Effects of car washes

Fuck you, California ...

Sincerely,
Michigan

 

Ask all the questions you want... I was one of the founding members of the ACDetailers Club on my last car forum.

I put my lawn sprinkler under my vehicles and let them run for a good hour or more when there's salt on them. I do that just before a wash, that way no stray water sits on the paint and leaves water spots.

 

Enjoy your cold

 

It's not a ferrari, take it through the tunnel and don't worry about it. Touchless or Synthetic brush...people will tell you the fallacies of both. I've driven through 500+ tunnel washes in my life of the touchless and touch varieties in many different vehicles. Never had any damage that a good wax and polish job wouldn't fix later.

 

LOL... if you got a good look at your paint in direct sunlight and saw all the damage done to the paint, not sure you'd be so flippant about automatic car washes. But maybe you don't care. Some of us do. Nobody is right, nobody is wrong. It's just that we care about different things.

 

Yea, so this is all pretty much a moot point, because the other weekend I went to Home Depot and picked up a hose and spray nozzle. Get home, fill bucket up with hot water, get new hose out and hook it up to spigot out behind garages, put the nozzle on, and go to spray down the car. No water. Hmm, check the spigot. No water. Go to spigot on the next building. No water. Go to spigot around front of building. No. Water. WTF!

So basically I'm stuck using the car wash with the pressure washer you pay for by the minute or whatever. I'm just going to use that to spray off the muck and undercarriage once a week, and then wash it by hand with some Optimum No Rinse (http://www.autopia-carcare.com/optimum-no-rinse-32oz.html) stuff I have. I basically have a garden sprayer (thing you pump by hand) that I mix up some No Rinse in at the dilution strength used for claying, and I hose down the panel I'm going to wash prior to hitting it with the two-bucket method and drying off. It takes a little longer than spraying down with a garden hose, but in the past I've found it to be the best method for living in a condo/apartment complex without water spigots. It just sucks I don't have an easy way to clean the under carriage off without paying for the pressure washer ... sigh

 

I feel your pain... I used to live at a complex years ago that only turned on the outside spigots from May until October. Pain in the ass. I wasn't as OCD about my cars back then but I would take all my supplies to a self wash car wash bay and wash it by hand. I was just careful not to get too close with their high pressure hose. Your other option would be to beg a family member or friend to use their hose.

 

But fuck me California and my no salt ha ha

 

Thanks, man .. I appreciate the advice ... I'm not super OCD about it, but I am trying to keep the thing from rusting too much (it seems the exhaust is already forming surface rust wtf ...)

 

Hehe ... Yup. Confirmed. You're a Marine!

 

I just got done driving the truck down 15 miles of dirt road at over 45mph and crossed 3 creeks. There's a reason I went with white. You have to TRY to see the micro scratches in the clear coat and I've done this with multiple vehicles prior. They all cleaned up nice with a polish and wax / clay bar and sold for top dollar.

 

Yea, that's why I love white. My Camry cleans up so well. You'd never believe it has 130k miles on it. I just couldn't do white on a truck though, looks too much like a work truck

 

Personally, white is my least favorite color and silver comes in a close second. That's because I love to show off my work and the darker the color, the more reflective, deep, and gorgeous it is when it's been well taken care of... it's a labor of love and I enjoy the hell out of the black paint. As I said before, no right, no wrong, just different perspectives.

 

That's my method as well. Minus the gloves. Whatever hand I'm not using just goes in my pocket for a minute to thaw out.

 

Try the gloves, man ! They aren't sexy but good Lord, they sure help the hands stay warm and dry !

 

Hahah. Really, my right hand is always in the hot water. It's the left hand on running the hose that gets really bad.

 

They come in pairs so you can wear just the left, just the right, or be double sexy and wear both.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004US9VKS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

 

Thank you. I knew this would bring out a lot of people that just wanted to stir the pot. To be fair, I did ask for the negatives, but your comment my opinion and experience as well. It is nice to hear all viewpoints, though.

 

I guess I will never understand the need for a clean shiny truck that looks like one just picked it up.
I was that away about my Corvettes and sold them becasue I was OCD and was never OCD about a truck.

I keep the MX 5 cleaner. It has the garage with the wifee's CRV . Truck stays outside