A lifted truck provides a pretty smooth ride on various terrains. It provides you with better visibility while off-road driving. As a result, the car gets more dirty than usual. It becomes more challenging while cleaning. So, can you fit a lifted truck in a carwash?
Average car wash service supports up to 7 feet tall vehicles regardless of vehicle type. So, you don’t have to worry if you’ve lifted your truck a few inches. Sometimes, drivers confuse tire size with lifts. You can still use a carwash even though you use a 35-inch tire in your vehicle. However, you should be concerned about your truck’s width.
With some benefits, you’ll face numerous issues after washing your truck from a carwash. You should contact an expert mechanic unless you didn’t fix them.
Does A Lifted Truck Fit In A Car Wash?
The common question when looking for a car wash is, will my truck fit in the car wash? Well, most car washes are 7 feet tall on average. So, it doesn’t matter if your vehicle is lifted or not. You can still take your car to a carwash if you’re using large tires or lift kits to raise your truck.
For example, a 4-inch lift is a big lift for trucks. So, if your car has a 4-inch lift, you can go for a carwash.
Then comes the truck’s tire size. Trucks with 35-inch tires can easily fit in a carwash. So, you can quickly enter your vehicle with tires lower or equal to the particular measurement.
However, your truck’s width plays a vital role in a carwash. Most carwash supports 70 inches width for any vehicle. So, you can still use the carwash with a truck less than or equal to the average width.
Types Of Car Washes For Lifted Trucks
Washing your truck from a regular car wash would be best for better service. You’ll find other carwash stops if you’re on a road trip. They’ll lure you by saying that they use the latest technology. However, it’s not true at all.
If you’re wondering how many types of car washes are available in various states, follow this analysis to get a good grip.
Tunnel
A tunnel car wash is like a drive-thru car wash in which a conveyor belt will take your truck through the process. The carwash will clean the car using various chemicals and water while your vehicle is on the conveyor belt.
This is a quick process of cleaning your truck in an instant. It’s pretty cheap and saves a considerable amount of time.
Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to tunnel car washes. There’s a high risk of contamination. It fails to clean your truck thoroughly. Some car washes use cheap chemicals to wash vehicles, damaging the car.
Touchless
You can identify a touchless car wash as a variant of the tunnel car wash. You can easily guess from the name that touchless car wash doesn’t involve using brushes or bristles.
The touchless method uses high-quality chemicals and high-pressure water to clean vehicles. This method applies high-pressure air to clear the water. So, the chances of damage are pretty slim. But there remains some chance of injury if the air and water pressure aren’t regulated routinely.
How To Wash A Truck If It Doesn’t Fit In A Carwash?
Well, you might take the liberty of lifting your truck more than 4 inches, increasing the height by more than 7 feet. As a result, finding a carwash that fits a vehicle with a height of more than 7 feet will be difficult.
In this case, you should wash the truck yourself. But you should be aware of the chemicals you use to clean your vehicle.
So, how can you wash your vehicle if it doesn’t fit in a carwash? Let us guide you to the easiest way to clean your truck by yourself.
Use Non-slip Base
First, park your truck in a safe parking place or around your yard. Non-slip bases or non-slip platforms are durable and can be used anytime, anywhere. It’s pretty tough to reach the top and back glass of the truck, even without lift kits.
With a non-slip platform, you can easily clean the windshield, hood, and tailgate. Try to use anti-skid materials to keep the metals dry. While using these tools, wear non-slip boat shoes as extra precautions.
Apply Pressure Washer
You’ll find pressure washers in your nearest car accessories shop. Once you purchase a pressure washer, use it to clean the truck’s inside wheels. Using a foam cannon to apply soap and chemicals in the truck’s nooks would be best.
You should set the water pressure between 1220 to 1900 psi to clear the mud from the body and the tire. Even though you can use a brush to clean your truck, these tools will help you clean the car faster.
Clean The Undercarriage
Use a multipurpose degreaser to clean the mud and grime after cleaning your truck’s underside. This helps remove filth, grease, and other contaminants that may still be visible on a steel frame before using soap and a high-pressure rinse.
For mud flaps and wheel well covers, you should spray on an undercoating to the entire undercarriage area, and it’ll reduce the damages over time.
Use Tire Brush
We recommend you use a handheld tire brush for rubber sidewalls since washing a lifted truck requires washing tires, often large ones. A long-handled brush works perfectly for scrubbing. They are perfect for cleaning around your truck’s wheel wells and other tricky spots.
Go To A Self-service Car Wash
Because self-service car wash bays are tall enough to handle any vehicle, they are an excellent option if you live in a location where you don’t have access to a hose or water. Depending on your site, they also come with specialized truck washes that you may occasionally find close to truck stops.
These self-service high-pressure cleanings help remove grime after off-roading. Avoid using portable brushes since they tend to scratch your truck.
Common Problems In A Lifted Truck After A Carwash
You’ll face various issues after using a carwash, especially the cheap ones to clean your truck. Some of these problems are minor, while some can damage your vehicle in several ways.
Do you want to know about these issues? Then, let us guide you to detect them easily.
Still Dirty
It’s a common issue in tunnel car washes. Since tunnel car wash is a drive-thru car wash, it fails to clean the truck properly. Consequently, the car remains dirty even after washing.
Water Spots
Applying water above the required PSI can put some spots on your truck. You can’t quickly get rid of these spots. Sometimes, they remain for a long time.
Damaging Cylinder Head
The cylinder is a crucial part of the truck’s engine. When you’re using high-pressure water to clean the debris, there’s a high chance of hitting the cylinder head.
A damaged cylinder head fails to separate the coolant and engine oil properly. You might end up going to the mechanic’s shop due to a broken cylinder head.
Affecting The Battery
Your truck’s battery can endure a certain amount of moisture. But it fails to function correctly when the water amount is too high. Too much water creates rust in various battery junctions and corrodes the battery faster. So, your truck won’t perform at the optimum level due to high moisture.
Potential Chance Of Damaging The Alternator
Most alternators aren’t waterproof. Like other vehicles, your truck has an air-cooled alternator. So, water can easily reach its inside. When you wash your car too much, water and grime might get inside the alternator affecting its performance.
Damaging The Intake System
An air filter, throttle body, and flow sensor complete the intake system. The intake system creates an air-fuel mixture and compresses it for proper combustion. However, the combustion process fails miserably if there’s excess water inside any part of the intake system. Instead, the extra pressure from water damages the piston rod and creates fractures in the engine block.
Engine Misfiring
Various reasons are responsible for a truck’s engine misfiring. The cylinder head regulates a vehicle’s ignition issue like other vehicles. Your truck also has one. But it might get defective due to water pressure or water present inside it while washing the car.
Affecting Electrical System
Now that you’re driving a lifted truck, there’s enough gap between the truck’s electrical and mechanical parts. So, when applying soap and water repeatedly, both elements can enter the truck’s electrical components, decreasing your overall performance.
Final Words
Lifted trucks can surely go through a carwash. Cleaning the car won’t damage any part unless you don’t do a regular checkup. Remembering that a cleaned vehicle could perform optimally would be best. We hope the discussion on whether you can fit a lifted truck in a carwash has delivered accurate information. Like most vehicles, a car also faces the same issue after washing. Apply high-pressure air and water carefully on the exposed parts while cleaning the truck. Otherwise, you will end up damaging sensitive truck parts.