[Lily]

Be honest… when was the last time you cleaned your car? 😅

Spring is officially here (finally some sunshine! ☀️), perfect time for a little car refresh. Here are a few quick wins:

• Use a soft brush (or old paintbrush) for dusty air vents
• Keep a small bin in the car to avoid clutter build-up
• Wipe your windscreen wipers to stop smearing
• Don’t forget the little spots like the fuel cap and door gaps

Sometimes it’s the small things that make your car feel brand new again.

What’s one thing your cardefinitely needs this spring: a clean, a clear-out, or… a miracle? 😄

[Santa]

Or do as I did. Take it to Tesco and pay the carwash people to do it while I sit in the restaurant with coffee and cake.

[Drivingforfun]

I did that @Santa and they seem to do a great job these days. The price seems quite high but I think it's worth it. For me it's about 2 hours earnings and if you add up the man hours of several people working on your car for 30 mins it comes to about that, not to mention it would take me much more than 2 hours to do it that well. That's not accounting for the supplies!

[Lily]

@Santa and @Drivingforfun you know what guys? Fair! 🤣 And they do a better job than we'd ever do.

[Rolebama]

I spent most of yesterday out there washing my car. My wife has promised to hoover it out tomorrow. As to clutter, I do tend to use the boot as a bit of a shed, so I will do that tomorrow.
The hardest part of washing the car was digging moss out of door glass rubbers, and around the number plates.

[Beelzebub]

My car was washed and vacuumed free by the dealer when it had its annual service last month. It usually needs done again in the autumn.

[NMNeil]

I washed my truck about 10 years ago, and it made no difference to how it drove, so I haven't bothered to wash it since.
And if you look at my beat up filthy old truck in the supermarket parking lot surrounded by shiny new cars and trucks, which one would a thief target first?
Even if they did chose it and got in there's no way they would be able to start it if they didn't know about the hidden switches I installed😏

[Lily]

My dear @NMNeil, please tell me you are joking. 🤣 You do have a point, nobody is stealing a truck that looks like nobody has washed it in 10 years.

@Rolebama you had the perfect weather! I like washing my car, it's good exercise too.

@Beelzebub I need to clean mine every couple of months... but I do have a toddler so nothing lasts clean around him for long.

[olduser]

I think it was the Vauxhall hand book that used to say, 'a clean car ran better'!😀

One snag with washing the car yourself, you see all the little rust patches that need attention.🙄

[Lily]

@olduser Vauxhall was like "don't drive our cars around town all dirty, please. It's bad press" 😂

[Rolebama]

@olduser That is a very valid point. I found around 20 tiny rust spots, probably caused by the way Councils now just chuck tar down, and follow up with a good sprinkling of grit, waiting for oncoming passing cars to sandblast each other.

[NMNeil]

Originally Posted by Lily

My dear @NMNeil, please tell me you are joking. 🤣 You do have a point, nobody is stealing a truck that looks like nobody has washed it in 10 years.

I'm serious, and the odd thing is that after a while it didn't get any dirtier.
On the rare occasion it rains here it does cut through some of the muck, but it's not long before it's nice and grubby again.
I do however clean the windscreen when I put petrol in because they supply squeegees and tubs of water at the filling station.

[Seal]

@Lily I have just begun the ‘spring cleaning’ process on the cars, well car cos I can only do one at a time these days. Last week I cleaned the tyres, removing all the ‘back to black’ muck that those car wash places slap all over them no matter how many times I yell at them not to. By the time I had cleaned them to within an inch of their lives and they had dried off I had to come back to the job the next day. I then spent a not inconsiderable amount of time washing the rims, drying and then ceramic coating the rims before I waxed the side walls. By the time I had washed all the plastic trim and coated that with a silicone coating I was so exhausted I’ve not revisited the vehicle or any of the other ones in the garage. It’s normally the height of summer by the time I’ve completed the outside of them all and it’s too hot to wash and apply all these ceramic coatings, that are not to be applied in direct sunlight or excessive heat, to the bodywork😳 The good news is the insides never get that dirty because I don’t ever get the damn cars out on the road 🤦🏻‍♂️😂

[Lily]

@Seal of course, you have some beauties in your garage! Naturally, you need to take care of them. How many are there?

[Seal]

@Lily Only three nowadays as I’m finding it difficult to keep all of them in tiptop shape, age is an absolute killer on the knees and hips and being a control freak I am unable to hand over to a valet company that does the same level of detail as I want, though if you saw one of the cars you would question that statement. I concentrate on the one I take to shows first as it’s a short season but a large vehicle and then in the Autumn I do what I can in the garage in preparation with the others and the daily driver. I’ve always found it strange that all the people you expect to look after the visual aspects of their vehicles are exactly the ones who have zero interest in doing so and are too tight to pay someone else to do it ! Car journalists, mechanics who only care about the mechanical aspects etc whilst car dealers are of course obsessed with the visual aspect of cars because they want to sell sell sell. 😂