Frustration........Please Help.......

[EMazda3S]

Tremendous frustration. Daily driver frustration.

I’m watching the car disintegrate before my eyes on a seemingly daily basis.



Is any one else going through this? How do you deal with it?

I detail to the best of my ability using Autopian methods and the best products with the right tools. I wash at least once weekly. I QD the car every day when I get home from work. I spend at least an hour on it to get rid of the daily mess. I carry QD and MF’s to get rid of bugs and bird droppings right away. People look at me like I’m crazy. My neighbors think I need to be institutionalized. My co-workers think I’m wacked when they see me at 6AM QDing the bugs off my front bumper. I love detailing and I love the way my car looks……...for about 15 minutes every day.



My 60 mile round trip commute leaves the car splattered with bugs and with a load of brake dust and tons of road grime. In the 8 or so hours the car sits in the parking lot at work, it gets so much pollen and dust that it actually looks like it’s a different color.

The tractor trailers and other trucks on either route available to me spew so much filth it’s unbelievable. The road construction is another incredible mess on the roads and it is seemingly always there. Trucks on and off the road leaving dirt trails and who knows what else. Couple that with the seasonal road repairs with the tar,etc. and I think I’m going to need a tranquilizer.



The car has about 1000 miles on it and already I can count about a dozen stone chips yet the car is “protected� with P21S over 3 layers of EX-P over AIO. The glass already has a small chip right in my line of sight.



I need an Autopian psychologist… I need carnauba coated SSRI’s….. I NEED a garage queen to love and lavish attention on!!!!!



How are you all coping with this??? Any insight would be much appreciated.



Thanks. :sadwavey:

Eric

[Hey, Moe!]

It`s not easy, for sure. Currently, the streets in my neighborhood are completely torn up due to sewer work. There`s dust everywhere.



So, I can understand that putting a lot of effort into keeping your car looking nice can seem to be an exercise in futility.



If it were me, I would also get rid of bugs, bird doo, and anything else that can be harmful to the finish ASAP. Other than that, I guess that my mentality would be to "live for the weekend." In other words, get the car really nice-looking for the weekend, when you don`t have that lousy commute.



Moreover, a well-cared for car will last. Perhaps you will be able to hang onto it long enough to turn it into your "beater" someday, and have a nice "garage queen" to lavish attention on.



Just don`t give in. Keep fighting the Autopian fight. You`ll feel better for it.

[strat81]

The `protection` you speak of is incredibly, imperceptibly thin. It will protect from water spots and maybe bird/bug juice, but a few layers of wax or sealant will not protect from flying rocks.



That being said, unless you live in a utopia (Autopia?) your car will never look perfect for a substantial period of time if it is a daily driver. Even if we were all blessed with perfect weather and no pollutants, we`d still get the inconsiderate jerk to dent our doors in a parking lot. (No matter how empty a parking lot is, and how far I park from the entrance, I always seem to end up with someone parking next to me.

[bmwbear]

EMazda3S



I know this is no consolation and you do have my sympathy, but what you describe is all part of owning a car. You need to accept that fact that you car WILL get rock chips and scratches, the only thing you can do is repair them the best you can and move on. I had my M3 keyed after only having it for 2 weeks. Was I mortified? Hell yeah!!! Did I want to track down the SOB and kill him with a rusty spoon? YES!!! Did I want to crawl into a little hole and die? Yes!!! But then I realized I can’t be that obsessed about it. I fixed the key scratches (I still know where they are, but a casual observer can’t find them) and moved on. So now after every couple of washes I go around the car and fix what ever “daily� damage I can find.

[YukonG]

EMazda3S,



I completely sympathize with you. I feel the same way about how my truck looks after my daily commute and I only drive 4 miles to work round trip. It`s very frustrating to have spent many hours detailing your vehicle only to have it look bad after 1 day. But like bmwbear says "what you describe is all part of owning a car". Keeping a vehicle clean is sometimes like fighting an uphill battle. Every season seems to bombard the surface with its own arsenal.

