Washing Our Cayenne

Our Cayenne is finished in white, and by early December last year, the dirt was really starting to show. My husband tried washing it once, but then he said:

The Cayenne is so big that I can’t reach the middle of the roof. Washing it properly by hand is a real struggle. We might be better off paying for a hand wash.

That was fair enough.

But the end of the year got hectic, and we couldn’t find time to take it in for a wash. So the Cayenne kept getting driven around covered in grime.

Somehow, though, it still looked the part when it was dirty… It had the air of a vehicle that had just driven through snow and sleet, and I found myself thinking, “Maybe it actually looks good like this—it gives the impression that we really get out and drive it.” (That’s just an excuse, of course.)

Then, at the end of the year, my husband took the Cayenne out and got it washed while he was at it. When I asked, I found out he’d taken it through an automatic car wash.

“Wait, it fits in an automatic car wash?! Didn’t it get scratched?” I asked. He said:

Before I went, I looked up the width and height limits for automatic car washes. Apparently, a lot of them are 2.3 meters wide. I couldn’t tell whether that measurement was from mirror to mirror or based on the body width, but the Cayenne is 1,985 mm wide, so I figured it might just fit and decided to give it a try.
Even though there should have been about 30 cm of clearance, the tires didn’t come close to staying inside the yellow lines painted on the ground. I wondered if those lines were even 2.3 meters apart.
I lined up with the yellow line on the driver’s side and stopped, with the tires on the passenger side well over the line. Once I picked a wash cycle and watched the gantry approach, it was seriously nerve-racking. The opening looked so small that it felt like the Cayenne was squeezing through with barely any room to spare.
I kept hoping that if it really was about to hit something, the safety system would stop it (laughs).
From the driver’s seat, even with the mirrors folded in, the gantry looked so close that I was worried it might scrape the passenger-side mirror.

That’s how he described it.

My husband took a few photos, and seeing it like this, I have to admit it looks pretty intimidating…!

The wheels, though, apparently didn’t come out clean after going through the wash.

I guess I’ll have to wash the wheels myself. I chose a cycle that was supposed to focus on the wheels, but they didn’t get clean at all. If anything, the brush marks were patchy and made them look even dirtier.
I think it makes more sense to use a regular wash cycle and clean the wheels myself.
Actually, a touchless car wash that uses high-pressure water might do a better job. Maybe we’ll try that next time.

That was his verdict.

How the Cayenne Fared After a Snowy Adventure

A little later, after a full day of playing in the snow with the Cayenne, we got home and took a look at the car. It was astonishingly dirty…

Since the Cayenne is an SUV, a bit of dirt can make it look like it’s been off-roading, which suits it. But this was too much, so we headed straight to an automatic car wash.

My husband had said before that “the width was a really tight fit,” and I wanted to experience it for myself. He was right—it was seriously close! lol

How do you handle washing a large SUV? Do you pay for a hand wash every time? There’s a touchless automatic car wash a short drive from our house, so next time the Cayenne gets really dirty, I think we’ll give it a try.