Is Touchless Safe? - Washing My Filthy BMW M3 Winter Daily (POV) 

What's your preferred method of wash during the winter? We don't all have access to a heated garage at home or a budget for a proper hand wash. Remember to get 10% your Carly OBD2 Adapter with code "Tedward" @t . Special thanks to the Patreon Supporters for making this content possible!

touchless is fine. I don't have a show car my car is meant to be driven so I am fine with touches to stop corrosion.

As a detailer myself, i go to touchless car wash during winter. Most are using pretty safe soaps and won't even remove the cheapest wax.

Going trough that thing is the most satisfying moment

9:30 that is so factual. I used to watch detailers on RU-vid a lot and it scared me to even do anything. They get super dramatic about how you have to do it exactly their way.

Nowadays I wash my car at home, but I loved going to carwashes with my dad when I was a kid.

I have a E61. I put fluid film underneath and inside all the doors and cavitys. I wash it in brushless machine once a week because its discounted during winter. Then I polish and wax it in spring, and it looks mint even though it sits outside all year.

Problem starts when you have a soft-top convertible. That’s why I take my car to the diy wand wash, and try to do the underside as best possible.

Loving the winter M3 content

Your channel quickly became one of my favorite channels on youtube, keep up the great content!

Touch less is my go to in the winter. My car is ceramic coated so im sure every wash weakens the coating, but getting the underneath washed is worth it.

When I lived in Sweden I took my E90 through the touchless car wash like three times a week during the winter months. It cleans the car body very poorly, but I did it for the undercarriage power wash. In a climate like that, especially in regions where they salt the roads, it's so important to clean the undercarriage out frequently.

Touchless plus an Optimum No Rinse wash once I get home seems to work good for me. I just started the ONR portion this winter and it works great. I love the Space Grey, one of the best M3 colors!

Love the interior color on this M3

I really love those winter videos

Nice video! I live in NY and I go through the touchless carwash multiple times a month during the winter. Soon as spring comes along I complete a very good detail. The biggest thing is that undercarriage spray. My 2015 GTI and 19 STI has clean underbodies thanks to the touchless.

As someone who's possibly moving from Central California to Seattle this fall, this video has perfect timing. Good thing the PNW doesn't usually see as much snow as you do, or I'd be a little more stressed about it!

I've been using Ammo Frothe and Optimum No Rinse to wash my car this winter! The undercarriage is a little tricky, I've pulled out the pressure washer with the undercarriage attachment once or twice this winter. I plan on getting it fluid filmed before next winter! Thanks for another awesome video Tedward!!

I use the touchless in the winter IF it's above the freezing point outside. I coat the car with Nu Finish prior to winter starting as it seems to stand up to the high pH levels in the soaps the car washes use. When summer rolls around I wash, decontaminate and seal the paint with Mothers for the shine.

Watching from south Boston, I feel your pain with our snow.

OMG I am so glad that you made this video! I saw a brand new Cadillac CT5 go though the spin wash and you could literally hear the water that froze on the spin pads banging against the car and it made me cringe as I was pressure washing my car in the bay right next to the automatic one. How I keep my car clean in the winter is I only use the pressure hose so that I can keep the salt off.

I tried paint correcting my black Golf over the summer but just gave up. Swirl marks for life!

Damn the town looks very cool when It's snowing. Gotta appreciate the scenery at 9:38 Great video as always without a doubt!

Interesting video! Car wash part was pretty soothing. Keep up the great work 👍

Love these E92 vids!

Touchless is the way to go. Been using it for years, I was initially worried about how the soft top in my car would handle it but the cloth woven top seems to have no issue. I used to have a lot of problems with the high pressure spray with my older convertible with a vinyl top. It leaked at all the seams and especially around the rear window. The modern convertible top is much better. I also tend to drive back and forth over the underbody sprayers as much as possible until they turn off just to eek out a little extra underbody cleaning XD

Car washes use a material called neoglyde. The material literally cannot collect dirt / sand / anything grainy. What they can collect is chemicals that dispense onto your car and turn hard. So if the car wash doesn’t clean then monthly they can scratch your car. But tunnel car washes do make your clear coat scratchy because of the friction onto your car, not your paint. Easily buffed out.

after working at a carwash with my dad for almost a year i personally love the touchless ones. he fixed them for like 20 years and still does to this day lol. And even he does say it would kinda be worth washing your car yourself BUT if your in a hurry or dont have time OR dont/cant do it then a touchless wash is honestly really good. Now depends on the place you go some are better than others lol. but my dad is fixing em all around new england lol. (mainly Maine, Mass, Nh, and Vermont as of now)

I use touchless on my celica, definitely the best option other than hand wash. I also have a fluid-film undercoating done. The one I use is $29.99 a month and includes under-body wash, and it's the cheapest monthly option. includes 1 wash per day.

