I am not one to go overboard on car care, but I do it. Wash them myself as car washes never seem to do a decent job and I am concerned with swirls. I use a vehicle specific soap/wax combo, haven’t waxed a car as a separate step in many years.

Vacuum out regularly as needed and generally do full interior “detail” with Armor All and such a couple times a year. My wife’s car gets cleaned more frequently as we drive it more than mine. Plus she nags when the exterior is dirty. Black paint so shows dirt quickly.


I just spent about 12 hours in total over the past three days doing a deep clean on my car (2022 Bronco). Just came back from an 11 day road trip to Moab and the Grand Canyon and it definitely needed it. Lots of fine dust and probably still some left over dust from my trip to Moab three years ago.

The work included:
Scrub convertible top with Dawn dish soap to prep for fabric treatment to protect from UV, etc.
Wash
Remove dead bug carnage from grill/front end (3600 miles worth of goo) Hydrogen peroxide works great to loosen and remove the guts.
Scrub wheels
Tire dressing
Armor All exterior plastic bits/bumpers
Treat convertible top with “303 Fabric Guard” protects from UV and provide repellency to dirt and water.
Vacuum interior
Armor All interior plastic bits, center console, dash
Windex instrument cluster, rear view mirror, center display
Wash floor mats
Leather cleaner and conditioner on the seats



This is one of those things where it isn’t complicated but it can be time consuming (especially if neglected for a time). I hate it when I do it, but I do appreciate the final product. I know some guys enjoy doing it, but I guess I will just never understand that (kind of like “jogging” - how can anyone want to and enjoy doing it?)


So as I sit here and recover from toiling in the sun and heat I though I would see what the consensus is amongst the collective.

Question:
What best describes your emotional investment with cosmetic car care (washing, waxing, detailing, etc)

Choices:
I love it
I hate it but do it
I hate it so much I pay someone else to do it
Indifferent, but I do it
I don’t do it, I don’t care. My car is a dumpster
Other

 

I'm somewhere between being indifferent and loving it. My dad taught me to take pride in my vehicle. It's just that, mine is old now (2003) with flaking paint, and it's black. I had always wanted a black car, but never again. It only looks good for 10, maybe 20 minutes at the most.

My vote is other. I hire a pro detailer when needed and IMHO, is $$$ well spent.

I voted other. My truck is not a dumpster, but it's spotless either. Back East for 30yrs I would wash and wax regularly.
Looking back, I wish I would of used that time differently, between mowing lawn and waxing stuff a lot of my time was wasted.
Priorities change as you get older, some things you don't think about is your time when young.

Maybe once a year, whether it needs it or not.

Other. I go through the car wash whenever I think it needs it. I paid for a detailer once and it was worth it but it hasn't become a habit. The car is 17 years old. It's driven about 5k miles a year mostly local trips.

I love it.

Hand wash everything. I bought a pressure washer just for car washing. Last car I bought was in April, first thing I did was wash it, clay it, wash it, paint correct it, ceramic coat it then tint the windows. Now it gets hand washed every other Sunday and a ceramic topper. Just driving through the rain today I never used the wipers, the water just flowed off. Also some weird marks on the glass roof washed away during the drive.

But as soon as I'm done with my car, I just do a quick wash and coat on my daughter's. I've given up on her car. She keeps running into things and the interior is horrible.

Voted other.
I'm a bit below 'love it'
Like yard work, it's some 'me' time.

I'll do cosmetic care occasionally on an as needed basis. Usually quarterly or semi-annually. I'll take it to a car wash place ($<20). I'll polish/wax myself every 2-3 years or so - when the rain stops beading and is more sheet like.

Mostly for the older cars. New car gets washed once in awhile as well but I'm scared to polish/wax. Not sure if / when it needs it and not sure what to do / how to handle the modern coatings.

Only the truck gets functional washes - car wash to spray and clean the underbody - the switches for Hi/Lo and and center diff. Don't want those to get stuck.

I used to do washes myself but I'm too old now. It's too tiring and too much work.

I'll was them about once every six weeks or so.

I drive older trucks because there is no modern day equivalent to what I have now (that and I have never made a car payment).

