How to prep my 2025 Ranger Raptor for using a commercial car wash

[LDHunter]

Y'all please excuse my ignorance but since I've always had a dedicated hunting truck that I rarely washed because I didn't care how it looked and I washed my daily driver by hand, I'm at a loss on how to use a commercial car wash place.

I think I read that you should unscrew the small whip antenna on the roof. Yes?

How about mirrors? Should I fold them back?

Anything else?

Sponsored

 

[donkey]

Just dont

 

[Dino Jockey]

I don’t remove antenna or fold mirrors…. No issues.

 

[Onceaneagle]

I hand wash using the two bucket method and TLC. My truck and I are one.

 

[LDHunter]

I don’t remove antenna or fold mirrors…. No issues.

Thanks.... I'll give it a try.

 

[stuartmunto]

I hand wash using the two bucket method and TLC. My truck and I are one.

This is the way. Touching, rubbing and caressing every inch of your vehicle is the only way to really be at one… wait… what are we talking about??

 

[Dhass68]

Not everybody has the luxury of being able to hand wash though, I live in a condo and use a touchless car wash.

 

[Onceaneagle]

Not everybody has the luxury of being able to hand wash though, I live in a condo and use a touchless car wash.

Touchless, if you can't handwash. Too big an investment and too many questions about how often the car wash implements are cleaned and maintained. A condo complex really needs a washrack.

 

[Boosted6G]

Just dont

I took my F150 through a very nice automatic car wash for 12 years. Never once did I wash it by hand. Still looked new when I traded it in.

 

[Lion77]

I'd stick with touchless. You'll get massive amount of swirl / scratch marks from brushed washes over time. Why? Even if they change the brushes regularly, every car that went through before you are soiling those brushes. It's completely impractical for them to change brushes every few cars, so they are technically always soiled.

We had a local wash by us run by a combat veteran, which I wanted to support. It was a hybrid wash, so partly touchless, but did uses brushes for some of the cleaning. My 2016 Mustang GT ended up with a lot of fine scratches in the clearcoat of the paint after a year of using it.

If you don't care about that, no worries (not talking big scratches like someone keyed the car, but swirl marks visible in reflections from the sun or other light sources). I now use touchless wash by me. It does pretty good, but over time it does leave a bit of a wax film that builds up and will need a good hand wash once every 6 months.

For me, that's a good trade off. I can use the touchless wash 99% of the time and just a good hand wash 2x a year in the spring / fall. Also, I highly recommend a good 2 year ceramic coating. There's a lot of them out there that claim 5 yeras, 7 years and even up to 10 years etc, but that's very misleading.

To get to that durability, they need frequent maintenance by the shop that applies them, otherwise they don't last anywhere near that (de-con, re-application etc). I ended up finding this which is a 2 year that is easy to apply (heck, even if it was only 1 year, i'd do it):

Redline Shine - 2 Year 7H Ceramic Coating 60mL Kit (2oz bottle)

The idea is simple, make the application easier and more affordable and just accept the fact that its going to wear off no matter what. So instead of paying all that expense to constantly try to maintain wear, just re-do it yourself every other year.

I did two layers of the cermaic caotings on the front bumper area just because that's where all the bugs sit, and also two layers on the door sills since they get scuffed a lot by shoes from my kids, but aside from that, I just did the single layer as directed, let it flash, then buffed it.

Very easy to do, kind of like NuFinish synthetic wax from Autozone, but easier to buff out (lot less effort) and better technology as it's a true ceramic where NuFinish is a synthetic wax that only lasts a month or two.

Then I just take it though the touchless wash once a week. Water beads up really nicely all over the truck, bugs come off much easier with the 7H ceramic coating on there and the paint has a nice additional layer of protection. It won't stop rock chips or deep scratches, but it can stop light scratches from brush, dirt, debris when off-roading.

PPF is too expensive for me, just a family man with kids, old house and a hard start to life (had a spouse and a child pass away 5 years apart in my late 20's). So, I have to be pretty picky about automotive stuff as it's mostly non-essential for me asside from maintenance for reliability.

So, I try to look for the balance of performance vs. cost. I find that most things out there have an exorbitant cost for little real-world gain, but there are some things that can be done very strategically that provide some a high value.

