I took my car to the car wash at Tesco on Abbeydale Road yesterday and it scratched my rear window!

It's not huge, but it's certainly noticable. There are about 5 or 6 lines on it where the brush, or whatever was on the brush, scratched the glass.

I am a bit annoyed as it's my new car, but realise that they probably have a 'use at your own risk' policy on the machine.

Anyway, it's the last time I'll be using it and thought I'd warn others just in case it wasn't a one of incident.

Anyone know if there's anything I can use to get rid of the white coloured scratches? Isn't there some liquid that fills the scratches and hardens or something?

Yes there is something you can use to rid of the scratches.. Can't remember for the life of me what its called tho but I used to use it. *thinks*

I'd reccommend washing your car yourself in future. No scratches, better wash, more rewarding etc.

I will either wash it myself or use the jetwash. I don't have a drive and so have to wash it on the road at home which is a pain.

I'd heard stories in the past about machines scratching the cars, but this is the first time it's happened to me. The worrying thing is that the scratches are made in the glass and quite deep, so imagine what that would have done to the paintwork if it had scratched that!

Did you try and get your money back or did you not realise til after? Must hgave been something pretty hard to scrathch the window!

Ive heard many stories of bad carwash experiences. My mum did one and ended up having tiny little scratches covering the whole of her car.

Give your car to the guys at Top Gear, they managed to break a car wash with theirs ;)

Did you try and get your money back or did you not realise til after? Must hgave been something pretty hard to scrathch the window!

Ive heard many stories of bad carwash experiences. My mum did one and ended up having tiny little scratches covering the whole of her car.
They state that you use it at your own risk, so I can't see Tesco being that bothered to be honest.

I suppose I should have said something though, to stop it happening to others on that day, I'll give them a call and hope they check it out.

This is why i never use car washes and do it myself.

I'd try using some t-cut if i were you - this will remove very small paint scuffs. Anything more you will to call in the experts i'm afraid!!

It's not the paint, that's all fine, it's the back window that's scratched on the glass.

So you have a new car and you are putting it through a car wash?

I never use car washes, always wash mine by hand in the road, who needs a drive. Once in a while I might take it to the jet wash somewhere.

I have seen car washes with bits of metal car aerial spinning around in them before and at the moment with all the numpties with their tacky england flags I wouldn't go near a car wash with an upturned skip because it would probably scratch all the paint off.

My boss had a car once which he bought cheap from an auction because the wheel brushes from a car wash had come out and buffed a whirl damaging the paint half way along the doors. You could see it plainly, and it couldn't be t-cut away.

Tesco Car Wash is a NO GO!!!

i made the mistake a couple of times before i realized not to go there ever again!!!

My boss had a car once which he bought cheap from an auction because the wheel brushes from a car wash had come out and buffed a whirl damaging the paint half way along the doors. You could see it plainly, and it couldn't be t-cut away.

he should have taken it to a car detailer, they would have got paint swirls out, t-cut on its own wont, but they can :)

Tesco Car Wash is a NO GO!!!

i made the mistake a couple of times before i realized not to go there ever again!!!
Guess I just joined that club too, the hard way :(

Do halfords sell any glass repair stuff?

If you really cba to wash your own car, go to either the hand car wash on ecclesall road, or the one on psalter lane. £5 later, your car shines.
The one on Psalter you get to sit inside and have a coffee. They get your sills and everything.

:thumbsup:

There are firms who repair damage to windscreens - look in Yellow Pages or have a Google.

There's tent thing outside the big Asda in Handsworth or Somerfield on White Lane and they do glass scratches and cracks - free treatment if you are with one of their listed insurers. The list is fantastic and it is reasonably likely that you'll be with one of them, worth a try.

find out what the excess is for glass on your insurance. it's probably about £50. Get it replaced, pay the £50, learn the lesson. It doesn't count against your no claims, so you may as well have something out of the insurance.

Tesco's can't disclaim all responsibility for the car wash (well, they can write what they like, but it won't hold up in court). They probably count on the fact that no one will ever take them to court.
I've heard bad stories about them before (specifically about tesco's and the car wash).
It might be worth seeing if your insurance company will send a solicitors letter to tescos, but they probably won't be interested and will just tell you to have the glass replaced.

AFAIK there is no product that will remove the white line from glass. You would have to have it polished smooth to remove it as the visible line is made because the gouge is not smooth at a microscopic level.
Once it was polished it could then be filled with the stuff used to repair chips, but to be honest it's not really worth it.

As Cyclone has said, they can put whatever 'disclaimer' they like up, but they still have a duty of care to make sure that their equipment causes no damage.

However, (having worked with car washes for several years myself) I am confused as to what could have scratched the glass, but not damaged the paintwork. Anything that can damage the glass would have ripped the paintwork off without any problem.

I had a scratch removed from one of my Fiesta's windscreen a few years ago. It can be done, obviously depending on the depth of the scratch. Mine was for the m.o.t, not for asthetic purposes, and vanished completely! If I remember, I got change from £20 :)

I haven't used a car wash in years apart from a one off time in winter. I've just bought some mettalic T cut for my current car, as you can tell it's spent most of it's life going through car washes! If you look closely its full of swirls and had moss in places from where it had always missed bits. Just needs a few hours of tlc on it one day.

As Cyclone has said, they can put whatever 'disclaimer' they like up, but they still have a duty of care to make sure that their equipment causes no damage.

However, (having worked with car washes for several years myself) I am confused as to what could have scratched the glass, but not damaged the paintwork. Anything that can damage the glass would have ripped the paintwork off without any problem.
It's at a funny angle on the window, but definately in a swirling motion. It looks almost like something got caught in the brush and was dragged across the glass.

It's not noticable to most people as it's about 5cm in length and in a swirl, but it's annoying me.

The worrying thing is that the Tesco car wash is always busy on Abbeydale Road, think about how many cars have the potential to be damaged in the same way.:(

Its worth telling them... they can't ignore it if it was caused by negligance.
Though it is better to go and get it done "by hand"

A lesson learnt, I shall not use that or any other machine wash on my car again...