Drive it or clean it?

[Peter C]

Firstly, I just want to say that I hate the sort of people that restore their Morris Minor and polish the inside of the exhaust pipe regularly and trailer their beauty queen wherever it goes. I hate those concours / show n' shite wankers.

 

Example:

 

 

However, I have recently detailed the underside of the wheel arches and the engine bay of my Mercedes W123 230E, which is looking mighty sweet at the moment. The trouble is that I am now reluctant to use the car in adverse weather conditions, which includes light drizzle and a cloudy sky that may potential spell rain.

 

Example:

 

 

Having spent hours polishing the underside of the bonnet I don't really want it stained again.

 

So what do I do? Do I not drive the car and just keep polishing it? Do I wait for a warm sunny Sunday afternoon to take it for a drive?

 

Or do I let my hard work go to waste and just drive the f'ing thing?

 

Even if I don't drive it, I let it run for 10 minutes every other day and take it for a slow spin around the village to keep things from seizing.

 

What do you guys reckon?

 

Peter C

[trigger]

Just use it!, It will give you something to do again over the winter period as well.

 

Cars are made to be used, not to be sat in driveways and garages being to scared to drive them in case they get dirty.

[dollywobbler]

I spent £4000 getting my 2CV restored to better-than-new condition. It's had a very hard life since then, has stone chips everywhere, rust creeping in on the seams and the wheels look awful.

 

At first, it was horrible. The day after getting the car back, a stone hit the windscreen. Every small sound of stone-on-metal would make me wince (you get this a lot on 2CVs thanks to those enclosed rear wheels and bugger all sound-proofing). But I just got on with it. Don't regret a thing. Cars are made to be used. They're crap as ornaments.

[HillmanImp]

They're crap as ornaments.

That's not true. I think the broken cars make my driveway and garden look quite lovely. Dont think the neighbours agree, but hell, I dont like their children.

[fordpoplier]

I hope you don't make sure all your dust caps line up when you park:)

[Spiny Norman]

What was clean once can be cleaned again.

Wait till it rains then drive it through as many muddy puddles as you can!

[Pete-M]

I had a Mk2 RS2000 years ago that was obscenely clean, and I used to do everything possible to keep it that way. Thing was spotless, but I used it every day no matter what the weather was like. Didn't care much about the rain, as long as you give it a wipe over every few weeks it'll stay clean.

 

I avoided grass, gravel car parks and muddy verges though.

[Cavcraft]

Drive it. I don't mind show cars, nice to see tidy examples of old cars and what not but cars should be used.

[loserone]

Pop down to a local main dealer and slyly have a word with the lads in the valeting bays. Those £200 paint protection packages provide enough of the PTFE-based polish to do three cars in each sponge, so they'll probably have a box of half used ones at the back of the bay. The manufacturers keep an eye on ebay for them as well, so they aren't easy to make a profit on.

 

Once coated up, a quick wash down with a sponge should get your arches back to clean, and in the meantime you can get on with enjoying actually driving the thing

[Formula Autos]

Pop down to a local main dealer and slyly have a word with the lads in the valeting bays. Those £200 paint protection packages provide enough of the PTFE-based polish to do three cars in each sponge, so they'll probably have a box of half used ones at the back of the bay. The manufacturers keep an eye on ebay for them as well, so they aren't easy to make a profit on.

 

Once coated up, a quick wash down with a sponge should get your arches back to clean, and in the meantime you can get on with enjoying actually driving the thing

Car Mechanics recently did an article where they got a Supaguard kit off e-bay for something like a tenner. They applied it to a nearly new Kia and achieved the same results as a pucka Supaguard treatment in a few hours (3 I think, but obviously your Merc would take a little longer than a Kia Rio).

 

So a tenner, and probably four hours of your time will get you the same level of paint protection that one of these agents would charge you hundreds for.

 

Surely this is worth a shot when your car's in such good nick?

[VWPowered]

my polo was made to be driven hard, not trailered about, unless it breaks of cause

[FredTransit]

 

Example:

 

 

Having spent hours polishing the underside of the bonnet I don't really want it stained again.

 

So what do I do?

 

Peter C

Erm, how about seeking professional help? That's an unnaurally clean wheel arch!

[loserone]

a tenner, and probably four hours of your time will get you the same level of paint protection that one of these agents would charge you hundreds for.

