Visiting the local car wash to keep your car clean is a great idea, but there are several dangers that the local car wash hides from you. Dangers ranging from damages to the car’s paint to stripping of protective finishes of the car result from these automatic car washes. The local car washes include the use of harmful chemicals that may bring shine to your car but damage the vehicle permanently. Hence, resulting in lower resale value and declined life of your car.
So, here are five dangers at the local car wash that were hidden from you all this while.
- Tire Exchange And Rim Scars
Once you set your car on the rollers and conveyor belt, there is no stopping until it reaches the end of its car wash. During a car wash, there are possibilities of cleaning under your car and exchanging your tires or getting your rims scarred.
If not the tire scuff then may be the rim rashes. One or another always happens at the local car wash. Sometimes you don’t even notice when and where they undergrounded your tire or how those hideous marks came on your rim until you check them out for a flat tire, puncture or generally while you are cleaning your car yourself!
The sign board placed at the local car wash places claim that they are not responsible for any damage to the tires or wheels. For example, you give off your luxurious Mercedes car at the local car wash and notice a day after that your tires have been exchanged. In this case, you might land up buying new Mercedes wheels and rims for your luxury car just because of the sign board.
- Attention To The Car Paint
After your car comes back from the local car wash, you will notice loads of differences in the looks. Not only will your car look shiny, it might seem worn out from the top or sides.
The sand or dirt that builds up on the strips of the cloth in the local car wash rubs against your car. If that dirt on the cloth-clad is not cleaned regularly, it might end up leaving swirl marks, scratches and patchy coating removals.
To cover up such accidents, some local car washes cover the scratches and swirl marks by re-coating or manually wiping off the car again.
- Rusting Of The Bolts
Local car washes cleanse, rinse and dry any vehicle at a scheduled set time. Due to this set timer, the vehicle is not cleaned thoroughly. Some parts are left alone such as the bolts and they end up being rusted.
Rusting of your car parts means danger and rusting should be prevented. If the underside of the car is not bombarded with fresh water in the summer time, it could lead to automotive cancer.
You can either blast open fresh water to the underbelly of your car in warmer months to avoid early rusting in order to preserve your car from something worse.
- Antenna and Wiper Issues
There are possibilities that your antenna could snap out and get detached from your car due to machinery force of cleansing the car.
Wipers too are highly at risk when being given off at the local car wash. They might bend and break easily. And if they don’t bend or break, the pressure on them could weaken up the plastic. And if the wipers break off while being cleaned, chances are that they could crack the glass of your car.
Make sure to keep your car under insurance just in case such things happen.
- Chemical Cons
Various kinds of chemicals would have been mixed to make your car shiny, spotless and further more.
Back in between 2001 – 2013, Washington reported injury cases due to hydrofluoric acid present in the car cleaning products , which was used as an aluminum brightener. Hydrofluoric acid caused severe chemical burns to the fingers and hands of workers.
A variety of fluoride materials like ‘Freon’ can be used to corrode metal, glass etc. That is like de-framing your car and lowering the rates for resale.
It is good to maintain your car and keep it clean, even though it might save time, but it is better to keep it safe and away from issues. Or else you will be just paying for the betterment of your car. Instead, you could use hand washing as an option to keep your car in a good condition for a longer time period.