[raveesh_k]

Hi Friends,

With the growing road network infrastructure worldwide, the appetite for extended road trip adventures has only increased, and does not show any signs of slowing down. This subsequently has led to the implicit need for us to respect our cars even more so than before, and also pay a lot more attention to its upkeep, both mechanically and in terms of general hygiene. Unlike in India, where getting helpers to clean our car (at the cost of leaving swirl marks all over) almost daily is a common practise, in Europe (...and perhaps elsewhere as well) on the other hand, is not. And therefore the prevalence of car wash at every nook and corner of cities here is quite understood and obvious.

Speaking of Germany, the automotive capital, with some of the best car producing companies within its boundaries, these companies have their enthusiast customers, who themselves are crazy about the upkeep of their cars. This high demand, combined with German engineering and you have some of the fanciest, state of the art and the biggest car washes you would have seen in a while.

I will in this blog, share my always so joyful, experience of washing my car in one of the such car washes of Germany - Mr Wash

I also attempted capturing my car wash experience in one of the episodes on my channel BeermanTalkies.

https://youtu.be/hCvFLw_tNcU

Usually I follow a 3 step process for cleaning my car which takes approximately 1.5 hours of cleaning end to end.

1. Step 1: Bug Removal + high pressure rinse
   
   Because of high speed driving on the autobahn, there are a lot of road bugs that hit the nose of the car which when left over days, dry up and firmly stick to the paint of the car. Additionally when driving in snowy conditions on the roads here, that are treated with salt to lower the freezing point of water to further delay the process of ice formation on the road, this salt also get splashed onto the body of the car, sticking on it. Now if the car wash brushes, in the process of cleaning my car, were to rub this salt against my car body, it would create scratches on the paint. To take care of these problems I first go to a high pressure wash facility to give my car a quick rinse to wash off this stuck salt. And before I give it a rinse, I also spray this bug remover on the nose, with which the bugs loosen out a little and are washed away easily.
   
   Most of the "self service" car wash stations in Europe run on timers, and the quantum of time is what you buy from self service terminals. For example the wash station I go to gives me a 100 seconds for every 1 euro. And in these 100 seconds I can choose whether I need soap wash, soap brush, clear wash, hot wash or shine wash. Either I use everything one after the other (what many people do), or only choose what you want. In my case, since I will get my main wash done in Mr. Wash, I only choose a quick soap wash followed by clear wash to wash out the bugs and the salt off my car. The last option in most of these self service timer based washes is the shine wash, which is simply softened water which when dries, does not leave any water spots behind on the car. Its almost as if the car was blow dried after the wash.
   
   Some pictures demonstrating this step of the cleaning process:
   
   Using the insect removal spray before the rinse
   
   
   Inserting euros in the self service, five wash terminal
   
   
   Washing the salt off especially in the side skirts area, that bear the maximum splashes
   
   
   Drenched / dripping wheel arc
   
   
   Time to exit the high pressure wash facility and head to Mr Wash
   
   
   
   
2. Step 2: Outside Full Body Cleaning including underbody
   
   For this step I come to Mr. Wash, which is an experience in it own, and I strongly recommend it, if you are this side and driving around. The Stuttgart branch of Mr. Wash is considered as one of the world's biggest car wash facility, but even still, the Dusseldorf one, where I go to, is by no means small. I am sure you will realise it when you see the video. You think of a service related to your car, and it's available under this roof. Even though the name of the facility is Mr. Wash, in addition to cleaning service it also has regular car service packages, oil change, waxing, detailing etc. Depending on the extent of cleaning (/service) you wish to get done, there are different packages available here. I mostly choose the 15 euro one, which includes the thorough all round exterior car wash including tyres and under body, and also gives me access to interior cleaning bay which I have described in the step 3.
   
   If its sunny and not raining, and its a weekend, you would always find a long queue here which just reiterates what I had mentioned earlier, that people really pay a lot of attention to their cars here. You will find this facility being used early in the morning by people who are on their way to work; during the evenings, by people who are returning from work and yes on the weekends.
   