In spring you have the pollen, In summer you have the heat and humidity, in fall you have more pollen, and in winter you have sand and salt. You really can`t win. All you can do is your due dilligence and try to keep your vehicle as well maintained as possible. Belive me, just about everyone on Autopia feels the same way. :sadwavey:

[imported_chpsk8]

I feel for ya brother. We`re all a little like that on the inside. Sounds like you need to come to grips that it`s ok for the car to get dirty and "used" a little. :D

You should be happy that you have the skills to fix those defects as they happen. You may want to work on accumulating a few defects, then fixing them all at once. Take QDing the bugs off when you get to work. How about waiting until you get home?

Personally I like to do a nice detail on the weekends on two of the cars. Before each car leaves the garage in the morning it`s hit with a California duster. (wife does hers, I do mine). Then they get home at night I may QD and dust again, but this depends on tomorrows weather. Around here it rains every 3-5 days, so why bother if it`s going to rain on the way to work tomorrow? If it`s going to be nice I give them both a quick QD, usually just the leading edges to get off the bugs, and give it a quick dust to get the pollen off.

Next morning we start it all over. Somehere as the week goes by they get dirtier and dirtier, maybe a run through a puddle, or a nasty construction zone.

I just leave it until Saturday and get out the foam gun and have at it. Sure I may wash it during the week if the weather is looking good, I have some time, and the energy after work, school, and business, but I try to make sure and hit them on the weekends for sure.



It`s too bad about your rock chips. I think if ypu`re going to commute in territory that severe you should look into getting a clear bra for the front of your car. I think that would start to solve some of the headaches.



Most of all... have fun!!!! :D

[imported_cj99si]

-get a california duster

-dont use QD so much (just bugs/bird stuff)

-get some stone gaurd

-dont follow too close

-forget your neighbors/co-workers (who cares their probably jealous of your un-lazyness)



Your not that bad I wash my car just about every day. just keep putting the wax on.

[Rocket]

I`m in the same boat as you are. I drive my car everday and enter it in shows on the weekends and a few big shows once a year. Every week when I wash the car I find something new that wasn`t there the week before. It drives me nuts as well but I`ve come to realize that I can`t drive the car I love and have it look the way I want. It`s a trade off and I realize that now. So in order to help I`ve started saving for a decent daily driver so my baby can be parked and be a garage queen

[RCBuddha]

I have just resigned myself to the fact that my daily driver will never stay as clean and marr free as I want it to be.



Like Twister, I am looking for a second car...

[a.k.a. Patrick]

Consider a hoseless wash product..........and welcome to the obsession.

[EMazda3S]

You guys are the greatest! I couldn`t have received better therapy anywhere else.

I guess just knowing that everyone else is in the same boat makes me feel a bit better.

I do use the Cali duster and the hoseless wash products and I will heed much of the above advice, especially not QDing in the parking lot before work..... I just can`t live that one down. It`s actually coming up in meetings at work and I`m getting a serious OCD reputation. Not that there`s anything wrong with that but the detailing is probably better left for my driveway.



I will refer back to this thread throughout the year as different obstacles come up. The increase in road construction this Summer will likely bring an increase in anxiety. And geez...the bugs of late. It`s like a competition with them to get near the car!!!



Thanks to all! I`ll continue to think of everyone in my quest to stay sane and just have fun detailing.



Eric

[imported_mosborn9]

By best advice is to take as good of care of the engine as you are the exterior\interior. Plan on keeping the car long term and purchasing in the future without trading in the car you have currently. Use your current car as your beater car later. With any luck after 9, 10, 11 years you will still have a dependable, reliable vehicle that is not a money pit. The old Explorer I have is going on 11 years old (163,000 mi) and is my beater. I do not carry Comp \ Collision on it and the property taxes are less than $100. It`s now outside 24 x 7 and I hate it, still runs good and I hate the day it will not make economic sense to repair it.