And the agents would be knocking four of them out in an hour, so you'd actually have /better/ protection!

 

I must admit, I much prefer a real polish to a supagard/diamondbrite type coating on visible paint (less likely to streak, more even colour, easier to get off textured plastics without resorting to peanut butter), but for 'hidden' paintwork, I do like to use something like this. Makes jetwashing wheelarches a pleasure

 

 

I must be sick..

[Lankytim]

Nothing wrong with sparkly wheel arches. It makes spotting corrosion and damage very easy, plus clean cars are much easier to work on. Just drive it and jet wash the underside once a month.

[oldford]

There's nothing to say that you can't have the best of both worlds. I like a clean, shiny car and also get pleasure from driving it down the outside lane at a speed that it was designed for. Give the arches and bodywork some form of polish/Supaguard protection and it'll be dead easy to keep clean without gettin too obsessive about it.

 

You'll have a clean car and will be able to stick two fingers up at the unused concours cars.

[Peter C]

Ok then! I shall drive and clean it as and when necessary, which will probably mean getting home early after each trip to get mud off the wheel arches.

 

With hindsight perhaps I should have painted the arches black, that way every bloody speck of dust wouldn't show up. Even after driving on dry roads the arches have a film coating of road grime.

 

I'm off to take my medicine.

[boobydoo]

I must admit that those 'better than new' polished to death motors at shows , particularly the ones with a mirror at an angle so you can see the immaculately detailed underside, kind of freak me out. How does anyone have time to do that?

 

Having said that I do like my car to be clean and polished so will always give it a wipe over before putting it back in the garage.

 

I always keep my company car clean aswell cos I was always told that a dirty car = dirty knickers. Everytime I get into a car that is a sh-t-hole I immediately think yuk, they're wearing nasty soiled pants.

[Pillock]

I wear clean pants every day, and more frequently if needed (i.e. due to heat or, erm, heat). However I only ever wash my car when extremely bored, and/or I can't see out of the windows any more.

 

So pfffffft to your theory

[eddyramrod]

I always keep my company car clean aswell cos I was always told that a dirty car = dirty knickers. Everytime I get into a car that is a sh-t-hole I immediately think yuk, they're wearing nasty soiled pants.

I used to drive trucks. Specifically, I used to take over other drivers' trucks at zero notice when they called in sick/walked off the job at 5am/got themselves fired. First job was ALWAYS to give the cab a sweep out. I'm just glad I never went to any of their homes for dinner if they think a cab full of ash and general dirt is appropriate in a van full of fresh fruit for schoolchildren.

 

These days, living in the sun with no work at present, I'm restoring a 44 year old car. Yes, the underside and arches will be meticulously painted. Yes, EVERY nut, bolt and washer will be rubbed-down, primed and painted. Why not? I have time, and I want to do the best job I can. But at the end of it, I'll have a car I can use every day, and that IS what will happen. Cars are not art (unless designed by Figoni et Falaschi) so get them out there and use them, especially the old ones!

[Quintus]

In answer to your original question, I'd say a healthy combination of the two. As others have said, cars are meant to be driven.

 

I like to give my car a thorough clean and a polish now and again (Klasse All In One is great BTW) as it's my only car and I want to make it last as long as possible. However, it's not garaged and I use it regularly so it's inevitable that it won't stay sparkling all the time.

 

I have done a wee bit of under bonnet cleaning on occasion, but ultimately that's where the oily bits live, so I don't really worry about it too much.

[HillmanImp]

I wear clean pants every day, and more frequently if needed (i.e. due to heat or, erm, heat). However I only ever wash my car when extremely bored, and/or I can't see out of the windows any more.

 

So pfffffft to your theory

I only wash my cars when its MOT time to make them looked more loved. I genuinely think that if they are not expecting to see shit, they are less likely to see it as they wont be looking as hard.

 

Its like you would not expect to get the clap off Suzy Perry as much as you would Kerry Katona. I like to try and make my Katona's look like Perry's at MOT time.

[warren t claim]

I say drive it in all weathers. Mercs don't rust. (he says looking at his W124 with the frilliest wings since Claire Rayners 1992 sanitary towel advert)

[Negative Creep]

At the end of the day cars are made for driving. If I wanted to just look at one I'd buy a model

[simmo]

Bump coz of Spam