How often do you wash your car?

WestonDave

Washed - probably a couple of times a year, but then its a ten year old car, and trying to wash it with two under tens just ends up in a water fight, so you make sure it only happens in summer. That said I did go round it at the weekend and clean all the glass, and check all the levels, but in terms of washing it, it becomes a bit pointless because at nightfall the gritting truck will come past and cover it in salt again!

w211

pulliptears wrote: »

You don't know me, you haven't seen my car yet you assume that because I'm not anal over its cleanliness then that must reflect on my own personal cleanliness. Well, here's the thing, you don't know me, you don't know if my car does 10 miles a week or a thousand so you can't possibly say what a years dirt looks like. Do I garage my vehicle? Is it left outside? Is that road a main road?

Fair, valid points. My initial post wasn't aimed at you, and I didn't say specifically how often your car should be washed, as obviously it would be pointless getting it washed every day if you only use your vehicle a few miles a week - I do drive a thousand miles a week so my car needs to be washed nearly every day, whilst I use my (garaged) motorbike once a month, or twice at the most, and therefore only needs to be washed a few times a year.

w211 wrote: »

I don't see why some people leave their cars filthy.

Notice I said "leave" which means that there are some people who just live in filth, and never, or hardly ever clean their car and is always dirty - had a friend who had a mouldy half-eaten roll in the back - amongst other things. Of course, cars are going to get dirty inside and out - especially in this weather, it's when people just leave it as it is and just not bother clearing it up.

However, the police and MOT testers are going to make judgements when they see a filthy car, and an MOT tester may well fail a borderline part on a car that looks like it doesn't look like it's looked after (and conciously look for other things to fail), rather than passing it and giving it an advisory.

jackieb

I'm not 'allowed' to wash our car. We bought a black one last year and my OH says i'll get swirl marks on it. He'll hear no arguments from me. So if he's away for 2 weeks it doesn't get washed. When he's at home it's usually washed 2-3 times a fortnight. But black is a terrible colour to keep clean - our last one was a metallic beige and it kept clean for weeks! I used to sometimes just wash the wheels and leave the rest.

jackieb

My son can sometimes take 5 hours to clean his before he rinses it, washes it, waxes it, but he likes doing it. His garage is like a valeting place. He uses snow foam. Looks like the car has been sprayed in white paint!

pulliptears

My Mother decided my TR7 which is housed in her garage for the winter looked a bit 'dusty'. She washed it with a dishcloth and half a bottle of fairy liquid...
I didn't have the heart to tell her so I just said thanks but I'll do it next time as I use a 'special' shampoo.

Nearly_Old

pulliptears wrote: »

My Mother decided my TR7 which is housed in her garage for the winter looked a bit 'dusty'. She washed it with a dishcloth and half a bottle of fairy liquid...
I didn't have the heart to tell her so I just said thanks but I'll do it next time as I use a 'special' shampoo.

Oh dear! But at least you've got a nice wax and polish free car for when you get it ready for the summer.

I'm taking my Z3 in this year for a front end respray to get rid of almost 13 years of stone chips, etc. The bodyshop has said to do 2 washes with about 4 tablespoons of Fairy Liquid to a bucket of hot water to get rid of all the polish / wax and rinse it well due to amount of salt in Fairy Liquid.

pink_princess

jackieb wrote: »

My son can sometimes take 5 hours to clean his before he rinses it, washes it, waxes it, but he likes doing it. His garage is like a valeting place. He uses snow foam. Looks like the car has been sprayed in white paint!

:eek::eek:
I thought an hour was terrible for inside & out

spongybobby

twice a year i spend most of saturday (6hrs+) and sunday (3+ hrs) cleaning my car.

Saturday I wash the car, It gets clayed, then polished. its polished for the 2nd time (to reduce swirl marks) then cleaned again. a sealer is applied (left for 2 hrs) whilst i clean the engine bay and inside the car. sealer buffed off and new layer applied. clean wheels whilst 2nd lot of sealer dries.
Buff off and apply 1st layer of wax. - leave car overnight in garage

Sunday: wash, remove wax, apply new layer of wax and wait a few hrs. buff off and the cars done.

Every 2 weeks i then give the car a rinse and i know that the car's body work is well protected against the salt and other road grime.

Yes i have ocd with my car!

spongybobby

pulliptears wrote: »

My Mother decided my TR7 which is housed in her garage for the winter looked a bit 'dusty'. She washed it with a dishcloth and half a bottle of fairy liquid...
I didn't have the heart to tell her so I just said thanks but I'll do it next time as I use a 'special' shampoo.

all i can say is :eek::eek::eek:

pink_princess

spongybobby wrote: »

twice a year i spend most of saturday (6hrs+) and sunday (3+ hrs) cleaning my car.

Saturday I wash the car, It gets clayed, then polished. its polished for the 2nd time (to reduce swirl marks) then cleaned again. a sealer is applied (left for 2 hrs) whilst i clean the engine bay and inside the car. sealer buffed off and new layer applied. clean wheels whilst 2nd lot of sealer dries.
Buff off and apply 1st layer of wax. - leave car overnight in garage

Sunday: wash, remove wax, apply new layer of wax and wait a few hrs. buff off and the cars done.

Every 2 weeks i then give the car a rinse and i know that the car's body work is well protected against the salt and other road grime.

Yes i have ocd with my car!

Hi
Can I ask how you clean the engine bay? What do you clean it with?
Thanks