When i bought my car last Sat (09 ES 350 w/ Nav), my Lexus dealer offered the following:

Complementary car wash every week

Complete wash and detail on my birthdays

I have to sign up to be an 'elite' member (free) and have to bring the car there for regular service and agree to have a small emblem of the dealer's name on the back. I intend to bring my car in to the dealer for service anyway but am i risking damage to my paint job ?

It seems like a good deal -- weekly car washes and their service cost are comparable to others in the area. They have a dedicated mechanical car wash system for customer cars.

What do you guys think?

Ive heard plenty on this forum about it being a bad idea. Bad for the paint because of the buffer, little scratches...etc.

I agree, automatic car washes can cause swirl marks in the paint. If you have the time wash it yourself by hand. I recently started using a Mr. Clean Auto Dry car wash kit. The beauty of it is the final filtered rinse that eliminates the need to dry the car. It air dries without leaving any water spots, saves me a lot of labor.

hello and welcome--Lexus have really soft paint ....for me 2008 black Obsidian i was to late adn got sever swirls and marring form a car wash supposedly using only boars head etc...

no more car washes--found the gr8 detailing thread here, learned form the gr8 experienced detailers here...

and no i rool on my own! Car always looks gr8 and when i cant clean it i live with it--but that is never too long...


No swirls for me! good luck

I have the same color, Black Obsidian. This color is high maintenance but thanks for the advice. I think i'll skip the free car washes.

oh man dang no doubt- the balck will easily mar and acratch on the downside on the fliposide using the best products u can outshine any other black car...!!! shines up gr8 gr8...


--FYI i learned on here the Black Obs. has no clear coat at all... so the CW will swirl it--read the detailing thread on here...

some gr8 products that work well on the black SOnus cr wash, utlima paint guard plaus, DWG (danase WEt Gloss)


my black is super shiny using thes products and others... also use ONR Optimum no rinse--- car wash with no rinse gr8 in the winter as i live in nY.... can do it in garage with no drain...

gluck!!

Yeah definately skip the wash...

I don't even let the dealer clean my car at the 5k mile service intervals.