Self service car washes I can think of

Geneva: route de plan-les-ouates just before Bachet de Pesay, direction St-Julien

Vaud: Tamoil gas station, route de Geneve, after the Mies round about, direction Nyon

Tires in France: Point S, Etrembières, opposite Migros

There is an easily accessible car wash in Route de Meyrin 248, just before the new Meyrin tunnel (going towards CERN).

merci!

Both can be done at the Zone Artisanal near Carrefour in Ferney-Voltaire (Chemin de la Poterie). There are two companies that can change tires (Euromaster and another), and there's a self-service carwash place right at the roundabout that goes to the area (I think Chemin de Gobe).

Try Gaillard - opposite the Intermarche. Large car wash and a Roady garage next door. Haven't tried garage but car wash is good.

After doing it for the last 6 years either at the Feu Vert and/or Euromaster in Ferney Voltaire, I would not recommend you go near them. We have two cars, and every year is the same song and dance, either when mounting the winter or summer tires: they will claim the tires are too worn out (they are not, they are the one we bought from them one or two years ago) or slightly more worn out on one end or the other (which would only happen if they did not balance them correctly when they mounted them) and will insist on it, even when you ask them to show you and you can see with your own eyes that it is not true.

Even after you point to them that there is no such excessive wear or noticeable uneveness, they will refuse to change them claiming that it is illegal to mount the tires on the car under such conditions. You end up having to buy new tires everytime rather than changing them. Or find an honest company.

Euromaster is worse. If you get the bad luck of the manager being the one to dismount the tires from the rim, he will do so by hitting them on the wall with a sledge hammer, and the following year, when he mounts them again and inflates them, there is a chance you will find a small bubble on the wall, where he hit them, and claim it was caused by you hitting the sidewalk while driving. This happened to a new tire we had bought from him the previous year under the argument that the old ones were slightly uneven. The way we figured out what had caused the bubble was that, after an argument about whether it was a defective tire and he arguing that we had hit the curb, he went ahead and dismounted it by hitting it with the hammer, right in front of us. Unbelievable!

If they succeed in convincing you to buy new tires, they will keep the old ones, unless you insist on taking them, which they will only grudgingly allow you to do.

The other one is FEUVERT...for info.

Sorry JM R... was faster than me... 

Not to dig up an old thread, but can anyone teach me how to use the self service car wash? I passed by the one opposite migros etrembieres but didn't understand the instructions so I took some photos to ask for help!

Is it possible to wash my car by hand myself? I have my preferred car shampoo and wax, so all I need is really the water and the drainage system, but this station clearly prohibits using sponge. I'm assuming it is not allowed to wash and rinse my car using buckets at my apartment carpark as an alternative?

Assuming the answers to both questions above is "no", what are the steps to use the self service? Firstly, how is it priced? Secondly, how do I use the 4 buttons?

Sorry if these sound like silly questions, but never used a self service car wash before, I was always using pail and water where I came from!

Hello,

First, you need to choose a wash program (depends on how thorough you want it, and if you want the final polishing wax, and that tells you the total price you need to pay).

The first pic you are showing is the coin changer, to get coins (you either pay with a credit card, or bills).

Then, you take whatever hose you need, depending on your choice, you slip the coins into the slot, and the brush or the pressure hose starts, you press on the handle for higher pressure, and you do what needs to be done.

And I believe the phases follow one another on their own (depends on the car wash).

I confirm that of course it's forbidden to wash you car on the street, or even on your own private driveway.

This is due to protection of nature, since waste water from your washing goes down the rain water drain, it will flow untreated directly into the river/lake. It's comparable to washing yourself in the lake with soap, which noone would ever do, only that washing the car is much, much worse.

In France, this is defined in Article L35-8 of "Code de la santé publique", and Article 22 of "Loi du 3 janvier 1992 sur l'eau" . (I don't know the Swiss laws, but they are at least as strict.)

You insert a token and press the button of the operation you want to do.  Each operation costs one token, and will stop automatically after a few minutes.

1: sponge and soap

2: water and soap

3: demineralized water

4: demineralized water and wax

Usually you do 1, 2, 3 or 1, 2, 4; therefore you'll need three tokens to do the full cycle.

Clearly you can repeat any of the steps (by paying another token) if you feel your car is not clean/rinsed enough, but one pass should be sufficient.

Thanks all for the help. I tried the wash today successfully. Unfortunately not as clean as I like by using the station's brush, and that'll probably be the last time I use the wax option as there were white streaks on the windows. Does anyone know why it is prohibited to use my own sponge and car shampoo at the station? And with that being the case, are there alternative places where I can take my time to handwash it myself this way? It's not something I'm looking to do weekly but once in a while as my end intention is to wax/polish my car by hand and the car needs to be much cleaner to start with. 

>>And with that being the case, are there alternative places where
>>I can take my time to handwash it myself this way

I'd sugegst going to many of the places where you pay coins to use the high-pressure cleaner, and you're supposed to do the washing yourelf. They're everywhere, e.g. I think also at Balexert, Ferney. It's probably also the cheapest way of washing, and you know that the run-off will be proberly filtered, and not run off to the river.

(Note that I'm probably not the best person to give advice about car washing, since I've never washed my own car, except underneath.)

Just an additional comment. I have seen some folks do the following just BEFORE the car starts automatically on the washing cycle, pulled away by the underground system...

They spray some water with a plastic pump spray over the whole car body. Then, they take their own sponge out and put some of their own shampoo on it. t last they rub the sponge all over and on to the tarcks to have it washed by the machine.  Looking at it they did a pre-wash which seems to do better.

Up to each client to do a machine wax or wait till the car has been under the drying cycle to proceed with hand (turtle brand) waxing.

Since all process is done at the car wash station let's believe it is within legal tolerance.

Thanks, I'll give those places a shot if I pass by, but would still welcome more suggestions that are on the South side of Geneva.

Too late on Turtle brand! I already made the mistake by buying Michelin brand, which has disappointed on all fronts. So I'm gonna get through it as fast as I can and switch to the Turtle brand.

I'm not sure if the car will be wet enough using a plastic pump spray though. I was thinking maybe I could go late in the evening when there's nobody waiting in line (it's 24H station anyway), and use the high pressure water before doing my hand sponge antics. Or is that criminal which could land me a fine/jail?

route de Saint-Julien 46
1227 Carouge GE

Téléphone 022 300 13 16