slo’s SUNDAY poll - Washing Your Car

[slo]

How do you wash your car?
Do you go to a car wash?
Do you wash it yourself?
(multiple choice)


For me.....I go to a car wash.
I can honestly say that I have not washed my car, with me doing it in the driveway, my entire adult life. I used to wash my parents cars as a kid - it was one of my chores. I have vivid memories of scrubbing the tires white walls with an SOS Pad - I hated every minute of it. That’s probably why I don’t do it myself now.

 

[ronandannette]

Always go to a car wash. We live in a condo and there is nowhere here one can wash their own car. Mostly I run it through the automatic wash at the gas station but a few times a year I'll take it to one of those express detail places and have the interior done too. In the winter it can be tough to get a window of weather good enough to wash it - at super-low temps the doors and locks freeze before you can even get it home and into the garage. I went the entire month of February without being able to.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I go thru the car wash during the snow months to get rid of the salt and the grim.
But I actually prefer to go to the self wash, plunk in all the quarters and do it myself!
It's been decades since I washed a car in my own driveway.

 

[mamamary]

I said another person. Sometimes my dh in the driveway or we bring the car to get it detailed (washed, waxed etc). Used to do car washes but not anymore.

 

[mjkacmom]

I usually have one of my kids take it to the car wash a couple times a year.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I don't wash mine often enough, but I occasionally run it through an automatic or support a charity thing.

I have a "stupid question" though. - When people lament the fact that it rains right after they wash their car, is it because the rain does get it clean enough (and they wasted the time/money to wash it) or because the rain spots it (as opposed to it being nicely dried at the car wash)?

 

[mumto3girls]

I was in the rarely camp until recently. We tend to keep our cars a really long time and we’ve had trouble with rusting. DH has decided that it’s from the weather here and all the salt on the roads and so now we are regularly washing the ones that he and I drive and reminding the kids to run theirs through occasionally. Helps that there is an automatic car wash location across from our office so we have a monthly plan with unlimited washes. In crazy weather I sometimes go multiple times a week.

 

[design_mom]

We either wash at home or take it to one of the coin-op "do it yourself" car washes. (My husband usually takes care of that stuff, but it really needs to be done and he's waiting for better weather. It's cold.)

@PollyannaMom -- I think my husband complains about the rain because dirt/spray from the wet road makes the car dirty again almost instantly.

 

[nene0182]

We have unlimited wash passes on all of our vehicles. My husband washes his truck a few times a week since his truck gets pretty dirty with his commute and where he parks at work. We try to get mine washed at least once a week even if I haven’t driven it since it gets dirty and dusty being parked off the alley. Our son washes his about once a week as well but his silver car seems to “hide” the dirt better than our black ones.

 

[firefly_ris]

I do the car wash in the winter to keep the salt down.

That said nothing automatic is ever as good as a good hand detail, and I enjoy doing that myself at home including hand waxing.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I did car wash only, though have done a few fund raising washes. I try to get it washed at least every 2 weeks, more after the snows and salt.. As a teen, I always washed my cars myself, many hours, spotless. Waxed also.

 

[loves to dive]

Most of the time I go to a car wash because I can get my oil changed there as well. Since Covid, I've done it myself in my driveway.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I am 39 years old and I have never been to a car wash. Lol, I know it's not expensive but for some reason it's one of those weird taboos that I've held on to from growing up poor. Growing up, only "rich" people paid to get their cars washed. My townhouse doesn't have outside hose hookups so I wash my car at my grandma's house when I go over to wash hers in the summer. She likes keeping her car shiny so she calls me over there probably once a month starting in the spring.

 

[tvguy]

None of my 4 cars have ever been through a car wash in the time I have owned them. Cheapest car wash around here is $9, and that is wash only. WAY too expense for this cheap old guy who needs the exercise , plus I pull the car on the lawn and water it with the run off. Chevron around here used to run the Bubble Machine car washes around here. Buy 10 gallons of gas, the car wash was free.

Last time I took a car through a car wash was 1998. We had just bought a used 1991 Dodge. I came out missing the front license plate, the radio antenna and the passenger side mirror. They had to shut the car was down to retrieve the parts.
As for my 1965 Mustang.....no way I'm taking a car with a $9,000 paint job through a car wash.

 

[usnuzuloose]

No one to wash the cars. And my cars dont run.

 

[usnuzuloose]

None of my 4 cars have ever been through a car wash in the time I have owned them. Cheapest car wash around here is $9, and that is wash only. WAY too expense for this cheap old guy who needs the exercise , plus I pull the car on the lawn and water it with the run off. Chevron around here used to run the Bubble Machine car washes around here. Buy 10 gallons of gas, the car wash was free.

Last time I took a car through a car wash was 1998. We had just bought a used 1991 Dodge. I came out missing the front license plate, the radio antenna and the passenger side mirror. They had to shut the car was down to retrieve the parts.
As for my 1965 Mustang.....no way I'm taking a car with a $9,000 paint job through a car wash.

Good thing you did not come through the wash were I worked. The brushes grabbed the back windshield wiper and blew out two different windows all in one day.
But some people dont read the instructions before washing,

 

[tvguy]

Good thing you did not come through the wash were I worked. The brushes grabbed the back windshield wiper and blew out two different windows all in one day.
But some people dont read the instructions before washing,

I watch way too many Judge shows. Following landlord tenant disputes, car sales disputes, was it a loan or a gift disputes, my car was damaged in the car wash case seem to come next. And I have never seen a car wash win.

 

[karmic]

Every time I get my car serviced they wash it- so far I have not paid for any routine service at the Ford dealership

 

[disneychrista]

I mostly hand wash the car myself but will take it through the gas station car wash. Local environmentalists say you should only wash your car at a car wash because the chemicals in the detergents used go into the ground water, rivers, streams, etc. when you do it at home. At the car wash it goes to a water treatment facility.

 

[firefly_ris]

I mostly hand wash the car myself but will take it through the gas station car wash. Local environmentalists say you should only wash your car at a car wash because the chemicals in the detergents used go into the ground water, rivers, streams, etc. when you do it at home. At the car wash it goes to a water treatment facility.

I wash mine with Dawn dish detergent...