   For the exterior wash there are two washing zones in this facility and in each one of these zones there is a conveyor belt onto which you have to load your car, and off you go into the wash cabin sitting in the car. It take a little getting used to aligning your wheels to the conveyor belt but there is enough assistance here - a person guiding you and also, there is a live television showing real time tire alignment of your car as you get onto the conveyor belt. Also, as soon as you board the conveyor belt you have put the car on neutral (not the P mode in automatic transmission). This is to ensure that your car can roll freely and consistently maintaining the gap between other cars on the conveyor belt through all the cleaning stages.
   
   Inside the wash cabin there are water jets and cleaning brushes of different kinds that do their magic. As much as I would like to describe it in words, its best seen in my video above.
   
   The last section in this wash cabin, is the blower sections which comprises of high pressure hot air blowers that blow each and every droplet of the water from the drenched car. After passing this last section, you can exit the wash cabin and the conveyor belt, put the car in drive mode (or in a gear) and drive off.
   
   Some pictures demonstrating this step of the cleaning process:
   
   Mr Wash - Hafen, Düsseldorf
   
   
   Check in line at reception
   
   
   Entering the drive in washing zone (two wash cabins here - left and right)
   
   
   Washing brushes performing ballet
   
   
   The ballet performance continues...
   
   
   The final stage in the washing zone - hot blower section
   
   
   
   
3. Step 3: Interior Cleaning
   
   For the third and the final step we have to head to the upper deck of Mr. Wash for which I get free access, in the cleaning fee that I had paid earlier. As you can also see in the video, this upper deck has numerous cleaning bays, and with each cleaning bay you get a set of vacuum (two vacuums, one for the right side of the car and the other one for the left of the car), a set of high pressure air jets and a floor mat cleaning machine. Additionally, there are also water cleaning stations, and also alcohol wipe vending machines.
   
   Before getting into the interior cleaning, I use a micro fibre cloth to just wipe clean my car, especially in areas like under the ORVM and near the reverse parking camera's which are not expose to the hot air blowers from the last section of the car wash zone in step 2. I also find it quite important to wash my micro fibre towels regularly to clean them from trapped dirt and dust particles which may also scratch the paint when wiping the car clean. It is one of the main reasons why I am always watchful of the car wash brushes that I use for cleaning my car - for example I never use brushes that are kept dipped in a bucket full of dirty water in fuel stations, because I am sure that the bristles of those brush will have a lot of dirt trapped in them from the already dirty water which can cause serious damage to my car.
   
   I start the interior cleaning process with the floor mats which get the dirtiest during travel. With the help of the floor mat cleaning machines installed here, I just insert the mat in the machine, push a foot pedal that kicks off a few cleaning brushes to roll inside the machine and cleans my floor mats, spec free. These machines are for carpet mats. For cars with rubber mats, the water stations can be used which have a connected high pressure water jet hose to take care of the hardest of muck on your mat. Foot mat cleaning process is followed by vacuuming, using the very effective vacuum cleaners which can reach each and every corner of the car. After the first round of vacuuming, I use the high pressure air jet to bring out all the hidden /unreachable things from under the seats, from inside the dashboard trays, bottle holders, side pockets etc., and then do a quick second round of vacuuming to remove them.Finally I use my own wipes to clean the dash, centre console, door handle area, door pockets, phone charge tray etc., followed by a quick check under the hood if anything needs cleaning and thats it!
   
   The facility at Mr. Wash is really state of the art and there is no time constraint whatsoever so you can take as much time here as you want to clean your car peacefully! When you are up here, on the upper deck, you will see a lot of people really taking time and enjoying the cleaning process - men, women, children...everyone!
   
   Some pictures demonstrating this step of the cleaning process:
   
   
   Upper deck with multiple bays for interior cleaning
   
   
   Wiping the car clean with a micro fibre cloth
   
   
   Carpet mat cleaning machine. Press the foot pedal, the cleaning brushes roll inside, move the mat up and down between the brush and viola! spec free mats!
   
   
   The high pressure vacuums, one one either side of the car. These vacuums are always on.
   
