How often do you wash your car ?
 

I wash my 86 once every 2-3 months its parked in a garage and parked under shelter at work, the only thing is it accumulates a lot of dust but my understanding is that dust does not damage the paint work. Except when kn*b heads think its funny/clever to write something on your car.

Bird Stains, Bug Stains and Acid stains eat at and wreck paint so I'm always quick to remove any of that when I see it. My car is three years old and the paint is still like new and no swirl marks or marks anywhere that I can see.

My theory is the less I wash it I'm actually keeping the paint work in new condition because I'm not spreading that dirt and grime once a week into the paint work when washing it. Because washing your car is a process that might clean but damage your paint finish, of course you can minimise it by good washing techniques but you will still scratch your paint its not really avoidable, Is my thinking flawed ?

What are your thoughts ?

Depends on a bunch of variables. How many miles you cover, weather conditions, bugs etc.
Best thing I can suggest if you want easy Maintenance is to look into a ceramic coating. At the very least a good sealant that will last between your washes.


I wash mine about weekly in the summer. I switch on and off between ONR rinseless washes and a two bucket with Adams shampoo and then air drying the car.

I much prefer to air dry as it involves less direct contact with the paint. With the two bucket and air dry my car was pretty much perfect with 15-20 washes the first year I had it.

Every time it gets dirty. Use water and 100% cotton towels most the time. Wheels get soap for the brake dust(Brembo are dusty). Car get soap every couple of months. On average probably once every week and a half or so.

At least weekly all year round. Sometimes two or three times a week in the winter.
In freezing winter weather it just gets a touchless carwash drive through. May only stay clean 1/2 an hour but I get to enjoy the sparkle for a bit.
When not freezing and the rest of the year I hand wash with an automotive soap/polish combo (whatever is on sale) and microfiber cloths. It gets washed every Friday even if not "dirty".


If you are rinsing the coarse stuff off and using soft clothes you are not damaging the paint by washing it. There can be much more damage from letting contaminates (even invisible ones) sit on the surface.

In summer, since I drive my car in a highway, the highway is full of bugs (and crap) and my car is halo (white) color, I wash it 2 to 3 times per week... Otherwise my front looks like a bug catalog. The way that I do it is buy one of this "season pass" of one of the Gas chain here (Petro -Canada) and ONLY using touchless car wash! Never (ever) use the ones with "gentile touch", because at the end I think this touch car washes damage your paint. After almost 3 years with my car, paint still looking great. I also wax my car once or twice per year and don't use it on winter. Last note: this "season pass cards" are little expensive, but if you have 2 or more cars are worth it( just make the math). Another alternative is buy one of this cards with a couple of friends and take turns, since you are allowed o have one "full wash" car per day...My two cents.

I've been doing once every 2-3 weeks, or soon after a weekend drive that collects a lot of bugs. Since it's not my DD and sits in a parking garage, it doesn't collect debris too often.

I don't think washing more frequently causes any harm to the paint.

Hear ya on the bugs. There is nothing like driving through the swamps bordering the 401 at dusk or dawn.
No bugs.
No bugs
No bugs.
Swamp.
BAAM can't see through bug covered windshield.

Season passes can be had for as little as $100 around here. That is far less than the $14 per wash individual price. I know there are some that cost way more though and teaming up is the way to go.


Just one point on the touchless washes. They are not all created equal. Around here we have an abundance of lakes and river so have an extensive water supply. This means the wash is all done using fresh clean water. In many places the washes "filter" and reuse the same water over and over and over and over until it is more of a chemical stew than actual water. You don't want to use them too often in those areas.

Every couple weeks, provided my car hasn't blown up. If it does, it gets washed by Toyota before being re-delivered to me.

Every season at max.
Depends who shits on the car. If no shits, every 3 months.

Every other Saturday it gets washed and the interior vacuumed, takes about 20-30 minutes with a pressure washer, no touch method, and drying with a large microfiber.

Do you use a dry-aid?

Here $20/month unlimited. I do it for the trucks. For the sports cars I'm buying a water softener system. It will be good for the house Windows too.

Wash: every week, 2 at the max, includes interior and engine bay

Wax: every month, underbody also gets a clean monthly

This is my therapy time, nothing more relaxing than cleaning a car.

Apart from when I find a new scratch or ding, my brow furrows, my lips purse and my nostrils flare, for 1 second I'm Patrick Bateman, then it's, meh, shit happens, and I continue to clean

Oh let’s not talk about the engine bay.

