Can I take my car with clear bra to the car wash?

June 16, 2022

Car washes, PPF, & ceramic coating - why it's bad for your car!

Car washes, PPF, & ceramic coating – here’s the gist:

Car wash brushes DESTROY the paint on your vehicle. They rub and scratch against your paint more than anything should. Just like the video shows, they are slamming dirty mops against your car at all times.

Even touchless car washes use harsh chemicals that you cannot control. How many of these awful car washes do we have in the Copperas Cove/Killeen/Harker Heights area?! TOO MANY!

There’s no telling what chemicals will damage or strip the ceramic coating or PPF we have installed on your car. Additionally, the touchless car wash can often get the nozzles too close to your car/PPF, and can lift the seams or edges of the PPF. We try to wrap as many edges as possible on your vehicle, but sometimes seams are inevitable. Car washes can lift PPF or strip off the ceramic coating.

Not convinced that PPF & ceramic coating is the way to go? Read on for more “damaging” info about car washes!

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Major damage! Look at these reviews!

The car wash, aside from scratching your paint, can often damage the vehicle itself. They try to ensure that your vehicle is between the “safe” areas – but sometimes it can rub your wheels, dent the vehicle, or we have even seen it rip off mirrors. The image gallery shows reviews from car washes in the Copperas Cove/Killeen/Harker Heights area. These are just a quick snapshot of people having their cars damaged!

Will car washes damage PPF & ceramic coating? You BET!

check reviews PPF INFO

Why do Copperas Cove/Killeen/Harker Heights car washes destroy ceramic coating?

Something to consider about car washes, PPF, & ceramic coating and damage – if we ever need polish off the ceramic coating from your vehicle, we do that by using an abrasive. Compound and polish abrasives are designed to polish a vehicle, but bear in mind that ALL POLISHING removes SOME degree of your clear coat, which is 25-40 microns thick.

Abrasives are synthetic or natural tiny pieces of grit – just like the dirt contained in the dirty mops slapping against your car. So, just like the polishing abrasive will remove the ceramic coating and remove some of your clear coat, a car wash will do the same.

Over time, this will degrade your clearcoat, and the paint will begin to oxidize (dry out) and fade. If car washes damage your paint, they will also damage ceramic coating and PPF.

If you want to see some car wash damage without PPF/ceramic coating, look at this older TikTok we did on this black Honda Accord.

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Car wash places to avoid that damage your PPF & ceramic coating:

Mister Car Wash and Today’s Car Wash are popular locations in our area. They often have memberships to look attractive, but they damage your paint. There is a Today’s Car Wash in Harker Heights, a Mister’s and Today’s Car Wash in Killeen, and a Mister’s Car Wash in Copperas Cove. There are also a Mister’s and Today’s Car Wash in Temple.

We aren’t sure the brand name, but they are building a new car wash in Harker Heights/Killeen area that claims to have $1 car washes (probably a $30/month membership, but they haven’t finished building this car wash yet).

HEB also has a lot of automatic car washes, and you might find car washes at gas stations or similar. We don’t even know of many car washes that are even touchless around here – most have brushes. We cannot stress enough how bad that is for your paint and how much effort (and therefore money on your part, which we don’t want you to spend) it takes to conduct paint correction on your vehicle to correct it.

We know how tough it is to deal with regular vehicle cleaning – we hate to do it ourselves! We show you the right products and procedures to ensure future cleaning is the most painless, easiest washing there is. And how to stay away from the car wash!

Ceramic Coating

Let's make it so you don't need car washes - get ceramic coating or PPF today!

Listen, you don’t need these Copperas Cove/Killeen/Harker Heights area car washes. They waste water (even though it is recycled), they damage your car, and they make it look worse. If you’re reading this article, you probably care about the appearance of your vehicle. So why damage it at the car wash? If, for some reason, you still aren’t convinced, then we at Harker Heights Ceramic Coatings are probably not the right fit for you. The reason is, our PPF/ceramic coating can be ruined by going to automatic car washes, and we don’t want you to be disappointed down the line.

We can make it easier for you to clean up with our extensive playlists of aftercare instructions that show you how to be more efficient and effective at washing your own vehicle – WITHOUT the damage from the car wash!

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