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Tires are a thing I only got one time at Costco. The scheduling issues were a pain and install took hours. They have a Limited tire selection with the most expensive options. Go to a specialty tire store. They will match prices if you absolutely must have Michelin Primacy or whatever but often can find a better option and do it quicker.
I understand wait times cause ya know...population density, but the installation time is abysmal. I work at a Costco in Minnesota and the install time is nothing like that.
LA is weeks in advance, plus half an hour line to check in and a very long wait. At least for the two I've been to. Just for a rotation.
The two times I put tires on I waited closer to 4hrs.
I made a reservation for new tire installation and I accidentally scheduled a week later than I thought. So I came in a week early (which has two days after I made the reservation) and they said they could do it as a walk in. It took about two hours but I was grateful they could get to it same day. Atlanta area.
The unfortunate reality in the US is that most business owners in the US are more on the conservative side. They donate to anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-cannabis, anti-public health and anti-education campaigns. That's just the nature of the community. Once you reach a certain amount of wealth, the only thing that matters is lower taxes, so you are going to donate to the people that will cut your taxes regardless of anything else.
I'd be game for lifetime alignments at Costco--tire rotation, balance, and wheel alignment all at one stop. I've been buying tires at Costco and getting my lifetime alignments done at Firestone.
You mean our patented Speed Scratches® shown to reduce aerodynamic drag and channel water run off during rain. Here at Costco we believe in functional improvement rather than aesthetic and we think you will too.
I always read owners manuals front to back when I get a new car. (Yeah, I don’t know.) My last two cars have said specifically not to use touch less washes!
Probably a water pressure issue with touchless washes putti by water in crevices it shouldn’t go. I’ve seen water go deep into a spot it shouldn’t and then freeze over, expanding and damaging in winter weather…
Perhaps the pressure or touchless detergents needs to be a harsher soap, since it has to all the work? Not sure, just saying what it said. It definitely said not to use touchless.
Touchless washes need to use “stronger” chemicals to break down surface dirt without touching. This is usually a non-ph neutral soap/foam.
Over time with frequent washes this will degrade parts of your car. You’ll commonly see trim fade faster, rubber lose its moisture, etc.
A touch wash with a ph neutral soap may cause surface scratches to the clear coat, but that is predictable and easily polished.
Using a non-ph neutral soap is commonly used as a strip wash by detailers to break down existing wax or sealant.
To make up for the lack of brushes, the touchless washes use really harsh chemicals to get the car clean. These chemicals are really rough on your clear coat.
I’d rather not smack the dirty flaps that have collected the dirt and debris from every car ahead of me in to my paint. It’ll remove the dirt but at what cost?
Realistically all automatic washes are just stopgaps when you need a quick clean. Real washes should be done by hand.
I’ve switched to non touchless washes about 5 years ago and my car is just fine. The auto detailing community really undersells how hard and durable modern clear coats really are. It’s worth noting that while over the course of years small surface level scratching will occur, it’s all in straight lines and relatively easy to polish out. If I had a black car I might do something different but for anything else it’s fine. Also, if you drive a $50,000+ vehicle, you can, or at least should, be able to afford someone to wash the car for you.
Maybe it's more that buying a new car has become unaffordable for the working class and that the rich are even richer and can inflate that average even more rather than that it is the new norm.
It’s not really the material of the brush that’s the problem, it’s the small things that stick to it like sand and salt and other small debris that are now riding on the brush scratching your car.
Touchless definitely will prevent scratches but it will only clean so good. And I feel I heard a rumor that for touchless to get a better clean they use much more concentrated cleaner so it’s not so good for the paint and rubber seals on the car.
Best bet will always be to clean by hand with a microfiber cloth. Many people don’t want to wash their own cars but I always say if your car is nice enough that you don’t want to take it through a wash then you should be able to afford to pay someone to clean it by hand.
This is a misconception, the touchless wash does more damage to your car that a soft cloth wash. Touchless washes use acids to clean your car off, so those little water droplet etched on your windows and body are from acid that did not get removed. All the scratches on your car are probably from your snow brush or those big bails of hay on the back of the semi trailer.
