Hot Wheels – Toy Reviews By Dad

I think like most families, we try to spend as much time playing outdoors in the summer as we can. This means we have to be creative and find new games and new toys that are going to keep our kids interested in outdoor playtime. We were gifted the Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash from a friend as an outdoor toy we were going to use to keep the boys entertained! Now, I should also mention that I have the worst luck with anything inflatable. It is not uncommon for me to go thru a couple of different inflatable pools every summer. Apparently, my kids are just too rough on most inflatable outdoor toys! We did eventually run into the inflatable slowly leaking air problem that all my outdoor inflatable toys seem to run into - but we still got lots of fun playtime out of this toy. And I'm very glad we had this Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash for a summer of fun! General Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash Review The Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash is a slightly older toy - so it can be pretty difficult to find. However, there are numerous different inflatable outdoor water toys that are similar and very fun as well! This Intex Quick-Fill Electric Air Pump is exactly what I use to fill all my outdoor inflatables! The Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash has two long compartments - one on each side - that had to be filled with air to get the structure to stand up correctly. It also had three or four blue air compartments that you fill up to stabilize the structure. There are two square doors that need to be filled up - also for stabilization purposes. There are two car wash "brushes" that also need to be filled up - and another decorative piece that you can fill up with air if you so please. This is a lot of air needed - so just trying to blow it up with your mouth isn't going to get you anywhere. Most people will use a battery powered air pump to get the job done, and this can be pretty effective. However, if you want to be as effective as possible - you want to buy an electric air pump and an extension cord if needed. You will literally be able to blow up this entire inflatable in about 2 minutes with one of those. They are stronger, more effective, and last a lot longer than those battery powered options. Once I made the switch to an electric air pump, I haven't been able to go back to using a battery one for filling up my outdoor inflatable toys! Once the Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash has been filled with air, all you have to do is stand it up, screw your hose into the red connection, and turn on the hose! Once the hose is connected and the water is turned on, it will start spraying water from a couple of different places! Should we try this one next year? The spray is going to get you wet, but the water isn't so hard that a younger kid is going to hate running thru it. Our children love to sit under the water and do yoga, do summersaults, try to keep each other from escaping thru the car wash doors (American gladiator style), and they will even pretend to drive a car into the car wash - although this is probably the game they play the least! I'm not going to lie either and tell you I don't enjoy playing with the Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash. I love getting under the spray and wrestling with the kids or pretending I'm a horse that they have to ride to get thru the car wash. The horse always seems to get stuck right in the middle. We have had a lot of fun playing with this toy over the summer, and I would certainly recommend some type of water inflatable to pass the time! The only downside to the toy is it did develop a slow leak pretty quickly. This means that every 15 minutes or so, I would have to fill one of the side chambers with air. You would slowly see the inflatable deflating and I tried finding the source of the issue and patching it up - but had no success with that. Still, with the electric air pump the refill process took about 30 seconds - and the enjoyment my kids were having made the annoyance of refilling the inflatable with air not a big deal. Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash Grade This was a tough toy to grade. I don't like that we got a slow leak pretty quickly after purchasing it - but I have so much bad luck I'm starting to think it might be my fault that all of these inflatable toys don't work for very long! Plus, the slow leak still made the toy manageable to play with - and my boys had so much fun having a lot of different imaginative adventures with it. Also, the design definitely catches the attention of kids, and the fill up process is very easy - which are big pluses in my book. So, because of all of those factors, we are going to give it a silver star rating and I can honestly say I'm glad we ended up playing with this toy during a lot of hot summer days. Other Links of Interest Not that this Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash toy has much to do with traditional Hot Wheels, but we thought you would enjoy seeing some of these other great Hot Wheels toys we have played with and reviewed over the years! The Hot Wheels Mario Kart Race Track ReviewedHot Wheels Super Ultimate Garage Reviewed (This is the biggest Hot Wheels Track)Hot Wheels Cobra Crush ReviewedA complete List of the Hot Wheels City TracksHot Wheels Multi-Loop Track Builder Reviewed Any of the above toys should make some great gift ideas for children that love Hot Wheels! Quick Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash Video Review If you want to see this Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash in action, check out this video we did. 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