When I detail my car, I can't help wondering if I'm not a little OCD. For example, I recently fashioned a 'tool' out of a microfibre cloth wrapped around a baby's bottle brush to clean the inside of my nice new exhaust finishers (**** as well as OCD?!).

I give the wheels a quick wipe down almost every time I put the car away in the garage to remove brake dust and now find myself cleaning the inside of the exhaust pipes...

Am I slowly going mental, or does anyone else have similar cleaning fetishes?

Please help me

 

I'm probably a bit worse. About once a year I disassemble the interior not completely but take out radio, door panels, seats, armrest, etc to do a thorough cleaning.

I remove exterior items like plate, marker lights, wheels, etc to be able to clean the exterior.

I do this on 4 of my cars each winter. If that's not OCD I don't know what is But man they look great.

 

I have always been a bit **** not only with my cars but pretty much anything I own that I consider to be of some value. For example I have SLR film cameras that I bought in the 1970s and always treated very kindly. They have been in my closet in the original boxes for the last few years. I keep thinking I will sell but likely nobody but a nut collector would appreciate. Same for a Fender Telecaster guitar I bought in 1967 that has been in the closet for the last umpteen years. I finally took it out last weekend and brought it into a local guitar shop for new strings (I would like to take up the guitar again) and the guy was amazed since it looked like new (even had the original Fender store tag in the case).

Consequently it is no surprise that my cars often look as good the day I sell them as when I bought them (sometimes 10 or more years later). I have never gone nuts to the extent of taking things apart to reach places that you can't even see but I generally do a decent job of addressing areas that are readily visible. A trick I found to quickly clean the wheels is to get hold of a large paint brush and sweep them down every day or so. If you keep after it this effectively keeps the brake dust from building up. I have to say I never recall cleaning the INSIDE of the exhaust tips but generally try to keep the outside shiny. Also use the California Duster every several days to gently remove dust.


Doug

 

I want to buy my next used car from you!

Do you worry about taking items like panel clips and sheet metal screws in and out so many times? Most of these items are really designed for a one time installation during the original build, especially those plastic clips. I would worry about rattles and such.

 

I take the wheels off twice a year to clean the insides..............





.............. until now I thought that was normal.

Graham

 

That is one benefit, I have been able to get top dollar for all of the cars I have sold. I don't like broken or missing bits so every car I buy I replace anything missing or broken.

As far as clips, I have drawers full of different styles. I try to replace plastic clips with metal ones where I can. Historically I only keep cars 2-3 years but there are a few I have kept longer.

I replace broken clips and reuse ones that seem good enough. I don't mind sacrificing a clip to know that grime in the seams are gone. Cars look old because stuff collects in small crevices and its hard to properly clean.

Last night I took the face off of my XJ radio so I could properly clean the screen on it and disassembled the steering wheel so I could clean the radio control buttons.

and yes Graham, removing the wheels to clean the inside is COMPLETELY normal - at least according to me. I always hate to see a wheel that's nice & shiny outside but the inner rim just black.

 

Wow! The outside of my wheels don't look that good. I need to step up my game.

 

Although I have not quite got to the point of dismantling my car to clean it, I do quite often use old toothbrushes and the like in the engine bay.

My question for you guys is, do you take this amount of care for the pure pleasure of knowing you're driving somehing that is spotless or do you actually show your cars?

 

I keep them washed/waxed/vacuumed, but I don't obsess about it like I did 30 years ago. I do not consider myself a detailer and I will not take interiors apart to clean them unless I'm already having to do that due to a repair that must be done (if I have to take a seat out for repair, that area gets cleaned, vacuumed, and maybe even shampooed before the seat goes back in)....

But as others have mentioned, keeping our vehicles clean really helps when the time comes to sell them to the next owner. Clean vehicles with detailed records of everything I've done to them have always enabled me to sell them quickly without having to negotiate, often to the first prospective buyer who rings our doorbell....

 

I don't think I'm OCD , nor do I you....

My cars are always clean and I hate it when I see a mark or dirt, I have to admit sometimes I've been driving and I see a smudge on the carbon fibre dash, often lean over to wipe it...of course making it worse with my hand, lol

Seriously I only use certain products when cleaning and have specific microfibre cloths that are only used for the car.

The result ... a 6 year old XKR 4.2-S that looks almost showroom and still smells nice inside, admited it only has 32k miles on it and I've owned it from 6 months old (the car that is) so it's been easier to keep it that way.

My wife on the other hand, everytime I get in her car I have to move rubbish or something, she blames it our kids !

