Automotive in Penn Hills

At LaserWash TouchFree CarWash, attendants don't soap up your car—instead, the cleans are administered by scrupulous touch-free automatic bays, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Drivers simply drive inside and follow easy-to-read signs to receive their mechanized pressure washes, which include an underbody spray, a clear coat protectant, and biodegradable soaps and waxes.

Whether for aesthetic reasons or to preserve and protect the paint, most car owners know they need to keep their ride clean. Yet, the lifeline of the car—the engine—doesn’t always receive that same respect. As dirt and mud cake onto it, combustion fails to escape and the car can easily overheat. That’s where an autopsy at Auto Asylum Car Care Center can, ironically, save a vehicle's life. The team begins with a comprehensive interior and exterior detail—complete with a clay-bar treatment, buff, and interior shampoo—before popping open the hood and treating the engine to a full degreasing and dressing.

Though the Autopsy treatment is Auto Asylum Car Care Center’s most comprehensive service, the team doesn’t turn its collective cheek on swifter arrangements. They dole out seven other packages, from a basic exterior wash to a Crazy Clean full detail that not only washes rides, but also puts unruly carpoolers in straightjackets.

Solar Control Window Tinting swathes panes in professional films that diffuse sunlight and maintain even-keeled climates in cars, homes, and offices. Residential and commercial windows don sheer or dense privacy films from brands such as 3M and Piper, which block up to 99% of UV rays, trap warmth in the winter, and block heat in the summer, keeping energy consumption in check and environments comfortable. The coatings also protect art and upholstery from sun damage, and can reduce the number of flying shards should storms or soprano houseguests shatter windows.

Solar Control’s techs apply the same surface savvy to car windows, precision-cutting film to fit individual panes or covering vulnerable auto paint with weather-resistant urethane film. While technicians work on rides at the company's headquarters, drivers can settle into plush couches, peruse satellite TV channels, and join a free WiFi network in the waiting room.

Detailers run soft chamois cloths across car surfaces, soaking up droplets left by Car Bright Detail’s hand wash. The auto-detailing experts know which services are best rendered by hand, and which with the aid of machines. Mechanical buffing and polishing, for example, gives exteriors a glossy finish without having to get out at every light to spray the car with water, but wax gets applied by hand to ensure complete and even coverage.

Sudz Brew Thru – Car Wash – Detail Center takes in dirty cars and sends drivers home with bottles of craft beers. Drivers pull into the main driveway, which is lined with a large beer menu that spans from Coors Light to Dogfish Head and Magic Hat. After checking drivers’ I.D.’s or counting the rings around their cores, staffers tuck their cases of beer into the trunk. Rides then roll on to the automatic car wash, whose brushless system avoids scratches and sloughs off dirt with premium solvents. Sudz’s detail center de-greases engines, steam-cleans carpets, and waxes paint to a brilliant shine.

The car shiners at Auto Bathouse's original and new Butler Street locations leave no stone unturned with bumper-to-bumper cleaning services and top-brand oil changes. While the Lawrenceville location was formerly known as the Unique Auto Wash, the business still showers cars with a soft-cloth wash, heated blow dryers and a climate-controlled towel-drying area to keep teeth and grills from chattering. Select detailing services at the Monroeville location take more invasive measures such as engine degreasing, carpet steaming, and odor removal. Aesthetic upgrades spiff up auto bodies with paint sealants and chip repairs that fend off road debris, as well as window tints and carpet dye jobs that cover up graying fibers and keep aging autos feeling youthful. To keep clean cars from becoming mere driveway ornaments, techs keep pistons whirring with oil changes from brands such as Castrol and Pennzoil.