   
   Vacuums can reach every corner of the car
   
   
   High pressure air jets on either side of the car
   
   
   Using the air jets to expose hidden objects from under the seat
   
   
   Wipe cleaning the dash using alcohol wipes
   
   
   Under the hood check to see if anything needs cleaning there
   
   
   Mirror finish car.
   
   
   More of the mirror finish. Always brings a smile, always!
   
   
   The huge upper deck with numerous cleaning bays
   
   
   Leaving the state of the art cleaning facility which has all the car related services that you can think of, under this star studded roof
   
   

Now that I have shared the car cleaning procedure that I follow, it will be incomplete to not mention some other general aspects as following,

• Driving around a visibly dirty car in Germany can give you a lot of stares on the road.
• Maintaining a black car is difficult, even in Europe! No dust here, but rather it's the rain and the resulting slush, that takes the discredit.
• In cities with dust and rain prevalent (like in coastal regions), its a nightmare to maintain the exterior cleanliness. With a layer of dust on the car, followed by a rain or drizzle, leaves horrible chicken pox (/or leopard ) style of print of the car.
• If you are the kinds of always wanting to see a mirror finish on your car, then you need to have a garage to yourself. If you do not, and have to park your car in the open (street parking for example), then you probably will spend more money in your car wash than renting yourself a garage.
• Its a struggle most of time to get a garage for yourself here, if you don't have one along with your apartment. So like finding apartments for rent, people also search for garages for rent here, and the closest available garage might not be next to your house! My garage for example is 300 meters away from my apartment.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the International Scene. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[kiredd1005]

Looks damn good! Must have cost a ton of money for the set up! Thank you for sharing!

This fits the culture so well where people prefer doing things on their own and not entirely dependant on manual labor!

Quick question, I couldn't help but notice, the wiper was on whilst the brushes were doing their thing. I thought that was a safety hazard no? What if the brush gets entangled with the wiper arm!

[sauravpat]

Thanks for the informative and thorough description.

How often do you need to give your car such a thorough wash in Germany?

Didn't seem to find the frequency in the post. Maybe I missed it?

[vigneshkumar31]

Very fancy and sweet facility.

There's this kind of satisfaction we get after a squeaky clean car wash, probably rivalling what women get after a spa day.

[Sach_511]

How much you paid for this in EURO, anyways it is very cool, I can take my kid to this place anytime (if we have this kind of facility) instead of spider man movies!!

[raveesh_k]

Originally Posted by kiredd1005

Quick question, I couldn't help but notice, the wiper was on whilst the brushes were doing their thing. I thought that was a safety hazard no? What if the brush gets entangled with the wiper arm!

Very good observation. Yes you are correct, ideally the wipers should be off (and also not in the auto mode) when entering the drive in wash. But because I was so busy in filming the whole thing, I forgot to switch it off. But on the positive side, had I switched the wipers off, it would have been impossible for the video camera to capture the brush 'ballet' through the windshield
If you check out Mr. Wash website, there as well, they request people to turn off their wipers.

Originally Posted by sauravpat

How often do you need to give your car such a thorough wash in Germany?

Didn't seem to find the frequency in the post. Maybe I missed it?

I was about to include that information as the last bullet in concluding remarks, however there are so many variables to it, that I chucked it in the end. Nevertheless, I usually go for this wash once a month (or after every road trip holiday), and then manage in-between (on demand) with the 'Auto Jet' kind of facility that you would have seen as part of step 1 in the video.

Originally Posted by Sach_511

How much you paid for this in EURO, anyways it is very cool, I can take my kid to this place anytime (if we have this kind of facility) instead of spider man movies!!

Sorry I missed the price in the blog, but mentioned it in the video. This is a 15 euro wash. Price list here (you may have to use translate)

[mohit]

A touch type automatic car wash for a black car... ouch!
Avoid these else be ready for swirl marks down the road. Touchless washes are a better option.

[sandeepmohan]

Impressive. Thanks for sharing.

Were your alloys already clean or did the automatic car wash do that for you? If the latter, that's a impressive job cleaning between those small spokes.

