Audi dealership "carwash"

[E.Anderson]

I brought my car in for some warranty work (broke the hinge on the center armrest) so they "washed" the car for me after service. The car was just washed and was already clean when i brought it in. When i got my car back, it was still wet, I mean it looked like somebody went once around with a towel and said figured that was dry. They should tell you that by car wash it doesn't include a dry. So in the end, my car came out dirtier than it went in.

Anybody else get this kind of service with their audi dealer?

[00s4slvr]

yes... at bell audi actually. What they do is they have one of those drive through car washes and usually they run in through and let the car air dry unless of course your their early to pick it up!

[MurkyRiversTL]

Every time you take your car in for servicing they are going to wash the outside and vacuum the inside, and every time I tell them not to wash my car. Even if its dirty as hell. They are not going to treat your car the way you would, and they don't think twice about using a dirty sponge or towel. Its best left to you to wash your car.

[btsline04]

i take my car to schneider nelson audi and i always tell them NOT to touch the outside of the car...they normally jus give my car a good vaccuming and wipe down inside.....

[djpaw]

yep, not worth it at all........

[palestar]

Yah dealer 'wash' of any kind typically equates to a host of new swirl marks.. I'd avoid their 'service' at any cost :)

[Homer]

Or burned in water spots cause they put the car out in the 105 deg sun to "air dry"
Now I have to polish the thing again. That's the last time I let them do that.

[MurkyRiversTL]

^exaclty

[Slappy]

Yesto the burnt in water marks and when I went out to get my car I noticed the piece around the fog light was missing. They found it inside the car wash. They tried to put it back on but the piece on the back that snaps it in was cracked off. They shipped me one within a week.

[Dubwars]

I never show up to the dealership with my car dirty. I just don't want to be "that guy". So typically I detail it prior to bringing it in. To me, it just shows them that I take really good care of my car. If there was ever an issue with warranty for some reason related to how the car is treated, I wouldn't have to worry. Now, I'm sure that happening is slim-to-none, but regardless I like having my car shinny anyway! :)

When I pull in, they always hang a sign on my rearview mirror that says "No wash". I've never had them wash my car once.

[ItalianAudi77]

I had my first dealer experience the other day for a recall and got to enjoy the pleasures of a dealer wash. Biggest load of garbage ever! I dont even think the attempted to dry it. My car looked like they just splashed water on it! Haha, I guess nothing is "free"!

[caligts]

Elk grove Audi does the same thing...Shitty wash job and the rims look terrible as they dont even clean the brake dust off completely. When I bring my 08 Tahoe to Chevy they do a great job on cleaning it so I cant say dealships in general so crappy wash jobs.

[xULx]

^ All true, ESP on Black cars!!

[05 S-LINE]

Happened to me one time and from them on, I requested that they do not wash it after the service...

[arbaz]

at princeton audi, they just give you a coupon for the local carwash

[P0234]

Print signs, one that goes under the wiper, one that goes on the speedo cluster that say "Do not wash". The people employed to wash cars at dealerships have no idea with what is involved in keeping paint pristine.

[vintagespin]

yes... at bell audi actually. What they do is they have one of those drive through car washes and usually they run in through and let the car air dry unless of course your their early to pick it up!

lol those guys. i had my car there for warranty work and told them specifically "don't wash it" and the guy repeated it back to me and agreed, and then when i got there on it was dripping wet and had been washed. idiots.

[buellwinkle]

I take my Audi to the local Mercedes dealer for my weekly free car wash. I've been going there for about 9 years, never had a problem and they do a much better job than the local "hands free" car washes in the neighborhood and I used to have a black car. My local Audi dealer also offers free car washes and when I went in for service, the car came back clean as I expected, no water dripping off the car.

[kaklexicon]

at princeton audi, they just give you a coupon for the local carwash

Now that's a great idea, why don't they all do that?

[Phantom08]

Brought my car in last week for a simple oil change and I typically wash/detail the car ahead of time. I asked them to not wash the car and to not put the license plate holder on my rear plate with their logos......I figure if I'm not getting paid for advertising then why should I have that piece of ugly crap on my car. They washed it without drying (again) which is terrible with the hard water we have in Nevada and I got another plate holder that founds its way home to the garbage (again). Makes me wonder if everything is being done properly to my car?