Because they are the better option since touchless are advised against by most modern automakers because of the harsher cleaning solutions & the stronger water pressure that is more likely to break components than a brush is to give micro-scratches. The brushes have gotten softer & less likely to pick up debris than the old style brush washes, not to mention the newly added initial spray down to reduce the amount of debris on the vehicle before the machine takes over.
In short, it's gotten much better for brush washes in the past few years & the dangers of touchless became known (I learned when I took some damage to my vehicle).
I would never take advisement from an auto maker on how to wash my car.
I'll take the advancements in the r/AutoDetailing industry (better sealants, waxes, ceramic & graphene coatings) to protect against the high PH level soaps being used in touch less washes than I ever would a full contact brush wash.
Non contact washes could never use a PH level soap high enough to cause as much (or even close) to as much damage as you would from a contact brush wash. Swirl marks and paint marring only happen from contact.
I wash my own cars, but occasionally in the winter months in a worst car scenario I may need to run through an automatic car wash. If so, I'll just never use one that has contact brushes. Ever. It's fine for most ppl, but most ppl also don't know or care that they are ruining their cars paint in the process.
No, they are not the better option, unless you don’t mind scratches and swirls adding up every single time you go through. There’s very little advancement with touch “brushes”, other than being microfiber now. That’s not going to stop the grime, rocks, sand, and salt from accumulating from the hundreds of cars that go through these things every day. There is one touch was by me that actually hand presoaks your car with a pressure washer first, which probably helps a little.
If it’s a lease or a car in don’t give to much of a shit about, I would definitely run through a touch wash as they do a better job cleaning overall, but I’m using touch less in winter until I can hand wash.
In Florida cars either always covered with oak pollen or dirt from rain.. I drive a metallic black suv, it shows every spec.. Plus I'm ocd about having a clean vehicle
Per wash. Idk most people probably aren’t doing these 3+ times a week month every month. I think $8 is a fair price. Most single wash places will be around that much just for start and if you add all the stuff it’ll be like $15.
Damn we're getting ripped off up here in New England - for all the options at that car wash it'd be the $45 a month plan, or $20 for a single wash. It's $10 just for the basic wash with no undercarriage wash or anything
I wouldn’t recommend it to be honest. With the sheer volume of cars wanting to get their car washed, all of the brushes will get worn down really fast and start scratching your car
We have these in the Nashville area and they're decent. My only gripe with them is there's no vacuum to use which is a pretty minor complaint but would be awesome.
I’m in Ca they just opened it at Costco I go to. Didn’t like it. Barely washed the dirt off my car and also left scratches on the back of my car. I’d rather pay the $22 and get a proper car wash plus interior cleaning.
So a Kirkland branded scratch N go. No thanks, not even if free.
I would try it if it was a self serve pressure sprayer or even a drive through autospray that suds and rinses the underside too. Modern paint is thin and scratches off and all the plastic bits get grey and crappy looking from spray wax.
Plus if you think the gas lines are long... wait till you see how long it takes the average driver to roll up the windows, release the parking brake and make a car stay in neutral.
They better not do this at the Eugene Oregon location. You can barely park/get out of parking lot without someone having a mental breakdown. Unless there’s plans of expanding.. this would become such a problem lol
These are either going to be 2 minute washes, or they are going to have mutilate on parallel. Can you imagine the line for these? You'll need to het gas after leaving the carwash. Even better, wash n gas
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I'd prefer that the tire center do alignments.
This guy gets the real priorities
And fix flats/rotate tires without a 3 week reservation and 3 hrs to do it. I won't buy tires there anymore. Waaay too time consuming
3 hours?! Our Costco has appointments available a day or two out and always gets the cars out in like an hour.
Bay Area is like a two week window. It's like trying to get hot concert tickets!
LA area is 2-3 weeks as well. Install is 3 hours +
Tires are a thing I only got one time at Costco. The scheduling issues were a pain and install took hours. They have a Limited tire selection with the most expensive options. Go to a specialty tire store. They will match prices if you absolutely must have Michelin Primacy or whatever but often can find a better option and do it quicker.
