This is about personal value systems. Some clearly place a high value on a clean, well maintained car, and some do not.

I don't think it's a meaningful measure of a soul, just a measure of a value system. I happen to value greatly having a clean well maintained car. But that doesn't go anywhere near who I am as a person. If anything it makes me materialistic and in some value systems, that's a ticket to eternal nothingness...

As far as brake dust, I think it's evidence of braking habits as much as cleaning habits. I drive 60 round-trip miles a day and use the brakes very lightly perhaps 5 or 6 times. I can usually go a week without brake dust build up, and on Saturdays it wipes off with a shaggy mitt and some Simple Green. I hit the inside of the rim with a toothbrush and call it good.




The dent - oh well. I suspect the car still works just fine. Sure, it's a blight on the condition but __it happens. I consider my obsessive attention to parking to avoid door dings to be a sign of early onset Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I should just get it over with and stop worrying but I can't.




Number plates... My wife's new MINI Cooper had the temporary tags attached with wire ties because the dealer cross-threaded the stinking holes (pin-head). It took me a week to get around to fixing it. Good thing nobody "caught" me and shamed me on the MINI Cooper Forum!




Instead of whipping on the lady, looks to me like an opportunity for someone to be her car wash / detail boy... I know my wife is always very appreciative when I take care of her cars every week...