I know, as back roomers, we're all interested in motoring. I tend to wash our cars every 3-4 weeks or when they are dirty/dusty enough to warrant it. No point in washing a clean car!!!
Who among us is out with the shammy leather at the first splash of dirt?
Who among us accumulates litter inside and attracts 'clean me' messages on the paintwork?
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Always do my best to keep our vehicles looking 100%
Even used to wax my Maestro van & shine the tyres, on a Sunday.
Then Monday was a journey to auction...in Leeds. Only 350 motorway miles, round trip!!
Sad, I know!!
VB
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Sloppy - car cleaning needs a combination of decent weather, a day off, 99 other things that need doing and the will to do it. Not easy.
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Confession time. BMW is on 5k oil changes (you can't do it the computer says no....!) and I confess to letting the garage clean my car under their Bronze Package with no washes in between. Slack or what ?
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I can beat that. I have never washed my 20k mile car which I have owned from new (admittedly only for 8 months). That is not to say that it has never been washed though... occasionally when I go down to visit my mum, she will insist on washing it for me because she's ashamed to have it on her driveway...
I keep the numberplates and lights clean and that's it. Life's too short to spend washing cars when you see them only as a means of getting from A to B rather than some kind of symbol of wealth/success.
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I am on the strict side when it comes to rubbish.Ie it gets cleared at next stop/rubbish bin..As for car getting dirty outside. A once a week wash on sunday(weather permitting)or next dry day.which ever comes first
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Steve
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Car washing needs to be done every time either;
1) hell freezes over
2) it is impossible to get in or out without getting muddy
Cleaning is done by car wash although in extreme circumstances a garden hose may be used. It will never be dried or waxed.
Inside cleaning needs doing when space becomes an issue. It is done with a broom, never with either a duster or a vacuum cleaner.
I'd say that makes me car proud.
Now my wife, on the other hand, is car sloppy and thinks I worry about it too much......
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Yep - don't like rubbish in the cars - try to keep them free of all clutter. I like to keep windows lights and no. plates spotless - the rest is only worth doing if the before / after appearances are distinguishable!
cheers, SS
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Totally sloppy. My Skoda is worthy of the skip allocade, although it is not yellow! Cleaned once a year. Maybe. Mucked out (sweet wrappers etc) once a month.
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hose down when i cant see out the side windows and i tidy the inside when i pick my mother up to and from airport for holidays total twice a year...cheers...keo
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I do like clean glass..And will admitt to cleaning more often than Once a week.Bodywork can wait.
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Steve
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I must own the only car which is filthier on the inside than out. (Blessed dogs) Blessed is not the word I should like to have printed. My motor gets a clean when it becomes positively unhygenic I am ashamed to say.
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Van
Gets sorted out fairly regularly. I don't actually clean it on the outside that much but insider needs to be relitively tidy. It's my business tool and I need to be able to find things quickly.
Almera
Wife cleans that out and washes it with a pressure washer every so often.
Discovery
Hardly at all, then I'm not using it that much either.
H
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Outside gets cleaned when in a car park where someone will do it for a fiver or less.
Inside gets cleaned once a year before we go away on holiday so I can see all the sand that will accumulate.
Inside of front windscreen gets cleaned when seeing out becomes a strain.
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Inside has to be spotless, I hate a messy interior to the point that if I miss the window with the fag ash I will often stop and retreive it from the floor. Outside, not too fussy but I hate it to get too bad. Washed it this morning then went out to find all the roads had been salted.
Wife's car is a disgusting pigsty inside and out.
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Manually (once a year) if that - bucket & sponge, quick spray with hose.
Why dry it? It's going to get wet again when it rains.
Vacuum maybe twice a year, same as the house.
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Firstly, there is a car wash not too far away. Secondly, I have acquired a little cordless vacuum cleaner. Thirdly, once in a blue moon I come across my collection of car polishes and set about Toad, probably getting fed up about half way through. Fourthly, I really feel I should have devoted servants to do this sort of thing at my age.
Proud AND sloppy?
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I try to wash all three cars (or whatever combination is available) every week. As a result it only takes about 20 - 30 minutes, including hosing the drive down too. Sometimes wipe the worst off with the chamois.
Insides aren't my job so don't get done so often...
I like clean windows too.
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Proud I guess.
The car I use for work gets washed when it's dirty if I've got a spare hour at weekends and the weather is good. Probably once every six weeks in winter and every fortnight or so in summer. The inside gets a damn good cleanout about twice a year including leather feed, wood polish and a paintbrush to get rid of dust in the little nooks and crannies around the airvents and switchgear etc.
Washing and cleaning the cars is therapy time. I can grab a bucket and sponge, put the brain in neutral and just forget everything for an hour or so.
No doubt some psychiatrist would love me as a subject for his doctorate but the background is real simple.
When I was a kid, every Sunday morning dad would take me and my sister swimming. When we got back home we'd wash the cars. Besides teaching us to swim, getting the cars clean and giving me my car cleaning fetish it gave mum the chance for a lie-in and some peace and quiet.
Aren't parents devious?
Kevin...
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Clean a car? What an extraordinary concept. Worth swilling out the wheel arches with a hose and long-bristled brush every so often, and wiping the windows/mirror lenses - that's about it.
