Washing the car

Rocker

When I got my first car in 1977, every weekend it got a wash.  I was working as an industrial electrician at the time and the locations of work were usually dirty and dusty places.  The car ended up filthy by the weekend so washing it was necessary.

Fast forward a few years and service stations got in on the act.  Firstly it was machines then people washing the car - using lots of foam [detergent?].  The price kept going up and now it is around €10 for a basic wash and allowing another €5 tip for the washing guy, keeping a car nice and clean ended up an expensive business.

Today for the first time in 30 odd years I washed our car.  Did most of the things the service station washers do and used a garden hose to rinse down the car.  Turned out very well and only took slightly over ½ hour.  Which is quicker than driving to a service station, joining the queue and getting the car washed.

LordOxygen

I enjoy washing the car on a nice morning, once I get started I find it very relaxing. And I can be fairly certain there's no grit and dirt in the mit to scratch the paint, unlike the ones used at road side hand washes. 

I've tried all sorts of car shampoo over the years. I have settled on this. Spendy but easily the best one in my view. 

bluechargeboy

I've had my car since 2011, and I have washed it twice. It only really needed it one of those times.

If I washed my car I would have to wash my mountain bike before I put it on the roof rack, and it would spiral out of control into a vortex of cleaning stuff.

octatonic

I wash the cars and bikes- I generally do one a week.
I find it quite therapeutic.

Kalimna

I wash the cars when I can no longer read the number plate....

Beyond that, it's a chore that I have little time for.

Adam

hotpot

I do mine once a week, Snow foam with the power washer is fun

Stevepage

I used to do it once a month and it would always look brilliant after. Now I don't have any where to wash it myself so I have to go to a car wash which I do on average, once a month.

The blokes do an ok job but they always miss something because they rush just a bit too much, going to far as to completely miss my number plate and bottoms of the doors

I would like to get my Mondeo detailed (clay bar, wax, polish etc), which I may do in the spring but is going to cost around £60 to have that done.

boogieman

I do ours about once a month. Pressure washer, followed by basic wash & wax stuff then rinsed and dried off with microfibre cloths. It gets a thorough going over with Collinite polish once a year, actually makes it easier to wash the crap off and keeps a decent gloss on the paintwork. 

ICBM

I should probably do mine, it's absolutely filthy and I always think it tends to make people less careful about not hitting it in car parks etc if they think it's just a tatty old heap.

axisus

Car washing???? what a pointless waste of energy, money and precious time. It's a bit like polishing the tin that your food came in.

hotpot

I'm using Cherry candy fragrance snowfoam shampoo at the moment, smells bloody lovely afterwards lol

CHRISB50

If it gets a wash, I do it. But it's six years old and had two washes in that time. 

I couldn't pay someone else to do it though. It just doesn't bother me enough. And I have a shite car! 

The bloke who ran our local car wash has just been done for people trafficking and human slavery. Obviously a nice fella. 

Paul_C

The last time I washed a car (or had one washed) was about 5 cars ago, and then my kids did most of it.

ICBM

Paul_C said:

The last time I washed a car (or had one washed) was about 5 cars ago, and then my kids did most of it.

That's the correct solution. Mine have decided they would like to be paid to do it tomorrow .

slacker

5 cars ago at least for me and probably the 2 before that. I think the last one I washed or had washed was the company car that had to be clean when it went back in 95. 

Paul_C

ICBM said:

Paul_C said:

The last time I washed a car (or had one washed) was about 5 cars ago, and then my kids did most of it.

That's the correct solution. Mine have decided they would like to be paid to do it tomorrow .

I have thought about it a couple of times, mostly because of the green stuff (moss/mould?) growing on it

nick_s

A quick wash for me is easily half a day  Pre-wash, 2bm wash, cab roof cleaned, wheels cleaned, tyres scrubbed, glass polished, paintwork glazed, wax applied, interior vacuumed, leather cleaned...I could go on but it could end up taking over the forum

cruxiform

I wash and polish my motorbike regularly. My car? It gets a £2.99 wash at the Esso twice a year. 

Hoof

Sainsbury's Auto Wash about once a month and hand car wash/valet/wax every six months. Can't stand a dirty car, even if it's just an old Focus.

Flink_Poyd

You're meant to wash them?

ICBM

Flink_Poyd said:

You're meant to wash them?

With the amount of crap on the roads around me at the moment it's getting to the point where you can't read the number plates properly and the lights are noticeably less bright than they should be. You can actually get done for that...