Solid analysis

never thought i would want a e92 as a winter daily but here we are

My local touchless is $40 per month . I have 3 cars that are daily drivers in the family so totally worth it

Props to Tedward for actually driving his M3💯

Nice video, Massachusetts snow has been crazy this week lol

Definitely depends on the vehicle. One of the cars I own is a 17 WRX. Because of the hood scoop, if I take it for a touchless wash the pressurised water ends up soaking my entire engine bay; battery, ECU, ABS module included.

7:47 imagine time travelling from the 19th century into the future to then wake up to this

I get my car krown Rust proofed every year and go through a touchless car was all winter to get the salt off it. I also put NuFinish on my car three times in the summer months. to help protect the paint for winter.

Love your M3 videos! Touchless is fine -- but depends on how sensitive you are about scratches. They are inevitable no mater how you do it so its every owners decision on how quickly they want to swirl their car. My M3 has never seen a touchless wash but I also hate washing it by hand so its dirty more often than it should be!

This is the kind of condition where I love to ride my bike!

In the summer I will always either just rinse it or give it a nice hand wash. But for winter, self serve car washes are the safest bet. Just make sure it’s above like 25 degrees and your good.

Wow that dryer did a really good job.. most of the auto car washes here leave a decent amount of water droplets left over and in -30 weather it's hard to stick around outside and wipe it off

E92 M3 as a winter daily hell yeah

I live in western Massachusetts and I use touchless on my 2019 Elantra GT N-Line. It’s the only way to get that awful road salt of the car. In the warmer I hand wash my car. The local touchless is like $12 for the mid tier with underbody wash. Not horrible and I’m only concerned with getting the salt off. This was a well timed vid as you’ll occasionally hear from ppl that “touchless is horrible for your paint!” But I feel salt is way worse. And sandpaper wash is definitely a no go lol.

I will take a tinny bit of fine scratches on exterior over corroded internal parts any day. Thank you for the video!

lol i work at a car wash NO we do not wash out the brushes ur right brother

My preferred method is living in Florida! But in all seriousness when I’m up north I prefer to wash by hand wearing waterproof gear and using hot water also I’ll use Maguiars swirl X before waxing to keep my paint looking fresh. (I don’t drive my 65 Mustang up north BTW my F-150 takes that burden)

For the past 2-3 years I've been using Kwik Trip's touchless car wash in winter. You can even buy multiple at a time for a discount. I get the "Ultimate" which comes with the undercarriage wash. It's only $6 a wash when you buy 10 at a time. It's perfect.

A local touchless wash I go to has a radius touchless with undercarriage. It gets all the salt off of my car. Works a lot better than the overhead and side sprayer touchless washes.

That moment when you use the wand wash. Freeze your ass off. Only to go back out and drive the car home in the exact same shit that trashed the car in the first place. Been a long time since I did that. Moved from hell a lonnng time ago.

Summertime I do the self serve car washes with the bays and pressure washers, cheaper, and you can be thorough. Its hard to get underneath with those but that doesn't matter so much in the summer. During the winter the touchless wash is definitely the way to go, while more expensive, its worth it solely for getting the underside hosed off. My car is a certified beater and the paint was already swirled to hell when I got it. All I'm looking to do is keep rust away as long as possible and make it look halfway presentable.

Lately since it’s been well below freezing and snowy around here I just go to a self service wash and just rinse off the car and let the water freeze on it. Probably not the best thing but the way I see it, I’d rather have a layer of ice on my car that all the salt can land on rather than the salt landing on the paint

Touch-less washes are good for use in a pinch or if you live in a climate where its basically impossible to wash your car during the winter. The one thing people fail to realize is that since its touch-less the soaps they use have do all the work, and they are made to be very strong. This causes trim to fade and corrode earlier and if not rinsed off properly can cause some pretty bad damage. Also touch-less washes don't really get the tight spots; no automated wash does that so you will start getting dirt build up. Keeping your car protected for the winter months can prevent that sort of damage, at the cost of your paint protection not last nearly as long.

I work at a body shop. And with all the work that goes on. I only have so much time to wash vehicles. So I use the pressure washer and a few ash Bruch on a broom handle. Not the safest way for your paint. But it’s better that nothing. I’ll washing my car in the bay sometimes in the winter. But in the summer, I’ll of my professional equipment comes out. I’ll even take my family’s cars to work sometimes in the winter to rinse the salt off the undercarriage.

