just nipped down to see my local dealer and he reported to me that a guy who has a e46 m3 cab,took his car threw a car wash and the brushes have scuffed all his alloys.

he was not a happy chappy,funny really because i was away a week ago with no facility to wash the car and i took my car threw a car wash and is was fine,be careful
guys.

p.s. my local dealer is bringing down a hartge h50 coupe down for me to try,this baby has the M5 V8 slotted in and is pumping out 510 bhp.

yaaahhhhooooo.....

I completely stopped taking mine to any carwash...auto or hand....after a handwash place put some serious swirl marks in the Imola Red M3. It was so noticeable I literally flipped out at the place! Good thing I was switching from the red to Alpine White.

I would think any brush auto wash places would be dangerous to the car's finish. An interesting thing about BMW's that I was told by an authorized BMW body shop is that BMW puts a very thick coat of clearcoat on their cars. Makes the paint look very "deep". I compared the paint to my Boxster and it definitely looks like the paint is deeper beneath the clearcoat.

Btw, the Alpine White doesnt show the swirl marks anywhere near like the Imola Red...I would think Black and Laguna Seca would be similar to Imola Red with swirl marks.

I can't wait to read about your impressions of the Hartge H50! Im sure it's just as fast if not faster. I wonder if the handling characteristics are the same.

Thanks for posting in our forums!

[This message has been edited by Frank (edited 09-09-2001).]