Roomate just caught me buying another 40 bucks worth of cleaning stuff. He asked what all of it was for. So I told him that I just bought the orbital thing and that it was used to polish out the swirl marks on the car (also had to explain to him what those were) and that the polish and wax went on after that to enhance and protect.

Now just for a quick update, the last time his truck was washed was about 4 months ago, and that was because I felt bad for it and washed it myself. And I am nearly 100% sure that it has never seen wax. He is pretty much the exact same as everyone else in this town. Not many people care about their cars here.

He started laughing at all of this, and told me that most people will never notice that my car won't have swirl marks, or that it is polished and waxed nicely. He said that he, and most other people, see the type of car and nothing else. So he will see sports car, probably fast, cool. Whether or not the car is clean never enters his mind. This is not news to me, I know most people don't notice that kind of thing, but I had never really thought about it to the point where I realized I probably could never wash it and half of the people on the road wouldn't think anything different when they saw it.

So it makes one wonder, is it really worth it to go through all that trouble to clean up a car.

Well here's another story. As some of you saw, my old monte carlo got creamed the other day. When I brought it into the shop to get an estimate, I immediately had 3 people standing around looking at it. One guy came out, wrote down the mileage, stood back, eyed the car for a minute, looked under the hood (which I had just cleaned) and went back to look at the mileage. I was talking to another guy about his jaguar sitting there, but I had to go ask what all of the attention was for. So I asked the guy that was writing down the mileage. He said he looked and wrote it down, but when he looked at the rest of the car, he thought he had made a mistake because the car was far too good looking to have that many miles on it. When I asked the guy giving me the estimate if he thought the insurance company might total it (always a worry on such a low value car) he said it was, "too clean and well taken care of to be totaled" and that he wouldn't let them.

So sure, 99% of the people that look at your car driving down the road won't notice clean vs dirty. But get in with a group of people who really know what they are looking at and they will see it. And in some cases where it can be important, like above, it really is worth it. Plus, when you go out in your driveway and your sparkling beauty is sitting there, it sure is nice for it to be a clean sparkle and not sunlight reflecting off of dirt.

Sorry, bored and wanted to rant a bit. I'm done now.

 

When you care enough to clean and take care of your car, you are doing for yourself!

I am a nut case about my paint. I take great pride in not having swirl marks and lots of wax. There is something almost sensual gliding your hand over a smooth polished surface. It is nice to have someone recognize your care, but it is truly for your own satisfaction.

There just isn't much prettier than a well cared for car. It is all about personal pride.

 

Agreed. The fanatisizm of cleaning ones car is a personal preferance.

That said it is still a nice feeling to be noticed.

But for most people today,the car is as special to them as a washing machine. Just an appliance.

Sad


roadster with a stick

 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and make sure you appreciate those folks that do tell you how beautiful your car looks.

 

You just keep doin' what you're doin' and all will be well. I don't do this for my cars to please others, just me. But I love teaching others how to care for their car finish.

When I first started really crazy about this, prior to coming to work for Meguiar's, I had a similar experience with a friend - he told me I was a fool for spending $350 on a buffer, pads, towels, cleaners, polishes, wax, etc. So I took him out to the parking lot to look at our cars, sitting side by side in the sunlight. Mine was flawless, his black BMW 540i a swirled mess. I told him that since he spends $12 at the local car wash to have them keep increasing the level of swirls, wipe the windows dry and maybe smear a little goop on his tires to make them look shiny, he spends $312 every six months on the process anyway. And for his $300+ dollars he ends with a car that looks like crap, and I end up with 3 cars that have flawless finishes! Now compound that by the fact that my initial $350 investment will allow me to maintain these three cars for a couple years before I have to buy anything else, and even then I'll only spend maybe $100 on supplies. During those same two years he will have spend, $12 at a time, $1248 to make his one car look progressively worse.

Who's the fool now? was the question I shot back at him.

 

Double post.

 

A young man who's father I used to work for saw my car last year and said I must take really good care of it as he had a black car that was covered in swirls and mine had none.
It surprised me and made me feel good that he had noticed.
My wife thinks I'm an idiot- so she can wash and wax her own car.

 

Your comment about your wife made me laugh. Mine wonders about me too (say's I spend too much time on them) only difference is I treat her car almost as well as mine. The pay off is when she tells me "so and so wanted to know how I keep my car so nice", then I know I've done a good job.