Never wash vehicle method

User24 · 12-25-06, 09:02

Looking for other people like myself, who never wash their vehicles. Do they exist on autopia? I'd be interested in hearing from you, if you don't.

Washing, is to clean a dirty vehicle. But if I never allow my vehicle to become dirty, there's no need to wash. Ever.

I drive a clean vehicle daily, which means using a cover while at work, and cleaning the paint, mirrors, glass, and lights on a daily basis. Therefore never more than a day's worth of dust has settled, so it always looks like I have a clean ride. The cleaning process takes me 37 minutes.

The last time I've been to the self service wash, was because I thought it a necessity in order to clean tires of their dirt and brake dust. Therefore I had bought some tire brushes and Sonus tire cleaning spray and used them. Since then, I have discovered that rims and brake dust wipe off easily with a towel and simple water or detailer spray. I stopped going to the car wash, and that was six months ago.

Last night I performed the semi-annual clay. Some areas of the vertical surfaces had become gritty, noticeable by feel and the very quiet high frequency squeal of a towel going over them. They are the white pinpoint sand specks visible in the afternoon sun, that also catch your wax and take extra time buffing off. I do not understand how particles can become embedded into a vehicle protected by synthetic sealant and detailed daily, but it still happens.

I did a thorough claying job, as it took 3 hours, and by the results I'd say it was a good job. Now the surface is smoother than when I took delivery of it brand new. It's perfect to the touch, akin to acrylic, or enameled ceramic. I did not have any black dirt noticeable on the clay coming from the paint, as there must not have been enough actual dirt to clean given all the daily wiping I do, only the white embedded particles that needed shaving. I take this as verification of the no wash method, and am curious as to why I haven't heard of other people doing the same so far.

clnfrk · 12-25-06, 09:14

So, let me get this straight... You clayed your car without washing it first. It doesn't matter if you cover your car or not. The fact that you drive the car daily means that there are going to be dirt particles on the paint no matter what. And to be honest with you, you're only making the situation worse by covering your car while at work. Think about all that dirt that you are dragging along the finish of your vehicle as your draping the cover over your car. I personally, am not a big fan of car covers at all. Chances are good that they actually do more harm than good, especially if you are taking it on and off on a daily basis.

And, while your paint may feel smoother after claying than the day you bought it, I can guarantee you that there are also hundreds if not thousands more scratches too. So, unless your car sits in a garage all day, than it DOES NEED to be washed periodically. But hey, its your car. Do whatever you want with it.

btw, I'm assuming your wiping the paint down while its dry and with a dry towel judging by the squeaking you hear while "cleaning" the paint. Just to let you know that squeaking is an likelihood all those little dirt particles your wiping marring the hell out of your paint. Sorry to say this, but you seriously need to reevaluate your "washing" practices.

mikebai1990 · 12-25-06, 09:19

Well, with the daily dust, there is ALWAYS an increased chance or marring the vehicle. Do you have swirls and micromarring on your vehicle right now? I'm going to guess that with the daily cleaning (even if you use QD's), there will be some marring.

Are you saying it takes 37 minutes to clean the car every day? That means you spend 259 minutes (roughly 4 hours) every week. Most people on the forum do not have the time to spend 40 minutes cleaning their car when they can spend 40 minutes at the end of each week to do a thorough cleaning.

Why exactly don't you want to wash the car? Are you afraid of rust? If you are looking to find a no-rinse wash product, I suggest you try out Optimum No Rinse Wash. The solution encapsulates the dirt particles so that it doesn't mar the surface of the paint, and the user can use a MF towel to wipe the particles away.

Also, another point. In the winter (maybe it doesn't snow where you live, I don't know), when salt and sand accumulates onto the car, wiping down the car with QD will not be a smart choice.

Just my opinion, and explaining why I think your method doesn't work

P.S. Welcome to Autopia

paul34 · 12-25-06, 09:27

While it sounds good in theory, it unfortunately just isn't that easy. I fear you may be inducing excessive marring with your use of car covers and QD (if the car is especially dirty).

The thing is, I think we've gotten to accustomed to living our lives indoors - few people realize how "dirty" the outdoors really is. More specifically, just how many objects and creatures create particles of chaos naturally and artificially. There is so much "stuff" in the air and given off by different objects (including our cars - dirt, asphalt, brake dust, rubber particles, oil particles, small metal particles, exhaust particulates, etc) that the ways our cars hold up at least as well as they do is actually quite amazing

.

The world is chaos, we just live our lives in simplicity and predictably so maybe it doesn't seem that way... sometimes we get "spoiled" by that, that's IMO anyway.

Joshua312 · 12-25-06, 09:36

I agree with others, I would look into Optimum No Rinse and at least use that method daily and then use Poorboys Spray and Wipe if there is only light dust accumulation. These methods work well for me, I ONR on almost a daily basis because of how easy/fast it is when the car is barely dirty. I....like you just enjoy having a clean car so I find the time every day or every other day to give it a nice ONR.

clnfrk · 12-25-06, 11:18

Out of curiosity, what color is your car? And, what type of towel are you using for the paint? I can't see how you could've clayed your car and not seen any dirt picked up in the clay unless your using black clay.

In your situation, I would expect the clay to be absolutely filthy.

Conundrum · 12-26-06, 08:08

eek...that MUST be scratching the paint, even if you can't see it yourself.

I know I bought some PB S&W last online order I put through, yet I haven't used it yet. Even when the car is lightly dirty/dusty I'm still too worried about marring the paint (I drive a new Honda Accord with soft paint btw)...normally if its just "dusty" I wait a week or two and then do a traditional wash on the car (takes me about around 1-1 1/2 hours, considering most of that is drying time and I go really really slow while drying).

But to the OP, seriously, please rethink your cleaning process for your own car's sake.

CleanGSR · 12-26-06, 09:29

My dad hasn't washed his S2000 in probably 2 years. It only gets driven once every 1-2 weeks in nice weather...never in the rain. He QD's it every couple of days and always does a QD after driving it. It sits in the garage the rest of the time. It never gets more than a really light layer of dust that QD can remove. He has a del sol that is pretty much the same since it got repainted. They drive the civic in bad weather.

Coupe · 12-26-06, 09:31

Your paint has got to be swirl and scratch city.

jsatek · 12-26-06, 10:24

What about the road grime that kicks up when you are driving behind another vehicle?

What do you do when it rains when you are at work and the road is wet?

Sounds like a BS post to me...

Guy · 12-26-06, 10:49

My singlestage paint on my Dodge Stealth was ruined by a car cover! Even as far as wearing thru the paint to the basecoat in several places. It sat outside for a bout a month while the motor was being rebuilt. The wind blowing and making the cover flap and ripple was very bad for the car. No cover will ever be put onto my cars ever again!! I realize you have a clearcoat but I guarentee you are doing major damage!

Accumulator · 12-26-06, 11:05

User24- Welcome to Autopia!

It must be kinda irritating, having everyone tell you you're damaging your car with your current regimen. If it's working to your satisfaction, that's what counts.

But I'll add to the piling-on by saying that what you do simply doesn't work for me either (causes micromarring of the paint) even when I do it on vehicles that're in "clean environment storage" and *never* driven. They always looked OK to other people, and were fine in many kinds of lighting, but the (admitedly very minor) marring was a horror-show in my eyes and I learned my lesson. It's like the "never washed" cars in almost all museums, not even close to what I consider OK.

But hey, that's me. I'll repeat: if what you're doing works for you then that's all that matters. Hope you don't let everybody's

put you off of Autopia; there're plenty of things we agree to disagree about.