So you have a very clean car!

I wash my FRS once a week! Waterless/Rinseless car wash most of the time. Sometimes I bust out the pressure washer if I want to clean the underside and hard to reach spots that I can't get with a waterless wash.

-Sam

i used to wash it every week. now i don't bother. it gets washed whenever it's dirty. sometimes that's once a week, sometimes that's 4 months apart.

Whenever it looks like it needs a wash, and I have time. So it varies. At least once a month, sometimes once a week in nice weather. Less in the winter unless I have to drive it a lot. All washes are in my driveway.

Detailing, once every 4-6 months at least. Again, as needed.

I usually wash my car twice a year.

(I don't want to wear the paint off - ;))


humfrz

I try to wash mine at least once a week.
It's a black car that sits outside at work in an area with lots of industrial fallout, and I've noticed that in these conditions, people who don't wash their dark colored cars regularly end up with sunburned clearcoat.

Usually only once per day, sometimes twice if I'm feeling frisky

As with most things...
It depends. If not super dirty it gets spritzed with optimum no rinse 16:1 in a spray bottle.

Revisiting now that it's winter time.

I have a season wash pass for 95 days, one wash per day. Use it whenever it's needed. Between my GFs car and mine it gets used near every other day.

I ceramic coated the car in the fall, to protect the paint against the onslaught of harsh soap from touchless washes. About once a month I apply a Sio2 topper to help boost the coating.

Usual clean my car around 1-2 weeks by touchless car wash... but it also depend on the weather.

Lance

I usually dry the interior; that's the most important thing as opposed to a body wash. I can advise you https://sparklewash.com/upstate/ ; they do a great job there. Professionally trained professionals will remove all the dirt and debris from the carpets, interior, and under the seats of your car. This step is followed by an innovative process to thoroughly clean leather, plastic, vinyl, and hard-to-reach surfaces. All plastic and hard surfaces will be scrubbed, leaving a glossy new car look. Finally, all interior and exterior windows will be cleaned without streaks.

what do you use to wash the interior before you dry it? hairspray?

I wash weekly or biweekly just depending on how often it's driven. Bird shit and bug guts = etched paint.

Subaru paint is extremely soft. Even being careful if your car isnt coated odds are you're going to inflict microscratches and swirls if you're not properly decontaminating the paint prior to putting a mitt on it.

My solution, not letting it get extremely caked up.

Weekly.

Every saturday unless it rains.

Once when it did rain.

I think I've missed 5 weeks in the last two years due to rain and temps.
Oh temps, I won't wash under 38* if the temp won't rise anymore.

I'll wash mine about every two weeks depending on events and weather. In the summer once the rains stop and the pollen storms go away, I'll often go a little longer since there is nothing to get it dirty. In the winter it will go far longer between washes due to weather and temperatures.

I'll also schedule the washes around other events too. If there is an upcoming Cars and Coffee, I'll wash it right before. If there is an upcoming autoX event, I'll wait until afterwards because I know the car will get covered in dust.

Once or twice per week, depending how dirty is and ALWAYS using touchless car wash (have a season pass). Waxes one or twice during sprig/summer and store it on winter... So far, after 4 years , paint still looking shine and decent. Of course, it have several small chips at front. Halo color, BTW.

Are you clean or dirty?

Lol! Clean...only clean.

I have a garage now so hardly ever, it's amazing. No more parking under shitty oak trees dropping sticks, leaves, acorns and birdshit on my car.

Normally its weekly wash and every second wash i remove wheels and keep the car on jack stands to wash underside. :)

Can't stand a dirty car.

OCD. LOL!

Undercar pressure washer attachment?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9e4f4928_z.jpg

Its more like removing wheels to use brush and microfibre to clean well.

Under car pressure washing would be good but.... won't be as clean as above method since you can't really reach certain areas with just pressure washing.

Next move would be to get something like a quick jack to make the process easier..... when i can afford it. Lol!

I never thought of breaking out the quickjack for car washes. I do enjoy being able to reach the whole roof while it's on the ground though :cheers:

Was giving the car a wash the other day and forgot the PDR guys typically polish the area after doing their magic.
I spent about 20 minutes wondering why I had seemingly no protection on the upper half of the door. I am glad I had this done prior to recoating the car!


https://youtu.be/m-vQlmB2i70

Have never seen a PDR guy polish anything after they're done.