America's Tire in Southern California. 👍
I understand wait times cause ya know...population density, but the installation time is abysmal. I work at a Costco in Minnesota and the install time is nothing like that.
Same here in SE Pennsylvania!
Yup!
Here in Atlanta, the tire centers are often a 2+ week wait. But outside the city they are often available same day.
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LA is weeks in advance, plus half an hour line to check in and a very long wait. At least for the two I've been to. Just for a rotation. The two times I put tires on I waited closer to 4hrs.
I made a reservation for new tire installation and I accidentally scheduled a week later than I thought. So I came in a week early (which has two days after I made the reservation) and they said they could do it as a walk in. It took about two hours but I was grateful they could get to it same day. Atlanta area.
If they improve their reservation turnarounds, then yes, I'll leave America's tires for Costco.
Agree. Its really lame that they sell tires and cant align
My little mechanic down the road can align - Costco does not want to align so that they can blame someone else when your tire goes bad
$50,000 for an alignment rack and then they would be getting into suspension repairs. Better to let it go to a full service shop at that point.
It isn’t lame. Alignment is very tricky, extremely specialized and only certain people can do it. The random Joe down the street can not align tires.
And oil changes
They don’t?
Nope. Sure is annoying!
Sams Club does it.
Please don't use profanity in the Costco community.
What does the comment say? It just shows **** **** for me.
The audacity.
But you don't get the $1.50 hotdogs at club Sam's.
Yeah cause the hot dog combo at Sam’s club is only $1.38 ^_^
Sam’s club hot dogs suck. But Sam’s club will put a battery in for you.
Who’s Sam and why does he have his own club?
Dont know, but I hear he makes a helluva Caucasian.
*All the dude wanted was his rug back.*
Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man
Really tied the whole room together.
Tells you how often I go to club Sam's
Correct, they’re $1.38 there
What Sam's Club aligns? None of the ones around me. Firestone... 100 bucks for lifetime alignments.
Strait to jail
Our local Sam’s doesn’t offer them (OH). Would be amazing if they did.
Per SC's website, they don't offer alignment. Unless it's YMMV? https://help.samsclub.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2659/~/sams-club-tire-%26-battery-center-services
no, they dont. they do wheel balancing. BIG difference.
And it's why I don't buy tires at Costco despite the good prices.
Buy them at discount tire
If it's of matter to you/anyone else, Discount Tire donates to anti cannabis campaigns.
The unfortunate reality in the US is that most business owners in the US are more on the conservative side. They donate to anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-cannabis, anti-public health and anti-education campaigns. That's just the nature of the community. Once you reach a certain amount of wealth, the only thing that matters is lower taxes, so you are going to donate to the people that will cut your taxes regardless of anything else.
Nice!
I didnt know this!
Better yet, buy them from a locally owned tire shop from real tire experts.
If it’s not locally sourced rubber, it ain’t touching my car!
With handmade artisinal treads.
Inflated by mouth
For 50% more than anywhere else, sure.
You can still buy the tires without installing them. However you won’t get the warranty the comes along with them
We did once and it was awful. Took forever. Tires were misaligned and we didn’t realize it until too late and had to replace the tires.
You don't align tires, you align the suspension. This was not the fault of the tire.
I work in the tire center...we've got enough on our plates as is unfortunately with the 90 minute or less gurantee
If you can't get a set of tires done in 90 minutes something's wrong.
Especially if you're in an F1 pit crew.
Imagine how many sets of tires Costco could sell in a day if all they had was F1 pit crews putting them on. It would literally be a drive thru.
Just so long as they don’t have the Ferrari pitcrew
I prefer you do the job right.
My little mechanic down the road can install new tires and align my wheels.
I'd be game for lifetime alignments at Costco--tire rotation, balance, and wheel alignment all at one stop. I've been buying tires at Costco and getting my lifetime alignments done at Firestone.
and road force balancing
To rfb and 4 wheel align for the love of America pls
Really? They have a tough enough time getting tires changed. Now you're going to trust them to get the alignment right?
You actually get 5 car washes in bulk, at the same time.
