Soapy Joe’s – La Mesa

I just had a car wash with them and it’s convenient, because they have lots of spots with free vacuums and towels to wipe the car. Also the water that they use doesn’t leave whitish marks. Minimum wash price is 7 $, not too bad.

Way worth the happy hour prices from 6pm to 8pm everyday. Get as low as $ 5 simple wash.
Vacuums and towels are free to use. Hopefully they are available when you are finished with your wash. Last time I went they were all taken and people were performing close to full details on their cars. Was not worth waiting for them.

I honestly don’t mind the new automated system to pay, but the towels they have there for you to use, be careful with them. I got one that had must of been used to wipe down tire shine and it left oily streaks son my paint. I know that they can’t completely control that, that’s why I said for you to be careful with them.

It is what it is… A semi DIY car wash. $ 7 for the backs wash and you get to hand dry yourself. Since you hand dry yourself, you are sure to get the job done the way you want it. Plus free use of the vacuum. For what it is, it’s a solid deal. Now go get your dirty car clean and take it to Soapy Joe’s.

For the most part your car becomes clean. The only thing that I do not like is vacuuming the car myself. Other than that great service.

Car wash is always too full. The vacuums suck. They don’t pick up anything and cut off after a minute or two. The towels leave streaks on your windows. Cheap but terrible! Don’t waste your money here. They say let them help before you Unilocal but when you tell them they don’t make any changes.

We have been bringing our cars here for a little while and have never had any problems. We recently bought a new car and decided to try the monthly unlimited, it is TOTALLY worth it! Two trips and it’s paid for. I love having the option of going through the wash as many times as I want. The free air freshener is nice, smell isn’t my favorite buts it’s free and not horrible so I’m not complaining. There are quite a few free vacuums around and generally aren’t all full so it’s easy to pop in and do a quick vacuum after washing.

Soapy Joes his a home ruin again. My car is sparkling clean and the employees were so helpful! Carlos was really polite.
You go Joe!

As far as customer services goes, the new owners of Soapy Joe’s really impressed me.
1) On my last visit I had an issue with my gift card. The attendant at the pay station had the authority to go above and beyond my expectations.
2) On the same visit, it was the owner who was doing the car scrubbing. It was nice to see that he cared about his business enough to be out there, even on hot days.
3) Since the vacuums are very busy they allow you to come back and use them if you are short on time

I used to bring my car here all the time before it became a Soapy Joe’s. I dislike the service here, along with the car wash. I no longer bring my car here, but I do bring my mom’s cars because she has the monthly package and asks me to.
The cars never come out clean, ever. She has light colored cars, and they always come out with spots all over them. I’m not talking about water spots either, I’m talking about dirt spots. This is after they go through the motions of pretending to scrub down her vehicles. It’s a joke. The wheel wells are not clean afterwards.
And good luck finding CLEAN towels to dry your dirty car. I usually go and ask for some. Sometimes they give them to me, sometimes they don’t. And you bet your sweet cheeks I do mind having to dry the car myself. I’d rather tip someone to dry my mom’s cars. Do they think I haven’t noticed how much they’ve raised the gas prices here since they took over? I stopped filling up here. I wash my own car at the other place nearby on Fletcher Pkway. They dry it for me, after they’ve vacuumed it ;)
As for the vacuums, there are several stations available, you can find more behind the building. Hopefully they’re all in good repair and working.
Yeah, those «free» air fresheners are so cool! They last about 18 hours, tops. Completely justifies the increase in car wash and gas prices, no doubt.

This place is right near my house and it is a VERY popular place! Quick and easy and you end up with a nice, clean car!

Love u always use you! ! I love Chevron, Soapy Joe’s is a PLUS! Unlimited wash if you’re a member… and they never forget to give you a free air freshener!

my first experience with this place… they were giving free washes out. how nice… EXCEPT here’s a suggestion… have people directing cars. I was cut in front of by some jerks and there were, apparently 2 lines but it wasn’t obvious. so I’m sitting… STUCK IN LINE with a crying 2 year old in back and the jerks who cut me are going in the wash. I’m still like 7 or 8 cars back. Really, it’s not like you can say you didn’t know it would be like this. you knew.
it’s great that you gave us free washes. thanks! but if a person has this experience they might not come back.
screaming kids and no way to get out of line and nobody directing cars.

I Love this place. The car wash attendants are nice. Service is very good. The ties are looking good evenin though I added no ties shine. Give it a shot ;-)

For a quick in and out wash I like soapy joes. You have to do most of the work but your also paying half the price of a full car wash so it’s worth it. I always do the buy 5 get 1 free.