 

[Lion77]

I'd stick with touchless. You'll get massive amount of swirl / scratch marks from brushed washes over time. Why? Even if they change the brushes regularly, every car that went through before you are soiling those brushes. It's completely impractical for them to change brushes every few cars, so they are technically always soiled.

We had a local wash by us run by a combat veteran, which I wanted to support. It was a hybrid wash, so partly touchless, but did uses brushes for some of the cleaning. My 2016 Mustang GT ended up with a lot of fine scratches in the clearcoat of the paint after a year of using it.

If you don't care about that, no worries (not talking big scratches like someone keyed the car, but swirl marks visible in reflections from the sun or other light sources). I now use touchless wash by me. It does pretty good, but over time it does leave a bit of a wax film that builds up and will need a good hand wash once every 6 months.

For me, that's a good trade off. I can use the touchless wash 99% of the time and just a good hand wash 2x a year in the spring / fall. Also, I highly recommend a good 2 year ceramic coating. There's a lot of them out there that claim 5 yeras, 7 years and even up to 10 years etc, but that's very misleading.

To get to that durability, they need frequent maintenance by the shop that applies them, otherwise they don't last anywhere near that (de-con, re-application etc). I ended up finding this which is a 2 year that is easy to apply (heck, even if it was only 1 year, i'd do it):

Redline Shine - 2 Year 7H Ceramic Coating 60mL Kit (2oz bottle)

The idea is simple, make the application easier and more affordable and just accept the fact that its going to wear off no matter what. So instead of paying all that expense to constantly try to maintain wear, just re-do it yourself every other year.

I did two layers of the cermaic caotings on the front bumper area just because that's where all the bugs sit, and also two layers on the door sills since they get scuffed a lot by shoes from my kids, but aside from that, I just did the single layer as directed, let it flash, then buffed it.

Very easy to do, kind of like NuFinish synthetic wax from Autozone, but easier to buff out (lot less effort) and better technology as it's a true ceramic where NuFinish is a synthetic wax that only lasts a month or two.

Then I just take it though the touchless wash once a week. Water beads up really nicely all over the truck, bugs come off much easier with the 7H ceramic coating on there and the paint has a nice additional layer of protection. It won't stop rock chips or deep scratches, but it can stop light scratches from brush, dirt, debris when off-roading.

PPF is too expensive for me, just a family man with kids, old house and a hard start to life (had a spouse and a child pass away 5 years apart in my late 20's). So, I have to be pretty picky about automotive stuff as it's mostly non-essential for me asside from maintenance for reliability.

So, I try to look for the balance of performance vs. cost. I find that most things out there have an exorbitant cost for little real-world gain, but there are some things that can be done very strategically that provide some a high value.

 

[jrRaptor]

As stated, touchless. If you take this thing off-roading and get pinstripes and other badges of honor you probably won't care about brushes. But if you do then go touchless and thank us later.

Ceramic coatings are definitely a plus and will make touchless much more effective. At minimum I would opt for a hybrid ceramic like Griots 3 in 1. It's an easy DIY wipe on wipe off and lasts longer than most others with good durability.

If you want even better quality and lasting protection in the DIY realm, you could try Gtechniq, it's a bit more pricey but well worth it in my opinion.

Otherwise for ultimate ceramic protection, have a pro do it.

If you want to get really crazy and expensive, get a PPF.

 

[fordgt]

I don’t have any touchless washes near me. The place I use is a full contact one. $28 a month for unlimited washes. I go at least once a week, I went 3 times in a row after I got stuck in sand and had it everywhere. I don’t mess with the antenna, sometimes fold the mirrors in. Hasn’t affected any of my options like vinyl wrap on the bumper or the badges or air deflectors on the hood or windows.
LOTS of high end vehicles use this place.
I carry a bath towel and wipe off the water spots when it is finished. Probably average 2 times a week for 15 months now.

 

[Jason B]

Sure, touchless is best, but most suck at getting all the dirt off. I just fold in the mirrors, nothing else. I even go thru the brushes with the tonneau cover still on.

 

[Onceaneagle]

There are no cars wash locations near me. Of course, where I live in the county they call snow removal "Spring Thaw."

Sponsored