Inb4 people start saying that you shouldn't go to car washes cause it'll scratch your car
Anyways, I think Total Wax might be the one where you're getting the most value for your money, and everything after that is just useless addons that don't really add anything of worth to your wash.
But I don't know. What do you think? Do we have any imo employees in here that could weigh in?
by Cumulus-Crafts
41 comments
I’d go for Diamond because £10 is a barrier.
I’d rather use a jet wash though, then I can add time and choose how much water, foam, wax I use.
You’re also trusting all these things actually happen, and to an acceptable standard. I’ve had plenty jet wash stations have no foam or otherwise be a bit crap
Eco wash.
At the car wash, everything else is a waste.
If you want a good clean, go so a detailer or do it yourself.
It’s £20 just to get it power washed and a half arsed dry here. No wonder I keep putting it off
Personally I think Diamond Wax might be my limit? I don’t see how a car wash can possibly apply any realistic protections or coat enhancements reliably to make anything other than a basic wax worth it.
But on that note, I’d also skip this entirely and use a jet wash to do it myself, generally better for the car.
I don’t think you should wash your car because it’ll just get dirty again. Almost immediately.
always wondered this myself – we always go for the triple foam out of habit
It’s always the middle one of three. Even though there’s only two in the middle range, they’ve got upper and lower ranges split into threes, and three ranges.
There’s a game with customer choice and having three options. Two isn’t enough, Four starts heading into choice paralysis. If there are three price options people take the middle one, so you set up three just for that factor. If you’re doing customer service you try to give the customer three options even if there are really only two and the third is one of the others but worded differently, it’s psychological and makes them feel better.
This is England. Just leave it out in the rain.
Not sure what coating was applied to my car, but I could drive down the motorway in heavy rain without the wipers on because the water would just bead up and blow up and over. Was lovely.
Tycoon Wash
Ultra HD? Why not 4k?
My local IMO wash now charges £7.00 for Eco Plus. It was £3.50 as recently as two years ago. That’s some hella inflation. For a regular wash I always go for this one because it’s the cheapest one that does an under-chassis wash (crucial for winter salt). I find the wax etc there isn’t worth it.
I do eco plus, the bottom one is ok, but I found any difficult stains won’t come off without them giving it a blast that does seem to come with the most basic wash.
I’ve never stayed into the top tiers, I’ve always wondered if it really makes much difference.
I usually do mine myself but if I had to choose an option, I wouldn’t go above a diamond wax
I’ll usually go for the Eco Plus, because it includes the chassis wash – important just after winter to get rid of the road salt.
The most I’ll go up to is Diamond Wax, on a rare occasion. After that, it doesn’t seem worth it.
Quick tip for IMO washes – if the person before you has wax, you’ll often find the pipes are still squirting the remnants of it out when you go through. I’ve more than once had a free car wax as a result.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an inb4!
You know how often car ads have drivers taking corners fast in bizarrely apocalyptically empty urban environments, with a smile on their face, feeling cool etc?
I’d like to see an anti-car ad, where instead of that it shows the owner sitting in traffic jams, spending hours searching for cheapest insurance, grumbling about fuel cost/broken EV chargers, and dealing with this nonsense.
I know, probably just me.
What’s the bundle price? if it’s an app deal to get you down to 9.75 for Rain Guard, I’d go with that. Otherwise, one of the waxes probably.
On a side note, the Eco wash near me used to be £2.50 a couple of years ago.
Doubled in price.
Thos prices are insanely cheap compared to where I live in south oxfordshire – local village car wash wanted 40 quid to clean my 16 year old A4 audi estate .. it wasn’t even that dirty – needless to say I didn’t take them up on their kind offer haven’t been back there since… and that was just a interior clean and exterior wash – no polish let alone rain guard and ceramic coating – for £19 I’d get the full monty …
Bottom 3 as I don’t like wax on my car
*If* I were to use one of these, I wouldn’t go any higher than the Diamond Wax. However I’m in agreement that I don’t really like using these if I can help it. When I’m cleaning my car I like to do it properly which involves wiping out the painted parts on the inside of the doors.
Triple Foam for me because it smells nice and makes me feel like I’m in that tunnel from Willy Wonka.
I always do the top wash tbh, I personally notice a difference.
I always used to get the triple foam at my local IMO, but is always seemed to apply the wax anyway. No idea if that’s normal or just a flaw in that specific sites programming.
Eco Plus. Triple Foam if you have kids in the car cause they love the colours.
Where’s the totally legit and definitely not one of the lines all the money laundering goes on £80 full valet?
If you’re with AA you can get a fiver off of Ultra HD or half price Rain Guard. It’s once per week too.
The first one doesn’t even wash the chassis. So it’s not really a car wash.
I’d say Diamond Wax is the sweet spot. Less than a tenner, and you get your whole car washed and the important bit waxed.
Below that Eco Wash. I just park it outside when it rains. Like yesterday.
Good Lord, your prices start in the single digits.
It’s minimum 30 where I am…
The basic one by me used to be £2.50 about 2-3 years ago, now it’s £5. It’s getting ridiculous, I don’t understand anyone paying for the more expensive ones
All I’ll say is, I usually pay for triple foam at most but I got a free Ultra HD last week and my wheels were still dirty afterwards. The rain beads up nicely on it, so I think the wax may be worth it for the car to stay clean longer. The rest is bollocks.
Where’s this car wash? It’s about half the price of the ones where I live.
I only wash my car once a year, usually get whatever’s at the top.
When I first started using Arc car washes, there were 4 choices. Now it seems every time I go back I see extra choices – dependant on how much change I have it’s diamond wax – rain guard.
Wow 5 pounds for a car wash. Here in finland prices start from 12-13 euros. And that’s basic wash with nothing extra.
I used to work at a carwash and for 3 euro extra we would sell a rain guard coating which indeed worked. For about 3-4 days.
We also did a comparison one time between the regular cheap carwash and the triple more expensive all-in wash, you noticed there was shine to the body of the car but again that shine only lasts for about 2 days before it looked more like the cheap car.
If you are member of AA use the app you get massive discounts, personally i prefer the Albanian handwash as imo always miss bits
I’d never been through an auto car wash so my wife paid the £19 one for me.
The coating thing was actually pretty good. Bird shit didn’t crust on and just fell off once it dried. Lasted a couple of weeks.
Wouldn’t pay for it normally though.
I can’t believe there is any ‘Chassis wax’ added. Who is going to look under their car and be able to see the water beading off the underneath?
I would be shocked if anything is done there.