I once used an auto car wash in my Triumph Spitfire. I was in a hurry and wanted to impress a young lady on a first date in my flashy clean sports car. I wished I had taken a lifebelt
The big automatic machines do sound risky.
I took my 2002 to a hand car wash. Before I thought about it, they had blasted the soft top with the jet wash and ripped the stitching. Lesson learned.
Apart from that it was no problem. However it really does depend on how careful the below-minimum-wage staff are at the time.
If you take it through a car wash be sure to minimize the possibility of damage to the soft top and fold it away.
You’ll soon learn about taking a 5 through a car wash.
Doesn’t take much longer with a bucket and sponge, they are only small
It was a serious question I know you would never take an old convertible in a car wash but I was just wondering on modern ones, there’s no warnings in the manual or anything!
I was thinking of jet washing it (garage jet wash) or getting cleaned by someone (hand car wash), but just wondered if I didn’t have the time if it was ok to just use a car wash!
But I guess it’s not!
I never wash cars by hand, as I’m useless at it!
ok I’ll just have to make time to get it done by properly and if it’s dirty on the way somewhere it’ll have to stay dirty!
Thanks for the advice seems I was right to ask rather than just doing it!
There is an aspect which I’m surprised has yet to be mentioned.
Mazda paint is notoriously soft, and that includes the lacquer quality, in my experience of owning 2 side by side for 14 years, one flat paint and the other metallic.
When I say soft, I would say it has been, historically, problematic. Numerous threads exist of premature chipping of bonnets & front valances for example.
In short, it needs all the help it can get, depending on how particular you choose to be.
Recently, I had my wife’s 2002 Sport renovated to include new metal, and pretty much an 80% body repaint. The specialist coachworks…not just some back street spray booth mob, decided knowing what they do to use either a VAG or BMW specification lacquer to finish the job off. Suffice to say, since then SWMBO’s, using the 2 bucket method ( see below) only neds that, and a finish wax to keep the surface in pretty much as new condition. If it’s dirty, it stays dirty ( by my standards ) until the weather improves sufficiently. The VAG lacquer is so much better and resilient. After around 8,000 miles, there is not a mark on the front of the car, whereas previosly it was peppered. I guess it would be after 92,000 miles…but it’s hit the 100,000 without a blemish.
So saying, we never tailgate or drive it in adverse conditions since the car is pleasure & domestic use only now.
Yes, it takes effort and time and not all of us can be bothered, or have the lifestyle or professionally pressured diary to dedicate to it.
2 bucket method:
Polished Bliss: Enter into a different world of car care.
https://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/wash
Anyway, good luck with getting on board the “Pampered 5” battalions.
Is Mazda’s paint “notoriously soft” or that all water based car paints (ie. 100% of cars for a long while)are soft. Hence grandad could get away cleaning off the trusty Cambridge, with some of mother’s washing up liquid, old dishcloths and that old, but massive, chammy, because he had paint that was as hard as bath enamel.
I suspect sprayer is not so much replicating the VAG standard (a standard equally applied to cars cranked out in Germany, Spain, China, US, India), but exceeding that standard (ie. more lacquer, he’s only spraying one car and has to use up the tin, not so for VAG).
Maybe go and look at how 100k miler Polos are doing.
How can one be useless at washing a car?
Where in Kent are you?
I’ll gladly show you how to wash a car properly and you’d be surprised at how easy it really is.
Saz,
I can only speak from what I consider long-term 5 ownership experience, the comments and complaints of many others I have spoken with over these years, and the professional opinions of a business which holds the franchises to “repair” BMW, VAG, Aston Martin, Rolls / Bentley and Jaguar cars that have been either delivery-skiffed or slightly marked prior to showrooms, or crash repairs. They have been at it for 30 years, father to son.
I don’t know how long it has been since you had to visit a Mazda showroom, but with infinite variances the new vehicles are either nicely “acceptable” (?) to orange peel city with visible variances from doors to panels. You won’t see that anywhere close in the Kia/“Hoondee” showroom next door.
My son’s 3 years old Fiesta Zetec’s paint, and others I saw before choosing the one we did for him, were faultless in comparison.
Anyway, given even a new ND is often cheaper than a Mk2 Conran Silver…I guess being built to a bean counted price with the emphasis on engineering is fair enough.
Probably for similar reasons that my beloved SWMBO is a traditional Highland griddle baking expert but utterly murders cooking.
Her clootie dumplings are simply stunning too.
Each their own eh?
Near Maidstone. Very kind of you, but you might want to read below!
I can assure I am. I am not the least bit practical. It’s like I can make coffee at home, but Starbucks do it much better!
Great quote, fair play to you
Around 40 years ago a pal had a part time job at a filling station with an automatic car wash. Under the counter they had a box full of badges that had been ripped off by the brushes. One that was present in large numbers was the bonnet badge from a Morris Marina. The lucky owners just had them ripped off. The unlucky ones had them entangled in the brushes and lashed backwards and forwards across the car.
On another point is it really a good idea to use a pressure washer on any car and particularly a soft top? I’ve had one for years and it does a great job on decking and driveways. I’ve never had it anywhere near a car though.
Fair do’s and brave of you to admit it.
I’m a guy who tries to do everything (within my capabilites) so it’s easy for me to pass comments for such simple tasks. As I told my missus once I’ll have a bash at anything you can do except knitting, ironing and giving birth, the last one would be very difficult indeed.
Never had any problems with my other cars Land Rover, Range Rover but then they are kind if robust! It’s much better to take a Range Rover plastered in mud though a car wash than try and clean it off!
A few years ago I remember seeing warning signs at car washes saying not to take the new MG convertibles in car washes there was obviously an issue with them. But then they was made by Rover so it didn’t surprise me.
I just thought Mazda would be OK as it’s better made!
I think you just may have missed the point. I doubt if it had any thing to do with build quality, but in the nature of the design. A “cloth top” convertible where the top is merely stretched over supports has nowhere near the inherent strength or resilience of a saloon, hatchback et al where the metal top is an integral part of the vehicle’s structure.