Washing race car

[W2Racing09]

Does anyone have any experieince with needing to wash a race car somewhere other than in your own driveway?

My fiance and I have purchased a house and I'm in the process of looking for a car now, but will likely wait until people are getting rid of cars at the end of the season. One problem we have though is that our driveway is not suitable for washing a car with tons of water. I was considering washing it at the local car wash, but am wondering if.

A) Anyone has done this before

B) If the sprayers they have are powerful enough

Thanks,
Jeff.

[SLM98]

Buy the race car first then get married might not work out the other way. Car washes worked fine for me just got expensive, muddy nights you might spend $15-20 getting the car clean. Sorry had to throw the comment in first.

[hughesracing9]

the car wash in my neighborhood is attached to a fast stop lube shop. I stuck their name on the wrap and they come out every sunday and unlock the washer so i can spend as much time as i can.
My trailer and car draw some pretty good attention. Maybe a car wash would be down for that in your area?

[W2Racing09]

Buy the race car first then get married might not work out the other way. Car washes worked fine for me just got expensive, muddy nights you might spend $15-20 getting the car clean. Sorry had to throw the comment in first.

Haha, good advice for sure. My fiance is a race fan though so its all good shes been to about 25 races so far this season. She is just as excited as I am.

Thanks for the post!

[W2Racing09]

the car wash in my neighborhood is attached to a fast stop lube shop. I stuck their name on the wrap and they come out every sunday and unlock the washer so i can spend as much time as i can.
My trailer and car draw some pretty good attention. Maybe a car wash would be down for that in your area?

That is a really good idea, there are tons of car washes around too. Maybe one of them would be interested.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[Ralphy]

We were run out of 2 car washes this weekend in Carolina so I would not assume that using a car wash all the timewould be fine unless you made a deal with them. JMO.

[W2Racing09]

We were run out of 2 car washes this weekend in Carolina so I would not assume that using a car wash all the timewould be fine unless you made a deal with them. JMO.

That sucks, you would think they would like making money. Which other customer is going to come in and drop $20 to clean their car?

[centralpa43]

but some guys use the brushes they have there and when you leave they are covered in mud/dirt. When the next paying customer comes in and go to put the same brush on their daily driver and it messes up the finish the car wash catches grief. Also you leave a lot of mud in the bay which isn't always desirable. When we use the car wash it's nice if you have a few guys help. we put all the body panels and tires in 1 bay and the car in the other up on stands. half the time to get it done. we try to wash the same night as the races with hot water in the bays and it comes off much easier. Makes for a late night but then you don't spend half the day on Sunday washing.

[RW57]

2 biggest problems is the mudd stops up their drain and they have to get it pumped out and it ain't cheap the other thing is leaving a mess in the stalls we always used to take the time and spend a few bucks just cleaning the stall the wash we used was pretty cool about it till other racers started using it and leaving the mess and that pretty much made it impossible to wash there without getting hassled one A Hole ruined it for everyone. You are right we would spend 15 or 20 bucks there every time.You know how it is all racers were guilty by association whether you made the mess or not.

[keeks]

I live in a town with 2 big RV/Semi wash bays. That is where I go to wash. Costs a couple bucks more, but it works great, and no one whines about dirt in the bay.

What the heck kinda car wash doesn't expect dirt/mud in their wash bay? Where am I supposed to wash my truck after I go offroading? Both of the washes I use have attendants on site to keep bays clean etc.

[W2Racing09]

Most tracks with car washes near by say no race cars.. no mud trucks etc.. I would move before I would buy a race car I couldn't wash at my own house.

Unfortunately I don't live in Iowa, or some other place with a lot of space for a small amount. We are spending over $200k on a house, almost an hour from work just to be able to get a little bit of space. But being that the driveway is crushed rock and is uphill from our neighbors house I'm kind of skeptical about using an astronomical amount of water to wash the race car. I will certainly be getting a race car, I would pay to wash at someone else's place before I didn't get one because of that small problem.

Thanks for the responses everyone,
Jeff.

[AmickRacing]

I have a car wash that sponsors me free washes, they have sponsored my family from clear back in the day.

Most of them around here have "rules" posted about no off road vehicles or excessively muddy vehicles. Heck the car wash that's literally right across the street from our track even had a bay that you could put $10 in and get 45 min or so. Of course they also hated race cars...

The guy that sponsors me is very courteous to most racers. But a good percentage of them racers also try to shovel the worst up and also rinse the bay down before they leave too. I figure if they are good enough to let me wash my car for free, I'll wash their bay so their workers don't have to. Of course I'd do that even if I was paying. A little courtesy goes a long ways usually.

[W2Racing09]

I power wash mine on crushed rock the mud and dirt doesn't even make it to the end of my driveway, which is about 120 feet long.

200k wont buy much of anything around where I live... granted it would buy you my house and shop but my house is nothing special and located in town.

Where do you live? When I was back in ND I considered moving to IA, when I looked at places in IA I saw some huge pieces of land, with nice two car and larger garages and newer houses in the $150k region. Significantly more than what I can get here. I've got .69 acres in a fairly densley populated area of PA. About 45 minutes without traffic to Baltimore where I work. The back yard is nice, but the garage is just a two car. I've got room to build a bigger garage but the future wife does not want to get rid of much of the back yard so I can only make a garage about 5 or 6 feet wider than a normal two car garage and perhaps 5 or 6 feet longer. I've been looking at garage plans but according to the zoning office I've got the space the only limiting factor is my fiance. I'm thinking of laying a cement pad in front of the garage but still concerned about water running to the neighbors yard. The garage isn't very far from the neighbors driveway.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[W2Racing09]

I attached a picture of what I mean. The house on the right is ours, the one on the left is (obviously) the neighbor. Keep in mind that is all downhill. The property line goes all the way to the edge of their driveway.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[W2Racing09]

I have a car wash that sponsors me free washes, they have sponsored my family from clear back in the day.

Most of them around here have "rules" posted about no off road vehicles or excessively muddy vehicles. Heck the car wash that's literally right across the street from our track even had a bay that you could put $10 in and get 45 min or so. Of course they also hated race cars...

The guy that sponsors me is very courteous to most racers. But a good percentage of them racers also try to shovel the worst up and also rinse the bay down before they leave too. I figure if they are good enough to let me wash my car for free, I'll wash their bay so their workers don't have to. Of course I'd do that even if I was paying. A little courtesy goes a long ways usually.

Yeah, i can imagine if people leave the bay completed covered in mud and such that it could be a problem. I would clean the bay out for sure. The track I'll be running next season runs winged sprints weekly but I don't see a ton of mud on the cars as the exit the track. I'm sure there is still a pretty good amount, but not like when i go to Winchester or Potomac and they have put the water to it all day or something. Of course if it rains or something then it is a different story.