I read the post about whether a car wash had removed/damaged a front air deflector and was reminded of a really funny thing that happened to my Dad a LONG time ago.

I was always on his case about using automatic car washes and then one day he learned why the hard way.

Long before there were touchfree or softouch car washes there were only the kind with the spinning blue bristles. At a small corner gas station my Dad paid the $1.50 or whatever it was back then and pulled his 1987 Toyota Supra into the wash. Back then you just pulled forward and a roller gripped the tire and rolled you through the wash.

Well about 3/4 of the way through the wash my Dad heard "RIIIIIPP" as the spinning bristles snagged his rear wiper arm and ripped the ENTIRE assembly off the hatch. Wiper, wiper arm, the top part of the motor...all of it. Problem was the blue bristled roller was moving toward the rear of the car and would soon start to come back forward.

He immediately stuck it in first, let out the clutch, and hammered the throttle. Well, his Yokohama A008's weren't exactly made for wet traction and the rollers were designed to keep the car in place. He didn't move an inch.

As the blue roller made it's way back to the front of the car it hit the back glass with the very same wiper that it ripped from the car...again and again...until the rear hatch glass shattered and fell into the car. He didn't even have time to think about his Alpine speakers or anything else in the hatch that was getting doused by the car wash...he was now more concerned with the beating that the roof was taking...still with HIS wiper arm.

At this point my Dad stuck it back in gear, let out the clutch, upshifted into second and finally the tires got hot enough to burn off the water, grab the roller and literally launch him out of the car wash at full boost.

End result...broken wiper assembly, smashed rear window, several large dents in the roof, and a really upset Dad. The car wash owner paid for the repairs to the car and my Dad has NEVER used a touch style car wash again.

Being a good son I randomly remind him of the event.

 

Your dad has an iron grip on his temper. Probably a really lucky thing for any teen-aged son.

 

Crazy!! I couldn't even imagine what I'd do if that happened!

 

LOL....I enjoyed that story.........thanks for a chuckle this evening, as I visualized the wild whipping wiper gone amiss.

 

He's an unbelievably guy and an even better Dad. Of course, he still "reminds" his Dad (my grandfather) of things that were funny to him, but not so funny to my grandfather.

 

great story grafit

 

Damn, that had to suck. I wouldn't let him forget it either lol

 

lol great story

 

that's gotta suck!!!

 

omg i would cry my mom borrowed my car and as a thank you ran it thew an auto wash as a thank you now my fit has the swirl marks on it. idk y she ran it thew because i waxed it the day before but w/e no use crying over spilt milk.(even thoe i did)

 

Even touchless car washes aren't always safe. They have a lot more water pressure to make up for the lack of bristles. I went through one with one of my older cars before, and the water pressure ripped off most of the black trim around the windshield (just the trim, not the seal underneath), and my totally stuck, unretractible antenna was snapped. Fun times. *lol*

 

Those car washes frightened me as a child. If that happened to me I would be traumatized. haha

 

Even the manual washes aren't safe. When I was a teen, I pulled into one and turned the knob from Off to Wash before I picked up the wand. I didn't notice that the previous customer had left time on the clock, and the wand came out of the holder and whipped around like a bottle rocket until I managed to get it switched off again. It put several nice dents in the side of my '78 Olds Cutlass.

 

My uncle took his truck through one of those. Problem was he had a fishing pole in the bed. You guessed it. The brushes grabbed the lure. Took out all the line, and proceeded to beat the crap out of his truck with the fishing pole. Hood, windshield , and roof. Funny for everybody but him.