Royal Oak Car Wash

I've used these types of car washes for years in San Francisco, so you can say I'm an old pro. Here's how you wash your car for $4:

/1/ Turn the dial to High Pressure Soap

/2/ Grab the spray wand, get accustomed to how you're going to hold it

/3/ Insert $2

/4/ Walk around the car in a clockwise manner, spraying down the car with the wand. Spend no more than 1 minute on this step.

/5/ Turn the dial to Foamy Brush and use the brush to start scrubbing down your car from TOP to BOTTOM*. You will have approximately 2 minutes of foam coming out of the brush. When you run out of time, foam will cease coming out of the brush. However, you should have plenty of excess suds to finish off brushing the rest of the car.
(*Normally you would do this from the bottom first, since it would help you see which spots you haven't done. But you'll get more accumulation of suds on your car if you start at the top, which is helpful in the event you run out of time.)

/6/ Turn the dial to High Pressure Rinse,

/7/ Insert $2

/8/ Rinse car from the top down in a clockwise manner. You should have time to spare. If your wheels are dirty, the High Pressure Rinse will do a pretty good job getting rid of any grime you may have missed.

Worst case scenario, if you can't finish on time, then suck it up and add another $2 (for a total of $6). But don't feel bad, with practice, you too can master the $4 car wash.

When I first got a car I lived in Alberta and all the car washes in my town were this do it yourself style, as I moved around I have just grown to prefer doing it myself. Luckily for me I found this gem in my neighborhood when I moved to Burnaby!

I don't find an issue w signage as others have mentioned but then again I have never read the signs. I love that you can pay with credit card so I can keep my change reserve for laundry! I just buy a bunch of tokens and leave them in my cup holder so I can stop for a quick, no hassle spray down between full washes. A full wash give me a good workout, costs me about $6 and about 9 minutes of my life, sounds good to me!

The equipment has always been operational so it's never been a bother that there is no attendants.

My only complaints are I can't get in my hub caps with the brush (so you need to bring a sponge if you want clean rims) and the vacuum is not strong enough to get dog hair off my seats or sandy dirt out of the carpets. Sooo skip the vacuum, it gives you a decent amount of time but it's gutless!

My hose is broken and I can't figure out why or how. I have had many people help me and my car is gross. I sucked the bullet and spent $6 to do it myself at this self serve DIY station. I would rather do it myself than pay $20 for a job that misses spots. I also prefer to have intimate 1 on 1 time with my car. The pricing and information is extremely confusing on the menu and there is no tenant on site. It's 24 hours self serve which works for my irregular daily schedule. The website information is very poorly laid out, therefore, not a good source for info before entering. If something goes wrong with the machine or any sort of technical glitch you're SOL as there is no attendants on site.

Thankfully everything went smoothly and even though I had some spots that were unreachable I will bring my own cloth and sponge to get into certain areas (I am aware of the no hand washing rule but it's all self serve private booths).

My car had 3 months worth of tree droppings and moss, therefore, it was impossible to get it all out in one washing even with the brush that gives you a good arm work out before the gym.

This is a weekly thing and for $6 VS $15 - $20 in a machine that will do a so so job, I am willing to do this. Each token is $2 and all you need is a pre-rinse, soap and final rinse.

I don't bother with the vacuum 'cause this works at my place.

Drop a few coins and get a hose with a brush with soap to wash your car. Add a few more and get the water to rinse.

Move a few feet, drop some more coin and use the vacuum.

Best part of the experience: watching the honey do this to the vehicle we'd taken on our camping trip. The car wash was like a second honeymoon.

Car wash pressure is great, vacuum sucks and cable is short. Brush does not remove all the dirt and grime properly but that's the case with most of these type of car washes.

Do-it-yourself washes like this are clearly far superior to automated ones. Here you just buy tokens - $6 is enough to do your whole car - and then use their high power hoses and brush to get it clean. Works great and couldn't be simpler. They have lots of stalls, simple instructions on the wall, and all the equipment works very well. It lost 1 star for me because the vacuum is kind of weak, but as far as car washes go this place is fantastic.