Yes bro, New England in the house. Cars get so shitted up here in the winter. I must try the touchless sometime, beats having to do it yourself, if you're not in the mood, but want a clean car.

omggg i want an m3 so much

I had a dude that works at the local car wash try to tell me the touchless is worse than the brushes. I just laughed. He was trying to upsell me. I know its not ideal but it's the only way I can keep it clean in the winter. Otherwise I hand wash it myself during the warm months.

Keep it safe, keep it clean 😂😂 love it.

It’s not all about the chemicals. Many touch less washes recycle the water meaning small dirt and sand particles can be in the high pressure blast of water. This can also cause damage. Clear coats are also getting thinner for many manufacturers as they’re looking to reduce costs. But I agree, sometimes something is better than nothing. It can be a tough decision and really matters how you care what the car looks like!

The touchless wash in Lexington/Arlington off Mass Ave is surprisingly cheap at $10 for a basic and $15 for the complete package. I now see what you mean about the harder chemicals as on the rear black plastic trim on my CLS, it has that sorta oily look to it afterwards but comes off with a quick detail spray and micro fiber cloth.

I live in Mass, I try to wash my car in my garage myself. Kinda sucks because it’s cold but surprisingly the water doesn’t freeze so I’m chilling

I would agree that normally in the winter a touch less wash is better than nothing. In my specific case tho I’m kinda stuck on what to do because I have a ceramic coating on my car and the chemicals from a touch less wash will definitely not make the coating happy so I could just rinse it real quick at a coin wash and dry as much as I can before my hands break off lol. But then though I undercoat my car before winter every year to prevent corrosion, I do still like the undercarriage wash to get all the other gunk out which I can’t do because I don’t want to go through the touch less wash and damage the ceramic coating

I either use the self service wash bays to just rinse off the salt off the paint or I use the touch less mainly the Barn car wash in Saugus. It’s 24 hours and like $10 for a basic wash with under carriage cleaning.

That's actually better than I expected here in Sweden we only have the spinning sandpiper washes and heated places you can rent for like 15 minutes

As a Floridian... I cannot imagine living like that! I would totally look into ceramic coating it.

Local Touchless car wash during the winter months and by hand during the spring/summer for the 1er. I will say though the pressure has been enough to flake off a small portion off the front bumper, but oh well

Hello from 02368. Great video, keep up the great work.

btw thats a weird system in Germany we drive to a spot in the tunnel, set it in park and after that its full-auto until its completely done and dry then we drive off

I understand people don’t always have time but I recently got into detailing and washing and bought a 90$ pressure washer and some other stuff, like most things it’s super rewarding and honestly very satisfying similar to cutting grass I recommend everyone to try it

I too live in MA and I just took my e93 through a touchless wash cause my black paint had turned white with salt and I'm about to park it for 2 weeks. Turns out my e93 roof and window seals are not quite as good as I thought...

I take my F80 to the touchless car wash bays during the winter and bring some things from my house. I try to go during slower times so that I can hand wash it with my microfibers at my own pace.

Started watching you only couple days ago. Love you channel. I have a suggestion for test drives. You should try Renault Clio Williams. That N/A 2.0 liter will make you giggle as much as I was on my first time driving it

Dude I've been loving the M3 winter videos

Ceramic coatings are the way to go for winter driving. A good quality one should be chemical resistant, so no problem going through a touch less car wash.

If I were to go through a touchless wash, I'd get the top wash package and maybe get like triple foam polish, which comes in 3 colors. But still, nice video!

Here in most of California, there is no winter! Lol but still I go to the mountains a lot and here we use rock salt, every time I head Back down into the city that’s when I go to a manual car wash and clean the wheel bays and stuff even though my car only sees salt a few times a month for only a day for only 4 months of the year

Touchless is the only carwash I'll go to and then only in subfreezing winter temps.

i like to watch tedward now because of how interesting his videos are lol

This is a great review! Truly enjoyed it. Just some info on the chemicals that touchless washes use. The first chemicals are called Presoak, you may have seen it on the sign. That is an acidic base designed to eat away at organic materials (salt, bugs, etc). Being it’s designed to eat away at organic materials, it’s unlikely to damage any existing paint protections on the car. Also the final rinse of the wash are reverse osmosis water (specially treated water designed to not leave spots when dried hence the name). Also it’s common knowledge that brush washes scratch, when they most likely don’t. If you want damage free don’t go to tunnel washes, they use colors brushes (which many people ironically prefer) but those absorb water, rocks, etc. If you go to a non tunnel brush wash and feel the brushes they are actually foam! If you don’t have a non tunnel brush wash near you go buy some crafting foam from the crafts store, they feel almost identical. Those are closed cell foam meaning that it will not absorb water or dirt, therefore no scratches! People usually refer brush washes to those harsh tunnel washes with the cloth that absorb rocks, but in truth non tunnel brush washes are very safe! Hope this helped anyone reading, if you have any questions I’d love to answer them!

