Automatic Car Washes…..

[MPawelek]

99% of the time I hand wash my nicer vehicles but occasionally get in a bind and go through a nice automatic car wash where the tires on the drivers side are pushed along in a rail type track. My SL 550 sits really low but I can hydraulically lift the body a bit with the touch of a button so there is no scraping on the rails.

With the low profile of the Air and the deflectors in front of the front tires has anyone used one of these car washes yet with success?

 

[HC_79]

I was looking for a brushless car wash and was told that one not too far from home was one. Paid, pulled around the corner to discover it wasn’t brushless and the type I loathe. The one where you need to put your wheel into the track and move along automatically.

Car was pulled through with no issues though. I actually think the Mach-E is lower than the Lucid

 

[Slam08]

99% of the time I hand wash my nicer vehicles but occasionally get in a bind and go through a nice automatic car wash where the tires on the drivers side are pushed along in a rail type track. My SL 550 sits really low but I can hydraulically lift the body a bit with the touch of a button so there is no scraping on the rails.

With the low profile of the Air and the deflectors in front of the front tires has anyone used one of these car washes yet with success?

Those car washes a made to fit standard cars, including smaller sedans. Does Lucid have less ground clearance than average?

I guess maybe with the diffusers in front of the tires. But I would still think a couple of inches is standard ground clearance for a standard sedan?

 

[hellolucid]

Are Lucids that low though? It didn't look like a low ride.

 

[Steveinarizona]

My BMW 2018 530e goes through the Costco car wash with 5.9" of ground clearance. No problem.

 

[DeaneG]

No worries about the track-thing scraping the lip of the 21" wheel?

 

[Slam08]

Are Lucids that low though? It didn't look like a low ride.

When I test drove one it was lower than I expected. But I was used to SUV and compact SUV. Other have posted about concern for ground clearance, though. This is isn’t the first thread discussing something similar.

 

[Steveinarizona]

When I test drove one it was lower than I expected. But I was used to SUV and compact SUV. Other have posted about concern for ground clearance, though. This is isn’t the first thread discussing something similar.

What concerns me more is that there are a number of streets near me where there is a dip to let rain water run down and it gets pretty steep.

 

[hmp10]

The lowest point on the Air undercarriage is the soft rubber (or plastic?) airfoils ahead of the front tires. They are 3 1/8" above the ground. However, given their location they would not hit the guide rails I've seen at most carwashes. This is assuming, though, that you center the tire in the guideway without relying on the outward bends at the entry to guide you in.

This could be a very interesting test of the precision and resolution of the simulated birds-eye view that Lucid puts up on the Pilot Screen.

I would love to screw up the courage to try a new automatic carwash out our way, as my compulsive hand washing is becoming a bit of a drag . . . but I'm just not there yet.

 

[rbbarry]

This guy took a dream edition through a car wash, about 10:24 into this video

 

[jdetar]

would like to hear from more who've tried it too. we have a really nice belt driven one i take my porsche through all the time, but haven't had the courage to take the lucid through it yet. the wheel lip was my biggest concern too on the 21s. it really is out there.

 

[HC_79]

would like to hear from more who've tried it too. we have a really nice belt driven one i take my porsche through all the time, but haven't had the courage to take the lucid through it yet. the wheel lip was my biggest concern too on the 21s. it really is out there.

I took mine through a drive through car wash. Was told it was touchless only to discover when I pulled around the corner it was not and had a belt which I hate, lol. I'm on the 21's and had no issue with the rims on the belt at the one I went to. The car came out squeaky clean but the brushes probably weren't good for the ceramic coating.

 

[jdetar]

Just took mine through a roller/belt car wash and can report the car made it through 100% intact and NO wheel damage. The angle of my wash is one that your rear left wheel will always need a little "push" from the guide rail as you cannot enter it straight on but the lip on the tire is enough protection where it never touched and no damage at all. The only complaint with mine is that with the 21s the tire shine is applied in the tunnel and gets on the wheels a bit around the edge especially so that requires a quick clean up on the wheels after you leave.

 

[babwine]

99% of the time I hand wash my nicer vehicles but occasionally get in a bind and go through a nice automatic car wash where the tires on the drivers side are pushed along in a rail type track. My SL 550 sits really low but I can hydraulically lift the body a bit with the touch of a button so there is no scraping on the rails.

