+ 2, I will admit I spend too much time cleaning mine, but still anyone should be able to at least clean there MINI monthly.

 

Greatbear - Too bad you're in Maryland; if you were closer we might have to have an intervention.
I am thinking about calling social services however.

 

Dude ... all your missing is the fake racing stripes and you would have a TRUE Counterfeit MINI

How is NOT washing a car when its below freezing not taking car of it.

Just one nice coat of dirt protects the car from all the NEXT coats of dirt.

Ever wonder why its so warm in an Igloo? Once the first coat is on top of the wax ... all is good

Bentley? Yeah But they got people whose job it is TOO keep it clean

 

Well, after the event it was discovered that my Mom was dying of cancer, so I spent my time with her and taking car of her rather than the MINI. The MINI has not been used much since, when it was, I got run off the road and damaged my front end as well as my now unobtainium SSR Comps. It sat for weeks after that till I got the chance to work on the suspension. Now the car sits again because the roads are nasty and salty. It does not look bad, all things considered.

 

I try to wash my MCS once a year whether it needs it or not.

 

Well, this does explain the lack of washing of the MINI. Surprised you didn't mention this in your earlier post... we wouldn't have dogged you about it (even in the playful way we did).

My condolensces for your mother's illness.

 

Sorry about your year - very depressing.
I'd offer to detail it myself but we still have this distance issue.
(I've called social services back and canceled my complaint - you're off the hook).

 

OK, I'll admit that I sometimes let it go too long before I was my baby. My wife would wash it once a week. Then again she goes to a carwash with her car. I go into the garage with 3 buckets and wash it by hand. I don't even do the old fashioned water hose pre-wash or rinse.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Dobby is QUITE FREQUENTLY dirty, yet I love this car (so much it almost became grounds for divorce)! So much that he has NEVER seen the inside of a car wash. NOBODY touches him but me. And sadly, 5 minutes with a hose? The thick road salt & brine around here laughs at just plain water.

I try to get the road salt off of him as often as possible when it infrequently gets above freezing around here.

But, I see where you are coming from. You mean like a MINI who is abused and NEVER gets a bath...

 

huh? who? wat? where?

huh?

 

JK

 

Mine gets hand washed weekly if weather permits. I am not going to wash my Mini in weather that is not to my liking (such as rain and/or cold weather)

I have not been able to wash mine for 2 weeks, but the weather will warm up and the rains will cease and I will be out in the driveway washing Goliath.

 

I think anyone who knows me would agree that I am a MINI enthusiast. My car is usually dirty. It's my daily driver and I have a life beyond caring for my car. I take good care of it, there's not build up of mud or salt or anything damaging, but the I feel sorry for the car that spends more time being cleaned than driven.
If my car being dirty bothers you, you're welcome to come over and clean it. Otherwise it will get cleaned avery 3-4 weeks as it does now. It's over 4 years old and has never had anyone eat in it or smoke in it , and my wife still hasn't driven it. It is much loved, but it's my car, not my child.

 

My MINI is now very dirty thanks to a week of ice/snow/rain round these parts. I shall remedy this tomorrow when I take my MINI to the car wash. My Cooper is virtually unmodded, but like all good MINIacs I have found other ways to lavish attention on my baby. Time at the car wash is but one of those ways. There are others, too. It's all part of the MINI-ownership-as-hobby thing!!

 

I am embarrased to say my MINI is filthy now. After 5 weekends straight of snow, the roads are a mess. It melts a little during the week and the mag chloride and salt are everwhere. It is driving me crazy as I hate a dirty MINI. But doesn't make sense to wash it and then have it get just as dirty again in 5 minutes of driving. Hopefully this trend will end soon and car washing weather will be back soon.

 

Kenchan:

You're right about the trophy thing because nobody even notices my MINI. It is one of 4 in my building and all 4 are PB/B. I think it snowed once in my city when I was a child but that was so long ago people think I made it up.

You reminded me that when I went to school in the south side of Chicago I did not wash my car at all because it was parked in a fenced-in open lot with razor wire over the chain link and the gate was a hassle to operate. My professor once remarked that it was a good color (grey) because it did not show much dirt. So I must agree with you about washing it only once in a snowy winter.

Thanks.

 

ok so... yes , no , yes , no ... well, which is it? are you a MINI enthusiast
enough to post in the detailing forum or not?

 

If I lived in cold weather, I wouldn't wash mine either. I'd take it to the car wash (I know, *gasp*) if it HAD to be done and wait for it to be warm enough to go back to hand washing. I can always PC the car-wash flaws out of it in the spring.

But since I live in California and it's rarely below 60 during the day, Clara gets a good wash at least once a week...sometimes every 3 or 4 days, depending on how much driving I'm doing and how dirty she is!

 

my commuter gets washed once a week in the warmer months and
that's about as much i would ever wash "a car."

would even skip it if forecast says it's going to rain the following day.

 

Oh sure - rub it in!
I have rinsed mine off a couple times at the coin-op wash just to get the crust off. At 0 deg F though I'm not hand washing. It is supposed to be 35 deg F here this weekend though ...

 

my civic and legacy are caked in salt. they are literally white.

i don't plan to wash any time soon. i'll probably clean the window a little.

 

I agree, it is possible to wash too much. But it from the sounds of it, it is easier to wash too little. A very delicate balance indeed. I think I am guilty of washing my daily only bi-weekly in the summer, and monthly in the winter. And I also subscribe to the theory of letting the forecast determine weather or not I wash (that car that is ). For that matter too though I also use the weather to dertimine if the MINI even comes out.

 

yep, i am exactly the same way. first thing i check
weekend morning is weatherchannel... watch radar and put the clouds
in motion. then i can tell about how many hours/min i have left before
the rain comes.

if for any reason if the weather appears to turn on me while motoring,
i check weather on my bb and decide how much longer im going to
stay out. lol

you know wat, i think i am crazy... i have to be honest with
everyone that i just hate washing cars. QD and duster is fine, no issue,
but washing is just a pita getting water out of all the parting lines, etc.

 

That's a pun right?

I happen to think one needs to come to terms with reality and desires. When I was younger I was so in love with Linda Ronstadt, but I came to terms with reality and did not end up married to her.
Now I would love for my MINI to be showcar clean and sparkley at all times, but I have come to terms with reality and it is sitting in the parking lot right now covered with Mag Chloride overspray.
This does not mean that I have given up trying to keep my daily driver clean and well kept, it just means that I can only do what I can do and still drive it.

 

Lucky you. If I were in leafy Morgan Hill washing my car would be part of the routine of life (along with greeting the neighbors). But in the naked city across the bay (and through a tunnel from you) putting up with the vicissitudes of urban existence taxes whatever diminished capacities remain in our lives. Washing the car seems a romantic idyll.

But I wonder if it is appropriate (probably not) to impose upon this virtuous group to ask if anyone knows how to clean an oven (GE Profile electric circa 2001). Sorry to bring this up, but perhaps it's similar to cleaning a car? I don't know where the oven manual is (I suspect it's with my MINI manual). Last September, I sprayed Easy Off oven cleaner in there and thought it was going to evaporate and take the grease with it. Next day it was just ugly white powder mixed with dried grease and unidentified reddish-brown bits. Nearly 5 months later the situation hasn't changed. I'm becoming afraid to go near it.

I think I have a learned an essential lesson about the hygiene of life: while it might be okay to not wash a car for 5 months it's not okay for an oven.