New Car with Black Paint, are automatic car washes that bad?

[nemuro]

New Owner of a Black Model Y, and researching the options to clean my car, and it seems it's not a simple choice.

I'm not looking to keep my car in a pristine, shiny, showroom-like condition for its entire life, I just want it to use the car normally and for it to look decent and not uncared for.

Where I live, I could wash my previous, much cheaper lighter colored car, once every 4-8 weeks and it didn't look unclean most of the time unless you were to get up close and pull up your magnifying glass.

Now I read that the Tesla Owner's Manual states you should only use a touchless car wash if you use an automatic car wash, while not saying if it's referring to plastic or cloth bristles auto car washes.

CAUTION
If washing in an automatic car wash, use touchless car washes only. These car washes have no parts (brushes, etc.) that touch the surfaces of Model Y. Some touchless car washes use caustic solutions that, over time, can cause discoloration of decorative exterior trim. Avoid exposure to soaps and chemicals above pH 13. If unsure, check the product label or ask the staff at the car wash. Damage caused by improper washing is not covered by the warranty.

The problem with a touch-less car wash from what I've read is they use more aggressive chemicals and, especially with black cars, some have reported some surfaces can became discolored.

Researching PPF, a full PPF where I live costs the same or very close to a full body respray, but IIRC you then you void your 5 years warranty of your paint from Tesla.

So unless I'm missing something, I'd rather do a full car polish once every 2-3 years if the paint's state ends up bothering me that much (up to 1000 EUR)

So looking to hear from black car owners that didn't baby their car but at the same time didn't want it to look uncared for, is PPF the only way?
Is Ceramic an option? How long did it typically last for you?
Or can you use automatic car washes once 1-2 months and not worry all the time?

 

[ngng]

Ceramic won’t prevent abrasion. Can you hand wash? If not, touch less if you insist on a car wash.

 

[SalisburySam]

@nemuro please, please perform a search here as this topic has been discussed to death.

But since you asked, for most of us the answer is: “don’t worry about it.” My black 2018 Model 3 goes through the rotating-brushes conveyor-style car wash tunnel about twice a month. No ill effects and I purposely dissuade those with magnifying glasses from getting close to both me and the car. I see no damage whatever and plan to continue this process as long as I own the car.

 

[rogersmj]

I don’t take my cars through car washes because I am quite sensitive about the way the paint looks. After a year or two of regular car washes, a dark paint will be swirl city. I see this all the time and other peoples cars when the sun hits it.

But… As you said you’re not that concerned with keeping it pristine and most people won’t notice the swirls.

If you’re going to do car washes though, I wouldn’t bother with ceramic. A brushed car wash will just buff the ceramic off relatively quickly so you’re kind of wasting money. I ceramic my cars, but I hand wash them. Money no object, PPF would be great if you’re going to go through car washes a lot but as you pointed out, it’s very expensive.

 

[Ostrichsak]

@nemuro please, please perform a search here as this topic has been discussed to death.

But since you asked, for most of us the answer is: “don’t worry about it.” My black 2018 Model 3 goes through the rotating-brushes conveyor-style car wash tunnel about twice a month. No ill effects and I purposely dissuade those with magnifying glasses from getting close to both me and the car. I see no damage whatever and plan to continue this process as long as I own the car.

Twice a month? We've got unlimited wash passes and go about every other day on average using 5 different locations and 8 different Teslas and I've never seen an issue. This whole "soft paint" thing is incredibly overstated IMHO.

 

[Big Moe]

I always hand wash both of my Tesla Model Y’s. I don't trust the car washes. I also have an extended front license plate holder. I’m sure it would get destroyed. It takes all of 30 minutes to wash and dry my Tesla.

 

[Goobers]

Went to a car wash yesterday and remembered why I hate “touch” washes.

It had nothing to do with the paint and everything to do with the inability to wash some spots.

The area within 6” to a foot of the license plate is still dirty, plus a spot to either end of the rear bumper. So annoying.

We’ll see if I can go a month till my next wash with that eyesore.

 

[gaswalla]

swirl marks look particularly noticeable and bad on black cars. Add in the soft paint Tesla uses, and yeah, you shouldn't do machine washes

 

[nemuro]

Twice a month? We've got unlimited wash passes and go about every other day on average using 5 different locations and 8 different Teslas and I've never seen an issue. This whole "soft paint" thing is incredibly overstated IMHO.

I thought so too, until I god the first very noticeable paint chip in the first week of owning the car. Berlin made.
Now I have to get acquainted with Dr. Color Chip.

 

[Ostrichsak]

I thought so too, until I god the first very noticeable paint chip in the first week of owning the car. Berlin made.
Now I have to get acquainted with Dr. Color Chip.

Where's the chip?

 

[nemuro]

The front fender, above the wheel arch.

 

[Ostrichsak]

The front fender, above the wheel arch.

Sounds like a rock (or similar debris) chip to me. Car washes typically don't "chip" paint. If you had swirl marks, I could see that even though it's a lot less common than some think. It's highly unlikely that an automated car wash caused a chip, though.

 

[fredzos]

i take mine to a hand wash about once or twice a month.
park in the garage at home and at the office so i do not need to get it washed too often.

always preferred this over the machine wash with all my previous vehicles

 

[nemuro]

Sounds like a rock (or similar debris) chip to me. Car washes typically don't "chip" paint. If you had swirl marks, I could see that even though it's a lot less common than some think. It's highly unlikely that an automated car wash caused a chip, though.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say the paint chip was caused by the car wash. I was just talking about how finnicky the paint is.
I would say it's more fragile than the average, in my experience, as per what happened.

 

[dansev]

I have a 2019 black Model 3. Taken to the local Scrub-a-Dub car wash about 1 to 2x/month on average. I'm not going to say that the washes haven't done some minor swirling. But the fact is, I don't have a garage, and I *definitely* don't have time to hand wash. And I have no easy access to touchless car washes. So it's just a fact of life. Curb rash is far more troubling. And there's pretty significant wear around the driver side door handle, presumably just from my fingers touching it multiple times per day. And then there are the small scrapes and nicks from god-knows-what. I say take it through the car wash and forget about it. On a nice sunny day, even after 50-100 trips through the car wash, my car still looks pretty great.

TLDR: Hand washing? Seriously? Who has time for that?