How much do you spend at the carwash?

[PanzerSD]

How much do you spend at the carwash?

[Scott98]

$0. I do all my own cleaning.

Scott

[Hatterasguy]

Zip because it ruins your paint. I'd never take anything I own through one, well unless its leased than I wouldn't give a care.

They run about $30 around here, detail about $200.

[Whiskeydan]

I hand wash in the front lawn when the grass needs watering.

This does two things, cleans the car and waters the yard by making it rain the next day.

[mespe]

yeah where's the $0 poll entry???

[Mustang_man298]

Well, since we're already off to annihilating this thread
I too wash my own on everything I own. I used to be one of those toothbrush in the door jamb spend the whole day detailing kinda guys. Then I moved out into the hills, living out on a dirt/gravel road, etc. Now realizing washing is a near mute point out here, I do a "bi annual" wash, with the major seasonal changes,lol. I've washed the 80 twice now, first with a hose job to get the 4 yrs of backyard sitting dust off (from before it was running again), and then again at the pressure steamer at work after that oil mess incident...now that we had a pretend rain (just enough to make mud of the dust on the cars) I guess I'm goingto have to squirt it off again,lol....
Dang....I'm really getting into this redneck thing aint I ?

[Cervan]

lol, i should wash my 240d, its been a week or so.

[sailor15015]

I spend about $5 at the do-it-yourself wash. I don't take it through automatic car washes because they don't do a good job at all, especially on the rear. For the same money I can do it myself and see what I'm getting.

[PanzerSD]

Originally Posted by mespe

yeah where's the $0 poll entry???

Sorry

[Cervan]

Looks like its either all or none, 200$ detail, or 10 dollars at the do it yourself stand.

[KAdams4458]

My cars have always been rinsed a couple of times a week at the car wash just to keep down on dust, and get rid of bird droppings, and at least once every two weeks by hand at home/friend's house, which involves toothbrushes, and an arsenal of professional paint products. The wife's car has been washed twice this year, both times at a self-service car wash because I could no longer see through the windows while driving it. I'm pretty sure it's never had a coat of wax in its life.

I usually do a vacuuming with the rinse jobs, so $10 does the trick.

[gatorblue92]

i do mine in my front yard... its free

[tarbe]

Originally Posted by Scott98

$0. I do all my own cleaning.

Scott

+1

[lietuviai]

Originally Posted by Scott98

$0. I do all my own cleaning.

Scott

Originally Posted by tarbe

+1

+2 Same here and my water costs me zip. I have my own well.

[Hatterasguy]

I prefer Meguiars and Griots products. Its amazing how good paint can look when its taken care of properly. Sadly to do it properly takes a ton of time and an ample amount of money as well.

So I cheat, more so since my paint is shot. One fast coat of NXT wax per month on the SDL seems to keep it looking decent. Once it get some fresh paint on it and a decent surface to work with, I will get it on the Griots system. The downside of the Griots natural wax is it takes FOREVER to apply, you can cheat with the modern synthetic waxes like NXT and move real quick. But I think the natural stuff looks better, and allows you to build better. NXT's biggest problem is it streaks if you build it to much. But its a good wax for 95% of the time.

As for washing the car it starts with the proper soap. I like Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo. You need three mitts, preferable made of natural fiber to prevent scratching. One is for all the upper paint surfaces, the second is for the lower 1/3 of the body work. The third is strickly for the wheels and underside. Don't mix them, mark them. Never mix them in the bucket either use one at a time, and lay them out to dry.

Then I prefer to dry it with a synthetic chamois to speed the process up. But you really should use perfectly clean microfiber towls. This will prevent all those light scratch's you can see in the light.

Taking proper care of the paint work is extremly labor intensive, its nearly impossible on a daily driver.

But one area that people miss a lot on these old cars which really makes a difference are the wheel wells. You can eat out of mine and it only takes a few seconds to get them this way, well after you get them clean. If yours are nasty you have to take off the wheel and go nuts with Simple Green and some little brush's. But once they are clean, here is what you do: After you clean your wheels hit them really fast with the mitt. They will stay perfectly clean and very presentable. Takes no extra time.