OK, I'm curious to know what you are doing so far as washing/waxing your TCH. I already took mine to a touchless car wash after being around the beach for a weekend. Of course, those don't work so well. I have also washed and waxed by hand, but I think I'm too lazy to keep doing that, especially waxing!

With previous cars, I typically went to the self wash places, but where I live now, those aren't nearby. My main option is soft cloth car washes. There's a Mr. Wash about a mile from me where I washed my Passat pretty frequently. But by the time I moved to this area, the car was already 2 years old, so I wasn't too uptight about it.

Now, my car is 5 weeks old, and I'm wondering if I trust the place, even though I never had any problems.

Well, I just wanted to tell my situation and find out what others think. Looking forward to some opinions. Thanks!

B. Goodman

When I bought my first car, a 1986 Chevy Nova that was already quite aged when I got it, I was obsessive compulsive about washing, waxing, rust removal (yep, sanded, primed & painted those rust spots myself ), and otherwise keeping it shiny and clean. When the Nova died and I got my Corolla I took it to the touchless carwash at least once a week for the first couple of years that I owned it and I had it hand waxed twice a year for the first few years. For the past couple of years I haven't had it washed nearly as often as I should.

For my TCH, which hasn't arrived yet, I am going to have the exterior finish protectant applied. I still plan to have it washed regularly, but I think the finish protectant might keep it from getting annoying little scratches and make it easier to wash off road salt, bird poop, etc..

It took me about four weeks to wash it for the first time, but I've hand-washed it each of the last two weekends. I also waxed it this past weekend.

I used the liquid wax. It's very easy to use, but doesn't do as good a job or last as long as other types. But I was reading Consumer Reports and they said if you have a relatively new car with a good finish that should be all you need if you do it fairly often.
BTW, I haven't washed my other car twice in the last 5 years.

Used the Zaino $90 kit.
Took about 8 hours with the claybar application. Smooth as glass.
Ran through a cloud of bugs yesterday, sprayed just a little z-6 spot polish and they just wiped off!

8 HOURS!!!!!
how much to have someone else do it...

I do first wash with dish detergent to get all the other crap off, then wax it with Meguiars NXT liquid. I use the NXT wash when I wash it and then rewax every 3-4 months. I like the deep shine NXT leaves and it seems pretty durable.

http://www.meguiars.com/?liquid-car-...ation-Tech-Wax

Probably a few hundred to have someone else do it.
Washing only takes a few minutes now though.
Nothing sticks to it. VERY shiny.

In a previous post someone had used "ICE" synthetic wax and I went out and got some. I thought it did a really good job. YOu can apply it in direct sunlight when the car is hot unlike most waxes. It does not make plastic parts go whitish if you accidentally get some on them (I think in fact is suggests using it on plastic too). Only takes 20 minutes too. My wife would kill me if I spent 8 hours waxing the car!

I remember when I was in the dealer showroom they had a car with a piece of tape down the center of the hood.One side was "finish protected" and the other side was normal. They wanted you to discover "how good $500 feels" by touching it and looking at it. Yes, the unprotected side was a bit gritty. The $12 a paid for "ICE" and it did the same thing as far as gloss and feel goes. It might not last as long, but the bottle has enough for a billion applications and I guess I can afford 20 minutes now and then after a wash...

Two climate control systems, one inside and the other at the tailpipe.

2007 Camry Hybrid (in service June 2006)
FE: 6.77L/100km (34.8 mpg) over 37750km (23450mi)
75% city - Ave trip 20 min - 2 Winters

OMG, the exterior protectant on my TCH is not going to cost me $500! I think it's half of that, maybe.

I spend 4 days polishing and waxing the car after I got it home. New cars are actually very dirty. I never let anyone else wash my cars. Then on the fifth day a F-150 smashed in to me!