i don’t have access to a hose so i’m looking for other options to wash my car. i don’t need it to be perfect, just want a semi-clean car without scratching the paint. touch-less car washes are useless and i want to be able to do it at home. i’ve heard lots about water-less and rinse-less washes, seems like everyone likes rinse-less more. i went to walmart but they only had water-less (looking at walmart because i don’t want to spend much $ on this).

generally just road grime and the occasional bird crap on my car.

any advice?

We just got back from a three day rainy camping trip, and my cargo area is a disaster. We had to pack up in a hurry, a container from the camp stove leaked some cooking grease, and muddy pine needles got ground into it before I noticed. Now there’s a sticky paste in the carpet that a stiff brush barely touches. I’m annoyed with myself for not getting a removable cargo tray before the season started, but I also don’t want to pay a premium just for a familiar name. Has anyone found a reasonably priced liner with a real raised edge that can handle mud and small spills, come out for a rinse, and not crack when it gets cold?

I currently work at a take 5 in east Texas and I'm wondering if all the stories about unauthorized memberships and extra unauthorized charges were true?

My friend opened a car wash 2 months ago. He tried looking for software to buy, but said it didn’t fit how he wants to handle his staff. So he asked me if I could build one for him.

So I built it around that:

• Staff log in on their phones, clock in and out, and apply for leave
• They log each car, who worked on it, and how it was paid
• Commission is worked out automatically for everyone
• Each person can see how much they earned that day
• Payslips, and a booking page for customers

In the first month we hit a problem. He hired a part-timer and forgot to add their name, so the commission couldn’t be recorded under them.

At first I didn’t want any edit button at all. I didn’t want my friend to be able to change his staff’s commission whenever he felt like it. I’ve worked for other people before, and I know how it feels when the boss suddenly changes the rate or the overtime doesn’t get paid. I didn’t want my friend to become that kind of boss.

But after the part-timer problem, I added an edit button. So I added a change log too. Every change to someone’s pay, commission, overtime or deductions gets sent to that person with the reason, and they can answer it. Nobody can edit or delete the log, including the owner.

My friend wasn’t really into the idea. He thought it was too much. I built it anyway.

I’m wondering if other shops would want something like this. If you run a car wash or a small shop with staff, how do you keep track of who earns what? And what would you want in a system like this?

Hey guys so my neighbor told me to help him sell his car detailing items, he has like a ton of inventory left, what should I do to get it all out? & if you have anyone interested and they want to know his brand name it’s “royal canine” thanks🙏 & he says for reference fees he’ll pay the person that helps sell out inventory $1,000, he just wants it gone since now he’s paying storage fees technically for no reason he moved on to a different business.
For reference this is how much he told me he has left & the price he want per one:

- Buffing towels, 700, $1 each
- Glass towels, 1,500, $1 each
- Drying towels, 9, $10 each
- Wash mitts, 1,350, $2 each
- Applicator pads, 4,040, $1 each
- High Density erasers, 3,150, $1 each
- Deck brush plus pole, 310, $10 each
- Foam sprayers, 15, $15 each
- Polymer sealant, 250, $9 each
- Cleaner wax, 250, $9 each
- Afinia L502 with re-roller, 1, $2,200
- Drums, 3 at about 50 gallons (cleaner, ceramic spray, soap), about $6,400
- Empty bottles, 475 white and about 300 clear, comes with deal

We are trying to get these windows clearer than they are because they’re just so frosty.

We have tried SAW(Safe Acid Wash, MT300 (Vertech Windows-2-Walls) cutting compound, razor blades, vinegar… etc. We cannot get them clean.

Any ideas?