Ive been here 3 times and always have a negative experience. I have a monthly membership and wont be renewing. Today, my monthly pass wasnt being read by the machine and I pressed the help button. The car wash was not packed and no one came over to help me for 12 minutes. The «manager» was standing around shootin the sh** with another employee until I physically got out of my vehicle to ask for my help. They always forget to give me my air freshner as well. I had to ask for it this time as well. I will finish my remaining month by going to the National City location. On top of it all, no apology was offered and I was simply told that the machine was having an issue which was obvious.

I have loved this place as it fills a gap in my frugal heart that still loves a clean truck. I accidentally locked my keys in the car. While waiting I got to do a great detail. Miguel let me use his personal cell phone and kept checking on me while waiting for service. He even brought me a stool so I was more comfortable while waiting. That’s some serious service. Thank you for Miguel!

Good deal on the monthly memberships but it never really seems like the car gets all the way clean. The brushes also leave swirl marks so it would be nice if it was touch less especially since they recently redid the place. Gas prices are completely out of control here so unless you are completely out of gas fill up elsewhere

I went to Soap Joe’s in jackson Dr, after washing my car, I saw a big scratch on the trunck, I talked to manegar but they didnt care about it. Thats worst place.

I have been to all the Soapy Joe’s in San Diego this one is the worst. Also I just started driving for Über and the guy that was at the point of sale may have just have been doing his job, but I really dislike consistency he charged me extra for driving for Über, long story short. Nevertheless there was not enough vacuums and the LP air hose was not available. I am disappointed.

I recently went through the car wash on Jackson Dr. I have a Ruby Red 2014 Ford Focus. The car had about 4800 miles on it and had never been waxed.
I purchased the $ 10 wash. When I got home I discovered that the car was covered with a waxy looking smeared residue on the glass and on all of the body panels. I can only surmise this was from one of the components of the car wash process.
It took my wife and me two hours to successfully remove the crap from the car; the glass being especially difficult to get clean. I cannot recommend this car wash.

I have been going to this location for a while now, as I love the idea behind Soapy Joes, but unfortunately I’m done going here. Every time I come I can tell that the vacuums are not properly maintained as the suction is getting worse and there are parts breaking off.
The last 2 times I have been through, the guys working the wash not longer scrub the front of your car, and I’m in fear of always being rear ended by how close they pull other cars in behind mine.
Sorry, La Mesa, I can’t do it anymore. I’d rather go to the Mira Mesa location where there are more places for cars and the layout is better.

Soapy Joes is a great quick car wash not for the lazy but for the people who like to do it «themselves». Highly recommend the 15 $ a month for unlimited washes.

This monthly car wash service is well worth it! They are always professional and have plenty of self serve vacuum stations.

Wouldn’t go to any other car wash but this one. I wish the happy hour was more often since I only get the magic potion car wash ($ 18). It’s always busy when I go. I bring my own towels to dry my car afterwards since people seem to not know where to put the dirty used ones.

If you like to «do it yourself» car wash this is for you. I personally love going here.
After reading reviews I see that the people going here have misconceptions about the car washing process… It’s basically like any other drive through car wash but after you go through it you pull up the one of the self-​serve stations at any side of the building and take care of your car. There are clean towels and vacuums to dry the outside and clean the interior.
The main reason I spend my hard earned money here is because of the $ 15 a month unlimited car washes. It’s such a great way to consistently have a clean car. Plus it makes your focus on your car and see if you have anything wrong with the exterior, scratches, or things of that sort. I’m super OCD about my car so being able to clean it myself makes me happier than going to another car wash where other people clean it because this isn’t their car and they don’t care whether all of the nooks and crannies are cleaned out.
I’ve also been to the location in National City (which I personally like better) and the staff is friendly at both locations.
Overall I recommend getting your car washed here if you like to be the one to do the small detailing of your car.

I payed $ 15 for a mediocre car wash. I still had spots on my car afterwards and the wax left this glaze on my windows that is hard to see out of. There is not a lot of space there either for everyone so I had to dry my car in the sleep train parking lot. I told the guy my car was still dirty and he said it was dirty on the inside. I do like the smell of the air freshener they give you but it only lasts about 2 days.

I always have a consistent great experience at soapy joe’s. The Super Joes is the best!

