OT: Washing your car

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by zmudshark

This is a rabbit hole...if you bought a Ferrari, I’d spend 2 weeks making it blindingly smooth.

I had been thinking about this recently.

If you own an expensive and/or exotic car, it's expected to look mint any time you drive it. But the simple act of owning and driving a car will subject it to inevitable cosmetic damage. You will never win this contest.

Trying to maintain a car that's driven, in pristine condition, is a futile activity.
Sure; wash it whenever (30 minutes or less!) and wax it a couple times a year (maybe!), otherwise it's a Sisyphean effort.

[bigbill]

I live in the desert. Drive through car wash but it's usually a waste of time. About once a week a big thunderstorm will blow up, it'll rain for five minutes, then high winds that blow sand and dirt all over your wet car. It's a continuous cycle.

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

I had been thinking about this recently.

If you own an expensive and/or exotic car, it's expected to look mint any time you drive it. But the simple act of owning and driving a car will subject it to inevitable cosmetic damage. You will never win this contest.

Trying to maintain a car that's driven, in pristine condition, is a futile activity.
Sure; wash it whenever (30 minutes or less!) and wax it a couple times a year (maybe!), otherwise it's a Sisyphean effort.

Not so. This is the future, my friend.

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by bigbill

I live in the desert. Drive through car wash but it's usually a waste of time. About once a week a big thunderstorm will blow up, it'll rain for five minutes, then high winds that blow sand and dirt all over your wet car. It's a continuous cycle.

You have a truck. I too, have a truck. I don’t wash it.

Seriously, my pickup in MI has not been washed since sometime in 2018, maybe.

[commandcomm]

Washed my two cars today. Didn’t spend $12 at the car wash. I think washing your own car is doing stuff on your own like cutting own grass, changing the brakes, doing own bike maintenance, figuring things out. There is some self satisfaction with doing things yourself.

[avalonracing]

I don't like washing my car and do it less often than I should but when I do it is pretty much exactly your system.

Originally Posted by dgauthier

Pfah! An hour! Luxury...

It always takes me 5 hours to wash a car properly. One should always wash in the shade, so I start at 10 pm and finish at 3 am. I used to use only the softest cotton diapers, but now that our daughter is grown I use recycled high quality terrycloth bath towels. To ensure I don't drag grit over the finish, I constantly change the water, soap, and cloths with each section: roof and windows, hood and trunk, left side top half and front grill, right side top half and rear, sides bottom half, wheels, then finally tires and wheel wells. Dry while wiping the interior with the damp towels, and then all the exterior top surfaces get a gentle polish to remove those little bumps that stick to the finish.

Car looks great. It's less serene, though...

[duff_duffy]

My tip of the day....buy a silver car and let the rain “wash” it. My celica that I sold with 240,000 miles a few years ago was washed maybe three times. While it never looked showroom new, it never looked dirty. Silver just does not show dirt that much. Leaves much more time to obsess over bikes!

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by duff_duffy

My tip of the day....buy a silver car and let the rain “wash” it. My celica that I sold with 240,000 miles a few years ago was washed maybe three times. While it never looked showroom new, it never looked dirty. Silver just does not show dirt that much. Leaves much more time to obsess over bikes!

Another good color for hiding dirt is a light gold metallic. My 1985 BMW had a color called Bronzit that was a silvery gold.

[Likes2ridefar]

Had two grey cars and agree, looked clean most the time. Now have a metallic dark blue and it looks dusty pretty much always even shortly after cleaning.

[charliedid]

Washing a car is about as much fun as cutting the grass. Which is to say, not at all.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Washing a car is about as much fun as cutting the grass. Which is to say, not at all.

Ha ha. Was about to post the same. Working on bikes and other hobbies: self satisfaction. Doing chores: yuck. Sounds like some Tom Sawyer scam to me.

[gasman]

I’d wash my car but the only place for the soap and to go is down the storm drain to the local creek and then the Willamette river. I go to a local car wash that recycles its’ water.
When I get home I wax it in the shade. I like it but not enough to spend 5 hours on it. I don’t see the point of spending that much time on a vehicle that I drive to go camping, hiking ,skiing and climbing. My SUV is a tool.

[paredown]

Originally Posted by zmudshark

You have a truck. I too, have a truck. I don’t wash it.

Seriously, my pickup in MI has not been washed since sometime in 2018, maybe.

Yup--I went crazy and washed the inside of my cab this summer after I finished a long renovation--I may go crazy and wash the outside too, but that will be the first time in at least 5 years...

[RFC]

Originally Posted by duff_duffy

My tip of the day....buy a silver car and let the rain “wash” it. My celica that I sold with 240,000 miles a few years ago was washed maybe three times. While it never looked showroom new, it never looked dirty. Silver just does not show dirt that much. Leaves much more time to obsess over bikes!

Dead on. My last car was a titanium grey BMW. Here in the desert, I could go months (years) without washing it and it was still titanium grey.

[OtayBW]

When I take my truck to the dealer for service (or, is that when I bring my truck to the dealer for service, with apologies to Click and Clack...), they always warsh it - whether I like it or not!