carwashes?

[Justin Fidler <justin@codeboy.net>]

>Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 23:18:09 -0000
>From: "Ian J Haseltine" <jim_haseltine@email.msn.com>
>Subject: Re: Not so Pearlescent Paint
>From: Keith Simpson <ksimp@cgrams.com>
>>I've been holding off on this one, but inquiring minds need to
>>know:
>>My pearl paint, at least the parts no repainted, has a sort of
>>mottled effect.  A kind of light brownish thing that looks like
>>red clay swirlies.  Anyone else?  Any remedy?
>How has it been washed? Sounds like automatic car wash damage from the
>swirl description. I've seen this on a blue pearl finish and it really
>did look brown from some angles.

How bad are automatic car washes? I've always been careful not to take my
car to an automatic car wash, more from fear of warping the hot brake
rotors as the car wash sprays cold water all over them.  But last weekend,
it was cold and rainy and my car had been in a lot for a couple hours
(the gas station was across the street), so I went to the car wash while I
was filling up (only 50c with fill-up).

The car wash didn't use brushes -- it was basically like a brush car wash,
except there were long pieces of strong cloth instead of brushes.  It
looked soft.  Can this kind of thing damage my pearlescent paint finish?
I've always washed my car by hand, but this results in the car being dirty
most of the time (lack of time/bad weather to wash).

Justin
97 A4tq pearl