How do you take care of your vehicles?

General Discussion
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Some people don’t take care of their vehicles, others like me and other people are very close to their vehicles and take the best of care of them that they can. My vehicles are lucky enough to have Shelter Logic temporary garages. While these are not the ideal garages, they will do a good job until permits are approved for a much improved garage situation.

My vehicles are fortunate enough to also get cleaned with Mr. Pink foaming car wash shampoo, a very high quality shampoo that I am very impressed with. I just recently purchased Torque Detail ceramic car soap. For my interior cleaner (don’t need this for my BRZ since it still has very strong new car smell - still just a kid), I use Chemical Guys total interior cleaner new car smell. I also use premium quality microfiber clothes if I should need to use them for cleaning, or drying. The Rag Company Eagle Edgeless 500 4-Pack Microfiber Detailing Towels 16in x 16in towels are what I use. Rag Company also provides a special washing machine detergent specifically for washing microfiber, and yes, I have that, too. For larger area drying, I use Microfiber Madness towels Chipmunk XL.

I take great pride in my vehicles, and some people have told me “come on, it’s only a Subaru, it’s not like you have a Lamborghini” Who cares what they think, they’re my vehicles (hey, they’re mine, then there are family cars), To me, it doesn’t matter what you pay for it, if that car is special to you, then that’s the best car.

Of course I do the normal maintenance, fortunately I can do most of it on my own which not only saves money, but mileage and costs of gas in bringing it to the dealership.

I hope to see how you who chose to reply to this post take care of your vehicles. I hope how I take care of my cars and how much I care about them is of some help to all of you.

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Was this product placement?

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My wife leases her car, and I stopped driving a couple years ago. I am, however very attached to the car I was driving when I quit. It’s a 1962 Cadillac Sedan De Ville. Light metallic blue with a blue interior. It’s stored under a soft car cover in my garage. I’m at the point where I don’t do anything to the car. As for my wife’s car, we take it to the dealer twice a year for an oil change. The car gets washed once when we’re on the way to the dealer to turn it in.

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Maintenance wise, pretty good on oil changes and a few others, but washing, I am not good at all, but I have had my truck washed ad cleaned a few times, in the year I have owned it, last vehicle that I kept clean clean (never trash in any of them) was my Intrepid back in the mid to late 90’s lol…
But my truck is dirty right now and it is driving me nuts, just don’t feel like dragging the dog stuff out of it and driving across town to get it washed and cleaned… If I was able to do it myself I would…

As far as all the cleaning stuff, that crap is overwhelming to me, Everyone says the one they use is the best, and my son says he will wash and clean the truck for me, but again, I don’t know what products to buy..

My fun car has been garage kept for over 30 years now, except for a 2 year stint when I 1st started taking care full time of my parents, but it is now in a basement garage..

My truck since I have owned it stays in a garage also, my wife’s car normally is inside since we moved a few years ago…

I want to have both the truck and the wifey’s car pro detailed…

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I predict you are going to get flagged for Spam !!

I could not wade through all of that product placement but I did not see a tire dressing listed . I hope I am not using the wrong brand.

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IMO you should sell the Caddie. I’m sure that you’ll find an owner as interested it maintaining it as you used to. I’m fond of early 60s Cadillacs and it would be great if this one is back on the road.

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So if someone post what oil filter brand they use is that spam??
What about oil, or tire brand, or wiper blade brand etc etc etc??

Didn’t someone’s wife retire from Fram? Was that product placement/spam? I mean they do get a retirement check from them… lol

Now if this was a 1st, (maybe even 5th) time poster with links, or websites in their profile, then yes…

This is an automotive forum, and the OP has a passion for vehicles, nothing wrong with talking about taking care of them, or how/what/when you take care of them…

I just think that some on here don’t like someone(s) in general and like trying to run them off… If you don’t like their content, ignore/block them…

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I confess to using the brush car washes…

My truck mostly got washed and waxed that way because it is too big to wash without a ladder… sometimes the wife’s Audi, too, because the brushless kind does not get the car clean.

But about once a year, the Audi gets a hand wash, clay bar, a fine polish (Meguire’s) and a wax with Zymol (because it smells like coconuts, and my wife likes that!) The seats get the Meguire’s (I think) leather conditioner.

The Mustang can not be run through any automatic washes. It is too low and too many things interfere (front splitter, rear spoiler) plus the decal on the hood is flat black which does not like wax. It gets a hand wash. I think the car was paint corrected and ceramic coated by its previous owner so I use Adam’s Polishes glaze or Meguires glaze to re-seal after the bugs get cleaned off.

Always use car wash soap unless I am getting ready to re-paint something and then dishwashing soap because it removes the wax followed by solvent like Prep-Sol or alcohol.

Interior yuck gets Simple Green (wheels, too) and the foamy window cleaner so the tint isn’t damaged. Armor-All or 303 Protectant on rubber. Upholstery gets a mix of distilled water with a drop of dish soap. Spray on, blot off the seats. Carpet gets mild soap solution, wet-vac and then clean water and wet-vac again.

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What @FSH003 did was WAY over the top

Some movies and TV shows don’t have as much product placement . . .

