Charity Car Washes

B

bjackson8

New member
My daughters gymnastics group is scheduled to have a couple of car washes to raise money. I'm sure you can relate to how horified I am at the thought of this (6 year old girls with dirty sponges and old bath towels).



My questions is, has anyone had experience with this type of situation, or have any advice on how to make the process a little more Autopian. (I just can't imagine trying to explain to the girls, or even worse their parents, about proper car washing).



Any advice would be appreciated.



P.S. My cars will not be within 10 miles of this car wash. I'll give them 50 bucks NOT to wash mine.
 
There is no reason to make them more Autopian. Nothing will help for the most part, and the kids want to have fun, not worry.
 
Yeah. Charity car washes are less about proper car care and more about raising money, having fun, getting people together, etc.



Just forget you autopian ways for a day and try to have some fun!
 
I'll bite....



There are a few simple things I think you could do that would make a really big difference... I remember seeing a picture on here a few days ago of a charity wash with the drying towels drying on the concrete. You could bring along a laundry drying rack so they have a place to dry the wet stuff thats better than the ground. You could also buy a whole bunch of the cheap but good waffle weave drying towels from walmart and donate them for their use. I don't know what is a cheap but reasonable sponge that they could use, but I bet someone has some ideas. You could also buy a couple gallons of cheap car wash soap so they don't wind up using dish soap.



I don't think you have to ruin their day by improving the situation, and its not like they need to break out with the two bucket method or anything picky. You could donate some $30 of supplies and cut down on the damage they might do by 90% or something and they won't really have to fuss with anything difficult.
 
Who cares?



They are not touching your car, so let the kids have their fund-raiser and don't try to turn it into something that it doesn't have to be. The people that go to those things are the same people who drive their car through the swirl-o-matic carwashes every other week. They dont' care about their car's finish and they see no difference between the crappy wash jobs at the automatic carwashes and the crappy wash jobs at these fundraisers.
 
Yea. It's tough for people like us to watch - but the people who take their cars there don't really care.



Besides, you rarely ever get a complete wash anyway from those kids. They just sorta soap up, and if you're lucky, they'll rinse too. I honestly don't really see the point... but it's just something that is a part of our culture and as such I can accept that.
 
I had posted my traumatic experience at a charity car wash that my wife was involved with. It was mostly older kids and parents doing the washing, but it still disturbed me watching them use the same sponges and buckets to wash the paint and wheels. I also saw a lot of fancy cars that had been neglected by the owners. I didn't want to bring my own MF towels because I knew they would be trashed. I did bring an "Absorber" type towel to dry off the cars as fast as I could to minimize the time that someone would be dragging their dirty/linty towels across the paoint! A really sad day.



On the bright side, our charity raised $1000 that day.
 
dshreter said:
I'll bite....



There are a few simple things I think you could do that would make a really big difference... I remember seeing a picture on here a few days ago of a charity wash with the drying towels drying on the concrete. You could bring along a laundry drying rack so they have a place to dry the wet stuff thats better than the ground. You could also buy a whole bunch of the cheap but good waffle weave drying towels from walmart and donate them for their use. I don't know what is a cheap but reasonable sponge that they could use, but I bet someone has some ideas. You could also buy a couple gallons of cheap car wash soap so they don't wind up using dish soap.



I don't think you have to ruin their day by improving the situation, and its not like they need to break out with the two bucket method or anything picky. You could donate some $30 of supplies and cut down on the damage they might do by 90% or something and they won't really have to fuss with anything difficult.
Click to expand...



You could buy all of that stuff, but in the end, it will all go the same. Keep it simple and just tell them to have fun.
 
Thanks for all the advice, this should be an interesting experience.



I'm not all that worried, because there is no way in hell that one of my cars will get washed at this thing.



I think that I will get a few gallons of the cheap wash and some decent sponges for them to use. I'm assuming that the parents will be doing most of the work, since most of the girls are too short to even reach the hood.



I'll be sure to take some pics for you guys!!
 
Foam guns. 6 year olds and foam guns.....there will be soap all over the place!! That would help, plus a bunch of waffle weaves from Walmart. The dry rack mentioned above was a good idea also.



