How do you wash your car?

So, with all those nice leases that people get, how do you guys take care of it? Do you wash and detail yourself? Pay someone to hand wash and clean your car? Or just feel adventurous and use your gas station auto car wash?

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Since itā€™s a lease, I wash it twice a year. Also, I have a color that doesnā€™t show dirt or dust too much.

Mind sharing the color ?

Yeah, I agree. Itā€™s a lease so a mechanical wash is probably okay unless youā€™ve got some super luxury car and want to keep it sparkling. The most Iā€™d do is a touchless wash followed by a sealant like jetseal to keep it shiny. Personally, I wouldnā€™t go as far as wrapping in PPF or ceramic coatings or anything.

Was fanatical about cleaning my lotus every week by hand using two bucket method.

With the lease? Fuck it, send it through the auto wash with brushes. No care.

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I hate that sealant crap they put on at the car wash. If the car wash doesnā€™t get all the bird shit, grime, bug guts and tar off, itā€™s ā€œsealed inā€ and a pain to remove. Thatā€™s just me though. Itā€™s a lease, yes, but I still like it to look nice. Iā€™m not quite as fanatical as if it were my own, however.

Foam cannon followed by 2 bucket hand wash. I enjoy washing the car, I put on an audio book and take my time. It may be a lease but I want the car looking good.

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couldnā€™t care less, $3 car wash with what appears to be extra scratchy plastic bristles does it for me :sunglasses:

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I hate swirl marks, so I generally will do a deep detail myself once or twice a year because my cars are usually black. But beyond that, auto washes for me. It rains like 8 months of the year here, so a quick auto wash just gets the grime off.

They call it titanium silver-

Even if it doesnā€™t need it !

By the way it looks pretty clean in that photo.

I might splurge for the undercarriage wash after snow melts this time around, since Iā€™m thinking of keeping the car.

I love washing my carsā€¦it is almost therapeutic for me. I like keeping my cars looking brand new regardless if I own it or lease it.

Both of my cars I wash the same way. They never see a ā€˜car washā€™ unless they are caked in salt then Iā€™d take them to a touchless wash to get the worst of the worst off. So that is 1-2 times a year.

My normal routine is to wash my cars at least once a week. Sometimes more in the summer especially when the pollen count is high.

I use a rinseless wash - Optimum No Rinse. For my Mustang I only need 3 gallons of water. For the Grand Cherokee I use 4 gallons.

Use a microfiber chenille mitt for washing. Waffle Weave drying towels to dry.

Few times a year Iā€™ll apply Opti-Seal (Sealant and simple to apply). Every few washes Iā€™ll either follow up with a spray wax (Aquawax, Meguiars D156, whatever) or use it as a drying aid.

Opti-Bond 1:1 with water for my tires as a dressing.

After drying my car Iā€™ll use the damp drying towel to wipe down my interiors plastics, vinyls and leathers.

Sometimes Iā€™ll use Aerospace 303 on the interior plastics/vinyl. It leaves a very light sheen and no oily residue feeling like Armor All.

Stoners Invisible Glass with a glass cleaning microfiber towel for the windows.

All microfiber towels washed separately using woolite, extra rinse, and dried on a very low temp.

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id rather go get a root canal than do all this a car thatā€™s not mine (owned my leasing company) that is going to get dinged/scratched in supermarket parking lot anyway. :rofl::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::sunglasses:

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For me it isnā€™t about who owns the car but who uses it. I like to drive very clean/new looking cars. Filthy/dirty cars really bother me. Especially if I have to drive in them.

And dings/scratches only occur if you park with the general population :wink: .I prefer to be out in the boonies.

Do you do 1 or 2 buckets?

So for those who just go to the auto car wash, do you end up detailing it pre-return?

I drive to the car wash, hand my five-year-old some quarters and then sit back and relax. What could possibly go wrong?

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I love @davewadeā€™s picture! I have a pressure hose attached to a spotless filtering machine thing.

Normally 1 because my cars donā€™t get very dirty. If they hadnā€™t been washed in a monthā€¦ Then 2.

I have no issues with swirls