The Result

The comparison tests produced results of which every car owner should be aware. Automatic car washing and hand washing have completely different effects on automobile paint. How does the paintwork of a car appear after 25 washes - equivalent of a year's worth of washing? The results are depressing, at least to the car owner who, up to now, has firmly believed in hand washing. The deepest scratches after hand washing had a depth of more than one-tenth of the paint surface. Under the microscope, the paintwork looked like a cratered landscape. The paintwork was deeply scored and scratched - the result of dirt and trapped sand particles. In hand washing, invariably too little water is used. Even with a garden hose and a sponge technique, small sand particles lodge themselves firmly in the fine pores of the sponge or wash mitt and cannot be removed even by good rinsing. Such particles work on the paint surface like sanding discs. Furthermore, the hand washings produced a tangle of uneven scratches in the paint surface. By comparison, the surfaces of the test vehicle washed with automatic carwashing equipment appeared different. Compared with the hand washed surfaces, it was remarkably smooth, with many very fine markings virtually parallel and uniform - less than .0003mm - the result of evenly moving and rotating cloth pads and curtains. The machine-washed surfaces were in very good condition after 25 washes. Wash a car by hand or by machine, in either case, it looks immaculate right after the wash. The sophisticated test described suggests that looks are deceiving: The paintwork on a car washed by automatic carwashing equipment is in much better condition than one washed by hand - even though the car owner lavishes tender, loving care on their vehicle.