Why I can no longer be an Autopian...
- Thread starter SenojNW
- Start date
imported_steveo3002
New member
yeah i know how you feel
Between Mother Nature (industrial fallout, dust, pollen bird excrement), gardeners with blowers, and inconsiderate people in parking lots, I have long decided it is impossible to have a DD that is swirl free. Swirl reduced? Now that is something managable, and something I strive for. Marring is going to happen, there is just no way around it IMO...
wannafbody
wannafbody
I'm at a point with a NBM car that slight spiderwebbing and swirls are gonna happen. Polish to minimize and as long as it looks good from a couple feet away that good enough. Better flawed paint than thin paint.
Wasatch
New member
I do the best I can, I just live with what I got. I enjoy applying products to the interior and exterior when ever I get a chance to.
Accumulator
Well-known member
SenojNW- Check your PMs, I did get back to you finally...
I sympathize with this sort of thing...remember that I kept my S8 better than showroom only to have it ruined (in my eyes) by the deer incident...and as I don't like the new ones I'm stuck with it. But that didn't change how I treat that particular car. Since I might keep it indefinitely, I don't want to wish I'd done something different after 20 years.
Minivan- Rear ended by an old lady in a Cadillac...A8- Sandwiched between a semi and a concrete highway divider....XJS- Damaged beyond repair before it even hit the showrooom when new...RX-7- Flawless original that sprang a brakefluid leak that stripped things down to bare metal. These will never be the same
but I don't stress over it. [Stuff] happens, they're just cars.
I don't spend nearly as much time detailing as I used to. I do my best in the time (and with the effort) I feel is reasonable. Life is short, and I have better things to do than polish cars all the time...but that doesn't mean I let them deteriorate or give up on trying to do right by them. Just a matter of perspective, can't let your stuff own you.
More of my Autopian heresy: if it's not fun, just don't do it. Do this stuff to the extent that it's worth it to you. Unless you're talking about some irreplaceable piece of history, it's just an appliance, not something you oughta trash your quality of life over.
I sympathize with this sort of thing...remember that I kept my S8 better than showroom only to have it ruined (in my eyes) by the deer incident...and as I don't like the new ones I'm stuck with it. But that didn't change how I treat that particular car. Since I might keep it indefinitely, I don't want to wish I'd done something different after 20 years.
Minivan- Rear ended by an old lady in a Cadillac...A8- Sandwiched between a semi and a concrete highway divider....XJS- Damaged beyond repair before it even hit the showrooom when new...RX-7- Flawless original that sprang a brakefluid leak that stripped things down to bare metal. These will never be the same
but I don't stress over it. [Stuff] happens, they're just cars.I don't spend nearly as much time detailing as I used to. I do my best in the time (and with the effort) I feel is reasonable. Life is short, and I have better things to do than polish cars all the time...but that doesn't mean I let them deteriorate or give up on trying to do right by them. Just a matter of perspective, can't let your stuff own you.
More of my Autopian heresy: if it's not fun, just don't do it. Do this stuff to the extent that it's worth it to you. Unless you're talking about some irreplaceable piece of history, it's just an appliance, not something you oughta trash your quality of life over.
imported_Picus
New member
I agree with you guys - I don't treat my car as well as I treat customer cars anymore. I do try to keep it clean but if I kept it to my standards it'd be a 24/7 job. Glazes, Spray and Wipe, FK425, etc... have all become good friends with my car, because at this point I don't mind hiding some of the flaws.
Good to see this has stimulated so much discussion - obviously I am not alone...
I think Accumulator signature says a lot - the "Practical Perfectionist". Realistically unless your car sits in a garage or a showroom then we all need to learn to be "Practical Autopians". It doesn't mean that you don't take care of your car and care about its appearance but you need to maintain some perspective that in many of our cases our cars are 1) a method of transport 2) something we like to keep swirl / scratch / blemish free. You might spend a day getting it just right and then one trip to the shops and it is covered in muck/dented/scratched or even written off. If it is a car that you "use" the best point of view I think is to recognise the things that can damage in day to day use and make your objective to protect it to the best of your ability without interfering with number 1 above!!
I think Accumulator signature says a lot - the "Practical Perfectionist". Realistically unless your car sits in a garage or a showroom then we all need to learn to be "Practical Autopians". It doesn't mean that you don't take care of your car and care about its appearance but you need to maintain some perspective that in many of our cases our cars are 1) a method of transport 2) something we like to keep swirl / scratch / blemish free. You might spend a day getting it just right and then one trip to the shops and it is covered in muck/dented/scratched or even written off. If it is a car that you "use" the best point of view I think is to recognise the things that can damage in day to day use and make your objective to protect it to the best of your ability without interfering with number 1 above!!
Accumulator said:
Wow, your cars definitely lead interesting lives. The "sandwiched between a semi and a concrete highway divider" definitely made my jaw drop ... :soscared:
Accumulator said:
Wise words, not heresy IMO. I definitely love the look of my clean and waxed Accord, but by the following afternoon, it's either covered in a fine layer of dust from the parking lot at work or it's rained and there's spots on it. To keep this daily driver clean all the time would just take too much time and energy. And ... stuff is going to happen to it that we have no control over.
imported_truzoom
New member
I supose you could think of it like this too..
Even when our vehicles are as filthy as can be, they are still cleaner than most cars on the road
:lol
Even when our vehicles are as filthy as can be, they are still cleaner than most cars on the road
:lolTwo thoughts run through my mind about this.
I do agree that it is impossible to keep a daily driver at "100%." I don't think that anyone has the time or patience for that, not to mention the inconsiderateness of others who don't care about the vehicle they drive.
Is it possible to keep a daily driver really, really nice?
In a word, yes. ""If."
"If" it is enjoyable to do the things to make the vehicle look nice, then it's possible, and enjoyable. In one of his catalogs, Richard Griot mentions the detailing process as a "therapy session."
That's how I look at it, so I do enjoy it. But, by the same token, I'm not going to drive myself crazy about it.
I do agree that it is impossible to keep a daily driver at "100%." I don't think that anyone has the time or patience for that, not to mention the inconsiderateness of others who don't care about the vehicle they drive.
Is it possible to keep a daily driver really, really nice?
In a word, yes. ""If."
"If" it is enjoyable to do the things to make the vehicle look nice, then it's possible, and enjoyable. In one of his catalogs, Richard Griot mentions the detailing process as a "therapy session."
That's how I look at it, so I do enjoy it. But, by the same token, I'm not going to drive myself crazy about it.