With the low profile of the Air and the deflectors in front of the front tires has anyone used one of these car washes yet with success?

I was just with a LUCID service tech and he advised against putting the car through a facility with a track that pulls/pushes the car.

 

[daydreamer223]

Are there carwashes that don't do that?

 

[hydbob]

Are there carwashes that don't do that?

They have the ones where you park and the robot moves back and forth over your car

 

[hmp10]

They have the ones where you park and the robot moves back and forth over your car

In our area, those kinds of robotic carwashes are usually at gas stations. I've used them occasionally for our minivan, gotten decent results, and never detected any ill effects. However, they don't have the water recovery and filtration systems and don't seem to have as much pressure washing to keep the rotating swipes as well-rinsed as the more elaborate automatic carwashes that typically use rail tracks.

We're in rainy season now in south Florida, and it's impossible to keep a car clean for more than a day or two after tedious hand washing. I've been sorely tempted to try running our Air through an automatic carwash, but warnings from Lucid personnel and from Opti-Coat (the car's ceramic coating) have stayed my hand so far.

On the other hand, I keep looking at the finish on our uncoated five-year old Honda minivan that goes through an automatic carwash several times a year and wonder what in the deuce I'm so worried about. Is Honda's paint really that much sturdier than Lucid's?

 

[hydbob]

In our area, those kinds of robotic carwashes are usually at gas stations. I've used them occasionally for our minivan, gotten decent results, and never detected any ill effects. However, they don't have the water recovery and filtration systems and don't seem to have as much pressure washing to keep the rotating swipes as well-rinsed as the more elaborate automatic carwashes that typically use rail tracks.

We're in rainy season now in south Florida, and it's impossible to keep a car clean for more than a day or two after tedious hand washing. I've been sorely tempted to try running our Air through an automatic carwash, but warnings from Lucid personnel and from Opti-Coat (the car's ceramic coating) have stayed my hand so far.

On the other hand, I keep looking at the finish on our uncoated five-year old Honda minivan that goes through an automatic carwash several times a year and wonder what in the deuce I'm so worried about. Is Honda's paint really that much sturdier than Lucid's?

Probably not, but do you care about micro-swirls on your minivan? I'm sure if you put it under those inspection lights they have at the PPF shops you would probably see a bunch. Either way, I'm sure a year from now we'll all be running our cars in the automatic wash =)

 

[jdetar]

I've run my Porsche through twice a week for a year, no swirls or paint issues. The Lucid, twice a week so only about 6 times so far. No paint issues BUT some tiny swirl marks on the wheels. The finish on the 21s is brutally unforgiving. However, these are so small and shallow it would be easy to buff out at home. I too am in South Florida, and live in a condo so this is the route Im going.

 

[hmp10]

Probably not, but do you care about micro-swirls on your minivan? I'm sure if you put it under those inspection lights they have at the PPF shops you would probably see a bunch. Either way, I'm sure a year from now we'll all be running our cars in the automatic wash =)

I care (sorta) about micro-swirls, but not enough to screw up the courage to hand-wash that minivan myself. (I sometimes have our detailer wash it and throw on a coat of wax when he's here working on our cars.) It's the metallic bronze color that is pretty good at masking dirt and other marks. Also, the automatic carwash I use does not use brushes that attack the car with a swirling motion but rather with a dragging straight line. Fine scratches in that orientation are less apparent to casual observation than circular swirls.

You may well be right about where my head will be a year from now.

Near the end of our six-year stint with the 2015 Tesla, I was about to give in and start putting it through an automatic carwash. However, suddenly a piece of paint the size of a dime came off the top of an outside rearview mirror. It's not the kind of chip one would see from a rock strike. It looked as if the primer and everything above it had simply let go of the plastic mirror shell, which had no mark indicating a hit of any force from anything. And I was astonished at how thin the four layers (primer, color coat, clear coat, Opti-Coat) were in total. I put a sheet of 24# copier paper against the ridge, and the copier paper was thicker.

My detailer ran a paint gauge over the Lucid. I don't remember the numbers, but he found the thickness on the hood was above what he expected, but the thickness on the side doors was abnormally low, and the thickness over the trunk lid varied from place to place more than he would have thought.