[B72.0T]

They fucked up my center caps with their car-wash. All 4 of my caps were yellow, and I had to repaint them.

[P0234]

They fucked up my center caps with their car-wash. All 4 of my caps were yellow, and I had to repaint them.

Yeah, the Audi caps are not very chemical resistant. Any sort of wheel cleaner or the acids in the automated wash cause them to discolor.

[casuso]

Yeah, the Audi caps are not very chemical resistant. Any sort of wheel cleaner or the acids in the automated wash cause them to discolor.

Here in Mexico happened the same to me, in fact, the chemical they used ruined the wheels.
Of course they said it was already like that when I tokk it there. Only bad experiences with dealer wash or detailing services.

[buellwinkle]

I had the same problem with a local car wash, most expensive one in the area, all done by hand, but they used a strong acid wheel cleaner that left permanent streaks on my wheels. This is why I go to the Mercedes dealer, best wash in town. As for service, i wouldn't trust them to even do an oil change, but they do a heck of a wash.

[Flexcj5]

Yep, I won't let them wash mine at all. They can leave grease prints and dirt all over the hood, floor mats and handles but they damn well better not attempt to wash it.

I actually have them put in the services notes "Please do not wash"

[Tusin]

If you care about your car, you wouldn't let anyone wash it other than yourself, well and a professional detailer. Complain about your car not being dry? Pshhhh. Complain about all the swirls they just put all over your paint (DIS, dealer induced swirls, a real term). Complain about the $500+ (could be A LOT more) that it will take to have a professional fix it. OR the 10+ hours it will take you to fix it if you know what you are doing and have the proper tools.

You think the dealer or any place else is going to use the proper media (lambs wool mitt for example), do a two bucket method (where you have a wash bucket and a rinse bucket), start from the top of the car and finish with the lower half, change out the rinse bucket when it gets to dirty? They won't do ANY of them.

More than likely it will be, grab whatever sponge/mitt is laying around, fill up a bucket with some soap and water, and start scrubbing.

Even touchless washes are suspect. Do you have any idea what chemicals they are using?

And these you do not even need a hose. With products like ONR (Optimum No Rinse) which work really freaking well, you can wash your car at your apartment complex.

[E.Anderson]

I'm just saying. As a new Audi owner, i think they are better off not even offering a wash then dumping a bucket of wet stuff over the roof before giving the car back to the customer

[arce909]

Ive worked at an audi dealership, and I can tell u that they don't give a shit about ur car...they take ur loose change,go thru ur stuff, That's why when I get my car serviced I specifically tell the advisor to please not wash my car...

[BigRob]

I actually went in Saturday to get a new key programmed at a audi dealer and they scratch my trunk and my rear passenger side ride. Some car wash.

[audivoodoo]

i always read these post right after they happen to me. i was at Miramar audi and the also did the half ass wash job, i dont thint i will ever go back, terrible services.

[buellwinkle]

Wow, I didn't know Audi dealers do sub-par car washes. Glad I bought my Audi from an MB dealer. As for swirls, some paints are softer than others, some colors show swirls off more, but like I said, I took my black MB to the MB car wash once a week and I can honestly say, they did not swirl the paint anymore than I would washing the car. I don't use the 2 bucket method, but I do use a grit guard in my bucket, use premium soap from Meguirs and use a sheepskin mit. I also have a rotary buffer that I use and can buff out the car in about 2 hours max using commercial products. Something that's a regular quarterly event when you have a black car or a once every 2 year event when you have a silver or white car.

As for stealing, never saw that, actually I've had them leave change on the seat they found while cleaning the interior and I leave all sorts of stuff like my iPod, glasses, handguns & ammo. My dealer doesn't steal small stuff, they do it properly, white collar style, by doing uneeded work for top dollar.