So a question does your car drive smoother when it's clean ? I've always though so but I'm sure it's my imagination.

rgds Shaun

 

Some reassuring replies here

Twice a year? Pfff, that's nothing, Graham. I jack the car up once a month and then lie on the floor and spin the wheels with one hand while holding a damp cloth to the inside of the rim with the other. Works a treat

The worst case of OCD car cleaning I've ever come across was a guy on a BMW forum I used to be a member of who removed the tyres from the rims once a year so he could clean the inside of the rims properly

 

Ahhhh I can relate to so much in this thread, its scary....lol

Cleaning the "iNSIDE" of my exhaust tips isn't one of them, but hey, each to their own I say.

Like Graham and perhaps others I remove my wheels at least once a year, sometimes two and thoroughly clean them inside n out......to be fair they are washed "properly" every time I wash the car and never just jet washed, always cleaned by hand.

My exhaust tips are "always" cleaned as and when the rest of the car is to maintain them and keep them nice & shiny. Consequently they are as shiny and new as when i first bought the car 6 years ago.

My pet hate is to see a stunning looking exotic car all shiny and looking great with black sooted up exhaust tips

Generally I keep a 1" thick paintbrush in the interior which is great for getting anything out of small craks / crevices and especially air vents!!

The underside of the bonnet / hood is another area I clean evry time I wash the car, as well as giving the engine bay a quick detail.
I say quick detail as due to the fact I do it often and as part of my routine that's all it needs.

I wouldn't say I'm really OCD, am I??

 

Sounds like you are not far off Frog, LOL.

Still, at least you know its clean and who cares what anybody else thinks as long as we know our cars are well cared for.

 

Wife has told me that I spend more time with the Jag then I do with her. My answer to her was simple: when I turn the key and the Jag talks back what sweet loving prrrr. Well that ends that conservation and I usually have several extra days of the Jag and I. After 33 years you do need a break!! Ha

 

OK, how's this one I've just remembered:

I put tyre black on the outer walls of my tyres. No biggy, lots of us do that, but...

When I know the car is going to be in the garage for a few days, I sometimes put some tyre black on the tread part of the top of the tyre, so it matches the walls and then stand back and admire the shiney blackness

Good job this forum is more or less anonymous!

 

Ha Frog, I do something similar with tyre black.

As well as putting it on the sidewalls, ( I use a sponge ) I slightly overlap so that the tread gets a little on it to.

Then, when on a dry road, or even better a little dusty the tread part is coated and the re is a really definitive line where the sidewalls are blackened....lol

 

LMAO. So basically, we're all as bad as each other

 

Both. I have a couple cars I show and some that I just drive for pleasure. The Jag is just one of those cars that deserves to be spotlessly clean, its part of the style. If you have a well appointed garage/shop you want to keep it tidy. If you have a regular garage then you may not care where things are or how organized it is.

The Jag is my luxury car, and being so needs to have the luxury presence. I don't like clutter in cars, any accessories added need to blend seamlessly or be hidden away. My wife's car on the other hand .... is not one of my cars.

 

Ken,
Whole heartedly agree and my wifes car looks like a rubbish dump and guess who has to clean it.

 

Haha, I can relate to that as well, Frog... but you missed another area in doing so... the fender liners! They have to match as well! *spray spray spray spray spray*

I've always been fairly OCD with car care and detailing. My main vice is the annual 6+ stage ritual of Zaino Bros. car polish on each car. I don't show my cars generally, so it's all for me. No pressure either, since two of my cars are black (garaged), and the other one while it looks amazing in diamond white when clean, needs extra care (always parked outside).

Wash car with Dawn soap to strip old polish/wax (trying not to get it on the wheels unless they are to be polished too)
Clay bar all painted areas
Swirl remover polish and base application (maybe two)
Deep shine polish application (maybe two)
Final show car polish application (maybe two)
Spray gloss enhancer application

I only use non-Chinese microfiber towels and sponges for quality assurance, and do everything by hand- no machines. I used to go to car wash bays to wash by hand, but have since learned their soap can strip wax (though I never used those brushes- perish the thought!). I now exclusively wash at home with the Zaino car wash soap and use a 2x 5-gal. bucket system with grit guards in the bottom whenever I wash the cars- one for the dirty water, one for the clean soapy water. Dirt falls to the bottom under the grate. And now I feel bad I didn't clean the insides of my wheels after I took them off earlier this week to do the spacers and new center caps... I really should have taken a bottle of Sonax to them as they are caked in there!

Also, my wife's vehicle (the Caddy) is also a disaster inside and blames it on the kids...