Anyone else NOT baby their car? (cosmetically)

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Nevermore

The orange is the same way. The brighter the sunlight, the better too. It's only when you get up close to it that you see the filth.

Well there is a point where that no longer is true!
Just look at the shine on that top, foot and a half of front fender.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by torqdork

Well spoken, Grasshopper.

I'm the same way with an ulterior motive. I go through lots of cars, trucks and SUV's. Of the four stages of the lifecycle (acquistion, financing, maintenance, disposal), I take steps to help recover costs at every step. I won't get into the other steps but the last is important to the next buyer and the extra care invested in cosmetics almost always pays dividends.

My last sale, an FR-S, sold for well over retail, actually the highest sale price I saw locally or nationally on closed eBay listings in part due to showroom condition from staying on top of interior/exterior detailing. I do the same for the rest of the fleet and especially to the keepers in the hangar for the reasons you mentioned, therapy and satisfaction.

Strange I know since we're talking about an inanimate object, but I also consider it payback for the track and auto-x cars that keep me safe.

Of course the job is shortened and easier using Griot's products and a Porter-Cable random orbital buffer.

I'll leave it at detailing, my attention to mechanicals might be a disorder.

Off topic but did you figure out your next car yet? Or did you already post and I missed it?

[Jrryjms07]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Well there is a point where that no longer is true!
Just look at the shine on that top, foot and a half of front fender.

I'm digging the hubcaps

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Jrryjms07

I'm digging the hubcaps

I hate them with a passion but were a Christmas present from the wife!
Need I say more??????

[Jrryjms07]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I hate them with a passion but were a Christmas present from the wife!
Need I say more??????

Lol. You don't. Happy wife happy life!

[torqdork]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Off topic but did you figure out your next car yet? Or did you already post and I missed it?

I strayed, recently took delivery of a '15 Camry V-6, will be ordering a '16 Prius while waiting for FR-S v. 2.0 and will prolly buy a used fleet Sequoia for trailer towing when it comes off lease later this year.

I was looking at a barn find basket case A-H Sprite Mk. IV for vintage racing but it had been wrecked so am surfing the usual sites for another candidate with a straight frame.

[richardM]

Not babied.

Winter daily driving, salt, sand and crap all over it until a stretch of dry weather, which is not often this winter. Proper washes every month or so, more often when the snow tires are not on it.

The '13 FRS has about 8,000 miles on it and TWO oil changes. Free Scion Boost oil changes, so why not make the first two a bit early? That's about one oil change a year... is that "babying"? Next oil change in 8k miles.

I have this itch to try autocross... defiantly not babying it.

I really like this car. It's teaching me to drive better. It's not a rolls royce or '65 GT Fastback Mustang... if I came in to money, I would love a Cayman S. Which I would beat hard, too.

Thats just me. People like to dress their car up, and that's fun too. Just not for me.

[chas3wba0]

I drive it wherever and whenever, but at the end of the day I still give it a once-over and clean any dead bugs/bird poop off... basically anything that can eat through the paint. Wash/wax every 2-3 weeks.

No messy food allowed inside though

[gravitylover]

^^ Yep, bird poop comes off as soon as possible as does anytihng else that's potentially corrosive. I'll walk out from work and see nasty stuff and go back inside and grab a bottle of cleaner or even windex if that's all I find and get that stuff off.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Well there is a point where that no longer is true!
Just look at the shine on that top, foot and a half of front fender.

Heh, mine looked like that the other day and I couldn't get near it without ruining my clothes so I went to a car wash on the way home. Unfortunately the next morning in the daylight I found out why there was a flapping sound over 70mph. Somebody had clipped the right rear and cracked the bumper cover right by the wheel well and there's a spot that looks like a zit popping, cracked plastic and all. Fkn people suck. Talk about not babying it, I used clear packing tape to solve the problem

[Muaddib]

I have not washed mine in over a year.

[zinzan]

Originally Posted by beatgenie

I believe how you treat your car reflects on how you treat everything else in life, from all the little things down to even the big things such as your house. It's more of a personality thing to me I guess.

True.

There is a house I pass every day on my way to my son's kindergarten drop off. A little ranch in nice neighborhood. Some white piece-of-shit parked in the driveway. Half the roof is always shaded by trees, as is the driveway, and the house roof is half covered in moss. And the entire top of the car is covered in mossy filth.

Sure, there could be circumstances that has led to this--money problems, health problems, family problems. But if this was a friend or coworker, would you ever loan them your car? Trust them to babysit or dogsit? Loan them money? Invest in them in any way? Buy a sofa from them?

Probably not.

[D_Thissen]

Do I baby my car? I personally don't think so. I usually wash it every couple weeks in the winter and maybe once a week in the summer. Touch up the paint as needed (which after this winter, my front bumper needs it lol). Give it a wax at the beginning and end of summer.
Overall I would say I take care of my vehicle as it is something I want to keep for a very long time, and I enjoy doing it.

[NOHOME]

I look at it this way, if I really took care of the body, it would last more than 10 years and I would not have an excuse to get a new car.

I think I deserve a new car every ten years.

In Ontario, it is much easier to drive to the scrapyard, hand over the tittle and collect $300 than it is to do the paperwork to sell it to someone else.

[beatgenie]

Originally Posted by zinzan

True.

There is a house I pass every day on my way to my son's kindergarten drop off. A little ranch in nice neighborhood. Some white piece-of-shit parked in the driveway. Half the roof is always shaded by trees, as is the driveway, and the house roof is half covered in moss. And the entire top of the car is covered in mossy filth.

Sure, there could be circumstances that has led to this--money problems, health problems, family problems. But if this was a friend or coworker, would you ever loan them your car? Trust them to babysit or dogsit? Loan them money? Invest in them in any way? Buy a sofa from them?

Probably not.

Yep...and to make matters worse, it doesn't even cost much to prevent those kinds of things from happening (to both the house and car).