Another chick question.
Still in Central Florida.

I don't have a garage and my assigned parking place is under a large oak tree.

How and how often do I maintain the exterior of the brand new car?

I'm not good about regular washings.
Used to just go through the full service car washes or $5.00 worth of quarters at the self service.
Every year or so would leave the car at the full service for detailing.
For a while a guy would come by the office every couple of weeks and do cars.

I guess I am more concerned about waxing to maintain the Pearl White.
Do I need to do anything right now to protect it?
And what to do next week?

Thanks,
S

Well, if your old car was parked under that oak tree, you already know about the sap, insect poop, and bird poop. Catepillar poop can absolutely stain the paint, and it will show a lot on light colors. Bird poop can too, and should be cleaned ASAP after each "event". Tree sap is mainly bad in spring an dearly summer, but can really make a scum on the paint.

All I can say is wax it monthly, and use something like Meguiar's "Quik Detailer" to wipe up dust and sap between waxing's.

You need a promotion and get a better parking place! :thumbsup:

Is the Meguiar stuff readily available?
Where?

Thanks

Common as dirt. Got mine at Wal-Mart for under 5 bucks. Comes in an 8 Oz maroon spray bottle.

If you're really paranoid, you could buy a car cover. Basically a gigantic fitted cloth cover for the car. Next to a garage, that's the best protection. It takes a few minutes to get it on and off, and it hides your pretty new car, but it will protect it. BTW: has anyone seen the car covers that NASCAR cars are using now? They are basically 3D pictures of the car on the covers. How cool is that?

At the very least, keep a supply of quarters, and go blast everything off it every week at the local wash barn. The worst thing you could do is to leave something on the car. Bird crap and sap themselves don't hurt the car, but if you leave them on for a few weeks, they will destroy anything. Oh, and if you decide to use the self wash stalls, DO NOT use the foam brush on anything except for the tires. They will scratch the **** out of you paint.

Quick tip from your Uncle Frank....

If you go to a do-it-yourself car wash with the spray wands, be careful! I was washing my Taurus 4-5 years ago. I just happened to be washing the trunklid side to side with the wand very close to the car. The time ran out , the spray stopped and gravity took over and the wand scraped the trunk lid pretty good. I was sick....until I got over it. It just might be worth the 5 or 6 U.S.D. to get the touchless wash.

touchless wash? I haven't seen any n YEARS... All those car wash places use those large circular brushes and plastic strips that bang on the car and hit it, always folding my side mirors, which is what worries me now, with the Sonata NOT having folding mirrors....

I am always concerned of those car wash places causing more harm to the paint than good...

So what do you do? Washing the car yourself in the Midwest winter (even more so you, Canadians) is not exactly something that I would expect myself to do....

This post has been edited by mamamia: Apr 2 2006, 11:55 PM

Seriously? Here in Iowa the touchless places are every 5 feet.

Tons of touchless washes here in IN, too - in fact, I've got one less than a mile from my house. It's awesome!

Now if only these tornadoes would stop coming every 2 days, I might actually get to keep a clean car for a while.

Well, then, tell me wha't the meaning of TOUCHLESS WASH... s much as I know, it's all based on very powewrful streams of water, without the usage of any brushes, so nothing touches your car, except water. Right? Well, not here...

That's exactly what touchless washes are. I have a really hard time believing that there aren't any in Chi-town. Even in a lot of the gas station washes around here, they have touchless wash.

As long as they don't have the spinning brushes or other brushes that come into contact with your car to damage the surface, and it's just high-pressure streams of water around you, it's touchless.

Well, I guess the reason touchless is not as popular (at least not here... I know one Mobil station I went to once and they had this touchless system, but now they have the regular brushes) -- is that it doesn't clean as well as a brush... You really need a LOT of water in TREMENDOUS PRESSURE to clean a dirt car....

yeah the touchless ones don't do a good job .. I use them in the winter though .. they are great for getting most of the salt and crap off from the winter roads - especially when they spray underneath and in the wheel wells.

I did a Google search for touchless car wash and NONE IN CHICAGOLAND... The closest is in Wisconsin...

So what is that indicating? Maybe that people DON'T LIKE IT AS MUCH? 'Cause it doesn't do a good job?

that's really weird mama ? I know in Toronto they are everywhere and Toronto has the same climate as Chitown .. strange ..

Oh Suzanna...
If you have the room, how about a carport? You can get one fairly cheap and they're easy to put-up. Here's a link to one such site & there are many others, and you should be able to find something similar for sale near your residence:

http://www.carportsusa.com/

Weird it is indeed...

They have Soft Cloth and Hand Wash, but no Touchless... Nowhere in IL could I find even one....

Maybe the strong union lobby (or the dead guys in Chi-town who voted for JFK in '60) got the state legislature in Illinois to declare touchless washes illegal and immoral, such as to not cause hardship to the great union car-wash workers by stealing their business.

:whistling: