Brown Bear Car Wash

I’m doing a review for the gas station (Chevron), because a separate Unilocal page isn’t available for it. I’ve gassed up here before and the prices aren’t cheap, but it’s a quick in-​and-​out, and on my way to work in Ballard, so with all that in mind it’s a convenient place to stop.
With the long weekend ahead of us, my hubby and I decided we are going to bail from the city today a day ahead of time. What that means is we need to take our cooler full of camping food to work with us so we can make a quick escape after work. Unfortunately it means food spending several hours outside of the fridge. I needed ice to fill the cooler with, and I spied the ice freezer outside this Chevron — score! I love when it’s quick and easy (ha– that’s what he said). Speaking of ice, at $ 1.39 a bag it’s cheaper than most places — even the convenience stores closest to our camping spot!
Anyways, it was surprisingly busy inside at 6:30am, but the employees were efficient, surprisingly friendly and nice, and had good senses of humor! Not what I expected at a gas station in Seattle at 6:30am, but I’ll take it! As silly as it sounds, this little interaction and purchase this morning really set my morning off on an extra happy note — that’s awesome!
Anyways, it’s yet another gas station but I definitely think the employees care more than most places, and for that reason alone I will be back.

How could I feel better after a car wash?
1. It was free. I had a coupon from my dealership.
2. They helped me get the topper off and stuff it in my car.
3. My car was so dirty they sent me through twice.
4. They were just so damn nice!
A+
After reading the other reviews, for full disclosure if a scratch happened at a car wash I would never notice or care, and I don’t have a car I’m trying to keep pristinely clean (see 3 above).

Took my car here for a wash today and when I got home, I noticed 3 major scratches in the passenger door and hood. Do not go here if you want a scratch free car wash.

Turns out this place is more mediocre/​avg then I had thought. This is the third time I’ve brought my car here, and the first two times it just seems to clean a majority of the dirt but doesn’t really do a great job cleaning the car overall. This third time, I opted for the most expensive option of about $ 14 to see if there was a difference and honestly I couldn’t see any difference. Sadly, I felt like I was bopped of my money and got a half– @$$ wash. From now on I will continue to hand wash my vehicle. And also beware that the machines do scratch your car which is very aggravating so seems like this is the end of the road for me.

There’s no change machine for quarters to use their vacuums. That’s not very convenient to their potential customers.

Great location and very efficient staff! Have used them since moving in this place. Worth every penny!

Always so quick even when there’s a seemingly long line, and they do a pretty good job! Sometimes I get suds leftover, but it’s not a big deal. I love that they have a ton of locations and that they work with local dealerships with providing coupons. Whenever I get my car checked out at the local dealership, I get a free brown bear coupon good for one wash.

When it’s time to wash all that bird crap off your car, this is the place you want to go. Living in the city, I’ve hand washed my car a few times. I know that hand washing is better. But you have to get cash and enough quarters, and wear your dirty shirt & shoes, and scrub away. Oh and you have to bring towels or buy the heavy paper towels for drying off the car.
So after a few hand car washes, I have been going to brown bear regularly. Payment is easy. The wash tunnel is quick. Grab a few towels and dry off the car. It’s so convenient and fast, for an exterior wash. It does get busy! So go early or late. Cheerios!

«BIG Scratch!» car wash! Horrible.
This was my favorite car wash, frequented forever. But they clearly have changed their maintenance program, as when I came out today, all sorts of scratches in the paint from one of their defective rotary brushes.
$ 600 to repair. Avoid at all costs.

Fifteen bucks shitty wash, I watched others get some preemptive scrubbing but all the dropouts disappeared when I pulled up and were nowhere to be found when I needed to complain about all the dirt left. Called they did offer to rewash but seeing as it was just waxed I don’t see that being very effective. I just wanted a refund.

Good clean self service station. Prices aren’t too crazy, usually 6 dollars gets a very clean car. Nice location. Have never waited more than a few minutes for a bay to open up

Depending on your car model there is a chance the dryer will bend the license plate bracket straight up. Especially if your bracket is higher up and is mounted using two screws instead of four.
I brought my new to me G37XS to brown bear and my plate got torn almost all the way off.
I never had this problem with my 370Z, but the plate sat much lower. I recommend they offer to remove and reattach the front plate for cars they suspect will have issues.
Other than that the wash does a good job cleaning. It would be best if you wiped down your door jambs and hand dried your panels afterward.