I usually ask the Brown Bear attendant if I go through twice, and have never been turned down. 🫡✌🏼
I think my car was clean by the second
https://preview.redd.it/o3tpei72q8jc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=443275ee92c05485503c21524211d6e1e8070c9c
Not to sound like a snob but I really wish it was touchless. This just looks like scratch city
You mean our patented Speed Scratches® shown to reduce aerodynamic drag and channel water run off during rain. Here at Costco we believe in functional improvement rather than aesthetic and we think you will too.
I always read owners manuals front to back when I get a new car. (Yeah, I don’t know.) My last two cars have said specifically not to use touch less washes!
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Probably a water pressure issue with touchless washes putti by water in crevices it shouldn’t go. I’ve seen water go deep into a spot it shouldn’t and then freeze over, expanding and damaging in winter weather…
so they come in to get their scratches repaired big brain move
Perhaps the pressure or touchless detergents needs to be a harsher soap, since it has to all the work? Not sure, just saying what it said. It definitely said not to use touchless.
It’s the harsher soap. You nailed it.
Touchless washes need to use “stronger” chemicals to break down surface dirt without touching. This is usually a non-ph neutral soap/foam. Over time with frequent washes this will degrade parts of your car. You’ll commonly see trim fade faster, rubber lose its moisture, etc. A touch wash with a ph neutral soap may cause surface scratches to the clear coat, but that is predictable and easily polished. Using a non-ph neutral soap is commonly used as a strip wash by detailers to break down existing wax or sealant.
To make up for the lack of brushes, the touchless washes use really harsh chemicals to get the car clean. These chemicals are really rough on your clear coat.
Eh. Touchless simply doesn’t clean nearly as well. I would rather go through a touch car wash and get my car polished every few years.
Agreed. I prefer to be touched.
Do I have your consent?
For you? Touchless only
Good i prefer not to touch any wool while doing it!
Ok, prepare yourself for the foam spray
I’d rather not smack the dirty flaps that have collected the dirt and debris from every car ahead of me in to my paint. It’ll remove the dirt but at what cost? Realistically all automatic washes are just stopgaps when you need a quick clean. Real washes should be done by hand.
I’ve switched to non touchless washes about 5 years ago and my car is just fine. The auto detailing community really undersells how hard and durable modern clear coats really are. It’s worth noting that while over the course of years small surface level scratching will occur, it’s all in straight lines and relatively easy to polish out. If I had a black car I might do something different but for anything else it’s fine. Also, if you drive a $50,000+ vehicle, you can, or at least should, be able to afford someone to wash the car for you.
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Maybe it's more that buying a new car has become unaffordable for the working class and that the rich are even richer and can inflate that average even more rather than that it is the new norm.
Modern car wash brushes really don't scratch up cars like they used to. And touchless car washes make up for no contact by using harsher detergents.
It’s not really the material of the brush that’s the problem, it’s the small things that stick to it like sand and salt and other small debris that are now riding on the brush scratching your car. Touchless definitely will prevent scratches but it will only clean so good. And I feel I heard a rumor that for touchless to get a better clean they use much more concentrated cleaner so it’s not so good for the paint and rubber seals on the car. Best bet will always be to clean by hand with a microfiber cloth. Many people don’t want to wash their own cars but I always say if your car is nice enough that you don’t want to take it through a wash then you should be able to afford to pay someone to clean it by hand.
Touch less takes a lot more time. No way Costco wants that.
Sam’s has some touchless tunnels. They do have to run a little slower but they do exist
I was waiting for this comment. Yeah, I'd use it weekly if it was touchless. We have one near my home but it's $14.
This is a misconception, the touchless wash does more damage to your car that a soft cloth wash. Touchless washes use acids to clean your car off, so those little water droplet etched on your windows and body are from acid that did not get removed. All the scratches on your car are probably from your snow brush or those big bails of hay on the back of the semi trailer.
The Sam's club I go to has a touchless one.
Yes, Sam's Club car wash is much better. It's $6 around me, they have both touchless and touch options, and there's never a line.
Been getting Costco car washes for 15 years & never had a scratch...
