5 ms·

I think it’s pretty normal for people to want to take good care of things they’ve spent hard earned money on. Is driving a filthy car some kind of weird flex?

makeitshine 3y ago
He's saying it rains and the car gets clean. I only needed to rinse my car off once a year, max, and did that with a garden hose. It was fine otherwise. Car washes are a waste.
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  I live in the PNW where it rains pretty steadily most of the year and my car gets absolutely gross if I don't wash it once every couple months. Not dusty, I mean filthy dirty. Rain does not make the car clean, quite the opposite. All that water on the road getting kicked up brings muck with it.
  - snuxoll 3y ago
    I live in an area of the PNW where it snows and rains a lot during the winter, and rains more during the summer. Mud loves to stick to everything, and the Magnesium Chloride they use to de-ice roads loves to oxidize the frame of vehicles. I have everything at home to clean our vehicles, but I can’t just run the hose during the winter when it’s most important because of the MgCl; so I’ll take our rigs to the wash if we are in town (nearest car wash is 60 minutes away) to clean the undercarriage and minimize rusting.
sapling-ginger 3y ago
A dusty car body is no more "filthy" than the soles of your shoes. Do you wash your shoe soles?
- yanokwa 3y ago
  People who are into shoes (e.g., sneakerheads) do clean their soles.
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  It doesn't get merely dusty unless you live somewhere very dry. I live in the PNW and it rains a good portion of the year. The car gets absolutely filthy during the rainy season. If my shoes were that dirty, then heck yeah I would clean them. What a mess, it's easy to get your clothes dirty when the outside of your car is filthy. My kid's white dobok is especially sensitive to dirt on the car.
  - LegibleCrimson 3y ago
    Yeah, it's probably a regional thing. Here in Colorado, most cars don't really get that gross. I take a hose to mine like 3 times a year and dry it with a towel and it looks pretty nearly pristine. They'll only get very dusty if you take them on dirt roads a lot, or keep them in a garage all the time without ever cleaning them. Ones kept outside will keep mostly clean due to the rain, with maybe a little bit of grime under overhangs, and some sun damage on the paint.
chaorace 3y ago
If torn jeans can be a fashion statement, then so too can an unwashed car. Let them have this, why don't you?
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  I'm perfectly happy to let them have this, I was just curious why someone would deliberately neglect basic maintenance. It's kinda foreign to me, and frankly I'm towards the lazy end of the motivation scale. Fashion statement is actually a pretty good explanation, thank you.
  - makoto12 3y ago
    it's not maintenance if it's for aesthetic purposes. unless there's a serious concern for rust then i don't think it classifies.
    - kodt 3y ago
      If you live in an area where they heavily salt the roads washing is important to get all that road salt off of your car as it does speed the process of rusting. Neglecting to do this will result in rust spots on your body. Most of the comments here seem to be taking highly individual situations and assuming it must be the same for everyone.
  - superhuzza 3y ago
    I live in the UK, where it rains multiple times a week. I mostly drive on paved roads, not too much mud, roads are rarely salted. Whether I wash my car or not, it changes nothing - the car will get dusty and rained on over and over regardless of what I do. When I first got my car I would wash it sometimes, but it's inevitably going to rain in the next day or so and return to exactly the same state. Washing it once a year is enough to remove any grease/carbon from the roads. Why bother? I don't think it's actually "maintenance" if it doesn't maintain the car in any meaningful way.
    - chaorace 3y ago

makeitshine 3y ago

He's saying it rains and the car gets clean. I only needed to rinse my car off once a year, max, and did that with a garden hose. It was fine otherwise. Car washes are a waste.

rootusrootus 3y ago
I live in the PNW where it rains pretty steadily most of the year and my car gets absolutely gross if I don't wash it once every couple months. Not dusty, I mean filthy dirty. Rain does not make the car clean, quite the opposite. All that water on the road getting kicked up brings muck with it.
- snuxoll 3y ago
  I live in an area of the PNW where it snows and rains a lot during the winter, and rains more during the summer. Mud loves to stick to everything, and the Magnesium Chloride they use to de-ice roads loves to oxidize the frame of vehicles. I have everything at home to clean our vehicles, but I can’t just run the hose during the winter when it’s most important because of the MgCl; so I’ll take our rigs to the wash if we are in town (nearest car wash is 60 minutes away) to clean the undercarriage and minimize rusting.

sapling-ginger 3y ago

A dusty car body is no more "filthy" than the soles of your shoes. Do you wash your shoe soles?

yanokwa 3y ago
People who are into shoes (e.g., sneakerheads) do clean their soles.
rootusrootus 3y ago
It doesn't get merely dusty unless you live somewhere very dry. I live in the PNW and it rains a good portion of the year. The car gets absolutely filthy during the rainy season. If my shoes were that dirty, then heck yeah I would clean them. What a mess, it's easy to get your clothes dirty when the outside of your car is filthy. My kid's white dobok is especially sensitive to dirt on the car.
- LegibleCrimson 3y ago
  Yeah, it's probably a regional thing. Here in Colorado, most cars don't really get that gross. I take a hose to mine like 3 times a year and dry it with a towel and it looks pretty nearly pristine. They'll only get very dusty if you take them on dirt roads a lot, or keep them in a garage all the time without ever cleaning them. Ones kept outside will keep mostly clean due to the rain, with maybe a little bit of grime under overhangs, and some sun damage on the paint.

chaorace 3y ago

If torn jeans can be a fashion statement, then so too can an unwashed car. Let them have this, why don't you?

rootusrootus 3y ago
I'm perfectly happy to let them have this, I was just curious why someone would deliberately neglect basic maintenance. It's kinda foreign to me, and frankly I'm towards the lazy end of the motivation scale. Fashion statement is actually a pretty good explanation, thank you.
- makoto12 3y ago
  it's not maintenance if it's for aesthetic purposes. unless there's a serious concern for rust then i don't think it classifies.
  - kodt 3y ago
    If you live in an area where they heavily salt the roads washing is important to get all that road salt off of your car as it does speed the process of rusting. Neglecting to do this will result in rust spots on your body. Most of the comments here seem to be taking highly individual situations and assuming it must be the same for everyone.
- superhuzza 3y ago
  I live in the UK, where it rains multiple times a week. I mostly drive on paved roads, not too much mud, roads are rarely salted. Whether I wash my car or not, it changes nothing - the car will get dusty and rained on over and over regardless of what I do. When I first got my car I would wash it sometimes, but it's inevitably going to rain in the next day or so and return to exactly the same state. Washing it once a year is enough to remove any grease/carbon from the roads. Why bother? I don't think it's actually "maintenance" if it doesn't maintain the car in any meaningful way.
  - chaorace 3y ago