Seems a 20 year old truck can be kept clean, but not detailed well enough to take it to a car show.

I like doing it myself, as I know how ocd I am and how I will do it right the first time. I don't always wax my car but I appreciate the results.

One of my hobbies is collecting high condition 100k miles + used cars. Not particularly expensive as my tastes run to 10-20 year old well maintained cars. I sell a couple each year and keep them all in front row condition.

My current lineup is 6 ranging from newest 2015 Sienna awd, oldest is 2008 Ridgeline. Also have a 2011 Durango Citadel Hemi, 2012 Charger R/T hemi, 2014 Lexus ls460 and 2014 VW beetle convert turbo. Always something to do but nobody pushes me.

If you’re as interested in maintaining your vehicles in as pristine shape as I am then you should seriously consider having the cars ceramic coated when you first get them.
I bring my new vehicles to a guy that will do paint correction (all cars need paint correction from the factory) then he ceramic coats the entire car including the glass. The end result is a car that can be washed very easily, with special soap either by hand or a foam cannon.

We usually keep our cars about 10 years or so and they are garage kept. When we go to sell them (we usually don’t trade them in) the condition of the paint is one of the reasons I can get top dollar for them.

911boss:

which armor all product are you using for the interior and have you noticed any browning over the years?

I have only been using a microfiber towel and a light spray of 303 regular protectant to clean my dashboards. My last four cars I have had the windshield tinted so I don't really worry about the UV damage but I remember from the 80s that stuff would hurt my dashboard over time. I'm also using a water based tire dressing to help prevent the slinging.

I do love the 303 fabric on my kid's fabric convertible top. I also use gummi pflege on all my rubber seals on all the cars but especially on the seals of my hardtop convertible.


for those that get ceramic coatings, do your detailer tell you what they are using?

my latest car I did myself with Gyeon Mohs EVO.
The coating process took 45 mins. The prep work took my six hours. lol

I buy a car, used w/ 30K miles +/-. I drive it to 75K miles. I trade it in for another used with 30K. In between I keep up on the maintenance as required. I power wash the road salt off in the Spring. I wash and vacuum the day before I trade it in. We get pretty heavy rain here. That takes the heavy stuff off.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
911boss:

which armor all product are you using for the interior and have you noticed any browning over the years?

I have only been using a microfiber towel and a light spray of 303 regular protectant to clean my dashboards. My last four cars I have had the windshield tinted so I don't really worry about the UV damage but I remember from the 80s that stuff would hurt my dashboard over time. I'm also using a water based tire dressing to help prevent the slinging.

I do love the 303 fabric on my kid's fabric convertible top. I also use gummi pflege on all my rubber seals on all the cars but especially on the seals of my hardtop convertible.


for those that get ceramic coatings, do your detailer tell you what they are using?

my latest car I did myself with Gyeon Mohs EVO.
The coating process took 45 mins. The prep work took my six hours. lol

This is what my detailer uses..
https://ceramicpro.com/products/#automotive

I like a clean car as much as anybody, but I don't wash my truck every week. Lately I get a lot more satisfaction taking care of the maintenance- oil/filters, trans fluid changes,plugs, brakes etc. Plus, if I have to re do something, it's at my house, not outside at Bubba's shop.

quote:

Originally posted by MRBTX:
Plus, if I have to re do something, it's at my house, not outside at Bubba's shop.

I do everything at home or if I need more space, I use one of the garages at work. I normally do oil changes at home and brakes at work. lol. More space at work. Here's the "personal car" bay at work where we all do work on our cars and we even hung a deer in there once (there's an engine lift mount we use):

quick wash every other Sunday: all I did was foam it, rinse it, foam it, rinse it again and blow dry. the ceramic coating makes it easy

I have PPF installed and Ceramic coating applied when new or relatively new. It makes cleaning my vehicles pretty easy. 2 bucket method, car shampoo, and they are so easy to wash. Then bead maker after (P&S) to preserve the ceramic coating. My truck is more of a pain than the cars because of size and needing a step ladder to get the roof.

The newer the vehicle the more time I spend.