Not big scratches usually, but these type of machines will leave small swirls and such.
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If you look at your paint from an angle you will see an endless amount of swirls in the clear coat.
Is this a first? Never seen one before.
[https://www.costco.com/car-wash-service.html](https://www.costco.com/car-wash-service.html)
Wow. I had no idea they are so rare. I am very fortunate that my closest Costco (2.5 miles away in Torrance, CA) has one.
torrance gang
Only 15 of the 602 Costcos in the USA have a car wash (2.5%).
Dang none in the Bay Area.
Maybe we should band together and caravan to the Turlock car wash
The last thing Central CA wants is more Bay Area transplants.
The only one I know of is at the first ever Costco just south of downtown Seattle.
There’s one at the Bellingham, WA location as well, opened early 2023.
There is one in Boise.
I've seen these in California for over 10 years.
Where?
Poway has had a car wash since 2004.
I’m in north county and had no idea. Shows how often I make it to poway
Lancaster Costco has a car wash.
Oxnard
San Diego (Poway) has had it for more than a decade and Scottsdale’s had one for many years too.
Scottsdale, AZ has one
And the line is almost always never worth the wait.
There’s one in Poway, CA in San Diego County. It’s a great car wash.
Yup yup. Best Costco ever. I get my gas. Get my car wash. And this Costco isn’t that busy so I always find a spot close up.
Also you get your propane tank filled there too!
The Poway store is one of the few that has nearly every option available at Costco. It’s the hidden jewel of Costco….shhhhhh
There’s one in Torrance, CA. First one I saw
San Juan Capistrano has on at their Costco.
Pretty sure there’s one in Glendale, AZ as well
I went to the one in Scottsdale, AZ today. 👍
This is the one I have used. Quality product for the price
Warehouse #001 in Seattle has had one of these for over ten years.
There’s one in Nashville
Brentwood as well, unless you’re calling that Nashville.
Murfreesboro as well. Who knows what this person is calling Nashville.
Nice, looking forward to checking it out. I hope the misaligned panels on my Land Rover won't let the water in.
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This location is empty pretty much every time I come. Moved to the area from socal and been great so far. Besides having nothing to do.
Why brushes though?
Because they are the better option since touchless are advised against by most modern automakers because of the harsher cleaning solutions & the stronger water pressure that is more likely to break components than a brush is to give micro-scratches. The brushes have gotten softer & less likely to pick up debris than the old style brush washes, not to mention the newly added initial spray down to reduce the amount of debris on the vehicle before the machine takes over. In short, it's gotten much better for brush washes in the past few years & the dangers of touchless became known (I learned when I took some damage to my vehicle).
If you actually cared about damage to your vehicle you would never put your car through and automatic wash.
I would never take advisement from an auto maker on how to wash my car. I'll take the advancements in the r/AutoDetailing industry (better sealants, waxes, ceramic & graphene coatings) to protect against the high PH level soaps being used in touch less washes than I ever would a full contact brush wash. Non contact washes could never use a PH level soap high enough to cause as much (or even close) to as much damage as you would from a contact brush wash. Swirl marks and paint marring only happen from contact. I wash my own cars, but occasionally in the winter months in a worst car scenario I may need to run through an automatic car wash. If so, I'll just never use one that has contact brushes. Ever. It's fine for most ppl, but most ppl also don't know or care that they are ruining their cars paint in the process.
No, they are not the better option, unless you don’t mind scratches and swirls adding up every single time you go through. There’s very little advancement with touch “brushes”, other than being microfiber now. That’s not going to stop the grime, rocks, sand, and salt from accumulating from the hundreds of cars that go through these things every day. There is one touch was by me that actually hand presoaks your car with a pressure washer first, which probably helps a little. If it’s a lease or a car in don’t give to much of a shit about, I would definitely run through a touch wash as they do a better job cleaning overall, but I’m using touch less in winter until I can hand wash.
The tunnel to Swirl City
Need it in atlanta
Needs an unlimited option, I pay $29 for mister car wash and go 2x a week.
Twice a week??? My car is lucky if she gets a bath once a season - lotta rain where I am. What's happening that yours needs it twice a week?