I don’t have anything against the guy

But he went overboard

Not just a little

A LOT OVERBOARD

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I disagree, Mustangman just named off a lot of what he uses (thank you sir), and I almost can guarantee nothing will be said about it, I am watching and will bookmark this thread as I like the fact that the OP stated what towels he used, and other things, as I have no idea what is what out there, I also would have liked Mustangman to have gone into more detail as to what towels he uses and what nots, I don’t do this stuff so I would like Complete Info about it as I would like my son to start detailing all our vehicles…

So thank you @FSH003 and @Mustangman for both y’alls thoughtful input on this subject, And I hope others will chime in with complete details as to what they use also… I for one enjoy stuff like this and ALL the INFO provided…

Not giving complete details is like telling someone to raise their car up and pull the wheel and check the brake, while forgetting to tell them to put it on jack stand etc… Yes I forget that part also because it is 2nd nature to me so I just do it out of reflex…

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That’s something we can “agree” on

I respectfully disagree with much of what you said in this post

Let’s please leave it at that

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My care routine: machine wash every couple of months. Trade in after 15 years or so, finish is fine.

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My experience based on friends and family is a dirty car outside often means neglect in maintenance too. They always seem to be having problems with their cars.

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I still hand wash my vehicles. I also wax using a Ceramic Hybrid wax which lasts a LONG LONG time. It goes on like a paste wax, but it’s a little harder to remove excess when it dries. But is so superior to paste wax (Carnauba) that I don’t mind. My wife had her Crown professionally ceramic coated. And It’s great….but not a lot better then my Ceramic Hybrid. There are several companies now making the hybrid paste. I’ve used a couple different brands. But the BEST (which I’ve used) believe it or not is from Turtle.

As for mechanical maintenance - I just follow the owners manual (except for oil). I still don’t trust the 10,000 oil changes recommended by Toyota so I still change my oil every 5k miles.

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For some reason here in the Boston car washes are popping up all over the place. There was even an article in the News Paper (Lawrence Eagle Tribune) about it. In my small town we’ve had 4 new ones built in the past 2 years and 2 more are in the planning stages.

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I use the brush car wash also, mainly because the one I use will also vacuum, wipe everything down and wash the windows…

How often do you add the wax to the auto brush wash??
I don’t know if I should be doing that every wash or??

Just wondering if all the add-ons are really worth it or just a money gimmick??

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Mr. Google lists several reasons to not use the car wash wax feature .

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A soft sponge for wash, a silicon squeegee to wipe water off the big panels, a chamois (synthetic) to wipe down the rest of the water. Dry with a microfiber towel (really soft towels). This is most important on the black Mustang with our hard water. Simple Green and a big brush for the wheels… a terrycloth towel for the hard to reach spots.

I use microfiber towels on the windows because they work better that anything else I have tried! And if you have a nasty film on the inside of the windows… a mix of white vinegar, distilled water a drop of dish soap and a little alcohol (my wife found this trick) does a great job on the film. If even that fails, Bon Ami scouring power (on the NON tinted and outside windows!) will really get the junk off. Let dry and remove with a damp microfiber towel.

A and Mothers (?) Back to Black for all that black plastic trim all carmakers seem to like to use. Get out the masking tape to tape of the paint ‘cause that stuff is tough to get off! Reverse that when waxing or polishing because wax on the plastic is hard to get off.

Lately, every time… The automatic wash I go to seems to do a better overall job if you choose that option and it is only a buck or 2 more. I do the self-drive through although there are a lot of the hand-your-car-off, vacuum and windows places.

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So my normal wash would consist of the following

One of my go-to car wash shampoos; most any moderately priced shampoo will do, the ones that I have used and tend to use most frequently are

  • CG Glossworkz - It’s good all around, good in the foam gun and good luburicity from the bucket
  • Adams (Red)- Hard to get , and superior to the newer blue colored shampoo, they do a production of run of the old red formulation every now and then.
  • Jay Leno’s (Red) - Discontinued, but basically the same as Adam’s red. I still have a bottle of it.
  • Meg’s Gold Class - Available everywhere, inexpensive, and good all around.

I use a two bucket method, but one bucket is empty, instead, I have 5 wash mitts. Each wash mitt gets used once, then it’s placed in the empty bucket. No wash mitt is returned to the wash bucket. Do the car in quarters, with one wash mitt used for the wheels exclusively. I do have a foam cannon for my pressure washer, but I’m rarely motivated enough to wheel it out. Most of the time I use a foam gun hose attachment, which works good enough for getting a layer of foam on the car.

For the wheels, I’ve tried higher priced stuff like Sonax, but other that the cool iron removal color-changing gimmick, they really aren’t any more effective as the cheaper wheel cleaners in my experience. My go to is Eagle One A-Z. Works fine for me. I use a Daytona speedbrush to get the wheel barrels, a brush for the tires, and a wash mitt for the wheels themselves.

For paint protection, my long-time favorite is Blackfire Diamond, but there’s other stuff on the market is just as good these days. I generally only use a real-deal liquid sealant twice a year. If I have some microscratches, I’ll use a DA with mild pad and Megs 205 to get those out/minimize them. In between waxings I just use spray sealants/waxes. The longer lasting ones tend to be harder to apply, and the ones that are easy to apply tend to have poorer longevity. Ones that I like include

  • Griots 3 in 1 Ceramic - Not super easy to apply, but very good longevity for a spray wax. You will need to buff it off.
  • Meg’s Ultimate - Doesn’t stand out in any way, just good all around. Goes on with much buffing.
  • Bead maker - Been around forever and still a good choice, cheap if you buy it by the gallon. You really can’t go wrong here, but it’s not the best in any one area. Holds up pretty well though.
  • Lucas Slickmist - Underrated, great gloss, easy of application is okay, you’ll have some buffing to do.

As far as maintenance goes, I used to do my own oil changes, spark plugs, brakes, etc. But these days, middle-aged me will gladly pay a trusted shop to do these things. I imagine if I had a post lift in my garage, I’d still be doing more of it myself, but I’m not big on crawling around under my cars these days.

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The problem with them is they don’t always clean their equipment.