Walter
 
Can there be no middle ground? Why can't the OP try to help out in a few small ways? Since these girls are 6 years old there's a good chance a lot of the parents are going to be doing the washing anyway, and its not like you couldn't let them know a couple things that will save a bunch of people's cars. Just simple stuff, like don't throw towels on the ground...



I disagree with
you could buy all of that stuff, but in the end, it will all go the same.
Click to expand...



You can let everyone have a great time, but I believe you have some small responsibility to try and help out because you know things the others at the car wash won't. Its not like they're damaging the cars on purpose, they just have no idea.
 
I am almost certain, that 6 year old girls that are having a charity get together do not want to be "taught" the proper way to wash a car. If you really think that you could educate the kids at charity washes to keep them from causing harm, you are one heck of an optimist.
 
If you can get 6 year olds to wash a car at all for for than 30 minutes I would say you're an optimist. I'm guessing that parents are going to be doing most of the washing, and even they don't need to learn proper wash techniques, just REALLY major stuff like not throwing towels on the ground, and doing the wheels separately. Thats not a big deal at all, nobody is gonna think you're being a stiff for making a few major points that are really easy to take care of.
 
I had my sister do some charity for her highschool graduation about a month ago, and I told her to take my CA blade that I barely use and an old WW towel. I just told her not to drop the towel on the ground, or use the same WW for the wheels.



Turns out they raised some pretty good money.
 
some of the things I have seen at charity car washes:



1. drying towel dropped on an asphalt surface, picked up and immediately used to finish drying.

2. wash sponge dropped on the same and just started using it again

3. belt buckles rubbing against fenders.

4. metal water hose spray guns being banged against cars.

5. "soapy" water being used to wash 4+ cars, suvs etc.

6. water allowed to dry (and spot) on the car since there was no shade.

7. the same medium used to clean the rims & tires also used to wash the body.

8. tire brushes used on "stubborn" stains on the body of the car.





Getting back to the OP's original question, I would not waste my time giving a crash 15 minute course on proper washing techniques. They are there to have fun, make money, pump 'em out as fast as possible and not become mini pro detailers. So keep your car away and let them have at it. ANYONE that truly cares about their car's appearance knows better than to have their car washed in that environment.
 
You could leave your business cards with everyone that gets a wash done, could turn into some serious business! (okay, okay, just kidding)



Jim
 
I agree with everyone saying that most people wouldnt appreciate you educating their 6 year olds on car washing..but the first thing that popped in my head was that you should make sure the kids arent brush washing the cars, because they could do some serious paint damage if they accidentally rubbed or hit the car with the side or back of the brush.
 
dshreter said:
Can there be no middle ground? Why can't the OP try to help out in a few small ways?
Click to expand...



Hear, hear :xyxthumbs Just a few little tweaks like this could make a big difference and it's never too soon to teach kids how to do things properly (hey, I was doing "adult" stuff seriously at that age).



I bet that using BHBs (or a Meg's body brush) could work out OK...at least they're *very* free-rinsing (drop on ground, no problem). You'd have to *really* bash them against something to do any damage...not likely IMO especially with young kids.



A separate bucket with a brush for the wheels/tires only oughta be doable too. Even very young kids can understand that one (small bucket) is for the wheels/tires and the other (bigger one) is for the vehicle proper.



That and enough WWs to dry that you can swap out the ineveitable very dirty ones.



All in all I think this could be no worse that what most people do when they DIY a carwash.



Heh heh, I like Wetwerks's foamgun comment :chuckle: Seriously, for older kids doing car washes, IMO a foamgun/BHB combo would be a *perfect* way to go, *worlds* apart from the usual charity carwash. Some parent(s) oughta be cool with providing/donating a little something to help make it all go over better..
 
Thanks for all of the comments everyone.



This is my plan, and I'm certainly not going to obsess about it.



Going to make some simple towel racks (Plywood & PVC pipe)

Buy a few gallons of cheap wash, some decent sponges and towels

Maybe a pesticide sprayer full of APC to spray the wheels.

Stay out of the way and let them have a good time.

Plus, take plenty of pictures.





Should be fun!!!
 
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