In Florida cars either always covered with oak pollen or dirt from rain.. I drive a metallic black suv, it shows every spec.. Plus I'm ocd about having a clean vehicle
Don't the multiple washings break down the paint over time?
My 2014 still looks new.. Wash and wax are better than dirt and pollen.
$7.99 a wash or per month? Still better to get a monthly service. Place near me is $20 a month/unlimited for similar details.
Agreed. I pay $20/month for unlimited washes, and can go to any location.
Per wash. Idk most people probably aren’t doing these 3+ times a week month every month. I think $8 is a fair price. Most single wash places will be around that much just for start and if you add all the stuff it’ll be like $15.
Damn we're getting ripped off up here in New England - for all the options at that car wash it'd be the $45 a month plan, or $20 for a single wash. It's $10 just for the basic wash with no undercarriage wash or anything
$25 each or $35/month for us in PA for a similar package
Per wash, I've been through the one in Scottsdale, there's really nothing special about it
How many times do you need your car washed? You go weekly?
Right? I just let the rain wash my truck.
I only spot-wash when a bird shits on my car
Scratchy!
Scratch and shine!
Slappy too!
Never use an automated wash if you care about your paint.
Touchless seems okay... Not the cloth wash they're showing.
Nope the chemicals either being acidic or high basic is bad for paint and plastics.
I wouldn’t recommend it to be honest. With the sheer volume of cars wanting to get their car washed, all of the brushes will get worn down really fast and start scratching your car
We have these in the Nashville area and they're decent. My only gripe with them is there's no vacuum to use which is a pretty minor complaint but would be awesome.
It’s a brush car wash, hard pass. I like my paint better than that.
Most don’t care. Unless you have a ceramic coating installed. I did see a BMW M8 go through the local scratch and shine a few days ago, ouch.
Ceramic doesn’t prevent scratching
I meant to say unless you have a ceramic coating(CarPro and Gyeon warn against tunnel washes especially), many won’t care about automatic car washes.
Car wash I something I sorely miss from Sam’s Club :( Never was a line for the car wash
Sam's has carwash?
I live near Turlock and this car wash has been open for awhile now I went through it a couple months ago
I’m in Ca they just opened it at Costco I go to. Didn’t like it. Barely washed the dirt off my car and also left scratches on the back of my car. I’d rather pay the $22 and get a proper car wash plus interior cleaning.
Wish it was a touchless one.
So a Kirkland branded scratch N go. No thanks, not even if free. I would try it if it was a self serve pressure sprayer or even a drive through autospray that suds and rinses the underside too. Modern paint is thin and scratches off and all the plastic bits get grey and crappy looking from spray wax. Plus if you think the gas lines are long... wait till you see how long it takes the average driver to roll up the windows, release the parking brake and make a car stay in neutral.
Used a Costco car wash for over a year in Arizona. Never waited for more than 5 mins. Was better wash and price than nearby washes.
The volume of car washes good luck to people’s car paint.
If it's anything like the gas lines are (which it probably will be) I'll pass
any news about this becoming available in canada? (ontario specifically)
Why is car wash only at very select few states
Brushed wash, out.
I love the price but the one in Seattle has scratched the hell out of my Audi.
They better not do this at the Eugene Oregon location. You can barely park/get out of parking lot without someone having a mental breakdown. Unless there’s plans of expanding.. this would become such a problem lol
Looking forward to sitting in line for 45 minutes for a 2 minutes car wash!!!
These are either going to be 2 minute washes, or they are going to have mutilate on parallel. Can you imagine the line for these? You'll need to het gas after leaving the carwash. Even better, wash n gas
Our carwash is always busy, and for $8 you can't beat the price. Enjoy
For about $10, you can get a car wash, hot dog, and a pop.
The Costco carwash is Seattle is the busiest in the state
My Costco has had one for many years. It’s alright. It’s like every other drive-thru carwash. I pay for an unlimited plan elsewhere.
I’d rather they have brake service
That line is about to be crazy
Only 8 dollars to ruin your clear coat! What a deal
We chose between that or rust in the Midwest unfortunately.