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>>Worth swilling out the wheel arches with a hose and long-bristled brush every so often
Don't be silly. That's what driving fast through puddles is for.
[cue doom and gloom merchants telling me that its dangerous]
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Trust me its fun and safe !
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Will clean them when really shouldn't put it off any longer, weather isn't too bad and got nothing else planned for the day.
Do try and do at least a couple of times during winter to get rid of salt build up or any muck after going to in-laws farm.
Normally when do get round to it, am quite thorough. Keep lights, mirrors, windows and plates clean though.
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I take mine to the carwash every two weeks or so.
Through the machine, the staff dry it all off with chamois, hoover the inside, clean the windows inside and out, and even hoover the boot!
Total cost: R35 (ie less than 4 pints)
Every 6 months or so, have the 'full monty' done - silicone spray on dash, detail the paintwork etc etc.
For some reason, the kiddies think the carwash is the greatest thing ever, and love coming along - giving the Mrs a well-earned rest at hom for the hour or so it takes to drive there, get the car down, and pop down to the park for a while.
Who needs eurodisney?
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Often do a quick wash, attaching one of those brushes to a hose. Every now and again I do a proper clean starting with a high pressure jet to get all the mud out of the wheel arches. Then a shampoo with bucket and sponge. Then hose down and shammy.
Twice a year I wax the paint to protect it for the winter. Also wax the alloys to protect them. Sometimes use tyre blackener.
Then the interior gets a good vacuum and all the dashboard and windows cleaned. Finally clean the inside of the doors and sills, the bits that you only see when the doors are opened.
Result is a nice shiney Megane and a good trade-in price when the times comes.
Sad but true...must get out more.
Odd how some cars attract dirt more. One of our other cars is a Polo and it seems to stay cleaner longer than the Megane. Probably something to do with the aerodynamics.
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Strictly weddings and christenings only
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Clean every week inside and out!!!
Wax about once somtimes two times a month?
Sad thing is it only gets out of the garage about twice aweek.
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When the straw starts to look a little grubby I just shovel it out and shovel in a fresh lot. What's good enough for pedigree horses is good enough for me!
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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definitely car proud. Doesn't take long to wash two cars with a jetwash and a soft blade squeegee. Sometimes I see other filthy cars on the road and want to wash them too. It's a seasonal thing - cant be bothered too much in winter but when its warm , I do like to wash, wax, inspect for chips etc..
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Jiwson,
Where do you live ? So I can park my fleet in your neighbourhood !!
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Pug ,
you'll not get 'owt for nowt! ; )
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Each car gets cleaned exactly once during its time with me - on the way to the dealer in a futile attempt to try to improve the trade in price...
Sunshine
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Washed every couple of weeks or so - less in the summer. Waxed twice a year. Drivers mat shook out on a regular basis, and hoovered right through around once a month. Windows cleaned when the build up of haze gets too much to bear.
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Depends. The MINI never looked anything but showroom perfect and I used to worry about it wherever I parked.
The Fabia looks a little better with some dirt on it (I think) so it doesn't get cleaned much. Doesn't bother me too much either and I don't worry where I park it.
Definitely a better quality of life in the Skoda!
I tend to do the interior a couple of days after Pugugly has washed his car himself... ;-)
-- Lee Having a Fabialous time.
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Gosh! ...And I thought I was going to be the only one who confessed to having a less than spotless car! When the cars do get cleaned, I do a fairly good job, though. But if I spent too much time cleaning the cars the house and garden would suffer. It's like a plate spinning act, trying to keep house, garden and cars moderately presentable! At the moment it's the computer room I'm writing this from that's being renovated.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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I guess I am reasonably car proud. I wash the car once a week in the winter and twice a week in the summer - unless its still reasonably clean in which case it gets done once a week. I'll hoover it out once a fortnight.
I have been known to hose it down if I have just arrived home with it covered in mud.
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Obviously I'm talking about doing it properly with a sponge and a bucket. No automatic car washes here. Like to do it of an afternoon during the week, with Steve Write on the radio.
How many other 21 year olds like me do you know.. ;)
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Very car proud for first 3 months of ownership with weekly washes then things start to slip. Have had current car nearly 3 years and it's lucky if washed every 8 weeks.
Much the same with new shoes!
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I try to clean my car and bike frequently i.e. every month. I also clean them in addition to this when I am thinking of buying a new vehicle, as cleaning them changes my mind. They look like new afterwards you see, so a new vehicle would just be a waste of money wouldn't it?
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When I owned a 1946 Rover 16 in British racing Green (mid 1960s) it was great to drive with the bonnet stretching out in front gleaming when newly cleaned and polished. And th chrome radiator looked so nice when sparkling.
Since most modern cars are so designed you can't see the bonnet and as for radiators.. why bother.
Washed every 2-3 weeks when dirty and not freezing/raining/snowing - 2C last night in Staffs Moorlands...brr
I hate dirty insides and clean out every 2-4 weeks. As for leaving rubbish in the car, I don't do it at home and so not in the car.
madf
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Good point greg R made. I was going to change my bike last year, and gave it a thorough makeover before offering it for trade in. When I finished it looked so nice I thought what the hell do I want to get rid of it for?
An afternoons graft saved me a few grand there.
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