here's a tip: do some regular washin'

[fortheanimals]

ouch! i hand washed my prius the other day after not having done so in nearly a year! i've only driven it through a touchless wash a couple times the past 12 months. hadn't done any kind of wash since last fall.

needless to say, i lost a few hours of my life to this. used a wool mit. followed straight lines. fine scratches immediately apparent after drying. there was also a hard-packed accumulation of fine dust in the crevices at the bottom of the side window rubber lining and the paint. noticed it after drying and did a second wash.. had to forgo care and really rub it out. oh, and there were the months-old bug carcass/juice pretty much congealed to the paint.

sigh... i hope an expensive professional detailing/buffering can restore the black beauty.

right.. don't get a black paint job if you're not up to it.

so really, for those of you who aren't aware... you really ought not to leave bird poop and smooshed insects on your car for very long.

[Starbug]

LOL, I feel your pain....

My prius is black, and so is my other car. I have no garage. There are TONS of pollen-producing trees EVERYWHERE in my yard and on my street: a washed car today is a dirty car by morning. *argh!* I work in construction (currently on a dirt road)...causing car to be trashed on the first drive to work in the morning.

Like you, I easily loose an hour on my other car, and an hour-and-a-half on my Prius (much bigger than my other car). I try never to wash them both in one day since it takes waaaay too long. LOL.

[Godiva]

I attended a Meguiar's class on detailing your car and bought a dual action polisher.

I can't do it even once a month. But a few times a year with a good wash and was in between helps.

[Rae Vynn]

Mine gets a good scrubbing about every other weekend, and gets hosed down and microfiber wiped "as needed" to get the bugs and bird poo off... about every 3 days, really.
I think the initial good washing, and then polishing with Zaino products, and the Clear Seal topper, helps a lot with making the rinsing/wiping go so well.

[wiiprii]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Jul 17 2007, 01:09 PM) [snapback]480427[/snapback]</div>

Mine gets a good scrubbing about every other weekend, and gets hosed down and microfiber wiped "as needed" to get the bugs and bird poo off... about every 3 days, really.
I think the initial good washing, and then polishing with Zaino products, and the Clear Seal topper, helps a lot with making the rinsing/wiping go so well.
[/b]

After my front bumper repair I am not supposed to wash the car for 30 days, and not supposed to use any wax or polish for 90 days. This is so the paint sealer will harden properly, they say. It's just the front plastic bumper. I'm more concerned about keeping the body paint clear and clean for the long run. I too am used to running the car through a touch-free car wash every other week. Am wondering how much damage the bumper sealer will experience if I drive it through after a few weeks?

[Presto]

Wash it every other week if you can. If you wash it regularly, it won't take as long to finish every session. There's not as much elbow grease required as the interval between washes isn't long enough to have stuff permanently baked/stuck on. Touch free is okay since the Prius wheels don't get much brake dust which touch-frees can't really touch. One of the other issues with touch free is that they will not get any of the stubborn stuff like tar, nor will it do a sufficient job of the sideskirts. As long as there's no forecast of rain for a few days, I'll try to wash the Prius once a week. The wash bucket water doesn't even get dark. Usually it takes an hour to wash and dry the car.

[h2photo]

Get a California Duster and dust if off every day. Helps to keep it clean a ton longer!!

[NoMoShocks]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fortheanimals @ Jul 17 2007, 12:38 PM) [snapback]480412[/snapback]</div>

ouch! i hand washed my prius the other day after not having done so in nearly a year! i've only driven it through a touchless wash a couple times the past 12 months. hadn't done any kind of wash since last fall.

needless to say, i lost a few hours of my life to this. used a wool mit. followed straight lines. fine scratches immediately apparent after drying. there was also a hard-packed accumulation of fine dust in the crevices at the bottom of the side window rubber lining and the paint. noticed it after drying and did a second wash.. had to forgo care and really rub it out. oh, and there were the months-old bug carcass/juice pretty much congealed to the paint.

sigh... i hope an expensive professional detailing/buffering can restore the black beauty.

right.. don't get a black paint job if you're not up to it.

so really, for those of you who aren't aware... you really ought not to leave bird poop and smooshed insects on your car for very long.
[/b]

You can try using the Zaino Clay Bar and polish products. I am really sold on the clay bars. They got all the gunk out of the crevices like the ones you describe under the window moldings with not much work. The Zaino polish is a multi step process with one step specifically designed to do away with swirel marks and such.

[fortheanimals]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(h2photo @ Jul 17 2007, 07:51 PM) [snapback]480670[/snapback]</div>

Get a California Duster and dust if off every day. Helps to keep it clean a ton longer!!
[/b]

ooh.. i wouldn't use one of those for the exterior. most scratches come from debris between the car and the cleaner. even fine dust could be abrasive enough for fine scratches. i've used the california duster before (around the house), and i find that the wax coating can leave residue that eventually gets dirty and needs to be properly wiped. i like the swiffer dusters for the interior.

the clay bar looks like my next step. i just need to find a time and place to do it. i currently park my car in a paylot. and i second the zaino. i zaino'd the prius when i first got it couple years back. but i left the stuff in san diego, and now i'm in oregon.

i think the point is that the 5 bucks must be spent every couple weeks or so to run it through the touchless, at least.

i love my prius, but these days, i spend all my free time maintaining my bicycle. i put less than 3,500 miles on the prius the past year! quite a change from my days in southern cali when i put up to 30k one year on my old nissan pathfinder.

[alexstarfire]

My opinion on car washing has always been this. Why bother? Your car will never be perfect like the day you got it, if new at least. I don't need to, or even want to, show my car off to anyone so it doesn't need to look good, though I don't want it like all sticky or something. It's probably going to get scratches no matter how hard you try not to get them. And for the Prius at least, it won't help gas mileage at all.

If I ever end up selling a car, which I haven't yet, I'd probably just get a paint job done on it right before I sell it. As my Prius isn't the color I wanted it in I plan on getting a paint job when I can actually afford it. Basically whenever I get a job, since on one seems to want to hire me.

I see washing a car as being a waste of time and money. If you don't have anything to do then a quick rinse and dry at your house isn't so bad. But in my experience my car gets just as dirty as it was before after about 2 days.