I have a 1/2 mile drive down a dirt road to get to my front gate, and 400 feet of crushed concrete drive to my parking area. Clean is not in the cards for me.

I nonetheless run my pickup through a $5.00 quick wash once a week whether it needs it or not.

Generally, the two older cars, 2002 Neon and 07 Focus, when the wifey complains that she can't see out the windows, I run it up to our local $5 brush-less car-wash in town. I do the interiors once or twice a year.

My '10 F150 SCab is washed every other day at the local $5 car-wash during the winter to get the road salt off (I commute 140+ miles a day). Summer she gets washed once a week to get the road dust off. (hey, it's MY first new(er) vehicle in 12 years)

During the summer I hand wash the truck every couple of weeks with Wash-n-Wax by 3D and dry it with a soft bath towel (usually a Saturday afternoon drinking event after the other chores are done).

Invisible Glass (aerosol) by Stoner is a must inside and out. Streak free and you don't get the gradual hazing a week later like you do with the other name brand glass cleaners.

Turtle Wax F21 Spray Protectant on the interior dash, doors, trim.

A few generous shots of Meguiar's Endurance on the tires and some sprayed on a rag for an engine plastic parts wipe down and I'm good to go!

Use a detergent made for cars, like Meguiar's or Mothers, etc. Dish soap is too harsh and removes the wax.

Wash and wax in the shade to prevent early drying.

Use a microfiber wash mit. Rinse mit frequently.

Wash from the top down.

Use a large bucket with copious amounts of water.

Rinse with a hose without the attachment. Let the water flow as a smooth solid stream with as few bubbles and turbulence as possible over the car from the top down. This leaves less water spots to dry.

Dry with a chamois or microfiber towels or an electric leaf blower also works well.

Touch ups between washes can be done with something like Meguiar's Quik Detailer and a microfiber cloth.

Keep wiper blades clean. I wash the blades often.

Leave the dirt on the paint.

It protects it from the sun.

Heavy mud gets washed off in the rain.

Dishwashing liquid in the washer water for the windscreen. Same in the bathroom for bathing and hand cleaning.

Please beware of washing up liquid for anything other than hard glazed items or bare metal as it is too good at removing waxes and fats. On the skin it can remove so much body fat that the cells dry out and you have a recipe for eczma. On the car it strips the wax on the paint and varnish in it, so I don't even put it in anything that could run over the paint. The same goes for de-icer and screen wash so minimise their use if you keep your car for a long time and want it to look as good as possible. (I doubt if de-icer even exists in south east asia!)

Wax on my car? Yeh right?

No de icing required here.

No eczema on me.

Function trumps looks. Both for me and my car.

I wash my cars at least twice a year, even if they don't need it!

That's a bit extravagant!!!

I have a question for you all.

Background Info: Typically every Spring, Summer, and Fall I'm finding Yellow Jackets and large brown paper wasps residing in all sorts of places in my car, from the door jams, along the trunk rubber gaskets, along panel joints, under the engine hood, wheel wells, and even in the recesses of the door-mounted side mirrors. I usually use a hornet, bee and wasp spray (30-foot spray type, like Raid, etc.) to get rid them. Usually this is a temporary measure. Sometimes when I'm out of the store-bought spray I whip up home brew spray using Dawn dish washing soap, white vinegar, and water (works great BTW) to zap the nasties. FYI, I only drive this particular car about once every week on average.

What are the long-term effects of these sprays on the clear coat and underlying paint coats? I do understand that the commercial bee spray includes petroleum distillates, but if I immediately wash it off using the garden hose will the car's paint job be adversely affected?

I have bought a premium car cover and have used it, but these damn bees still get into the car's recesses!

Also, is there any permanent solution to prevent the bees from setting up shop in my car? We only have a single stall garage and my wife uses it, therefore my "Betsy" sits outside in the elements.

BTW, I'm highly allergic to bee and wasp stings....and if stung I only have a few moments to get to my bee sting kit stored in the fridge and inject myself, otherwise I'm a dead man.

TIA!

You might want to call an expert on that. Yellow Jackets can also be found in ground nests and ridding yourself of them may be an interesting venture.

Life is too short to waste it on washing cars. I might give it a quick rinse if I'm going to go to a funeral, but that's it. Sometimes the wifey wants the car clean; I show her where the bucket and sponge is.

Rain.

We have a bit of a price war going on here with car wash places. I can get a car wash for £1.30 &, for that, 1 guy will jet wash the car before it gets dragged through a series of rotating brushes. I can also get the car valeted inside & out for £10.

Having said that, I usually wash & colour wax the car once a year then apply a resin wax on top of that. After that treatment I find that most dirt just hoses off easily (apart from sea gull crap).

JET WASH WARNING!!!!

Do not direct the high pressure stream directly towards any seals eg gearbox/transfer case output, wheel bearings, diff I/O, steering knuckles, steering box/rack, power steering pump, crank seals, CVs......

If you do you will push water and dirt into that which the seals are supposed to be sealing. You can even rip seals.

Doing so does not bode well for reliability.

Maybe twice a year I clean my car by licking it all over
Del

Later do you vomit tar balls?

It's lucky if it gets washed once a year.

It did get a new rear exhaust/muffler/silencer box last week, which was the first replacement in 85000 miles and only because the earlier one got bent in the snowy conditions and started farting!

Car Care? Wassat?

Car Care is an effeminate and affected euphemism for car washing; if we drivers let it in, we will soon have a hard time finding stuff not labeled as containing Aloe Vera (please don't take offense, CarDomain).

Hoorah! I've finally found some non-car clean freaks....Mine gets washed a few times a year at Tesco's in sunny Scunny for £5 whilst I'm shopping. It's a hand wash and they do a pretty good job.

I noticed on MoneySaving Expert that BP are giving away free car washes - must look at the details (I'm not buying their over-priced fuel, though).

I keep saying I'll muck out the interior and then start taking it to a £10 inside & valet place....maybe in the summer. Meanwhile, I really ought to get the road salt off....

I don't think I've ever waxed a car...

Service is due and I think new front struts are called for...been a warning on the past two MOTs, with my friendly mechanic telling me they'll bit all right for a bit.

I can't explain that, it may be the kind of forum this is... who knows; however, the vast majority of people who takes good Care of their cars, are men. I've seen very few women excited about the look of their own cars (while some among the rest are real rat nests inside).

For some of us (not me though, I drive an old CJ5 with dust finish paint job), specially during hot sumer days, washing the car is a perfect excuse to have a few beers.

Regards

I have convinced the people around here that the dirt on my 1969 Ford farm truck is actually holding it together!