Howdy folks,
Is there any danger taking an AWD car through an automatic car wash? I recently bought an '06 OBW, and it was news to me when the dealer told us to never allow the car to be towed other than on a flatbed. So that got me thinking about automatic car washes that have you put the car in neutral and guide your car through. I'll likely do most washing by hand, but sometimes the quick and easy way is, well, quick and easy.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Uhm, it's important to note a couple of things;
Power has nothing to do with it.
One set of wheels moving an done not has EVERYTHING to do with it.
So, depending on exactly how the conveyor for the car works, it could be a problem or not.
The ones I have seen, push the wheel with another wheel, so as the car rolls foward there is force on the wheel, but all four wheels stay on the ground and roll normally. That would not hurt AWD. (I am sure we would have heard about it before if it did.)
IF the front wheels are on plates and the back roll (dragged) then you would have a problem.
You could always go to a brush-automatic washer at a gas station that doesnt move the car....
As long as all four wheels are rolling forward at the same speed, and in a straight line...you're fine. The trouble starts with towing when they take you around a corner and the back wheels (the only ones on the ground) are turning at different speeds...and that fact that the front wheels are not spinning at all...all that is what funks up your AWD system.
Jesse
Funkadyleik Spynwhanker wrote:
Oddly enough, that same thing happens every time I *drive* around the corner or into a parking spot. :-)
-John O
You missed the important bit
"the back wheels (the only ones on the ground) are turning at different speeds...""
Well, I'm not sure which way you're going with this, so yeah whatever.
-John O
You drive around corners with your front wheels off the ground? Didn't know a subie could do wheelies...!!!
I'd say , in the real world, IF any bind built up in the drivetrain, things are wet enough in a car wash that a little tire slippage here and there would take care of it. Towing a MT soob with all 4 wheels on the ground is 'kinda OK' (some limitations on distance/speed blah blah) towing an AT soob is kinda bad cause the hydraulics aren't getting pumped around. Towing either type is bad with 2 wheels up.
Carl (did I put in enough 'weasel words' ? lol!)
No problem w/ weasel words. Thanks to you and everyone else that responded.
The one I go to, the front tires go into a kind a well and that moves the car along. Sooo the rear wheels move and the fronts don't. I don't think the short distance involved matters much.
He's got one of those pre-production models with the front-end levitation that was supposed to make parking easier.
The poster's point was that the wheels turning at different speeds caused problems. He use the parenthetic phrase to clarify which wheels he meant. But nevermind, I'm being dragged into an abyss.
-John O
I don't believe there is, unless the roof scratches you get from car washes bother you.
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