Will My Lifted Truck Fit In A Car Wash? | The Answer
As we all probably already know, pickup trucks aren’t that inexpensive, even if we talk about the used kind.
A respectful owner will surely find his way to wash it as frequently as possible – certainly there is a ton of ways to do it, though the most common is probably by using a car wash.
It makes sense why – many of them offer lucrative memberships, which make washing the vehicle even multiple times a week more than affordable, and should i mention, absolutely effortless and quick.
The only issue, at least when we talk about pickups, is that if yours is lifted, it might simply not be able to get in one.
How big is it?
Whether or not a lifted pickup truck can fit inside a common car wash has most to do with how high it sits.
Many of the car washes can support vehicles that are up to 7 feet tall.
This means that if your truck has the popular 4 inch lift and something like 33 inch tires, it should fit in most of them no problem, but it’s best to measure first.
The other important aspect you should consider is how wide the pickup is. Many of the same automatic car washes can handle trucks that are up to 70 inches in width.
In order for you to be able to pull in, chances are you will need to at least fold in the mirrors, although it’s not always as simple as this.
If your pickup has wheels with a lot of negative offset, you may simply end up being too wide either way, and there is really nothing you can do at this point, unless you follow the tip right under.
What to do if the truck is larger
You will need to find a car wash that supports bigger vehicles, that’s all.
Some cities have them, others don’t, but the goal here is to find car washes that are specifically designed for what you currently have.
Types of automatic car washes
There are two kinds you should know of: tunnel, that uses brushes to do the job, and touchless which only sprays pressured water with chemicals.
If you are really cautious about your pickup truck’s paint job, i think it’s best to stick with the ones that just spray water, in other words, touchfree.
There are owners who use tunnel, brush type car washes regularly and say they never ran into any problems, though what i can personally say is that the results really depend on the color of the pickup and the quality of the actual car wash.
Not to mention, some care about their vehicle less than the others, so a scratch here and there really doesn’t bother them.
Maybe look into the alternatives
Now if you can’t find a car wash that can handle the beast of a pickup truck you have, but you still want to wash her up, another thing to look into is self-serve washing.
The end result will likely be better compared to any automatic car wash you could go through, it’s just that everything is done manually, which kind of beats the whole purpose of an easy, no-effort car wash, but hey, that’s what it is sometimes.
This is my favorite way to wash my own truck, as i can hit all the tight spots and make sure no dirt or anything like that gets left behind, specially under, even if it does take more time.
Taking care of the truck becomes actually crucial during the winter months, if you live in places where salt and sand is used on the road, to prevent rust from forming.
Tell you the truth, the most versatile method is always going to be the ol’ sponge and bucket; having said that, it consumes the most of the time too, primarily when we talk about a vehicle that is so tall.