High prices for a mediocre quality wash. I have a white car and whenever I come here The wash ends up leaving a weird brown greasy film covering the very bottom part of my car, below the doors, that I have to wipe off. To make things worse, the tire shine the wash applies comes off when the wheels spin and it ends up getting all over my doors, which again, I have to wipe off. All this for an $ 18 wash. The wash also leaves quite a bit of water spots on my car. Not happy. I’d be happy to pay $ 18 for a wash if it did an amazing job, which this wash unfortunately doesn’t do.
It’s nice they have free vacuums and towels to use. Bad part is the towels are often dirty and the vacuums don’t have great suction.
I pretty much come here as a last resort if I really need my car washed.

I’ve heard from a few friends about this place and how they hand wash your car. I must have went to the wrong location. But it seemed just like any other car wash place I’ve been to. Only thing is, even though there was a guy scrubbing my car before I went into the carwash, I left with dirt and bird poop still stuck to my car!
How does that happen? I can go down the street to my usual spot and get a cleaner wash, without an extra guy to scrub my car. It’s not like my car was unusually dirty. It’s been dirtier before! On a good note, their air freshener smells really good. I didn’t have time to use their vacuum so I can’t say for sure how well they work.
I may give the place another try just to see if I just went on a not-​so-​great day. Otherwise, I’ll probably stick to my local carwash. No point in going out of the way for mediocre cleaning.

I’ve been here every week for the past month. I usually just get the 8 dollar washes but occasionally I’ll splurge and get the wax and shine too :) they give you a cute air freshener with the $ 15 wash! I love this place because it has free vacuums and the towels to dry your car with (even though they use the dryers on your car as well). I live downtown but drive all the way out here just for soapy joes. Also, the attendants wear bow ties which I think is adorable :)

Best car wash in town! I’ve been coming here for years the price is reasonable and it’s very convenient. And scrub your car first and then run you through the car wash. Free vacuums to boot!

Love this place. The soapy joes car wash is awesome and priced well. The vacuums are completely free to use (no quarters or tokens) and powerful enough to actually be effective. You can also use your Vons club card gas rewards to get a discount on gas. I drive out of my way to go here once a week to clean out our car and fill up for the week with your Vons gas rewards. And the last thing is that they have a bathroom that easily accessible, which is important to me because I have 4 kids and every single time at least one of them have to go to the bathroom when we’re cleaning out the car.

This used to be a great place then they remodeled got rid of dry employees big
Mistake they wiped all the dirt off the machine did not get plus the drips. Went through yesterday got the top wash with waxes all the lights for my wash were on as drove past the lights the guy hit a button and switched my wash to a regular looked back and saw the lights go to regular. I said to myself that’s funny but then I noticed the water was not beading like it does with wax then after the blow job I got out to dry drips and noticed water stains on the windows and dirt in drops that I wiped. This greedy bastard that owns this place is not conditioning his water and cheating on wax jobs plus he fired those cool Chaldean dudes with the big smiles. If Karma is like a train right before it comes off the tracks there is going to be a big crash.

I used this car wash the other day. I normally use the one in Rancho San Diego. At this one they do not hand dry your car and there are no air compressors to blow out the interior crevaces. Also, the vacuums do not have very much power. What I do like is that they provide towels after the wash for you to use and get any missed spots off the exterior.
Another bad thing that they really can’t control is the location of the vacuums. A couple of them are right at the entrance to the gas station. A couple times I thought the people pulling in to get gas might hit my door while I was vacuuming.
I would definitely prefer the Rancho location however if I needed a car wash really bad and didnt have time to go out there, I would use them again.

Great remodel. Someone greeted me as I got in line and was there to answer questions with the payment station if I needed it– but I didn’t, it was pretty easy to use. Someone scrubbed not just my fenders but the entire back, sides and front of my car.
Got the wash with the wax and all the bells and whistles – car completely clean and looks great! They have a ton of free vacuum stations fully stocked with micro fiber towels-​everything was clean and looked brand new.
Didn’t give full stars because getting in and out was difficult space wise and the vacuum locations were in awkward spots that block other cars from getting in and out of the area!

UPDATE: Many already know that the SJs in La Mesa is now «almost» fully automated – no more guys hand drying cars as you exit the wash.
This is a pretty good improvement, IMHO.
The process is now:
Slide a credit card into the machine at entry.
Choose your wash and options (a bit more pricey than before).
A couple of guys pre-​scrub your fenders before you enter the automated wash.
Powerful blowers dry your car upon exiting the wash, so say goodbye to the Jack in the Box antenna head :(…
Pro Tip: There is a daily Happy Hour (after 6?) when you can save a buck.