I was wondering how do most of you care for the exterior of your car. Most of the time I wash my cars by hand but sometimes I go to a car wash. This place was the best, they do a pre wash before you go into the car wash and then they have a great post clean up as well.
Because of the dust down here, car washes are a big business in Texas, and I will grudgingly admit to using them, especially when it's 100-degrees outside. I've never had a car damaged in one, knock wood!
I wash mine by hand but wash is probably too strong of a word. My wagon never sees rain so I just use a damp towel and wipe the car clean and dry it with a dry towel as I go. Basically I dust off my car. My wagon has been garaged it's whole life so I am afraid of driving it in the rain, or after a rain when there are lots of puddles, because I don't want water to caught in the rocker panels, rear fender area, etc., and cause it to rust. As long as it doesn't see water it shouldn't rust, right? That's my hope anyways.
When I was a kid, some dad in the neighborhood boasted about hooking up an ignition coil to his car, to stop dogs raining on his hubcaps, Sir
Look up, *splat* I would think a "brushless" setup would be the best for protecting the trim and Di-Noc.
I had only been to a few car washes in my life before I got too old to use a wand or hose and wash my own. I'd spend hours washing some of them. Now I take the car to a brushless car wash now and then. Mostly then. I can't remember having it washed more than six times in 27 months. In Florida we lived on and around lime rock roads. Those were either too dry and dusty or two slimmy and wet. That's when I'd go to the brushless quickie , when I couldn't see what color my off red car was. Before that I washed, detailed, and chamoed everything. Here in Illinois I haven't been off paved roads yet. But, like where we lived in Florida, the darned yellowish green pine pollon gets all over the car. One time last summer the car was attacked by a litter of giant birds. It looked like I'd parked at the ocean beach among Sea Gulls. But I didn''t see any. Glad that was a one time thing. In almost 1 1/2 years I had it washed three times here. It sits outside so a good shower gets most of the car clean. If it looks clean at 20' I'm happy. My first and last cars. I'd rather have the old Dodge and my youth . Yes, that's what I paid for a one year old Impala with under 20,000 miles. It has a whooping 30,000+ now. Someday I'll tell about my maroon 1980 Malibu and THE COW WASH.
Is that a '50 Dodge? I have '50 Plymouth 2 door fastback, where yours is the sedan. Nice car you have.