This has really been starting to bother me, and has been something I've been wondering about.
....In a few months, I will be going off to college. I will be a freshman, so It will be a whole new experience for me. I always wash my car by hand - it has never seen an automated car wash service. I would hope to keep it that way, but I will be going to college and will be parking in a lot.

So I was wondering for all of you that either go to college currently, or have been to college:

-How do/did you wash your car at college?
-Where do/did you wash your car at college?
-If you can/could wash it on campus, is/was there a water supply and how do/did you do it?

 

where you going to college?

look around the town for self car wash places, bring your own bucket and materials and fill it up with water and wash n dry there.

 

ya man just look for a local car wash bays

 

Optimum No Rinse.

 

College = worst time for car care. I was never able to wash my car by hand while at college un-less I went home. I used spray bays and other touch-less washes, But I thought that the best were the touch ones. The touch-less never really gets your car as clean.

Look around, up at my old school they put in a car wash that does it all by hand. They do a good job, but it is like $20+. But they also had PS3 and internet for you while you waited so I was happy.

 

I'm goin to Virginia Tech.
-I never knew that self car wash places existed. I'll do some searching online and stuff to see if I can find anything remotely near there.

 

Unfortunately for me, my house will be about 7 hours away, so I probably wont be able to give it a full detail unless I go home like you did.


This is all new to me. 1) What is a spray bar? 2)What's the difference between touch and touchless washes, and what are some examples of them?

I will look around for more info about these products, but when I searched on google "how or where to wash your car at college" or any combination of those, all I got was something about car wash college, which wasn't what I wanted

 

A touch car wash is where they use cloth and brushes to wash your car, a thouchless car wash uses high pressure water to wash your car in other words nothing touches your car except water. I wouldn't recommend going through a thouchless car wash because of the high pressure water can damage your paint... If you just google the 2 you can find pic and more info about them....

 

Just put in Self Serve Car Wash and type in your location when go search on google

 

no please dont do that ^^^ my best friend owns 6 or 7 car washes here in southeastern michigan!! some of the best in michigan and there all soft cloth washes.. the touchless washes use high power chemicals to wash off the dirt that necessarly arnt the best for your car...and the high water pressure like he said is not good. a good soft cloth car wash is ok for your car and shouldnt harm it what so ever.. he has a 02 grand prix and he gets his done daily and his car looks amazing...

 

i would avoid automated car washes if at all possible. most self serve places (i believe someone called them "spray bays") have rules against using your own bucket and not the brush they provide, but you should be fine if you go during the off times of the day. then you're not tying up the bay while someone else is waiting for it so you can bust out the wash mitt.

 

What are you going to school for? I went engineering, and we had areas outside w/ hose hook-up available. Find a facility on campus with hose hookup and make friends with the faculty there. One year I was also able to wash at the housing office building since they had outlets for watering the grass. You won't be driving that much at Tech anyway because there is no where to park and nothing worth going to off campus.

School itself is great though, you won't miss driving much but get a bike to get around campus.

 

Thanks so far for the tips and ideas. I searched for car washes near the VT campus and found at least 8. Maybe for an extra fee, I can work something out to use a hose and wash on my own. Optimum No Rinse seems like it might be a good last resort but I can't tell from the youtube quality videos (I may just have to get a sample to try).

vettereddie I will be going for engineering, too. I hope I can get admitted into mechanical engineering, come the end of my first year (is that when we apply?) As far as the hose hook up, I was thinking the same thing. I was planning on joining the Formula SAE team, so if there's a hose near the machine shop and labs, that might be my best bet. Also, one of the guys in admissions is a relative of a family friend, so maybe I can introduce myself to him....
And yes, I plan on bringing a bike. But that stinks that the campus is in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing to do in Roanoke?

 

Can't help you with the Va Tech social scene. I only went there for freshman orientation when I was still deciding colleges, I ended up at U of Maryland. That was nice, metro stop on campus to go anywhere in / around Washington DC.

 

atomated car washes = cheap and allows you to sit back and relax

 

check out www.griotsgarage.com get some of the Spray-On Car Wash.. it works excellent!!!no muss no fuss...perfect for the off season also

 

try car wash places and ask them to wash by hand thats what i did last week!! i paid extra but much better then the machine would do i asked them to wash and vac only then i wax it and everything elz by my self!!

 

im guessing your car is silver. which doesnt get dirty very fast.
havent washed my car in months. if it doesnt rain around your area then a auto car wash is your only bet.

theres a nice car wash place kinda near my place that runs through a machine but theres people drying and doing the detail work after. for about $10.
vacuums and dust the inside too.

pretty nice look around you might be able to find a place near where you live.

IMO ur in college a clean car shouldnt be the first thing on your mind...