Automatic car wash took off clear coat (maybe paint too)
 

Hello guys,

Well yesterday I went on a drive with some buddies so I wanted a quick car wash before hand. Went through an automated car wash that is either touchless or touch depending on how expensive the wash you buy. I did touch less and everything seemed fine until I got home and witnessed this mess.

It looks like the sprayer jets got so close to the bumper/hood it did some damage. The hood may be OK, as the clear bra sacrificed it’s life to protect the paint. The bumper however, has racing stripes on it now. It looks like the coat is completely gone but I don’t think it made it down to primer as there is still sparkle in the affected areas.

I talked to the manager of the gas station (I felt like a Karen asking for her) but the manager informed me the owner is out until tomorrow (Tuesday 10/19) and will have to call me then. She then said the owner probably won’t do anything which was frustrating to hear but that is a battle for another day.

Now, here are the points going against me. The paint is not oem. It was painted on by a hit or miss body shop 6 years ago. A good friend of mine told me paint doesn’t last forever and will become susceptible to damage especially with high power water jets.

So in closing my questions are:

1. Should I insist the owner repair my bumper through their insurance?

2. Can this be repaired without replacing the bumper?

3. If I put an 86 front end on my car, is my car still a BRZ?

TIA,
Steve

Pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/qj9x04e.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sJMh53r.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/edEGx9K.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ozFiIHJ.jpg

Most paint jobs, if done properly, will survive a touch-free wash. My complaint wouldn't be aimed at the car wash owner, but rather the shop that did the paint job. But if it's been six years, you're probably out of luck in getting them to fix it for free, unless there was some kind of written warranty on the job that would cover it.

It’s survived close to 100 touchless washes in its life though. I did put some bug and tar remover in that area recently, does that cause paint to become brittle enough for this to happen?

I’ll check with the body shop and see how long the warranty is for.

Dear lord, they fucked your shit up..

Id say that was a malfuctioning touchless wash system, touchless?! it literally slapped the clear coat off your car

At first I was actually really impressed with how close the nozzles were getting, like it must have a really smart computer or something. Had no idea until I got home to dry it off more…

I have an appointment tomorrow to get an estimate on a re-spray, I’ll let everyone know how much that is.

Considering it took off the clear bra, I think there was an issue with the machine.

Just calmly take to the manager/owner about it. Getting irate won't help.

Given the original respray, it's likely they'd be willing to meet you halfwayish- no respray, but new clear bra on their dime

Yeah this has been one of the only times I’m not that upset at damage to my car since my front bumper is cracked 5 different ways to Sunday.

Still waiting on a call back from the owner (she owns a 2021 Macan GTS so I think she’ll get it)

Body shop quoted me $750 if I bring them a brand new primered bumper, or $1k if they need to strip the paint off my old bumper. Both prices require me to bring them a trim-less bumper and to install it myself which I actually don’t mind at all.

Seems like this is a good job for insurance if the gas station owner doesn’t see it my way, but I have reservations about running a brand new painted bumper on track. Something could happen that would make me REALLY mad LOL.

for track use? just vinyl wrap it. could even do it in carbon fiber. for lightness.

Not sure about that station but every single one I have ever seen has a big sign out front that says “not responsible for damage”.
Looks like it is a combination of bad paint and close jets to me so may be hard to assign responsibility to just one place anyway.
Even though you have had many wash’s before you may have just got some chips that let the pressure get under the paint and off it goes.
The repair costs are pretty reasonable though so the wash owner may work with you just to avoid a bad rep. Worth a shot.

An update:

Gas station got back to my text after a full month, saying they are not covering anything.

Turns out my insurance deductible is $100 so I decided just to go through insurance.

I ask the body shop guy if they can replace my messed up bumper and he said no since it was just a paint job. I agreed but then asked if he could remove the damaged clear bra as part of this and he agreed.

He calls me 2 days ago saying the clear bra is so stuck on it’s pulling paint off my hood. Wtf. They even had a specialty shop come out with their steam gun and same results.

They have now decided to repaint my entire hood and blend the fenders lol.

I get a call today saying “he, you know your bumper is completely broken in some areas?” I say yes, and he says that he’ll give me a 10% discount on a new front bumper so I agree.

Should have the car back tomorrow, Monday, or possibly even later.

But what would you guys do about the gas station owners response? Should I insist he pay the $100 deductible?

You can insist whatever you want but sounds like you'll need to take them to small claims court if you want anything out of them.

Not worth the hassle. You'll spend more than $100 just in time to get them to pay

Unfortunate to be sure, but if you want to get anything out of the car wash i'd go take photos of any sort of disclosures they may have leading into the wash itself that my absolve them from any issues you may have. From there you can see what state level agency you may be able to have lean on them, assuming you have a case at all. That will cost time but not any sort of filing fee or having to make a court date.

I've learned after changing out my headlights that pressure washing really damages the sensitive film on them, and got me to re-think how much pressure I use when cleaning cars. So now I use a leaf blower to do most of the pre-blasting of debris, and use a much gentler water spray when cleaning paint.