Gotta STOP detailing ...

MiVor

MiVor

New member
Yesterday was a spring teaser with temps reaching close to 60! So after running some errands, I took the truck to the coin-op for a power wash/rinse, then came home and did an ONR wash and spray wax (megs ultimate) along with some back to black and some headlight protectant. But everytime I've done this I notice even more tiny imperfections. Little spots, scratches, tar or undercoating over spray and this time I even found a crack in the third brake light on the rear of the cab! I fear if I keep detailing, this ride will fall apart!!! Of course this is 'tongue in cheek' but in a way, it would be nice to stand back in blissful ignorance of all the imperfections of the normal wear and tear of a daily (almost) driver ride.
 
YEP. Thats when you notice the miss haps. Spring details. After the long winter. But as you stated, a DD is hard to keep pristine. In fact impossible.
 
It certainly can be frustrating. My truck isn't so bad because the majority of the time its just me driving/riding in it. My wife's fusion on the other hand....That gets driven every day hauling the kids around. Its due for a polishing and gloss coat application and i'm cringing just thinking about what I'm gonna find
 
I feel your pain each time I wash my car a new nick/scratch/ding/scrap/mark appears ! Its sad but then again it happens.. Next Time i get a car I'm putting 10 layers of clear bra with body armor on it ! that will protect it !
 
Another tip which is hard to discipline yourself is...don't touch the paint between washes, no matter the temptation. It will save you much grief and money.
 
Aha! The Curse of Autopia rears its ugly head :D

Ya just can't let this "superficial cosmetics" thing take the fun out of the whole car experience. Some of the most fun vehicle experiences I've had were with cars that I didn't keep "Autopian". Just. Didn't. Care. Everybody else thought they were perfect anyhow. I simple drove the wheels off of 'em and treated them like appliances. (Hey, I keep my appliances clean too ;) ).

OK, OK, these days I'm as bad about it as as anybody, and then some- I insist on keeping my stuff marring-free and there'd better not be any need to polish every year/two/more. That's OK because I have my routine sorted out now, it's doable. But hey, that's just me and my situation and I choose to care.

And yeah, with my wife hauling so many non-Autopian-type people (kids, the elderly, even some pets) around in her A8, its interior just isn't showroom any more (after 15 years and >135K), it has some wear but at least it's spotlessly clean. She does keep it marring-free though, everybody in our lives knows that you can't touch the paint, even dogs and pre-schoolers can be taught that.
 
I think the honeymoon is over....you know, you get a new ride and it's in really good shape...then you suddenly notice a small (parking lot) dent in the rear fender, some mysterious damage under the front bumper, a small dent in the drivers door and a crack in a light....
I'll still do my part to keep it clean and cared for, but it's taken a bit of the fight out of me. Oh well, I guess it was inevitable.

Maybe one day when I'm rich and famous I'll have a garage queen...but then the only way to keep it purely preserved is to never take it out and what would be the point, or the fun of that?!
 
Sucks to hear. Yesterday I found some spider webbing underneath the side marker. No idea how it got there since the car has never been an accident. Only thing that's ever happened to the front bumper was a slight scrape on a parking curb.
 
welcome to the world of Obsessive Compulsive Detailing (OCD). if you don't have it when you get here, you'll have it when you leave. remember to have fun.:help:
 
tropicsteve said:
welcome to the world of Obsessive Compulsive Detailing (OCD). if you don't have it when you get here, you'll have it when you leave. remember to have fun.:help:
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Admittedly nearly everyone on this site is a bit obsessed with getting/keeping a nice clean ride. Some look for show quality while others just look to keep it new looking. The exceptions here might be the professional detailers, of which, for some, it may just be 'a job' while others may be even more obsessed than the rest of us!

For me it began with the previous ride around 2007. The 'new car detailing bug' bit and I wanted to keep it looking good. So I came here and learned about products (like 303, megs, klasse, optimum.....) and procedures (polishing, no rinse, 2 bucket...) and so it began. After all, the ride is the second largest expense after a home...and then if you total up the many rides over a lifetime, it is perhaps the number one expense! Anyway, the magic held for quite some time, then it waned slightly as other aspects of life crowded it out. Then I recently got the new (to me) truck and the (detailing) bug bit again....(btw, I think it's a virus [that has to run it's course] rather than a disorder!)

So here we are, waging a skirmish against the normal use wear and tear, ravages of weather, road/parking lot hazards and idiot drivers with rat rides. I even worry that rust may jump off one of the rats in a parking lot when I'm not looking!

Update: I just discovered/realized I have a frozen roller detent in my drivers door hinge that I can't get to roll (causes a creak in the door) and may require a new hinge!....and so it goes.
 
I always wonder how Autopians are about striving for that Unattainable Perfection (to borrow a phrase from R. B. Perry) in other areas of endeavor.

Is *everything else* done as well as the detailing stuff, or is there something...special...about having a well-detailed car?
 
While we may never achieve perfection,we will certainly continue to try. If you think winters are hard,come drive 12 months a year in soflo with all the imported idiots we have driving round here & see how long your finish or entire vehicle for that matter holds up.
 
Accumulator said:
I always wonder how Autopians are about striving for that Unattainable Perfection (to borrow a phrase from R. B. Perry) in other areas of endeavor.
Is *everything else* done as well as the detailing stuff, or is there something...special...about having a well-detailed car?
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I suppose some may be on their way to therapy trying to maintain perfection in a daily driver. At least they'll get there in a nice ride!!!

For me, I'm just trying to keep it as close to 'like new' as long as possible and [better than] normal care and detailing is part of that.
 
whitewater25 said:
While we may never achieve perfection,we will certainly continue to try. If you think winters are hard,come drive 12 months a year in soflo with all the imported idiots we have driving round here & see how long your finish or entire vehicle for that matter holds up.
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Soflo? .... Southern Florida? If so, many of those snow birds didn't wanna go there....they came for them in the middle of the night with golf clubs and beach wear and made them go there! LOL
 
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