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Gravity: Helpful Tips for Automated Car Wash?

Disco Marathon said:
To confirm - when you put the Gravity in neutral and then get out of the driver’s seat, the car stays in neutral? I hated going to a car wash with my 2020 MS because it didn’t have Car Wash Mode it only had Tow Mode, and getting out of Tow Mode was difficult. One time it took me a few mins to get out of Tow Mode and they had to shut down the whole car wash while waiting for me. Super embarrassing.
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Great question. I am curious to see what folks say….

I can’t go to automatic washes because all the ones near me specialize in scraping your rims when they get in the narrow track to pull them through…

I’ve also learned to enjoy washing it myself with waterless wash and then getting a professional wash or detail every now and then.
 
bryway said:
Having returned home from my first road trip, the Gravity is in dire need of a wash. I don't have the bandwidth to handwash it myself (and know I'd be obsessive to the point of self ruin), so am going to take it to an automated car wash. There's a pretty good one near me in San Francisco (Tower on Van Ness at Mission) where I previously took my Model X. Of course the X had a 'Car Wash Mode' that would tame the automated stuff such as self-presenting driver and passenger doors, falcon wing doors, wipers, etc.

For the Gravity, besides the obvious wiper settings, are there other things I should do before letting them run it through the wash? The user manual isn't all that useful -- just mentions switching wipers to the 'off' position. Should I be worried about the door handles? The Model X didn't really have 'handles' per-se, so I never had the concern 🤷🏻‍♂️

I searched the Gravity section of the site and couldn't find more specifics.
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Charger port should be lockable… but it might get opened and broken by a rotary brushing.
 
Question for those of you taking your Gravity through the automatic car wash - have you noticed any discolorations on the plastic or metal trim?
Many (most?) automatic car washes use harsh chemicals and aggressive detergents that can strip away was, sealants and ceramic coatings. I stopped taking my Model Y to an automatic wash after noticing several trim pieces were discolored. I'm reluctant to take a new Gravity through the automatic car wash for that reason. However, I do see the benefit of an automatic wash in the winter time, to remove the road salt and grime, particularly from under the vehicle.
 
DKD-CvilleVA said:
Question for those of you taking your Gravity through the automatic car wash - have you noticed any discolorations on the plastic or metal trim?
Many (most?) automatic car washes use harsh chemicals and aggressive detergents that can strip away was, sealants and ceramic coatings. I stopped taking my Model Y to an automatic wash after noticing several trim pieces were discolored. I'm reluctant to take a new Gravity through the automatic car wash for that reason. However, I do see the benefit of an automatic wash in the winter time, to remove the road salt and grime, particularly from under the vehicle.
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The metal trim below the windows ends up with a weird rainbow haziness, but it buffs out.
 
This would take a lot of worry out of automated car washes:

 
hmp10 said:
This would take a lot of worry out of automated car washes:

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I'm always surprised when I go to other parts of the US and they don't have this kind of car wash. We have lots of them here in SoCal and I use them all the time for quick washes.
 
RandomDesign said:
I'm always surprised when I go to other parts of the US and they don't have this kind of car wash. We have lots of them here in SoCal and I use them all the time for quick washes.
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have not seen one of those on this side of the hill... @borski or @bryway or @GoDestruction, do you guys have 'em over in Silicon Valley or up on the peninsula somewhere?

Oh wait, I stand corrected, there's actually one in Capitola off Bay/Porter in the Chevron
 
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hwy17er said:
have not seen one of those on this side of the hill... @borski or @bryway or @GoDestruction, do you guys have 'em over in Silicon Valley or up on the peninsula somewhere?

Oh wait, I stand corrected, there's actually one in Capitola off Bay/Porter in the Chevron
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It's just a touch free car wash, I've seen them all over SoCal and I'm pretty sure I saw them up in the bay area when I was there last a couple years ago. They're usually just called touch free, touchless or no-touch washes. These kinds of car washes aren't new at all, they just started calling them "robotic" and use newer tech for sensing the length/height of the car now (the newer ones here all say they're laser washes now).

We've been getting a lot of the subscription based car washes here (Soapy Joe's is the big chain all over town) but they're the ones with the trolley system that pulls your car through a bunch of sponges that wipe the car and I won't go near those at all.
 
RandomDesign said:
It's just a touch free car wash . . .
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I've seen touch-free carwashes in our area but none quite as sophisticated as this one appears to be.
 
Look up Laserwash. Pretty much the same thing. Some of the gas stations have them down here. I think they still use pretty harsh chemicals though. I've had that rainbows clouding of the black trim pieces on my Air.

Convenient cleaning option though.
 
Miami_Lucid_Man said:
Look up Laserwash. Pretty much the same thing. Some of the gas stations have them down here. I think they still use pretty harsh chemicals though. I've had that rainbows clouding of the black trim pieces on my Air.

Convenient cleaning option though.
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Seems like a smart move after driving salted snowy roads
 
hmp10 said:
I've seen touch-free carwashes in our area but none quite as sophisticated as this one appears to be.
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Same here. I have seen some touch free car washes. In fact one of the regular gas station drive through wash in my area has an option you select before you start (Roller vs Touchless).

I agree that none of them look as fancy as the one in the video. That one even looks like it has multiple bays.
 
Any concerns about the chemicals and high pressures on paint/ceramic coating? At high enough pressures, water can cut through steel. I’m sure pressures are way lower than that, but still…

I avoid automatic car washes, but hand washing is a pain…
 
Miami_Lucid_Man said:
Look up Laserwash. Pretty much the same thing. Some of the gas stations have them down here. I think they still use pretty harsh chemicals though. I've had that rainbows clouding of the black trim pieces on my Air.

Convenient cleaning option though.
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This has been my experience. The impact of the chemicals is worse than the brushes. I’ve had the rainbow black trim on our X due to these washes as well as the chrome become permanently “spotty”.
 
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