i'm married and i have 2 boys they are 11 and 7, my wife at first couldn't figure it out why i have all these cleaning weapons, i probably have as much as a chemical crew going to do a clean up on the freeway somewhere! WATER SPOTS....OMG i freaking can't stand them, i bought an air compressor just for that! 2 hrs of cleaning your car then you go drive somewhere, big flip'n streak of water under your side mirror and your gas cover! i used that air compressor for every single crack on the car even the stupid honeycomb grill...solved that problem FINGERPRINTS...another enemy of mine, especially on windows and the body! water stains on the windshield i have no clue how to get those out... my wife and my kids whenever they ride in my car they fell like they have to wear mittens, they know how anal i am! the funny thing is my wife is starting to become anal about her expedition, she's telling our kids to watch their finger prints when they step foot in her SUV. when i drop my kids of to school they close the door w/ their butts or if they are wearing long sleeves they will pull it down over their hand then close the door. my neighbors think i'm a nutt for washing my car once sometimes twice a week! i just wanna know if its in our nature when it comes to our toys...just wanted to throw this out there and see who else feels the same way like i do!!!
You know the space in between the back quarter panels...I'm going to use q-tips on them........Nah were not anal.......... crazy maybe, but not anal.
Been using a leaf blower on my stangs for years now... talk about strange looks from the neighbors. One of the things I hated about the SN95 was the hood scoop and how it trapped water so bad and the trunk is another bad place. It played a big roll when I looked for a S197... I did not want a hood scoop. The issue is still there though just from another source is all... those dang washer nozzles sure drain a lot of water and I hate streaks and spots too. Finger prints... oh man... I hate finger prints and sure enough let someone get in and out of the car after you waxed it... pushing on the glass and palming the top of the door... I get stranger looks at the gas pumps running around to wipe off the passenger door and glass than I do with a leaf blower. I don’t think I am anal about it... but I’m pretty darn close.
I have been washing mine in the garage because it's black and I can't move fast enough when the sun is on it. Neighbors all wonder what the heck is wrong with me. 3 hours doing a detail, go for a drive and come home, spend another our getting the dust off. Some even ask me why, just tell em "I like my **** clean".
OMG i thought i was the only one that wouldn't take a s197 w/ a hood scoop because of past experiences. I'm glad to here i wasn't alone.
I actually use one of the Mr. Clean Auto wash systems and it really does dry streak and waterspot free! Expensive though to replace soap & filters on those things. U.M.
I try to keep mine as clean as possible and spend about 3 hours washing and detailing every 2 weeks or so but I don't have a garage and drive it too much for it to stay perfect for very long. It really bothered me at first but now that it has a few scratches and chips on it it's not such a big deal. Once I get a second car that can become my daily driver I'm sure I will become much more anal about the Mustang though
Sure it does; I have a all black '03. You're just going to use a lot of filters. The filter lasts about 3 car washes and the filters are $4.50 at Walmart / Target. My gripe with black is the freaking swirl marks! I can get the car detailed and they are back within 3 car washes - it doesn't matter what I use. I am thinking about a silver two tone paint job to take care of the issue!
I also have an air compressor to get that extra water out, I hit the weels with a high speed buffer, Apply wax to the inside of the wheels, use a soft bristle tooth brush for all of the small difficult to clean areas. I also pop all othe the interior vinyl panels monthly and clean them with those Mr. Clean white erasers...Good stuff
I don't like passengers to close the door by using the window as a push point. I tell them that I don't want the window to get misaligned. Any people out there want to contribute to a fund to pay for my psychoanalysis to see if that is my real reason? One passenger already said that not wanting fingerprints on the window might be my reason. I don't think that's my main reason, but only a trained professional would know for sure (maybe).
i thought i was the only anal one or crazy one whatever u want to call it.. one more thing DOOR DINGS....omg!!! i'll take a long scratch along the side versus door dings...i have kicked someones side mirror one time in the parking lot whether that car did it or not...
I eat, drink, and smoke in all my cars. I like them to look nice, but I'm not out of my mind and I'm surely not going to NOT be comfortable in my own car.
I used to be anal about my cars. Then my dad died. Then I had a child and I realized that to place importance on the look of my car at the expense of the comfort of my child and family was not going to sit well with me in the long run. I had to consider the cold reality of my death and what memory I would leave: those of music, ice cream, Icees and drives or that of a tyrant and fanatical perfectionist. He cleans my car with me weekly. He takes care of the interior like a pro and I take care of the exterior. We have reached a middle ground - enjoy the fruit of our labor, yet maintain and clean it to preserve it for posterity. LOL He would like to own these cars one day, so he has an invested interest in the upkeep. To each his/her own in their own world. I have simply learned to choose my battles more cautiously.
What does it mean ... ... to be "anal"? Where does that expression come from? Is it applied only to obsessive car cleanliness? Inquiring mind wants to know ... I have never been "anal" about car cleanliness on my first 30 or so cars. But now, with a black Mustang, I can feel my patience with fingerprints, door dings, scratches--all that stuff "normal" people dismiss as part of the territory--evaporating. Some foolish person put some vinyl stripes on my car, and when he took them off, his lack of patience and technique resulted in some bad scratches. Well, OK, a LOT of bad scratches. He got himself a Porter Cable (7424 or 2474 or like that) doodle action buffer and a bunch of Mequiar's Professional buffer pads and polishes and waxes, and went to work. Let me tell you: there's a one-foot-square piece of black Mustang real estate that has absolutely no swirl marks, no crazing or hazing, glistens like it's inches deep. But the scratches are still there. Not as dramatic as before, but there. In the right light it looks like some kind of reptile skin is floating just under the surface of a still, dark pool of ink. He thinks maybe a harsher cutter pad or cleaner might eventually work its way through the scratches to base soil. Thsi may evolve into a second, third, and fourth career. How much does a good paint job on a Mustang cost?
