Mar 29, 2006 3:57:52 AM
- cookie monster
- Senior
- Loc: US , United States
- Posts: 564, Gallery
- Registered on: Dec 8, 2005
Car Washing Question, washing when car still warm?
I had picked up my brand new 987s recently. Because of the soft top, I always take it to a professional cleaner in town who does washing only by hand. This cleaner has an excellent reputation in town and there are always Carrera GT, Ferrari 430 and many other convertibles being washed there.
Recently, I took my cars there for a few times and I have to travel some distance to the cleaner. Yesterday, I dropped my car off before work right after I drove there just like I usually do it. I walked away and remembered that I left something in the car and went back to the washing house. Suddenly, something clicked and I felt puzzled. The guys were spraying water on the car and starting to wash it and I thought it must be bad... cos the car hasn't cooled down yet.
Then I talked to the manager, he said the reason people said you shouldn't wash the car when the car is warm or under the sunlight is an issue of water spots more than hurting the discs or rims. However, I thought we should never spray water onto the rims when the car is still warm. Imagine a brake disc being still warm and you spray some water on it, it would contract and the disc's shape would bend in the end. However, the manager said they washed tons of super cars and it would never be a problem as they didn't spray directly onto the discs and most of these cars' discs were made with durability to withstand some sort of water even when warm. He said the analogy would be similar to driving high speed on the highway and the sky suddenly starts to rain or snow and he said it it would be that vulnerable, the disc would bend under heavy rain while in operation. Any input? It's not like I don't trust him but it looks like he also has the motivation to wash the cars as they come in as they can't afford to park them around for a 1/2 hour then wash it. Afterall, it's a volume and economies of scale issue for the place. I suspect that it probably doesn't cause the disc to bend out of shape unless you have been driving it at 150 km/hr before. Nonetheless, I do believe that washing the car in the morning before driving it would be much better for the car than washing it after operation?
Recently, I took my cars there for a few times and I have to travel some distance to the cleaner. Yesterday, I dropped my car off before work right after I drove there just like I usually do it. I walked away and remembered that I left something in the car and went back to the washing house. Suddenly, something clicked and I felt puzzled. The guys were spraying water on the car and starting to wash it and I thought it must be bad... cos the car hasn't cooled down yet.
Then I talked to the manager, he said the reason people said you shouldn't wash the car when the car is warm or under the sunlight is an issue of water spots more than hurting the discs or rims. However, I thought we should never spray water onto the rims when the car is still warm. Imagine a brake disc being still warm and you spray some water on it, it would contract and the disc's shape would bend in the end. However, the manager said they washed tons of super cars and it would never be a problem as they didn't spray directly onto the discs and most of these cars' discs were made with durability to withstand some sort of water even when warm. He said the analogy would be similar to driving high speed on the highway and the sky suddenly starts to rain or snow and he said it it would be that vulnerable, the disc would bend under heavy rain while in operation. Any input? It's not like I don't trust him but it looks like he also has the motivation to wash the cars as they come in as they can't afford to park them around for a 1/2 hour then wash it. Afterall, it's a volume and economies of scale issue for the place. I suspect that it probably doesn't cause the disc to bend out of shape unless you have been driving it at 150 km/hr before. Nonetheless, I do believe that washing the car in the morning before driving it would be much better for the car than washing it after operation?