Car wash: car wash or hand wash?
Contemporary car wash? Cleaned, waxed, gewienert? The German man "Heilig's Blechle" wants to be cared for. But which and how much care are right? Where can I save water, energy and money? What's good for my car and the environment? Many questions, the most important of which are to be clarified below.
Car wash in the car wash
Nowadays, modern car washes are the most thorough and gentle way to wash cars. Most of them can be parked at the wheel. Before entering the up to thirty meter long system, the radio antenna should definitely be sunk. If your car has a rain sensor for the windscreen wipers, you should definitely disable this. This prevents unwanted start of automatic wiping during cleaning. In most car washes a rough pre-cleaning by trained personnel is carried out before driving on the conveyor belt. Then you drive on the conveyor, turn off the engine and lean back relaxed.
The equipment of the different car washes differ from plant to plant. In the vast majority of cases, however, the cleaning takes place according to the following pattern:
- The car passes through a so-called foam arch. Here, the entire vehicle is covered with a special shampoo.
- The roof roller cleans front front, bonnet, front and rear windows, roof section and trunk lid and rear.
- The side scrubber handles the side surfaces of the car.
- In many systems, an additional sump scrubber is used to clean the lower carriage section.
- In most systems, there is still a special wheel and rim scrubber. Also a Unterbodenwäscheist is usually available as an option.
- After cleaning, the car goes through a wax arch. The applied wax layer ensures preservation and gives extra shine.
- By means of a rinse all possible residues are removed.
- During the final drying process, movable drying nozzles and possibly additional towel dryers are used.
- As soon as the traffic light at the end of the car wash gives the green light, you can drive your thoroughly cleaned and optimally maintained car into the open air.
Car washes have an ecologically sensible and legally prescribed water treatment process. The water used during cleaning is removed from dirt and residues and reused. In 2013, there were 4,256 car washes across Germany *, and the number is increasing.
Car wash in the gantry
Most gantry systems in Germany are operated by gas stations as an additional offer. In contrast to the car wash you have to get out of here and entrust your car with the technology for a few minutes. Again, sink the radio antenna, deactivate the rain sensor and switch off the engine. The handbrake must be tightened. Beforehand, you have to pay at the petrol station or a slot machine for the selected wash program.
The complete washing unit is located in a movable frame in these systems. While your car is stationary, this gantry frame slides it on rails, using the various cleaning rollers (as in the car wash).
In many systems, an additional high-pressure prewash or treatment with active foam is offered. Sometimes there is also the possibility to carry out a pre-wash even with the high-pressure cleaner. After completing the cleaning, the car is dried with a hot air blower and is ready to drive on.
Also in these gantry systems, the water used is cleaned and reused in a treatment plant.
Car wash by hand
Once?
Oh, those were still times: Every Saturday father drove the car in the garage entrance and carried out the archetypal ritual of weekly car wash. That was part of the weekend like the sports show, charcoal and Sunday roast. While Schaumberg dripped slowly into the gully after work was done, Dad could talk shop with the neighbor about the best polish and hiss a beer. Pure German idyll.
And now?
The times have changed. Just like wild garbage disposal and burning leaves, car wash laundry had to adapt to ecological legislation. So-called "wild car washing" (also on their own property) is now in many places an administrative offense and will be punished accordingly. The fact that this is not a matter of state arbitrariness but a meaningful new regulation can prove the following figures:
The hard facts of contra:
The Federal Association of petrol stations and commercial car wash Germany e.V. (BTG-Minden) assumes about 105 million illegal car washes annually. What passes unfiltered into the sewage system, or at worst seeps directly into the soil, clarified the wastewater expert BTG Gerhard Petig as follows:
"Assuming 10 grams of dirt load per car wash, calculated sparingly, the wild washes produce 1.05 million kilos of dirt a year, including large amounts of salt and binder.This corresponds to the load of 150 trucks with 7 tons per year. "
Also to the used detergents Petig can call frightening numbers:
"Assuming only 20 ml of cleaning and preservation chemistry per wild laundry, this results in 60 tank trucks of 35,000 liters of chemical annually, which flows off unchecked."
Conclusion
The decisive first: Any "wild car wash" is much more harmful to the environment and more expensive than visiting a car wash or gantry. Given the frequency with which the Germans wash their car, there is an enormous saving potential for water and energy resources (not to mention the fines of getting caught). Statista has determined that 23% of Germans wash their cars six to ten times a year. Three percent do not wash at all and still six percent 25 to 48 times a year *.
In a test carried out by the ADAC in 2013, car washes (average grade 2) performed significantly better than gantries (average grade 3.6). That may be because gantry systems are usually only operated "on the side" by gas stations. On the other hand, car washes are specialized companies in which usually trained specialists work. If you value thoroughness, you should prefer the car wash to a gantry system.
In autumn and winter, the car should be washed more frequently. For one, a car with clean headlights is more visible in the dark season. On the other hand, road salt residues can attack the paint.
An interesting number provides the survey of the portal "Autoscout24" on "clean car"? According to this, 20 percent of men are more concerned about cleanliness and in the car than in the bedroom. Do her women see it that way? Good time!
* Source: © Statista 2015
