Touchless Car Wash Safe for BBS Wheels?

[street sleeper]

I have BBS wheels on my car and have always hand washed my car.

In fact, I won't even let Audi service run it through their wash if the BBS wheels are on — scared they'll get damaged.

Am I being ridiculous or is it safe to run BBS wheels through a touchless car wash?

The wheels were pricey, hard to get, and had to be delivered from Germany. So I'm scared to experiment. Anyone done it and lived to tell?

[nhracecraft]

'Touchless' Car Wash...I think you'll be fine

[03TLSinCO]

Two things to consider:

1) How harsh is the detergent they are using? Probably not an issue, but difficult to say if it will affect the finish on your wheels
2) Does the car wash have channels for your tires/wheels to go into? If so, are they wide and low enough to not scrape the wheels?

I don't have your wheels, but these are the areas I would look into if taking my car to a "drive through" car wash of any kind. I have taken my car to a wand-type car wash and have had no issues with the finish on my factory wheels, so detergent strength may not be an issue.

[nhracecraft]

Just to be clear, we're talking 'touchless', NOT 'brushless' here, correct? Touchless meaning you drive the car into what is basically an open bay, and the entire spray/wash mechanism moves around your car, using laser sensors to locate (measure?) your car, after which I goes through an automated wash (spray only) on all sides of the car. As such, there are NO tracks or channels to damage your wheels and the car is in park during the entire automated wash. If all of this is the case, again I think your wheels will be just fine.

And yes, you're being ridiculous.

[street sleeper]

Yes, completely touchless. I guess you could call it a wand. Just an open bay with water and soap sprays.

No brushes. No tracks to line your wheels on.

I guess the main concern is really the soap used. If there would be a harsh chemical in it that could damage the wheel finish. I know a lot of people say strong soaps in the Audi car washes damaged the finish of the silver trim around their windows.