How often do you carwash your Tacoma ?

A dozen or so years ago, I'm in a line at a You-Do car wash and a guy pulls into the line beside me with a Ford GT. He had just driven from Calgary to Victoria in the car owned by him and a half dozen buddies. I bet they would be pissed if they knew he took the group's Ford GT thru a automatic car wash with the power rollers.
I tried to talk the guy out of it and to go into the You-Do hand wash line, but this guy was obviously a the business/investment guy, not a car guy and as it turns out pretty good at acquiring assets, but not a very wise investment guy when it comes to protecting assets.

 

I wash mine on the regular too op. Toyota does recommend touchless but these new touch washes are probably fine in moderation. I'm in the northern climate and touch washs are pretty much mandatory up here in winter if you want to get the salt off.

These trucks look good clean or dirty, I prefer the former myself

 

I have a black truck. I also have an unlimited pass at the car wash. It goes through about 3x a week and I’ve done it for 10 years. It’s still shiny and not scratched. It doesn’t have a bit of rust either.

 

Do you do any other paint treatment in addition?

 

Those chemicals are rough on the paint over time. Hand wash it dude.

 

Drive-thru, touchless, once a week. Full ceramic coat every other year. The shitty carwash water rinses & beads off flawlessly. 5 minute microfiber wipe down once home. Super clean.

 

I run it through Autobell maybe once a month. When you get to be my age, you quit worrying about shit like swirl marks.

 

This will be heresy to some - my '06 was washed about 4 times in almost 15 years. Sold it for $10.5K this past December.
My '21 has been washed twice since I picked it up in December '20 - first time by the dealer. 2nd time by touchless.

 

I use the power wash at the Shell next door. I haven’t used a car wash in 3 years because I don’t want water being forced under the soft tonneau cover.

 

In the winter, I run it through a touchless car wash about 2 miles from home every time the temps go above freezing, to wash the salt off. There's usually a 30-40 minute lineup.

Rest of the year, I go to a self-serve wash on the way home from every wheeling trip to wash off the mud and dirt, then run it through the same touchless car wash.

I polish and wax the truck about once a year due to pinstripes from wheeling.

 

I’ll put on a coat of Nu Finish once a year. The car wash does a wax coat but as you know it’s not very durable. Makes it look good though.

 

Here in the new desert of California I wash my truck at least once a week.

 

Pressure washer when its caked with mud or silt and a professional detail once a year. That's it.

 

Yes, I have heard of these swirl marks but have never see one one in the wild. Is there proof they exist ? Do you have any pictures of them ?

 

Lol. No, I'm up here in Denton. There are four or five of them between here and Corinth.

 

Hey Dave, long time no hear. Glad to see your on the same side of a conversation as me for a change. Sounds like you keep a clean pickup truck too. And I took your advice and figured out how to hit the "quote" button as opposed to cut and paste. You see old friend, we can learn a little from each other....

 

I wash mine every couple of weeks . Hand wash only and wax it once a month . Mine is super white I’m paranoid about the paint .

 

Depends on the time of the year for me. In the winter I wash 2 times a week on avg, but its usually only if there is snow, slush, or water on the roads that kicks up salt. In the summer I wash 2 times a month, but since my truck sits in the driveway most of the time I will just give it a quick rinse with the hose to get all the tree sap off it.

I got the unlimited wash from the holiday station stores. They are touch free and have undercarriage sprayers.

 

Once or twice a month in the warm months.
Once road salt season starts , Ill try to do it at least once every 2 weeks. Preferably touchless , but I take what’s available depending on where I am.

I care more about keeping salt off , swirl marks are easier to remove than rust.

 

Being a black truck, normally once a week while it’s warm outside. In the salt season generally every time I’m at work I’ll pull it in the bay and hit it with the hot water tap and the undercarriage washer.