I have an Audi A3 tdi I live in the uk so there’s always loads of road salt in the winter and I’m not really to bothered about it I plan on changing all the suspension in the summer and I’m going to clean off and repay some of the areas that have surface rust on them but it’s done 140k mainly highway miles and it’s really not to rusty at all. I wash it once a month on my drive and it’s fine to be honest, I just do general maintenance and spray what I can underneath with a pressure washer and that’s about it.

Can we do more videos like this? I loved this sooooo much. I love all your vids too so don't worry

Touchless wash is fine and way safer than brushes. But It’s not meant to be used on a extremely caked up dirty car paint. It’s great on maintenance wash for those who wash weekly and saves time. Using only a presoak, rinse and air dry is the better option not to strip off waxes etc. I detail cars and experimented all different methods of cleaning cars while preventing swirls and scratches. Touchless wash is the quickest, safest, time saver carwash. PS always do a final wipe down after.

I mostly think it comes down to who you get the wash from rather than what. If you're really focused on having the perfect paint/clearcoat/wax/etc DIY is gonna be it, but I sadly have neither the time, money, nor even the space to attempt it right now. Local washes are going to be your best best over gas stations, and while I generally avoid the touch ones there are some things that touchless CANNOT get off (like bird poop) and needs a good scrub. FWIW I haven't really noticed much damage to my trim or paint with using the touch wash, although a compounding factor there is that I own an older Acura so weak exterior trim is par for the course lol.

If I’m correct, the E31 8 series had the drain hole in the gas door. I wonder why BMW didn’t keep that design with the E39 M5. My ‘09 Jetta sits outside all year long. I replaced the front fenders last year because they were rusting. These Northeastern winters are no joke.

Spray with high pressure on wand wash especially the undercarriage (I don't use their chemicals always bring mine) then spray rinsless on top of it, drive home (yes while having a wet with rinsless car) and do a rinsless wash at home, best way, might be a little cold but hot bucket with rinsless and warm clothes and your good to go. Best way and my car is the cleanest of them all.

I was concerned about it too😬 turns out it’s fine I just vacuum out the intakes and clean it out

Snow kinda cozy ngl

Dude - after the drying - spray it with a”waterless car wash” like Rain-X. Then a drying towel. That will finish it properly. And still technically be a touch-less wash - except for drying- which is WAY BETTER than nothing - it’s the best way period.

A touchless wash isn't perfect and maybe not even ideal, but when you live in a snowy climate where you are and where I am (Michigan) it's better than the alternative. I'd rather harsh chemicals be used in my car vs having salt/brine eat away at it. The undercarriage blast is probably the best/most important part of it for me.

I wash mine by hand whenever it's not covered with snow and the weather is above 50 degrees, otherwise I go to a touchless car wash. There's one near me that might offer a monthly subscription for touchless, I'm gonna check that out now...

Touchless washes are ok if you don't have 30 different detailing brushes. If the car has some caked on dirt on it, that's when washing it by hand is needed.

If i don't wash the car myself i use the touchless we thankfully have a mile from my apartment, best to use some bug and tar remover before you go in because they aren't the best at getting anything other than dirt off. I also need to start bringing a towel because i get soap piled up in my door jams.

There's a gas station with a touchless car wash near my house and I may be used it a little too often last winter(about every other day). The gloss black trim on my m3's doors got this rainbow like look in sun reflections now. I wonder if a ceramic coating would have helped keep it completely black. Man are those chemicals harsh, but it's better than risking rust I guess.

nice!

We use touchless "Laser Wash" for both cars (just a pair of Toyota's, nothing fancy) unlimited for $25/mo. Does a nice job, especially the undercarriage spray during winter.

I always ran my X5M through the touch less, even got two large cracks in windshield from something when it was ran through the dryer

problem is unless you bring some towels, all those water spots get covered in salt dust and it looks like shit 5 minutes later. i also like to dry all the jambs and trunk lid. living in the northeast sucks. they use way more rock salt and sand then what is needed.

I cant even wash my car myself in the spring bc i live in nyc and have no access to a hose. I usually use those pressure washers at the gas station or those car wash bays if i find them

BMWs n check engine light are brothers for life

Will you be reviewing a G8X with the manual gearbox? Excited to hear your impressions.

Regardless of the weather, I still hate automatic car washes. I daily a '63 Nova station wagon that's had it's rust patched on more than one occasion, and it gives me so much anxiety. During these midwest winters, especially since it's been snowing 4 days in a row, there's more salt on the road than ice. I wish I could do something, but I'm worried about my paint and don't have a chem wash near me :(