Calling all apartment dwellers!

I

imported_hockeyplaya13

New member
I'm 21 years old and have just accepted an internship in Dallas, TX and will be living in an apartment for the first time and have no idea how to continue my detailing habits without a garage, hose, or electrical hookup. I'm curious as to what solutions you might have come up with to properly take care of your car. I guess I can use ONR to wash in the parking lot on a cloudy/windless day, but am curious as to what ways you all have come up with to maybe wax/vacuum your vehicles.



Thanks!



Scott
 
Vacuum/wash at the local coin wash place. Wax when you have a cooler day, following an ONR bath.



Maybe you can be-friend someone in the area that will let you use their garage, hose, electricity as needed, Scott.
 
tom p. said:
Vacuum/wash at the local coin wash place. Wax when you have a cooler day, following an ONR bath.
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Exactly what I did when I lived in an Apt...... The earlier you get to the coin op place the better you will be and more freedoms you will have to do as you please.



Make up a little tote of the essentials that you can simply grab and put in your car so you don't have to repack every week.
 
Try to get an apartment that is very close to where you park your car, and use a long extension cord for your power tools. Use ONR or other rinseless/waterless wash system so you don't need a hose.



If your car sits outside uncovered 24/7, you're going to be cleaning it constantly or it will be constantly dirty.
 
One place I lived at had a car wash station with water and power. I've also survived with the generosity of friends that I repaid with pizza and beer. The best bet is an apt building with your own private garage.
 
bigltc said:
One place I lived at had a car wash station with water and power. I've also survived with the generosity of friends that I repaid with pizza and beer. The best bet is an apt building with your own private garage.
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Pretty much otherwise you're constantly worrying, which I had last year being in the school parking structure, which sucked, but at least it was covered. Sadly it was still open and I couldn't go more than a week MAX with all the dust.
 
There are many apartments that have garages available in the DFW metroplex! I lived in an apartment with a 2 car garage for years just outside Dallas!
 
Get an extension cord long enough to run your vacuum and buffer, usually don't have a problem with that doing customers cars at apartments. You can wash with ONR in the full sun on hot days, I do it all summer long. Good luck waiting for a windless day around here, especially this spring!



Word of advice: Don't park near any grass around here, grassy areas have sprinklers and if you don't want your car covered in hard water stains, park at least 25 feet from any grass. Stay away from trees and power lines too. We have flying rats here (aka grackles) who will make a huge mess of you car in no time. Plus once the trees bud in the spring, they drop sap like crazy. Crepe Myrtles in bloom are another hazard. They literally rain sap.
 
Apartments mean all paved roads! Seriously, about half of the roads here are gravel.



My life at work would be so great if all roads were paved here! ONR all day long!
 
When I was renting a second floor apt., I would run an extension chord outside to power the vacuum and buffer. As far as washing, I would fill 3 buckets up in the tub ( two bucket method) and one for wheels and then I would take my buckets and saved coins to the coin op wash which was only 1/2 mile from my apt. . Once there, I would rinse, use a two bucket method for the paint and wheel brushes, etc for the wheels. Two disadvantages is that you have to work fast so the soap doesn't dry, and secondly it is a waste of money and water because for the initial rinse, you don't need all of about 3:50, and if you turn the dial to "off" the timer still runs. Then I would dry and drive home. If I was going to buff, then I would do a quick detail with ONR to remove any contaminants that may have affixed themselves to the finish during my 1/2 mile drive home.



At the time, the only polish that I found to be "sun" safe and not dry too quickly was Gloss-It products. Now that I have a garage in my house for the last 4 years, there may be other products that work well in the sun.
 
Deep Gloss Auto Salon said:
Exactly what I did when I lived in an Apt...... The earlier you get to the coin op place the better you will be and more freedoms you will have to do as you please.



Make up a little tote of the essentials that you can simply grab and put in your car so you don't have to repack every week.
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Thanks, I didn't think about the coin op places. I mean I know that most coin ops won't let you use buckets and "wash" it, but I didn't think about getting there really early and trying to do that then.



P-nut said:
Try to get an apartment that is very close to where you park your car, and use a long extension cord for your power tools. Use ONR or other rinseless/waterless wash system so you don't need a hose.



If your car sits outside uncovered 24/7, you're going to be cleaning it constantly or it will be constantly dirty.
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Well I'm not so much concerned with keeping it "clean", just keeping bugs and such from baking into the paint and keeping it from becoming a complete mess.



Scottwax said:
Get an extension cord long enough to run your vacuum and buffer, usually don't have a problem with that doing customers cars at apartments. You can wash with ONR in the full sun on hot days, I do it all summer long. Good luck waiting for a windless day around here, especially this spring!



Word of advice: Don't park near any grass around here, grassy areas have sprinklers and if you don't want your car covered in hard water stains, park at least 25 feet from any grass. Stay away from trees and power lines too. We have flying rats here (aka grackles) who will make a huge mess of you car in no time. Plus once the trees bud in the spring, they drop sap like crazy. Crepe Myrtles in bloom are another hazard. They literally rain sap.
Click to expand...



The wind thing worries me because I'm afraid it'll blow some debris into the ONR before I wipe it off. Also, I'll keep in mind the note about trees. I didn't think about sprinklers, thanks for that tip as well. That one is too easy for me to forget though.
 
I just purchased 128oz of ONR, Poorboy's World Bug Squash, and Poorboy's World Spray & Wipe. I am going to use this combo to keep my car squeeky clean living in a hoseless apartment lifestyle!
 
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