Can I Take My Ceramic-Coated Car to the Car Wash?

This is one of the most common questions we get here at OCDetailing in Lumberton, NC — and the honest answer is this: PLEASE NO!

Automatic car washes — including the popular tunnel-style ones around Lumberton like Scrubby’s and Hurricane Express — are built for speed and convenience, not long-term paint health. Those spinning cloth strips and big rotating cylinders don’t glide gently across your paint. They slap, whip, and hit with serious force.

If you were standing beside me right now and I started smacking my hand against the counter — BANG! BANG! BANG! — that’s exactly what those brushes sound like when they make contact with your car. Now imagine that same force hitting your vehicle hundreds of times per minute… with bristles that have already touched thousands of dirty vehicles before yours.

And yes, many of these places advertise things like “recycled water,” “reclaimed water,” or “advanced filtration systems.” That sounds reassuring — but how filtered is that water, really? How often are the filters changed? How often do they replace the bristles? How closely do they monitor chemical dilution?
I’m not pointing fingers at our local washes — I’m speaking as someone in the car care industry who knows how these places operate nationwide. Most high-volume wash chains simply don’t maintain their equipment the way people assume.

Here’s a real story that might surprise you: I personally spoke with the owner of one of the automatic car washes here in the area, and he told me that HIS OWN car’s front bumper got damaged inside HIS OWN wash.
Think about that for a second. If the owner — the one who controls the equipment and knows everything about it — still had his personal vehicle damaged… what does that say for everyone else?

With that much force, and chemicals strong enough to clean a car without touching it, it’s not if something happens — it’s when.

Touchless washes may seem safer since there are no brushes, but they come with their own problems. The chemicals have to be extremely strong to clean without contact — and we have zero control over how concentrated they are. Even though most ceramic coatings are resistant to chemicals, repeated exposure to unknown formulas will eventually weaken the coating’s performance. Plus, touchless washes do not remove traffic film — that greasy layer from highway driving, diesel residue, humidity, and NC red clay dust. Only a proper hand wash can remove that safely.

So what do you do if you don’t have the time, tools, or confidence to wash your coated vehicle properly?

That’s exactly why we created our VIP Maintenance Wash Program, exclusively for OCDetailing’s coating clients. It’s designed to protect your investment and maintain your coating the way it was meant to be maintained — using the right soaps, mitts, towels, and techniques every single time. No brushes. No recycled grime. No mystery chemicals.

And if you want to wash at home, we sell the same professional-grade chemicals and microfiber towels we use in the shop so you can do it safely without guessing or grabbing cheap products that can damage the coating.

Your ceramic coating is an investment. It’s meant to make your life easier and keep your vehicle looking flawless for years. Automatic washes undo that. Touchless washes fall short. The only method that truly supports the longevity of your coating is proper, careful, hands-on maintenance — whether you do it yourself or let us handle it.