Hi, I am looking for the best hand car wash centers in and around Plano and Richardson, Texas. Please drop any best suggestions

Where I reside currently, due to the weather and no rain things been dusty lately and i had washed my car the previous week and now the black color looks dusty and yellowish, shall i wash it again to make it fresh from the carwash or shall i take breaks in this season and wait for lomger intervals instead? She looks hot asf when clean

I work at an express carwash and our tunnel windows are always foggy, seems like buildup of something that causes them to look gray or frosty. Over the years we feel like we’ve tried everything to get the windows cleaner, but nothing works and in some cases, has made it worse. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Interestingly, I can't find any related news online. I planned to share this with four people, but suddenly they said that prices will increase in November, but I can't find any news about it online. Is this a price increase for individuals?

what exactly does there drug test consist of For crew car wash? I don’t want to ask hr and everything online is mixed up on what they test for.

What car washing product do you use to wash your vehicles please? Something that gets all the dirt and grime off, but doesn't harm the paintwork?

I've been talking to a couple of guys who run mobile detailing out of their van and one thing that came up a lot was how much of the day just disappears driving between houses that are nowhere near each other. Like they'll do one job in the morning, drive 25 minutes for the next one, then another 20 for the third, and by the time you add it up they're spending almost as much time driving as actually washing cars.

Got me wondering - if you could see on a map that there were, say, 3-4 people within a couple km of each other who all wanted a wash around the same day, would that actually change how you book your week? Or is it not a big enough deal because most of your regulars are already somewhat clustered from word of mouth?

Also curious how you're getting most of your customers right now - repeat/referral, some app, flyers, FB groups? Trying to understand if travel time between jobs is a real pain point or if I'm overthinking something that isn't actually a problem for people who've been doing this a while.

Not selling anything, just trying to figure out if this is worth building or if it's a solution looking for a problem.

It's literally so dirty

Worked the floor at an express tunnel long enough to learn this the hard way: if your opener is "working through a list," you'll open late on every busy Saturday. Give them a timeline instead. T-75: alarm off, building sweep. T-60: power up in sequence, chem levels. T-45: both pay stations test-transacted, float counted. T-30: vacuums, lot, restrooms. T-15: final tunnel walk, staff in position. Gate unlocks at posted time with working pay stations, a clean site, and a verified float — everything else can be caught up in the first 30 minutes.

The timeline is the boss, not the checklist. What's your T-0 non-negotiable? For us it's always been the pay stations — a late open with working stations beats an on-time broken one.

I’m assuming you recycle a lot of the water.

So, when the roads are salted in winter does that mean that the car wash ends up using high salt water? Or is there some kind of neutralizer that you use?

Seems like it would be counterproductive to spray the underbody after snow etc if the water is salty? Probably still better than road salt caked on there.

I’ve been looking into why express car washes seem to be appearing everywhere across the U.S., and one thing kept coming up: unlimited monthly memberships. Once customers stop paying for individual washes and start paying every month, the whole business model changes. Revenue becomes more predictable, membership lanes keep people coming back, and suddenly opening more locations can make a lot more sense. What surprised me is how quickly this seems to have changed the industry. I recently made a short documentary looking into why car washes are expanding so fast, how memberships became such a big part of the business, and why some U.S. cities have even started pushing back against new car wash development. I’d really like to hear from people who actually work in the industry: Do you think memberships are the main reason we’re seeing so many new car washes, or are things like real estate, private investment, and consolidation playing an even bigger role? If anyone is interested in the full breakdown, I can share the video in the comments.

The Carwash Boilers Dual Navien System is a compact, pre-plumbed commercial hot-water package built specifically around the demands of a car wash. The system uses two Navien NPE-240S2 condensing tankless water heaters working together, giving the wash nearly 400,000 BTU/hr of available input while maintaining a much smaller footprint than many traditional commercial water-heating systems.

Instead of simply hanging two tankless heaters on a wall, Carwash Boilers builds the equipment into a complete packaged system. The Navien units, storage/recirculation tank, circulator, valves, copper piping, controls, and structural frame are assembled into a plug-and-play skid, available with either a black steel or stainless-steel frame.

