Back to School Car Care in Manhattan, KS

Manhattan goes from quiet to full in about a week every August. The residence halls open on August 19 this year, classes start August 24, and a few thousand cars roll into town with everything their owners own packed into the back seat.

Most of those cars will not get washed again until somebody’s parents come to visit. Here is how to do better than that without spending much money on it.

What Manhattan does to a car between August and May

A car parked here takes a specific kind of beating, and it changes with the season.

Late summer is bugs. Drive US-24 or K-177 at dusk in August and September and the front bumper pays for it. Bug splatter is acidic, and it will etch your clear coat if it bakes on in the sun for a few weeks.

Fall is dust and grit, plus whatever falls out of the tree you parked under.

Winter is the one that actually costs you money. Kansas roads get salt and ice melt, that mix packs into your wheel wells and the underside of the car, and it sits there working on metal you never see. Washing in January is not about looking nice. It is about not paying for rust later.

Spring is pollen and mud, and then you go home for the summer and it starts over.

The math on a wash plan, on a student budget

A single wash at Willie’s starts at $12. The Willie plan is $24 a month. Wash twice in a month and the plan has already paid for itself, and everything after that is free.

That is the entire calculation. If you wash your car more than once a month, a plan costs you less than paying per wash.

A few things that matter more when you are a student:

• You can cancel any time, right in the app. No contract and no fee, and if you cancel you keep washing through the end of the period you already paid for.
• So run a plan August to May and drop it when you go home. Pick it back up when you come back in the fall.
• One membership covers both locations. It does not matter which side of town your apartment ends up on.
• Twice a day, every day. The cap is two washes a day, which is more than anybody needs, but it is there.
• The undercarriage rinse is on every plan, including the $24 one. That is the part that matters in February.

Plans run $24, $32, $37, and $42 a month. What changes between them is soaps, rinses, ceramic wax, and whether you get the blow dry finish at the end. If your goal is keeping salt and bugs off the car, the $24 Willie plan does that job. You can compare all four on the Wash Club page.

Sign up at the window, not just in the app

Worth knowing before you join. New members who sign up at the window get 30 days of discounted washing after buying that first wash. Participation can vary, so ask what is running the day you are there.

Attendants are on the lot 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday and 8am to 4pm on weekends. You can join from the app at two in the morning if you would rather. But if you are signing up anyway, do it while somebody is out there and ask.

The free vacuums are the part students actually use

Every wash includes the vacuum stations, and there is no time limit on them. High suction, mats out, seats, under the seats, all of it.

Move-in weekend is the obvious one. Whatever you hauled from home leaves the car full of cardboard bits, packing foam, and dirt off the loading dock. Then the same thing happens in reverse in May.

The rest of the year it is ordinary life: gravel out of the parking lot, fries under the seat, and whatever came back from a weekend at Tuttle Creek.

Use the self-serve bays for what an automatic cannot do

Our automatics are touchless. High-pressure water and detergents do the cleaning, and nothing physically touches your paint. For a regular wash that is the right call, especially on a darker car.

What touchless will not do is scrub caked mud out of a wheel well, or take off bugs that have been baking on the bumper since August. That is what the self-serve bays are for. You get the wand, and the settings include foam brush, presoak, high-pressure soap, high-pressure rinse, spot-free rinse, wax, and tire and engine cleaner.

Self-serve starts at $3.00 and then runs $0.75 a minute. Pay with cash, a card, or the app. A focused five minutes on the front end and the wheels runs about seven dollars and does more than another pass through the automatic would.

One tip: hit the bugs with presoak and give it a minute to work before you touch them with high pressure. Trying to blast dried-on bugs off dry paint is how people put swirl marks in their clear coat.

Gameday, when the vehicle is bigger than a car

Home football weekends bring a different set of vehicles into Manhattan. Family Weekend falls on September 18 and 19 this year, Homecoming closes with a game on October 17, and the home slate runs from early September into late November. Between those dates there are converted buses, fifth wheels, motorhomes, and campers parked all over town.

Most washes in Manhattan cannot take any of them. Willie’s East on McCall Road has two large truck bays, the only bays in town built for 18-wheelers, RVs, campers, and oversized vehicles. When the chains turn your rig away, this is the lot that takes it.

They are self-serve bays, same $3.00 start and $0.75 a minute, so you decide how much time a 40-foot bus is worth. Run it through before the tailgate so it looks right on the lot, or clean it on the way out of town so it is not sitting dirty until the next home game. Trailer washouts are allowed too, but in the self-serve bays only, never the automatics.

If that is your situation, we went into more detail in where to wash a semi, RV, or oversized truck in Manhattan.

Five things worth doing

• Wash after the snow, not before. Salt does its damage sitting on the car once the roads are clear again. Run the undercarriage rinse.
• Do not let bugs bake. From late August through September, get the front end rinsed within a week of a highway drive.
• Pull the mats out at the vacuums. Two extra minutes, and it is the whole difference between a clean car and a vacuumed car.
• Wash at night. Both locations run 24 hours a day from the app, and there is no line at eleven o’clock.
• Skip the direct summer sun. Water spots dry onto hot paint faster than you can dry them off. Spot-free rinse helps, and evening helps more.

When it needs more than a wash

Twice a year most cars need more than a rinse. Before your parents come to town is one. Before you sell it is the other.

Willie’s is the only car wash in Manhattan that also details, done in-bay at our Westport Drive location. Interior basic clean, hand wash, hand dry, and tire shine. Pricing goes by vehicle size: $175 for a sedan or coupe, $200 for an SUV or crossover, and $225 for a truck or van, plus tax.

Wash Club members save $50 on any of those, which more than covers two months of the Willie plan. If a detail was already on your list, joining first is the cheaper order to do it in. See the packages on the detailing page.

FAQ

Is a car wash membership worth it for a college student?

If you wash more than once a month, yes. A single wash starts at $12 and the Willie plan is $24 a month, so two washes covers the cost of the plan and the rest of the month is free.

Can I cancel my plan when I go home for the summer?

Yes. Cancel any time in the Willie’s app, with no fees and no contract, and you keep washing through the end of the period you already paid for. Plenty of students run a plan for the school year and start it again in August.

Where can I wash a tailgating bus or camper in Manhattan, KS?

At Willie’s East, 480 McCall Rd. The two large truck bays there are the only bays in Manhattan built for semis, RVs, campers, and oversized vehicles, and they handle most tailgating rigs. They are self-serve, starting at $3.00 plus $0.75 per minute. If you are not sure yours will fit, call 785.776.9124 and ask before you make the trip.

Are the vacuums really free?

Yes. High-suction vacuum stations are included with any wash at both Manhattan locations, with no time limit.

Is Willie’s open late?

Both locations are open 24 hours a day, and members start washes from the app any hour. Attendants are on site 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday and 8am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday if you need a person.

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Written by Mike Fritschen, from the crew at Willie’s Car Wash in Manhattan, KS.