[Korrect414]

If you care about your car, you wouldn't let anyone wash it other than yourself, well and a professional detailer. Complain about your car not being dry? Pshhhh. Complain about all the swirls they just put all over your paint (DIS, dealer induced swirls, a real term). Complain about the $500+ (could be A LOT more) that it will take to have a professional fix it. OR the 10+ hours it will take you to fix it if you know what you are doing and have the proper tools.

You think the dealer or any place else is going to use the proper media (lambs wool mitt for example), do a two bucket method (where you have a wash bucket and a rinse bucket), start from the top of the car and finish with the lower half, change out the rinse bucket when it gets to dirty? They won't do ANY of them.
More than likely it will be, grab whatever sponge/mitt is laying around, fill up a bucket with some soap and water, and start scrubbing.

Even touchless washes are suspect. Do you have any idea what chemicals they are using?

And these you do not even need a hose. With products like ONR (Optimum No Rinse) which work really freaking well, you can wash your car at your apartment complex.

I love my ONR. No excuse for having a dirty car or letting someone else ruin your hard work

[P0234]

I love my ONR. No excuse for having a dirty car or letting someone else ruin your hard work

ONR rocks. ONR+OCW=yummy

[SDA4]

i always read these post right after they happen to me. i was at Miramar audi and the also did the half ass wash job, i dont thint i will ever go back, terrible services.

x2

[Con]

I brought my car in for some warranty work (broke the hinge on the center armrest) so they "washed" the car for me after service. The car was just washed and was already clean when i brought it in. When i got my car back, it was still wet, I mean it looked like somebody went once around with a towel and said figured that was dry. They should tell you that by car wash it doesn't include a dry. So in the end, my car came out dirtier than it went in.

Anybody else get this kind of service with their audi dealer?

which dealer did you take it to?

your car wash describes exactly what I used to get at mcgrath in Glenview

[Mark16q]

Just got mine back from Rusnak Audi in Westlake, and the car looks great. It is clean, rims perfect and if there are swirls, I can't see them. Granted, white is a bit more forgiving but I'm pretty picky and it looks awesome. Not as awesome as the Gold R8 that had just arrived but very impressed with this dealership. Interior looks good too, but it was pretty clean. The outside was filthy and they did it right.

[MurkyRiversTL]

I guarantee if your car was black you would see a ton of swirls and water spots..... white hides imperfections easily.

[Kevin2772]

Thankfully so does Quartz grey. But the titanium rims are annoying as hell to clean, especially when they are dirty after the 5 minute drive home. So i prefer to let them tackle those....

[Tusin]

Wow, I didn't know Audi dealers do sub-par car washes. Glad I bought my Audi from an MB dealer. As for swirls, some paints are softer than others, some colors show swirls off more, but like I said, I took my black MB to the MB car wash once a week and I can honestly say, they did not swirl the paint anymore than I would washing the car. I don't use the 2 bucket method, but I do use a grit guard in my bucket, use premium soap from Meguirs and use a sheepskin mit. I also have a rotary buffer that I use and can buff out the car in about 2 hours max using commercial products. Something that's a regular quarterly event when you have a black car or a once every 2 year event when you have a silver or white car.

As for stealing, never saw that, actually I've had them leave change on the seat they found while cleaning the interior and I leave all sorts of stuff like my iPod, glasses, handguns & ammo. My dealer doesn't steal small stuff, they do it properly, white collar style, by doing uneeded work for top dollar.

Then maybe you need to improve your wash method? :) Having all the right equipment (which it sounds like you do) and not using the two-bucket method is kind of silly. Regardless of having grit guards, the water will still get dirty which in turn will cause which ever soap you are using to lose lubricating properties.

Doing paint correction in 2 hours.... I assume you are going one step? What Pad are you using on your rotary? And what Compound/Polish are you using? Our clear's are hard as all hell so I will assume you are using products with moderate to high cut.

Kevin2772 try some Armoral "Wheel Protection" I don't normally suggest using their products but this one is damn good. Makes cleaning your wheels (after this has been applied) a breeze.

[AvantYeti]

how about my dealer sent my avant through an automatic wash (with brushes) when the car was a week old... I guess that's what I get for special ordering...FML