Wow! You guys surprize me. We Mini owners are a diverse bunch! I love mine clean, but dirty or clean, we all love the car.

 

>>My parents live on a dirt road in the mountains. Of course mine gets dirty. We are trying to recover from a 100 year record drought, so I don't wash it as often as I want. Let's just say my Mini is taking one for the team.

:smile: :smile: :smile:

 

I never let my car get dirty! I clean my car every week. I also wipe it down and take the dust off throughout the week. I hate brake dust and that makes me want to clean my wheels every 2 days, hahahaha. I just think of it as brushing my teeth. But if there's a streak of bad weather I leave it until the day is sunny. I also get dirt on the doors from the wheels so I clean them too. Call me obsessive but I feel like if you take care of your MINI, it will take care of you.

Doesn't life feel alot better with a clean MINI?

 

Alice gets dirty. I live with it. Every few weeks I take him to the hand car wash across the road from my office. He's my daily driver and I have other things to do than wash him constantly. Besides, Nevada is a desert, we're about to start water restrictions, and yellow doesn't show dirt too badly.

 

I always keep the interior sparkling clean. We don't eat or drink inside the car and always keep the carpets and mats neatly vacuumed. The dashboard, doors and interior trim panels are also spotless.

The exterior, well it depends. Living in a Condo car washes are not allowed inside the property, so I have to pay someone to wash it by hand every 4 or 5 weeks. Fortunately Pepper White hides dirt very well but the only area where you really see how dirty the car really is, is in the back of the car. The hatchback area in these cars is virtually impossible to keep clean. Also the silver wheels are often a nice cover of brake dust.

Having said all this, whenever I get the car washed I apply Clay Bar and waxed it all around. Then I apply Vinylex for the exterior black plastic trim pieces (Wheel arches, undersides of car, etc)

I had the car washed last Saturday and it is a bit dirty again. We have been experiencing torrential rains here in Miami, so hopefully the weather will improve by the time the next car wash comes along.

 

You guys will hate me, it's been several weeks since I last washed my MCS due to lack of time mostly. It hasn't helped that I have been taking longish trips in the dark resulting in a massacre of bugs all over the car as well. With some luck and decent weather this weekend I'll give the car a much needed wash n' wax.

Being that the car is all dark silver, I am surprised at how well this color 'hides' the dirt. I have a red pickup that would look great when first washed, but then look nasty after a few days (Dodge "Exotic Red Clear Coat&quot. Even to this day that beat up old truck's paint looks good when cleaned. The DS MINI doesn't show water marks and general dust like some other colors. I do have to say it looks awesome when washed and waxed!

 

I try to keep my MINI clean and I'm *very* thorough when I wash it, but it does get dirty at times. I didn't wash it on a recent 2-week road trip. The front wheels became *black*, and it was pretty dusty and bug splattered. But all I could find along the way, were those automated car washes, and I wasn't going to put it through one of those. Also, I won't wash it if we're in the middle of a series of storms, as often happens in the winter.

 

I drive mine in a vacuum so it doesn't get even ions on it.

See: (No, I didn't fuzz-out the plate number)


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Good point on the color thing. I've never had a car this dark and that probably, in part, accounts for my quasi-obsession. The problem is as long as my MINI is still turning heads, I guess I'll feel some responsibility to keep it presentable. (...when possible.)

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'03 IB/W Cooper

 

Good topic.

I drive my MCS daily, but it's covered anytime I'm not driving, so it stays pretty clean. Still, it gets washed every weekend, whether it needs it or not. Then once a month, it gets three more coats of Zaino polish. And I carry a small spray bottle of Zaino detailing spray and a cotton cloth in the boot box to remove those nasty bug splats right away.

Everyone around me, family, neighbors, etc., think I am completely insane (or is it inZain-o?). "Why would you wash a CLEAN car?" "Are you STILL cleaning that car?!" "That is the MOST washed car on the face of the earth." My wife doesn't say anything anymore, she just rolls her eyes. She has learned though to factor in the three hour wash routine when making plans for our weekends.

The car is all black, so it shows every little speck of dust; and who can keep up with the dreaded BMW brake dust! I think my actions are justified, and the results are nothing short of stunning. But with our first child due to be born in about 5 weeks, I fear my routine may get altered.

The office is closing early today for the holiday weekend. I think I'll go home and wash the car!

Cheers,

James

 

>> But with our first child due to be born in about 5 weeks, I fear my routine may get altered.
>>

My friend, your fears are justified.!!! )

 

i try to not let my car get dirty.. but sometimes its hard.. luckily electric blue disguises dirt really well.

 

>>>> But with our first child due to be born in about 5 weeks, I fear my routine may get altered.
>>>>
>>
>>My friend, your fears are justified.!!!

(don't we have an entire forum called "Detailing 101" devoted to OCD and its MINI-washing manifestation? )

 

I got mine 2 days ago and just washed it for it's first time........I say No, lol, I do not let my Mii get dirty.

 

My MCS gets washed every weekend (unless it's raining). Another coat of Zaino Z2 once a month. During the week, I use the California Duster to keep the rear window & hatch clean. I hate driving through some guy's grass clippings in the street and seeing all the grass blades stick to the rear window. Maybe I'm ****, but I love this car too much to let her look like a tramp!

 

My mini is my daily driver and I drive on the freeway a lot so my mini gets dirty really fast but I try to clean it once a week or at least every other week...the dirt shows a lot with a british racing green mini.

But its really hard to keep it clean with all the rally's and canyon carving I do

 

okay, i may not know as much as you guys; i'm only 14; but think about it

when you people buy a mini, is it just to showcase it or what?

it's like the fact that most people that buy a 4wd never leave the pavement

cmon guys; you don't have to wash her everyday/week

i mean, how would it acclumulate any personality?

and think of her rally inheritance

but i am in favor of keeping her clean if she gets so dirty that you can't see the chrome

i mean, only wash her maybe once a month, tops

but whatever floats your boat


i realise that this post may have made no sense at all

 

You know, I actually brought my Zaino Gloss Enhancer, Trim Protector and a bottle of Simple Green along with me on my trip...

HA!

Boy, that was the biggest waste of space ever...

I'm very excited about washing Ollie for the first time since Montana (4 weeks and about 6k miles ago). But he's got buttloads of personality right now that I'm kind of gonna miss.