I've got the opposite problem - having a white car I find i neglect washing it - certainly don't do t as much as I have done with my non-white cars in the past  No Longer the owner of a 2013MY Fuji White GS

"Fiat Lux" a philosophy not a car

I washed mine last year & once the year before! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Sponges trap dirt against the car and induce swirls

Likewise for chamois leathers

But that's your choice

Try swapping the Auto Glym for Poor Boys black hole

Best filler polish I know of, will mask those swirls and marks

If you can't be arsed to do it, have a detailer give it a going over Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Plenty of good advice and products here http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

Mark 2009 FL2 TD4 SE (Sadly gone)
2007 FL2 TD4 GS (The wifes , gone after 8 great years)
2012 FL2 SD4 SPORT LE(Gone and missing it)
2015 DISCOVERY SPORT 2.2SD4 HSE (Now gone)
2014 Ford Bmax 1.0 ecoboost ( Gone but what next )
2014 Ford Focus 2.0tdci Zetec S (Gone,but what a car)
2020 Ford Fiesta ActiveX 1.0 Ecoboost
2024 Skoda Kodiaq 1.5 Tsi SEL

iain cooper wrote:

problem is when it goes in for a service it gets hammered by the wash boys, which can ruin all previous care taken.

Iain

Rule 1 - If you care about your paintwork, never let the garage wash it. Watching them do it makes me wince.  Jules

One more small point - if you live in a hard water area try rain water. Less likely to smear on drying. Ok not really relevant if you're polishing etc but if you're lazy like me that's a way to go. I never polish the car - just rainwater - and it looks fine as far as I'm concerned. It's always filthy the first time I drive it anyway! Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.

+1 for rainwater. Check out detailing sites for advice - they are OTT, but take from them what you feel you need.

You could just give up and keep it dirty - beyond a certain point, black cars don't look any worse. If you try and keep it clean, you'll need to wash it every time you use it.

My wife has just got a Loire Blue and I had promised never to have another dark car as they always look grubby. Spent a whole day claying, swirl busting polishing and sealing. Which is pointless at this time of year so it won't get washed for months, but at least dirt does come off easier now.

+2 for the rain water

The only problem is that my neighbors look at me funny when I wash my car in the rain.

I own two black cars, one silver car and and Orange SUV.

The Black looks really nice after be washed and wax, just don't take it out of the garage, its a dirty world out there.

Thanks

Paul

Washing in the rain is the best, if its heavy and won't end before you do - perfect rinse.

Just fibre-off when it stops (or don't - often it's not that bad a result, although fresh rain can be grubby, depending on where it blew in from)

Who gives a what the neighbours do/say/think? We have our own minds/reasons - them. I used to get very bored with the neighbour saying I'd make it rain whenever I washed the car - just not funny, even the first time. Something else slightly more serious "cropped up" and we don't speak at all now, so I am spared silly comments.

................ yes, neighbours is a sore point

Dirty Duck,

I do still wash my car in the rain.

Completely agree with the concept that we are all free and independent thinkers.


I just wanted to warn anyone who hasen't washed their car in the rain what to expect.


Nice use of the censorship emoji, particularly because the topic is focused on keeping it clean.

Take care

Paul



Because its Monday I will share a quote that I really enjoy.

"In regard to propaganda the early advocates of universal literacy and a free press envisaged only two possibilities: the propaganda might be true, or the propaganda might be false. They did not foresee what in fact has happened, above all in our Western capitalist democracies - the development of a vast mass communications industry, concerned in the main neither with the true nor the false, but with the unreal, the more or less totally irrelevant. In a word, they failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions" Aldous Huxley

Edit: if you just finished reading the quote above and you came to the conclusion that Freel2 is the distraction then please let me introduce you to: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, CNN, etc. etc.

[quote="Steve D"]£6 at your local Eastern European car wash. Works for me every time. [/quote

£6....!!!!! you been robbed £3.50 for wash,dry

£4.99 for wash, dry , windows polished, and vac, bumper shine, and tyre black and polish £1 more .. !
still less than 6 quid !!!  Wales
Were the mud is thicker, and the ruts are deeper.
(And we have the water to wash it off, and more on the way..! )
Sd4 and chrome Ar*e piece, Auto box for best fun
09 Xs Gone
12 xs Gone
HSE with Leather seats and 4 years warrenty.. staying for now !