We have something identical in New Zealand, though not at this scale. Small country of 5 million after all.

I used these rental vacuum facility at the car wash but soon realized that I am in a tearing hurry to do it as the clock is ticking against ever dollar I am putting in the machine. The countdown starts in an instant. In your case, I guess it does not matter as the vacuum's are always ON and its not counting against the clock.

I ended up picking up a Philips vacuum cleaner to save myself from this headache. This may not suit everyone, depending on whether your residence has a socket where you park the car. This can be solved with a Dyson. Saves time from stepping out too, if you only need to do a vacuum.

Is the carpet cleaner mechanical or is there a vacuum inside that slot to pull dirt out?

We rent a town house property and with this, a nice long garden hose has been provided so at times and if I am in the mood, I hose and soap the car myself. Its almost therapeutic. I don't polish or detail. Wish I could but there isn't enough time to do it all.

[shrjun]

Those brushes aren't the best idea though. Its probably alright for someone who isn't too bothered with scratches on their paint and just want a cleanish looking car.

[AJ56]

As others have highlighted, the last thing you want on black paint is car wash brushes abrading the surface, you can check the paint yourself with a flashlight and you’ll see moderate to heavy swirling.

Secondly, avoid mass commercial car washes as they often use highly alkaline shampoos (specially the touchless ones) that break down and strip any waxes/sealants protecting your paint. Cheers.

[raveesh_k]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Were your alloys already clean or did the automatic car wash do that for you? If the latter, that's a impressive job cleaning between those small spokes.

Is the carpet cleaner mechanical or is there a vacuum inside that slot to pull dirt out?

Thanks for liking it. Yes those alloy wheels are also cleaned by special jets that are installed at tire level in the washing zone. They always come out super clean! And regarding your second question, the carpet cleaner is indeed a mechanical one where two roller brushes start to roll on a foot pedal push and you run your carpet mat through them, up and down, to brush them clean.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I used these rental vacuum facility at the car wash but soon realized that I am in a tearing hurry to do it as the clock is ticking against ever dollar I am putting in the machine. The countdown starts in an instant.

What i do is prepare the car before inserting in the coin. So, i remove the mats and place them outside so I can vacuum them as well, remove stuff off the seats etc and pretty much once the machine is turned on, i can quickly do the areas i need to, rather than move stuff with the clock ticking.

Owning a 4WD and doing beach trips means vacuuming the car after such a trip is a labour intensive process, not to forget the external wash. I do enjoy the time spent at the DIY car wash, my daughter helps as well.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

What i do is prepare the car before inserting in the coin.

That is what I eventually did. However, after the purchase of a vacuum cleaner (primarily for home use), I ditched paying a few $ for a vacuum at the car wash. I can relax and do it, at my time and pace.

The $400 I put into a home vacuum, used only as a car appliance means I will never recover the cost. In that sense, its cost effective to use the car wash provided vacuum, even if you throw in some excess $.

I love the beach but can't stand the aftermath of it when its time to step back into the car :-). Makes me cry looking at all that fine sand.

[turbowhistle]

Originally Posted by AJ56

As others have highlighted, the last thing you want on black paint is car wash brushes abrading the surface, you can check the paint yourself with a flashlight and you’ll see moderate to heavy swirling.

Secondly, avoid mass commercial car washes as they often use highly alkaline shampoos (specially the touchless ones) that break down and strip any waxes/sealants protecting your paint. Cheers.

Agreed with both the things, but I guess you learn these lessons as you go. I am also in Germany and I made a point to spend hefty amount getting my supplies. Ended up spending 25-30k INR for the same and it should last at least one year so the costs balance out in the end. I used to avoid these car washes even when I had a white car. It's just too much for the car and suits people who don't care about it or use the car for commercial purpose.

My car is always hand washed with a pH neutral shampoo with appropriate products for the weather there and the results are tremendous. I usually dedicate half a day for everything on a Sunday ( there's nothing much to do on a Sunday in Germany). But this is a very slippery slope, once you are on it it's almost impossible to turn back.