still hand washing?
hand washing is mythical for being of "higher quality" and "safer" for paints and finishes. often recommended by dealerships and even vehicle manuals, hand washing has garnished an undeserved reputation for providing a "gentler" touch to your vehicle's surface. upon closer inspection, sky express strongly recommends against hand washing your vehicle for the following reasons:

1. cleaning dirt with dirt
unless your garage or local hand wash operation uses several fresh buckets of soap and water for each vehicle, successive wipes simply scour dirt around your vehicle. together, dirt, debris, soap and water produce a sandpaper-effect on your vehicle's delicate surface.

2. garden or car?
few hand wash operations invest in proper high pressure water equipment. as a result, dirt and debris is rinsed, without enough pressure, down the sides of your vehicle. this causes further scratching and often simply relocates dirt from your vehicle roof to side door and rocker-panels.

3. mit attack
industry standard wash mits are typically made of lambs wool. sounds nice for a winter sweater, but wool is the worst material for cleaning a car. less absorbant and highly abrasive, dirt and debris becomes trapped on the surface and cause further paint abrasion.

4. save the wax!
due to it's de-greasing capabilities, hand wash soap double-duties as wax remover in many detail departments. consequently, each time your vehicle is hand washed, your vehicle's last line of defense is stripped away.

5. small lots
based on the economics of operating a hand wash, most don't invest in dedicated, covered areas. without this important protection, water and soap are allowed to "bake" into your vehicle's surface during the hand wash process. in doing so, damaging chemical and water mineral deposits etch permanently into your vehicle's clear coat