I'm just a customer/user, I'm not an owner or operator of a carwash, but I found this forum. Hopefully I can still post here.
There are a couple of local in-bay automatic washes I used regularly before Covid, that did a pretty good job most of the time. But during Covid, I had very little need to wash my car, so I just did it by hand (or didn't do it). Now that I'm using automatic washes again I notice the ones in my area (mostly at Exxon/7-11 stations) have an extremely weak prewash cycle. Instead of fully wetting the car with foam or soap, they barely deliver a spritz that doesn't even wet the whole surface. I mean even on my windshield and side windows I can see dry areas that are not wet. Is this a common practice now? Unless the vehicle is fully wet and soapy before any brush action occurs, it seems like there is high risk of the brushes scratching the clearcoat.
This is in Central Texas so I'm sure they get some pressure from the authorities here to minimize water use, but this seems extreme. Since it's at more than one location I don't think it's just a random malfunction, it seems intentional. Thoughts?
There are a couple of local in-bay automatic washes I used regularly before Covid, that did a pretty good job most of the time. But during Covid, I had very little need to wash my car, so I just did it by hand (or didn't do it). Now that I'm using automatic washes again I notice the ones in my area (mostly at Exxon/7-11 stations) have an extremely weak prewash cycle. Instead of fully wetting the car with foam or soap, they barely deliver a spritz that doesn't even wet the whole surface. I mean even on my windshield and side windows I can see dry areas that are not wet. Is this a common practice now? Unless the vehicle is fully wet and soapy before any brush action occurs, it seems like there is high risk of the brushes scratching the clearcoat.
This is in Central Texas so I'm sure they get some pressure from the authorities here to minimize water use, but this seems extreme. Since it's at more than one location I don't think it's just a random malfunction, it seems intentional. Thoughts?
about washing cars. It’s added revenue to their main source of income which is inside that store. so don’t lump their practices in with the majority of single and multi site operators like the people on this forum. . Look for places that are well kept. Pretty easy to find a wash or any business for that matter that takes pride in their work and genuinely concerned about quality. Drive to coastal North Carolina and I’ll show ya 