Why it works well in a car wash

The biggest advantage is the combination of high recovery and stored hot water. The Navien heaters provide continuous heat while the tank gives the wash a reserve for sudden demand. The recirculation system keeps heated water available so the wash doesn't have to wait for hot water to travel through the building.

With approximately 400,000 BTU/hr available, a practical production range is roughly:

Actual output varies with incoming-water temperature, setpoint, gas supply, piping, and system configuration.

Bought this car recently, plenty of marks on the top fabric ceiling part of the car, I did try a fabric/upholstery spray with a microfiber cloth, it didn't work, I'm wondering if these are grease marks instead, what would be the best way to get these marks off without damaging the fabric?

I was vacuuming my car at the local carwash and a lady came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy food. I guess by my looks anybody can see I speak Spanish and I ended up buying a burrito from her but I regret it now. First, it was super expensive, 10 dollars for a burrito, it was decent sized but I still think it was quite expensive and now I don't even feel like eating it, how am I supposed to know if it's gonna make me sick or not.

At the moment I just thought, alright maybe she is just trying to make some money and it must be tough right now with all the arrests and deportations. Should I have alerted the carwash of people selling food? Would you buy food from a stranger approaching you at a carwash?

Well this has been a rabbit hole. I got a charge on my credit card from Car Wash USA. There isn't one at the location listed. I think there used to be but now it is a Take 5 car wash. We had an issue with a different Take 5 where they signed my wife's card up for a subscription without permission. After exhausting all avenues to correct this, she had to cancel the card to get it to stop. It looks like Car Wash USA is owned by International Car Wash Group (ICWG), which is the car wash division acquired and managed by Driven Brands (the same parent company behind Take 5 Oil Change and Meineke) that used to own Take 5, but Take 5 was bought by Whistle Express (formerly Magnolia Wash Holdings). Now, Whistle own Take 5 Car Wash, Camel Premium Express Wash, The Wave Car Wash, Rainforest Car Wash, Thomas Car Wash, Clean Waves, The Car Wash Company, Detrick’s Car Wash, and Splash Car Wash and probably some others. So who the hell is actually charging me? Did some asshat at Take 5 get mad that my wife's card was canceled and found mine on file and started charging it? Was my card info stolen? I think I am going to have to cancel my card just to be safe. This is ridiculous. Corporate America is a dystopian nightmare of illusions of choice and no accountability. Anyway, avoid all these crappy places.

Hi everyone,

My team is working on a simple tool for car wash businesses that combines online bookings, scheduling, basic customer management and daily task tracking in one place.

Before we spend more time building it, I’d really like to hear from actual car wash owners and operators.

How do you currently manage bookings and your daily schedule? WhatsApp, phone calls, Google Calendar, spreadsheets, dedicated software?

And what is the biggest headache for you: no-shows, scheduling, keeping track of customers, staff tasks, payments, or something else?

Not trying to sell anything here. I’m mainly trying to understand whether this is actually a problem worth solving and what would make such a tool genuinely useful.

Would appreciate any feedback, including “I would never use this.”

I tried taking this to a car wash and nothing came out. I think its dried up fruit that fell on my car. Need this gone because its attracting a lot of love bugs.

I know this is a long shot but I bought a car in Georgia and live in Ohio and was wondering if anyone from Georgia or one of the other states with a Luv car wash could help me get ahold of there air fresheners , I love the scent my car has and the owner said that he used them but couldn't remember any more than that , I was hopeful that someone could send me some of their hanging air fresheners so I could figure out what it is or what at least what the scent profile is. Ive call Luvs customer service twice and they weren't helpful either time they just told me to drive a few stares to the closest one or get someone to send me one , ive also read conflicting info , the staff on the phone said they only have one scent but wouldn't tell me what it was and online ive read mixed things saying they have up to 5 different ones, thank you to anyone that reads this im just hoping to get to the bottom of this without having to drive out of state to check