This is our favorite car wash in the city. Whenever we’re even remotely close we swing through. We have a local car wash five blocks from our house in the CD but make our way to Interbay whenever we can for this one.
First off, the line — no matter how freaking long — seems to move quickly. I’m not sure how it does that. It’s magic or something.
Second, you can tell going through the machine that it’s really cleaning well. We only pay for the cheap wash, and we have never felt the need to pay for more. It’s awesome!
And that’s pretty much all there is to say about that.

Relatively inexpensive car wash located in Interbay. I opted for the $ 10 car wash option — it worked just fine, see pictures of the car post wash. The line can be long, but it is fairly fast moving, so you can be in and out within 10 minutes. They have commercialized vacuum’s that you can rent for a $ 1 — I really think should be free, consequently 4 stars.

This location has so much room it’s ridiculous. They have self wash they’ve got dryers and the hands-​free wash is probably the longest one I’ve ever been to. You could tell that they refill the soap a lot because your car turns into a rainbow when you drive through it. Other locations you might get a little blue and pink but that’s it. The price at this location is a couple dollars higher than the other locations but it’s worth it forThe overall quality of the wash that you get.

Car wash attendant was friendly and we used one of our coupons for the Beary best car wash.
It had extra brushes compared to the other locations we’ve been to. It was a lot longer as well.
It did the job and our car came out so fresh and so clean.
The also provide clean white towels to wipe and dry off your car.
They had a ton of vacuum cleaners too.

here is all I have to say, the guys at this location are super efficient. I have had the UNLIMITED CAR WASH for over a year and if for some reason it doesn’t read it, they always handle it super quick. Also, I usually only keep during the spring and summer and cancel during the fall/​winter months… that’s usually because the weather is so crappy in Seattle that I would have to wash my car every day… BUT, when I called to cancel the membership… the guys at the corporate office couldn’t have been more friendlier and helpful. I was pleasantly surprised, they didn’t try to oversell me, the cancelled my membership and told me how easy it was to renew. I will definitely be renewing using my same sticker TAG that I can leave in the car.
Just an overall excellent experience.

I pulled up to this Brown Bear after quite a few months of not getting my poor RDX washed. Now that I don’t live in N. Seattle, Brown Bear is a little more challenging to get to on a regular basis.
I have always gone to the one in Ballard or in Lakewood when I go visit my folks. So this location was new to me when I Unilocaled to find the closest branch. When I pulled up, 3 automatic lanes greeted me up front before the wash. How freaking awesome! This sped the process way up and you can use your coupons or codes by just telling the machine you have one.
The wash itself was fine and it dumps you out into the parking lot of a Chevron so you can pull aside to towel off, etc etc.
The only ‘downside’ to this location (hence the ding of one star) is that unless you want to make a right out of there, you will be stuck forever trying to make a left. I ended up having to make a right and turning around in the giant PCC across the way to get back to where I needed to be.

Being a bear myself, I dig all things bear-​related. Even my car wash, you ask? Well, sure. If it works.
Which it only kinda did. The automated kiosk system is handy but the first one I pulled in to was stuck in some sort of infinite loop so I had to back out and go to another one. Once I got access, the process was decently fast. My car was covered with salt and grime from diving up during the first PDX snow of the ²⁰¹³⁄₁₄ season, so I desperately wanted to get that salt off my new whip. While they did scrub down the back of my ride, they didn’t even prime the front with a quick spray or anything (like my Washman does at home).
My car came out faaaaairly clean, but it didn’t get things all the way live. I’ll give that my car was extra filthy when I rolled in and purchased the «Brown Bear Best» or whatever top of the line option they gave me. And when I came out there were some streaks and still some dirty wetness on the Hyun.
I guess it’s cool that I got a discount with my gas fill up next door, but hey, maybe think about priming the hood with a little dirt-​softening water spray next time. And have someone nearby in case the kiosk isn’t working? Either way, keep the bear theme going strong.

Pretty decent car wash spot. Everything seemed organized and neat. Reminds me of a drive thru for cars– select the cleaning option that you want, pay by card (thank goodness cuz i never have cash!), drive into the washing machine, and voila! your car is squeaky clean. It’s fast and efficient.
I normally like to clean the insides too. There were vacuums available and free towels for those spots that the blowers missed. Only problem, there were no change machines. Luckily there’s a gas station in the same lot as the car wash so you can get cash from an ATM and then change from the cashier.
I liked the overall setup of the place, especially with the gas station being right next to the car wash. Also there was plenty of room to accommodate a bunch of cars! Thanks brown bear :)