My wife goes to the Bucees carwash often. In the summer she goes every Thursday to get the kids out of the house for the cleaners. Last week she told me about scratches on the hood.

I went and took a look at it and sure enough, hood is completely scratched up and so is the roof above the windshield. I didn't climb on top to see what that looks like.

I'm hoping a detailer can buff it out. It feels rough but it doesn't look like it went deeper than the clear coat. It made the hood look dull too. That vehicle had ceramic on it as well.

Anyone here ever dealt with this?

Any reputable detail guys in the Katy area?

dahouse said:

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Any reputable detail guys in the Katy area?

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Mason road hand car wash is great if you
Just need a wash/shampoo

bespoke auto detail does my garage queens.

Yea go brushless or hand job it at home. Those drive through car washes damage the paint.

gggmann said:

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buy an electric power washer and a foam cannon. It'll pay for itself in a month or two. If you don't like hand drying you can buy an deionizer as well.

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Do you coat with foam and then power wash? Scrub foam and then power wash? Recommended foam soap?


I have a membership at Clearwater but worry about this stuff.

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Hand washing at home is the way to go.

A 12 dollar car wash cuts corners somewhere. Either in soaps,
Cleaning the equipment, or a combination of both.

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1ags has spoken. EOT.

Unless the vehicle is very dirty, I use a rinse less wash. I've been doing that for over 6 years. I'm almost 2 years into my second vehicle, neither had any of the spiderweb clear coat scratches.

Also, the rinse less is much faster and does a good job on the windows. I actually use that on the exterior windows on my house as well.

This is my new favorite pre-wash foam.

Gyeon Q2M Foam

drumboy said:

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gggmann said:

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buy an electric power washer and a foam cannon. It'll pay for itself in a month or two. If you don't like hand drying you can buy an deionizer as well.

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Do you coat with foam and then power wash? Scrub foam and then power wash? Recommended foam soap?


I have a membership at Clearwater but worry about this stuff.

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I do a pre-rinse w/ the power washer first (~1100 psi w/ a 25 degree nozzle). Then I clean the wheels - that takes the longest, they are pretty deep rims and there is a ton of brake dust. Then I use the foam cannon on the whole car and then rinse w/ the power washer again - i rarely need to scrub anything.

I'm partial to Mr. Pink soap from Chemical Guys. It's a pretty mild soap which is all I need - about 1/2 my car (full front, rockers, rear wheel wells) has PPF and everything is ceramic coated. It cleans up pretty easily.

I finish by using a leaf blower to dry off and then touch up w/ a micro fiber towel. I do a tire shine application, and I do the interior last as needed (about every other wash).

From the time I step into the garage to start setting up everything to when I'm done and have everything put away is less than an hour.

It takes me about 3 hours to wash and dry the Raptor with the foam cannon. Then, about an hour after I'm done, I'll hit the drips that come from inside the mirrors, door handles, and bed rails with Griots quick detailer.

EMY92 said:

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It takes me about 3 hours to wash and dry the Raptor with the foam cannon. Then, about an hour after I'm done, I'll hit the drips that come from inside the mirrors, door handles, and bed rails with Griots quick detailer.

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You have a lot more surface area to hit compared to me.

I have a good detail guy that I use occasionally, but I don't think he can handle the scratches. Anyone know a good contact in the Katy area that can buff this out (or whatever they do in this situation)

dahouse said:

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My wife goes to the Bucees carwash often. In the summer she goes every Thursday to get the kids out of the house for the cleaners. Last week she told me about scratches on the hood.

I went and took a look at it and sure enough, hood is completely scratched up and so is the roof above the windshield. I didn't climb on top to see what that looks like.

I'm hoping a detailer can buff it out. It feels rough but it doesn't look like it went deeper than the clear coat. It made the hood look dull too. That vehicle had ceramic on it as well.

Anyone here ever dealt with this?

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Does your car happen to be a GM and between 2015 and 2019 in model year?

Ha. Both my vehicles are. Truck still looks shiny though

It's not the car wash. Your clear coat suddenly failed. There's a class action lawsuit over it. We have the same issue on our Yukon where it looks like cats had a mma fight club on your hood and cab

Why would it only fail in one area and not the entire vehicle?

Hood and cab between the windshield and sunroof is where ours and others I've seen failed. I assume it has to do with direct sunlight

Makes sense. What's the remedy? I'm not holding my breath that GM will do anything

Buy a new hood painted and sell it

And sell the truck before you take a major hit for paint failure

Trust me, I'd love to trade in the Yukon and get a new one. But interest rates are high and inventory is low so prices are high.

Texker said:

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1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Hand washing at home is the way to go.

A 12 dollar car wash cuts corners somewhere. Either in soaps,
Cleaning the equipment, or a combination of both.

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1ags has spoken. EOT.

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Hand washed the Ladyfriends Tahoe with the kiddos helping. The only way to go.

My trucks get hand washed and waxed once a year. They are filthy the rest of the year and I refuse to use a car wash of any sort. The wife used to do that and it only resulted in me having the still hand wash her truck and then spend even more time with compounds and polishes to remove the swirls.

Hers just stays dirty now too.