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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   1452 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for July 2, 2025

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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How often does everyone here wash their cars? What conditions are they put through? (Garage/outside, daily driver/weekend fun, extreme conditions, salty winters...) Do you hand wash or car wash? Do you find a sense of ritual/peace in doing it, or is it a chore?

I originally bought a pressure washer to blast crud off the side of my house but now I primarily use it to wash my vehicles. It's oddly satisfying and the kids like it too. I added a foam cannon attachment so I can cover them in a sheet of soap suds, let that sit for 5-10 minutes, and then do a rinse.

Works reasonably well but some spots still need a scrubbing. I probably do this every other month, though it's required more in spring because of the sheer mass of pollen that collects.

I talked about detailing last week so won't rehash that part.

Thanks all! Lotta dirty vehicles on TheMotte! ...I'll go back to considering whether I should hand wash mine slightly less often now...

(I'm currently scheduled to wash it every 6 weeks. Wax once a year. I do the jambs maybe every second or third wash; dirty jambs really annoy me. Nice weather here, garage at home, but getting driven even more now; pretty much daily.)

I have a personal relationship with my local drive thru car wash, and so I can run my cars through for free, and do so basically any time I drive by and there's no line. Once a week to once a month, depending on luck.

How often does everyone here wash their cars?

That depends a lot on where you live and how you use it. In the summer in place where it never rains you can get away with pretty much never washing it. In winter, especially if you drive in the snow, it gets filthy really quick. I usually go to a wash when I notice visible dirt on it, and usually just a run in automatic wash is enough. Occasionally when I take a longer trip (those darn bugs) I have to manually clean it with a rag pre and post the automatic part. Never found any special ritual meaning in it, it's just a chore for me.

My car is 18 years old. I think it's gotten one wash in the last 6 years. I tend to wash it whenever I needed to vacuum it anyway. It's perfectly serviceable.

2006 Camry that I love, my daily driver that I hope to run until it dies. Was garage kept when I got it at low mileage (80k! Still has under 100 because I don’t drive that often) but mine lives outside now. Wash it with the near ubiquitous car washes where I live, about every 2 months. Kind of have to, because it’s deserty and the rain leaves basically dirt deposits, which is annoying and looks terrible after a while, plus the classic bird poop. Hate doing so because feels a bit like wasted money. A sizable minority of people around here actually pay for car wash subscriptions! That lets you go through basically where ever you want, at chain locations all over. When I first got it I was very gung ho about washing and waxing it myself… never happened.

I use my truck for daily driving and light to moderate hauling, keep it outside, and frequently have my dogs in the back. I wash the whole thing by hand when there's so much stuck on crap it starts to bother me. I clean the windows about once a month whenever bird poop, pollen, sap, etc. starts to hinder my view. Road salt is the only thing that motivates me to wash my truck more frequently because I consider that preventative maintenance, for that I run it through a car wash that gets the underbody. I do appreciate a beautifully kept car but I find giving it a deep cleaning 1-2 times a year while spot cleaning as needed is plenty.

Wash it? Pretty much never. It's a light color that doesn't show dirt much, the paint job is roasted, and there's a bit of body damage so washing it doesn't really make it look much better. I keep the interior reasonably clean, though, and my tools are organized in the trunk.

I find anything to do with cleaning cars to be a chore, but worth it when I have a car where the effort actually pays off.

No garage, daily driver, extensive "pin-striping" from off-road driving, and it gets washed when it rains.

How often does everyone here wash his cars? Do you hand wash or car wash?

I let the sky wash my car whenever it rains.

What conditions are they put through?

No garage; a daily commute of 40 miles each way in the New York–Philadelphia corridor

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