Auto car washes and the hood ornament
 

My old '91 S-class has the spring-loaded hood ornament.
Had it over 30 years and never ran it through an auto wash.

But, getting older and lazy, and the new auto machines are getting better.
My '15 ML goes thru and comes out great.

But, what will the auto wash do to that spring-loaded, flexible star on the hood of the old '91?

I have this vision of it banging down flat on the hood and gouging the paint before it breaks off and flies away!

Should I be concerned? Can I get away with it?

Tks,
DG

Go touch-less.

Never lost one yet. I got thru auto washes that I don’t care about paint on. You’ll end up with a million swirls. Sometimes their brushes are so dirty, your car looks visibly dirty after. Not a fan on paint I care about.

I put a new star on and shortly afterwards my son ran it through a car wash. Poor star looked terrible afterwards never returned to center always off center afterwards.

I worked at an MB dealer for over thirty-five years. We had several machines over the years using rotating/reciprocating brushes. After tens-of thousands of washes I saw maybe a handful of hood stars come off. Never had any swirl marks. scratches. etc.....

If the spring that holds it is place is rusted the ornament can come off really easy.
You can check it by removing the ornament, just one clip.

In the eighties they ware very popular as personal ornaments.
I lost a few but the imitation ornaments were cheap.

Once someone tried to steal it with a large screwdriver and poked it through the radiator.
I attached the new one with a switch and relay to a "Bosch Stark tone horn" (very loud).
According to my neighbours it worked to well, so I replaced it with a flat logo thing.
Fortunately wearing a Mercedes ornament went out of fashion.

Rob