To those living in apartment complexes; where/how do you wash your car?
 

I obviously prefer to hand wash my FR-S, but living in an apartment complex (no hose) is a bit difficult. What do the rest of you do?

I either bring it to a hand car wash or if I have time, to my parents house who live 20 minutes away.

same. i drive to my dads house since the only other way i no of is the waterless car wash or 2 bucket method.

waterless is to chemical for my style and its so hot where i live i need more wather then a 2 bucket can offer me

This. Fortunately, our (fiance and I) lease is up at the end of September and will be moving into a house.

I use water-less car wash every few weeks, but every once in a while I'll take it to a hand wash place and pony up the cash for it. Waterless does an ok job, but is no competition for a real wash.

I do single bucket method and use around 2 gallons of water. My condo's garage will allow a little water runoff as there are vents on the ground. No issues. I've also driven my car to a empty parking lot and washed it single bucket method on cloudy day.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43574

the method I use.

Some great suggestions. I've always done it myself with a hose, but looking around the area, it seems there are some affordable hand wash places. I'll also look into trying your method Obsidiank.

I take mine to the 'rents so I can hand wash or occasionally pay this one dude I know who works at a local dealership, he does a great job!

+1

You don't even need a full gallon of water for the ONR towel bucket. :thumbsup:

OP: Do it on a cloudy day and you should be all set. That's what I do. If I can't do a wash, I'll do spot treatment with Tarminator if sap is baked on. Otherwise, I'll use ONR quick detail dilution to just spray it off.

For the pre-soak, you can get a hand-pump sprayer. I got a 40-something ounce one and you can soak the car with less than that.

I don't really wash it much. I just wait for it to rain and try and wipe it down a bit when it rains. I haven't looked into hand washing places, but if it's like anything else in DC, it's gonna be too expensive. I'll go to the machine washes maybe once or twice a year, even though I know it's not awesome for the paint.

Luckily, I only drive once or twice a week, so my car usually never gets THAT dirty.

For $45 a month I have unlimited washes(the Works package) at the Mike's Carwash near my place. I have been through their wash six times so far and the car looks beautiful. Of course, it's no replacement for a proper hand wash, but it only takes a couple minutes and I can do it whenever. I think it will come in handy when winter comes and I want to keep the salt from building up. I could go everyday if I wanted.(doubt that I will, though) I know that a lot of people swear against automatic car washes, but I think they are too obsessive about their paint. I will see how it looks in the long term, but for now, the results are satisfactory.

My wife thought of this the other day. For apartment livers go to one of those self car wash that has a spray. Use it to fill two buckets bring some soap and bingo you can do the two bucket wash which I swear by. Luckily I live in a house so I don't have these problems.

And yes I am one of the radicals that will never use an automated car wash sen way to many scratches from it. I don't even trust the non touch automated places. I spent 20 bucks for all my supplies and still uses it in month 3 which is a lot cheaper and I enjoy hand washing my car. I even won't touch the paint to dry. I perfected the water dry technique and use an electric blower for the final touches. Less you touch paint the better.

Come do mine?