|
|
07-19-2018, 07:26 PM
|
#21
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,603
|
2001 corvette - hand washed. Others - automatic.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
07-19-2018, 08:28 PM
|
#22
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains
Posts: 2,792
|
I take it to the automatic car wash. It used to be $3 but they raised it to $5 a couple of years ago. They have free vacuums, the use of microfiber towels and window cleaner. Once in a while I spring for the extra $3 for the teenagers to use their giant brushes and soapy water on the front, sides, and rear.
I'm always amazed at how many people spring for the $20, "ultra-deluxe" wash (I can see the board showing what level wash they get, and often people leave their cc receipts in the machine).
|
|
|
07-19-2018, 08:38 PM
|
#23
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Finger Lakes of NY
Posts: 136
|
Who washes their car? The rain washes mine...
|
|
|
07-19-2018, 08:41 PM
|
#24
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Leeward Oahu
Posts: 17,930
|
I can't recall the last time I washed a car - by hand or auto-bath. The last time I had a car newer than 6 years old was 20+ years ago (meaning that routine washes don't pay for themselves in "preserving" the car.) Having said that, we lend our cars to other folks when we are away for extended periods. Typically, they return the cars to us washed - so I guess that's about once a year. Not sure whether they are robo-washed or detailed. YMMV
__________________
Ko'olau's Law -
Anything which can be used can be misused. Anything which can be misused will be.
|
|
|
07-19-2018, 09:00 PM
|
#25
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 116
|
All cars hand washed by me with the 3 bucket method (1 for wheels only) with a foaming rinse before the wash. Takes me an hour, I have a rotation so every car gets washed every 10 days. I like doing it.
I just spent 40 hours over the course of a week detailing my car.
The wife's car is a lease so it doesn't get that much but still more than most.
|
|
|
07-19-2018, 09:55 PM
|
#26
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,229
|
I've been using no rinse car wash (Optimum Wash and Shine) for the last couple years and it works great. Just takes about 1 gallon of water to wash my truck and can easily do it in the garage without making a mess. Just need a good applicator/sponge to wipe on and microfiber towels to wipe off. Does a real good job cleaning and gives a nice shine.
|
|
|
07-19-2018, 10:15 PM
|
#27
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dutchess County
Posts: 1,599
|
Automated, especially in the winter because they have high pressure undercarriage wash that gets rid of the accumulated salt.
|
|
|
07-19-2018, 11:31 PM
|
#28
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Central Coast, CA
Posts: 404
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ikonomore
All cars hand washed by me with the 3 bucket method (1 for wheels only) with a foaming rinse before the wash.
|
+1 Also use an industrial dryer/blower to minimize abrasion swirls.
__________________
ER’d January 2014 and never looked back 😁
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 12:29 AM
|
#29
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 4,663
|
I take it to a hand wash place. We keep our cars for a long time and I want the paint to keep looking good. Plus they do a good job cleaning out the interior. I drive a 2007 and people are always thinking I have a late model car.
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 05:45 AM
|
#30
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 435
|
hand wash only for me. i dry it with a leaf blower. i wax it all over once a month and the front only after i scrub off highway bugs. I also clay bar once a year. i have a bottle of stuff i use when it's raining and i want to wash my car in the garage.
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 06:46 AM
|
#31
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Huntsville, AL/Helen, GA
Posts: 6,002
|
We have a Wednesday special at the automatic car wash--$3.00. It is good.enough for a Camry or Explorer.
Hand washing is reserved for my Jaguar convertible that stays garaged. And I can hand wash a car in 5 minutes.
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 11:18 AM
|
#32
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 5,867
|
DH does the whole hand wash/wax/detailing thing. He washes the cars 1-2 times a month, does the wax/detailing yearly--takes him all day for both cars
I go through the auto car wash a few times a year, especially in the winter just to get the road stuff off or the de icer that they put down.
__________________
Give a Man a fish, he will eat for a day.
Teach a Man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 11:29 AM
|
#33
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Limerick
Posts: 5,655
|
We use the local automatic car wash for about $14. Haven’t hand washed in years.
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 11:50 AM
|
#34
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Sugar Land
Posts: 587
|
Automatic. My favorite is the world’s longest car wash at the Buc-ee’s in Katy TX. https://youtu.be/YWOkpiazPDI
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 12:12 PM
|
#35
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 842
|
I have a beautiful new red car and was advised to hand wash it to preserve the paint. It has been a hassle since I don't want to wash it in my driveway with no shade on hot days (and it is hot and sunny the entire summer and then some) so have been using a self service car wash. I use a mitt for the actual washing but timing everything to use the least amount of water has been a problem since you cannot turn the water on and off. I keep the high pressure hose a distance from the car as I am concerned it will damage the paint and rinse with the low pressure setting. Also the car wash vacuum cleaner can not reach between the seat and console or in other small crevices.
There are a couple of places in town that provide hand washes but these start at about $35. I may try this every other month or so and wash it myself the rest of the time.
__________________
Retired on 9/30/2017 at age 62
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 12:58 PM
|
#36
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,862
|
I use the self-service wand at the car wash. Spray the soap, and walk around the car with a mitt and give it a quick scrub. DH bought me an auto carwash package for 6 months, and I began to notice the black car luster was fading, even though it's always garaged. A car guy friend gave us the name of a guy who came to the house and "clayed" it and hand waxed it after washing it by hand. He made me promise to never drive through an auto carwash again. It looks great again, but I don't do the drive through thing anymore.
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 01:09 PM
|
#37
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 915
|
When I had a car, I always hand washed it to try to preserve the finish.
Now that the missus and I share a car, we just go through an automatic car wash in the neighbourhood. It's the type with rags that whip the car. I can't see that being that great for the finish but now that the car has a few scratches and marks, it's not that big of a concern.
__________________
Good Riddance. April 2022
"Yes, there's some shady stuff going down but it's fuelled by stupidity."
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 01:36 PM
|
#38
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: North
Posts: 4,043
|
I buy a book of 10 car washes and they give me one free. 2x a year they sell the book for buy one get one...so I get 21 Car washes for about $40.
In the summer I hand wash on nice days. In the winter I use the wash coupons.
Once a year I handwax. The vehicle rusts out no matter what with all the winter road salt, but regular washes seems to delay the rust a few years.
__________________
Time > $$$ ~ 100% equities ~ FIRE @2031
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 05:33 PM
|
#39
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: the prairies
Posts: 5,049
|
$4 using a self service wand...$2 to soap it, then I spend a few minutes hand cleaning it with a mitt, then $2 to rinse. I "dry" it by going down the highway at 110 kph
10 minutes start to finish...not counting drying time
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 06:36 PM
|
#40
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,809
|
Interesting that there are so many ways to wash a car. I'm still puzzling over the best for us. After I hand washed the 2004 Honda CRV it looked really nice and the finish to me looks great.
So hand washing is probably just fine but the way I do it is time consuming. The 1 hour I took includes all steps including putting things away. I could cut down on the time by not doing the hubcaps. If I did it more often I could occasionally forgo doing the roof except for a spray off.
So how does Bamaman do it in 5 minutes?
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|