You'll find the ragtop is far tougher than the paint finish, and a good paint job is far more expensive.


Leave it dirty if you don't want to wash it. My 12 year old MINI looks brand new twice a year when I wash by hand. Otherwise I drive it (hard).

 

I have someone that hands wash the car for me at home. Dual bucket, dries with magic tower and quick detail it, very fast dude. Charges me the same as the car wash.

 

anything but a proper hand wash will scratch the paint. If you don't mind scratches then any car wash will do.

 

The paint is pretty hard on the Mini, but marring is still possible if you don't get bird poop, dead bugs and tar off it fairly quickly.

 

Honestly, I never feel my cars, especially the high performance cars, are "just a car" and never treated them as such. If I wanted "just a car" I would buy a 10 year old Honda Civic and not care how I treated it (no offense to Honda Civic owners).

The care that goes into the design and build of such cars is a work of art and deserves to be treated as such. You wouldn't clean a valuable painting with harsh chemicals and they should not be used, along with brushes, on our cars.

 

Owned from new for nearly a decade. Sold it to buy the F-Type.

 

As I said, no offense... Just making a point. Some car owners will take great care of their cars no matter their age or brand. This car looks brand new!

 

Now now Lovemonet. No one - including (especially) me - is suggesting not taking extra special care of these [our] extra special cars. Simply that cars are meant for one thing and one thing only (besides, as I've said here in the past, intrinsic beauty) and that's to drive them. And with driving comes all sorts of things - especially pleasure - including dirt, grime, dust, dings, scratches, etc., etc., etc..

By all means treat is as special, 'cause it is. VERY special. But, in the end, it is just a car...and a work of art.

 

So you're saying The Simpsons got it wrong - cars are not one of the most common Spawning Locations?

 

Absolutely. Bird poop and bugs can actually etch the finish. Those I will spot clean on a regular basis.

 

I not only concur but agree .

Truth is, there have been times when I just can't wash my 2004 Audi A8L for quite some time - with plenty of built up road dirt, grime, etc. - and when I [usually hand] wash it it ends up coming out looking brand new!

I think that that shows that automobile finishes have come a long way.

 

Owned for 10 years since 2 years old

 

For some manufacturers more than others: The Alfa Romeo Brera I also sold to buy the F-Type had been given the same treatment as the Mini, but needed to be Clayed rather than just washed in order to stay shiny.

For comparison, a 1989 VW I used to own had paint that the bodyshop refused to touch after the first visit as - apparently - their polishing mops had no effect on it, while wet and dry struggled. Organic solvents, rather than water-based though.

 

Did you fit the Aerokit grills yourself, or did come with them already fitted?

 

The lower grille is stock S, the center grille is stock but black wrapped and the upper is the Aero grille that I added. To complete the blackout, I reverted from the S chrome side scuttles to the black side scuttles from the just-a-cooper. Finishing it off for a total of 229 horses was the 210 JCW kit, 15% pulley, a Behe tune, an intercooler from the '06 GP model and an '05 close ratio box with locker.


I already have the reduction pulley sitting on my desk for an F-Type I won't be getting for another 6 months.

 

Yes, that is true, but not the point. The car wash soap and wax build-up over time will compromise the appearance of the top, and that won't "buff out."

 

I took it through a brushless car wash a few times last year, which used high pressure water for the rinse which made me a bit nervous. Car was fine, but I discovered the this spring that the roof stopped beading water. I reproofed it, but decided the car wash blasts the waterproofing off quicker than I'd like, so I only hand wash it now.

 

That's where you are wrong. PetroCanada has 90 day passes for $180. So that's $720 a year and in 4 years will be $2880.

Plus, I also store my Jaguar in the winter. It probably gets 50 odd washes a year. The Range Rover gets the bulk of the washes in the winter!

My detail guy put this "Opti-Coat Pro" on both the Jag and the RR. The RR is from 2012. They both gleam in the sunshine without swirls et. al. despite the automatic non-touch carwash.

 

Fair enough Enfield, we're all entitled to our own opinion of course, if this works for you then that's great.

Thanks for sharing....

 

I am in Canada and have been hand washing the car....can't do that in really cold weather. Planning to only use touchless drive through once a week. I think the impact on the convertible top is less of a concern that getting the salt etc. off the body and underside once per week. Agreed???