How often do you wash your car?

It's funny you say that, because I personally wouldn't consider a dealership carwash a 'full wash'. All they do is scratch up your paint with supplies that probably haven't been washed in ages and are covered with rocks and pebbles.

In fact my car is in the shop as we speak, and I told them I didn't want it washed. Usually they just go ahead and wash it anyway... :rolleyes:

Zesty said:
It only gets full wash when it gets serviced, 'cause that's using someone else's water! :evil:
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Does anyone else get a deep feeling of satisfaction by washing their car by hand? Not just a quick scrub, but a full on, overlapping circular motion with the cloth or sponge, and knowing you did a complete job, and not something half ass?
 
I'm not overly anal about washing my car, but I get that satisfaction too. There's something comforting about literally 'babying' your car with your own two hands.
 
I certainly do, especially when I run the boombox outside and blast some classic rock on a perfect day. I'll spend a couple hours on the car... of course that was when I had a garage and a driveway (and a hose).
 
^ Your building doesn't have a car wash bay? Most apartment buildings have them here, I guess it's necessary because of the rain.
 
When its dirty. :p So about once a month at the moment. Once the weather gets colder, it will have to wait till spring for a proper wash.

I do vacuum it out and wipe down the inside every 2 weeks.
 
Normally I'll do it every few weeks if I have time. But the last time my car saw soap was in May. Since the paint on my Buick is already fucked, I don't bother with a bunch of fancy micro fiber cloths and waxes and whatnot. I simply use a Mr Clean Autodry kit (which really does work) and an elcheapo sponge from AutoZone.
 
jayhawk said:
Does anyone else get a deep feeling of satisfaction by washing their car by hand? Not just a quick scrub, but a full on, overlapping circular motion with the cloth or sponge, and knowing you did a complete job, and not something half ass?
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uhhhh, no. I do get satisfaction from looking at it once its clean though, but the work itself doesn't do much for me. However i do like welding, especially things like exhaust systems, because if the car ends up sounding good then i know i did my job designing and building they exhaust.

Speaking of which, i still need to get those flanges so i can make zoomies for my MR2 before i part it out :p
 
I personally wash my car at least once a week, during the weekly wash, it is just water + high pressure Jet and Chamois Dry... unless it gets dirty. Once a week, I wax it and do a Paint Cleaning process. Then about every 4 months, I do some Swirl Removing, Clay Bar and re-do the wax.

Another thing I think is very useful is I lower 3/4 of the car with a strong heavy duty wash mix before I jet spray it, it helps gets the grime off easier as well :D

With products, the only off the shelf (k-mart) products I use is Megs Gold Class and Megs NXT, everything else is either Detailers Pride, Duragloss, Pinnacle, Poorboys and Bowdens.

and Jayhawk I know what you mean by that, my gf bought a 13 year old Black Honda with a below average paint job and we got it back to a brand new condition, the paint feels smooth as glass and is reflective as hell :D... but with my Silver car, it is satisfying to actually get some very good reflection after a 6 hour full detail :D

and Shaun, you can do better than a bunch of Armorall products :p... Meguairs or mothers is a much better start :D

and SIlverstar, you're right, from experience with several people's car, Paste doesn't go too well with Black cars, mainly because Swirls and scratches are more visible on black car and the Paste compound is slightly harder than Liquid. But on any other color, Paste is better
 
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It's actually just the one product from ArmourAll in my basket. I use that because it's the only cleaning wipe I have found that doesn't leave that disgusting residue all over your dash and seats after you wipe them down.

There's also a pretty embarrassing Simoniz product in the back, but that was just a waste of money, I don't use it.
 
Every couple of months.

But I swear, I must accidentally be doing some ancient Indian rain dance every time I wash my car.
 
andyhui01 said:
SIlverstar, you're right, from experience with several people's car, Paste doesn't go too well with Black cars, mainly because Swirls and scratches are more visible on black car and the Paste compound is slightly harder than Liquid. But on any other color, Paste is better
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I just can't get good results with liquid waxes I guess, paste always seems more even and come off cleaner than liquid for me:???:
TomCat said:
But I swear, I must accidentally be doing some ancient Indian rain dance every time I wash my car.
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x2 there :D
 
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I've gone nearly the entire summer without it. I figure the layer of dust on it protects the shitty, clear coat-less, paint. It took me 3 weeks to clean off the racoon blood on the wide of the trunk :D
 
i'm lazy as hell, so I never do. Its been atleast 6 months.
 
The seals in my car don't accually seal, So I never wash it. Specially in the boot, which gets a bad musty smell.
 
Shawn said:
^ Your building doesn't have a car wash bay? Most apartment buildings have them here, I guess it's necessary because of the rain.
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We have two parking spots with a faucet between them. That's it. No power outlets for vacuums or power buffers in the carports or at the carwash spots. I saw that someone snuck one of those light socket plugs into the light over my neighbor's spot, but it only works after dark when the lights are on.
 
Well I wash it about once a week, unless it gets dirty slower or quicker than normal.

Full detail every 2-3 months. I have about ?1500 worth of detailing products and equipment, made up of rotary polishers, PC7424, stacks of Meguiars professional range, poorboys and Swissol/Swissvax products.. I do take quite some satisfaction from detailing.
 
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Not enough.


Stupid water restrictions >:S
 
jayhawk said:
Does anyone else get a deep feeling of satisfaction by washing their car by hand? Not just a quick scrub, but a full on, overlapping circular motion with the cloth or sponge, and knowing you did a complete job, and not something half ass?
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Yup, that's why i always use the cabins and not the carwash that's right next to it. I'm considering bringing my own bucket and sponge over there to do a proper job at it :p.

Another question, what's a proper wax that is not too pricey? I see at the dealer that Mercedes recommends Sonax, are their products any good?
 
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