How often do you wash your car or take it to the car wash?

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DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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My wife got on my case last week because she says I wash my car "Too damn much". LOL I like to keep my cars clean, and my windows nice and clear. Hate rain spots. Hate dirt on my cars. I let the interior go a few weeks before I vacuum it out, but I wash my Toyota Camry pretty much every week! My older Traverse gets washed every 2 to 2.5 weeks still even though it's 13 years old now.

My wife will let her Malibu go months on end without a car wash. I actually get sick of looking at it being so dirty and end up taking it to the car wash myself after about 3 months of her dirtying it up! I don't think she has taken it to the wash herself since 2022!

Winter months I spend money at car washed. Most of the time I pay $14 at the gas station car wash, and I dry it off myself, and apply tire wet. About once every 4-5 weeks I take it to the "professional" car wash and spend about $30 with tip on getting it washed, add the hot lava wax, and vacuumed out. June through September I usually wash it myself.

Between Spring, and Fall, about once a month I apply ceramic detailer to the Camry to give it a nice glossy shine and looking like new. I get compliments on how it looks a lot by strangers when I'm out.
 
Southern CA is normally a pretty dusty place and the dirt can pile up quickly. During warm months, I will get a carwash a the local Costco for $8 whenever I fill up. It is a pretty good drive-through that even treats the tires and does a decent job at drying. I then towel off what the blowers don't get. During winter months, the car is usually covered in dew in the morning. I will use clean rags to dry off the car and remove the dirt about once a week. It isn't a professional wash but it is good enough for me. Windows are another matter. I hate dirty windows. I will clean those whenever needed. I don't drive a lot so the interior doesn't get too dirty. I keep a microfiber cloth in the center console to get dust off the dashboard (about once a week) but I may go a month or two before I feel the need to vacuum.
 
How does the frequency of car washes compare to use of dry cleaning services? Just curious, what you are doing in the car that requires such frequent cleaning?
 
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Proformance said:
How does the frequency of car washes compare to use of dry cleaning services? Just curious, what you are doing in the car that requires such frequent cleaning?
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The inside of my car stays pretty clean. We track a lot of dead grass in it from our yard, so that is primarily what gets vacuumed out when I vacuum.

There is a power and cable line that is overhead of my parking pad, so I frequently deal with bird crap on my cars as well. If it's a small spot, I just wipe it off , but usually it's multiple spots, or it looks like some a flock of birds chose to bomb my car while flying over so I pretty much immediately wash it when that happens.

I'm also usually washing it within 2 days after it rains because of all the rain spots or debris from the road when driving in the rain.

I am going to mark it on my calendar every time I wash the cars to see how often I wash them in a year. I bet I did about 50 car washes in 2023 between all 3 of them.
 
Proformance said:
I did 0.
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You are either not a car person, don't own car, or your car's paint is faded and dull, and dirty. I imagine up there in the north east with all the salt that cars receive when driven after, during, and right before snow/ice storms that not washing the exterior would be a bad idea.

At zero you are a slightly worse track record than my brother. He told me he literally washed his car twice a year. They were just gas station car washes, so he spends zero time himself washing a car.
 
:djsmug: Ricky, You spend $900.00 a year on car washes and don't support ODJT? WOW!!
 
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sonic-vision said:
:djsmug: Ricky, You spend $900.00 a year on car washes and don't support ODJT? WOW!!
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Priorities!

I probably spend about $600 a year with the mixture of gas station car washes and the professional car wash. The rest of the washes are done at home. Plus the cost of tire shine, and quick detailer. I haven't bought a gallon of car wash in years. It lasts so long! I have two seperate types of car wash that I use at home. I believe one of them where I am down to just a few ounces left I purchased that in 2009. The other one is ICE by Turtle wax, and it's still over half full and I probably got it like 8-9 years ago
 
Good question, I’d say when they need it but usually more often in the Summer. We have 5 vehicles and wash them in the driveway, two at a time. There something relaxing about washing & drying cars. Usually I end up talking to the neighbors. My van doesn’t get washed too often as it’s garaged so it doesn’t get dirty except in the winter. What we did start to do is get them detailed every other year. I had never even thought about doing that but I was selling one of my cars, my brother in law recommended detailing to get the best price. Well, when I came to pickup my car from the detail shop I walked straight past it and asked where is my car. It looked like a like a new car and I got my asked price from the first buyer.
 
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We have a friend who has a detailing business. My wife has had her car done by him twice in the past. We will take the Traverse to him every other year right before we take it on summer vacation so it looks real nice. He puts plastic re-newer on the black trim and makes it look brand new. Gives it a deep shiny gloss. The wax he uses lasts about 3 months before it wares off. The carpet inside the car is shampooed and vaccumed so it looks almost like new.

I would recommend EVERYONE go get a detail job on their car done at least once every other year unless they drive an hold beat up hoopty. Most people have never used the services of a detailer, or even ever think about doing it. Luxury service I guess. Probably less than 15% of motorists have ever used a professional detailer service. It's more common among people who drive sports cars and luxury imports.
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
Priorities!

I probably spend about $600 a year with the mixture of gas station car washes and the professional car wash. The rest of the washes are done at home. Plus the cost of tire shine, and quick detailer. I haven't bought a gallon of car wash in years. It lasts so long! I have two seperate types of car wash that I use at home. I believe one of them where I am down to just a few ounces left I purchased that in 2009. The other one is ICE by Turtle wax, and it's still over half full and I probably got it like 8-9 years ago
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That's a lot of time you spend on car washes. I find when I have that kind of time on my hands I try to get paid for it ;)

Going by memory and I suspect it's close to accurate I did one car wash last year
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
You are either not a car person, don't own car, or your car's paint is faded and dull, and dirty. I imagine up there in the north east with all the salt that cars receive when driven after, during, and right before snow/ice storms that not washing the exterior would be a bad idea.
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Lots of assumptions.
I haven't been through a car wash in more than 2 decades.
 
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sonic-vision said:
How often do you brush your teeth?
I sometimes wear jeans two days in a row.
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I will go 3-4 days of use on jeans these days unless I get black dirt or food on them.

Teeth are brushed twice a day, and flossed often 3 times a day :) My dentist always tells me that my teeth are in great shape.
 
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