Keeping Your Car Clean on Trips
 

I'm going on a trip for the holidays to visit my family for about 2 weeks. It's about 500 miles away and I'm taking the coast so it's gonna get dirty along the way. My questions is do you guys clean/wash your car on long trips? Do you take your supplies with you? Or do you just let the dirt and grime accumulate until you get back home? I want to travel light so I'm thinking about just taking 2 buckets, my mitt, soap (maybe just enough for a wash or 2 in a shampoo bottle) and some microfiber towels. What do you guys do on long trips?

^^^ is what I do.

Hose off the worst at a gas station every now and then.

Edit: Just realized how WRONG that sounded... Lol

I drove about 1000 miles during thanksgiving weekend.. It would've been very time consuming to keep her clean, and also thought that spending time with family was more important than keeping my car shiny. However, when i got back home and washed her, the bucket looked like someone dumped pepper in due to all the bugs accumulated on the front bumper, lights, etc. lol.

I usually take a few microfiber towels and quick detailer for minor stuff, but my trunk was full since i drove 3 people in the car.

I run my car through a touchless car wash on trips. Works great...

Get some waterless wash and some quality waffle weave microfiber towels. You shouldn't have to wash it unless it gets really dirty as long as you maintain it with the ww.

I did I-95 with my GF earlier this year from long island to daytona beach FL. Did basically what you described.

Filled a few ounces of rinseless wash (ONR) in one of those travel size squeeze bottles. This allowed me to wash on the road without a hose (fill buckets from the hotel tub if you have to). I also mixed up a little diluted ONR in a small spray bottle for bird bombs and fresh bug splatter along the way

this is what u need to bring lol.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-1997-Lar...item23258b6abc

Pretty sure I still have one of those from when I was a kid.

No one wanted to have water fights after I got it :(

I seriously still have mine in my storage closet..used it for one summer...everyone hated me because they had the old school super soaker and i had this one. Didnt realize its still worth some money

Lol

I take an old bath towel and use a do-it-yourself car wash.

This is my first go to, touchless will help greatly. They use a strong wash of either acidic or basic pre rinses, while they can diminish your wax/sealant they are SSSSOOOOO much better than a touch wash. re waxing is so much cheaper than re polishing. Find a high quality one and you'll be okay.

I would not wipe down a car EVER until its been washed first, then you could do a quick detail wipe down or a quick wax when you leave the wash bay. You'll need a quality microfiber towel or two. The reason i would take a quick wax is to help have a super fresh coat on to help with bugs and salt spray.

The purpose of all this hub bub is to limit or eliminate possible marring to the paint surface. Anytime you wash or dry your car you risk appearance damage to the paint surface. On the road you just need to really not let bird bombs or salt air to dwell on the surface for extended time frames.

I hope you meant this as a joke :) A bath towel will mar the finish of the paint. Hell even a quality MF towel can, if you get stuff between the towel and paint surface.



I might go to some of the extremes listed of carrying a box of goodies, but you're not going to a judged car show you are driving? Keep it simple and enjoy the drive!


Cheers,
GREG

I keep protective layer of dust the car accumulated on the first leg of the trip for the return. That way I only wash it once, lol.