About us

Crystal Clean has been on the corner of Maple and 21st since 2009. It's a family shop — Dan started it, his brother Mike runs the detailing side, and Dan's daughter handles the front counter on weekends.

Why hand washing?

Dan worked at a tunnel wash in his twenties and spent half his shifts touching up the scratches the brushes left. When he opened his own place, the rule was simple: no machines touch the paint. Seventeen years later that's still the rule. Buckets, mitts, towels, elbow grease.

Every car gets hand dried too. Air blowers leave spots, and spots mean the wash wasn't finished. The drying towels get swapped out constantly — there's a whole shelf of them by the back door if you've ever wondered what that stack is.

The crew

There are usually four of us on a weekday, six on Saturdays. Most of the crew has been here over five years, which says something in this line of work. Tony does the best headlight restorations in town and won't let anyone else touch that machine.

Small things we care about

The coffee in the waiting corner is free and it's actually decent — Mike buys the beans from the roaster two blocks down. The bench seats four. There's a water bowl by the door for dogs. And if it's raining on the day you had a detail booked, we'll call you to reschedule rather than have you drive home through puddles.

That's about it. We're not fancy. We just wash cars properly.