Do you handwash or go to car washes?

[sunstealth]

for the people with hard water or "no place to wash" You could use a product called ONR (optimum no rinse) or DP rinseless they are both rinseless soap, you can use them with as little as 16 litres of water with the 2 bucket method.
my friend live's in a flat his 2010 fusion is always pristine clean and he washed it with the ONR.

the method is : 2 bucket (20 litre paint bucket from home depot) ,onr , wash media (grout sponge in which you score squares in the surface), drying Weafle Weave microfiber of microfiber chamois.

you fill both buckets with 8 litres of water , one will be used to rise the sponge, in the other you pour 1oz of soap (2oz for hard water) , Dip the sponge lightly wring it,wash one panel at a time, dry the panel once washed

i may be able to find the guide to ONR on autogeekonline

[chowie29]

Auto washes..only thing I can see is the plastic trim doesn't look great anymore

[Scooby Doo]

Originally Posted by chowie29

Auto washes..only thing I can see is the plastic trim doesn't look great anymore

I wonder if its just the sun baking the plastic trim? The black plastic on my truck is faded.

[Audrey]

Originally Posted by Scooby Doo

I wonder if its just the sun baking the plastic trim? The black plastic on my truck is faded.

In the summer my black window trim gets discolored but then is fine once it starts raining. The back bumper plastic piece was a bit faded, but I used some stuff telero had (for restoring black plastic on cars) and it looks good as new. There are products out there for everything.

[mamiata1]

Wow, I didn't think I would find the end of this thread to add my two cents worth. From about April through November I hand wash. In the winter I go to the do-it-yourself carwash and I admit to using the brush although you guys and gals here have given me some second thoughts on that. I can usually get by on $1.75 in quarters.

In reality it's been warm enough here to hand wash in the driveway but I'm too lazy to open the pipes back up and hook up the garden hose. I close off the outside faucets from the basement each winter after having a flood in my basement one year from frozen copper plumbing splits. That was a very cold winter where temps dropped below 0 F several nights in a row.

[Sterno]

Originally Posted by Audrey

The back bumper plastic piece was a bit faded, but I used some stuff telero had (for restoring black plastic on cars) and it looks good as new. There are products out there for everything.

Can you tell me the name/brand of that "stuff" please? I accidentally got some wax on the black strip on my trunk lid and no amount of scrubbing seems to take it off.

Testament to how good the dang wax it, I'll wager. The car still looks (99.7%) awesome weeks later.