Flowing Wells Automotive

Cool Auto owner Michael Moreno first opened shop at age 9, when he detailed his brother's 1968 Camaro and was paid with a bag of chips and a six-pack of root beer. Today, the longtime Tucson resident has expanded the business to include a staff of 22 full-time employees who detail about 8,600 cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans every year, pulling in almost as many chips and root beer as the World Bank. Detailing technicians sanitize rides with grease removals from engines and auto bodies, clay-bar and waxing rubdowns, and steam cleaning of undercarriages, axles, and suspensions. They apply the same attention to detail inside cars, lifting soda stains and pulling out ground-in dirt with extractors. They can even protect leather upholstery from wear and sun damage with shine-boosting conditioning. To make sure the car smells nice, the techs use puffs of ozone to banish stubborn odors from car cabins.

Metro Car Wash's meticulous technicians and loaded wash and detail packages have earned them the back-to-back title of Tucson Weekly's Best Car Wash in 2011 and 2012. Determined to make both Metro Car Wash locations stand apart from faceless car-washing chains, owners Craig and Sean strive to add personal touches to both locations. To that end, the Speedway facility is known for its outdoor track where customers can observe their car during a wash and croon it soothing lullabies to calm its nerves. The owners and staff have also built a community partnership program to donate a portion of their funds to nonprofit organizations each quarter.

Though they might not be able to turn all they touch into gold, the technicians at Midas can do just about anything to keep cars rolling smoothly. They swap out dirty oil during oil changes, give vehicles a thorough checkup during Midas Touch maintenance packages, and put cars through the wringer with any number of other guaranteed services. And every time they install a new muffler, they remember how Midas got its start back in 1956—as a muffler shop in Macon, Georgia, where the first of Johnny Mufflerseed's trees produced fruit.