to clarify: I’m talking about a choice in automated car washes- not hand washing cars. Seems people are getting confused. Touchless is a few passes with a pressure washer. Soft touch adds spinning car-wash brush things.
yeah. Come to Minnesota and do that in January. Sorry, but if I wanted to ask "how to wash your car"… I would have. for reference (not my car), this is probably about 1 week of winter driving here:
There's absolutely no way I'm washing my car outside in 20-below weather once a week.
Like I said, I only do this once a year, other washes are done just with a pressure washer and a foam canon, sometimes when the car gets really dirty I use a mitt wash with shampoo after the foam canon.
Car washes also shut down at that point. No one is cleaning anything outside. (Information for those not in MN.)
This doesn't solve the problem.
Every automated car wash here is inside a heated bay. They don’t shut down. (It’s not heated to room temp, but “enough”.)
Funny. My area they put a sawhorse out and close down tight. (I am not sure of the temp, but by the time the highs are -20.)
I live in the same kind of weather and still stand by this method. Do the touchless phase very regularly, especially under the car, and you can keep the full detail to a yearly rotation.
No offense, but I’m not particularly sure you do live in this kind of weather.
For one thing, frostbite sets in inside of minutes, even when you’re not soaking wet; and I’m pretty sure the frozen-solid ground would freeze any water before it can run off as another.
But I’m really talking about a choice in an automatic wash. Because I’m lazy, don’t need a perfect clean car (it’s not about the cosmetics, exactly.)
I live in Quebec, we get sub-freezing temps 150 days a year or something lol. No, I won't go outside to clear my car in the winter in freezing weather, thank you.