How often do you wash/wax your Prius?

[Econ]

Originally Posted by PriusRos

I must admit to having a bad case of new-car syndrome and the neighbors probably think I'm crazy because on any given weekend when it's not raining I'm out there washing, blow drying, and waxing/polishing my Prius. Since I got it at the end of July, I've taken it to the carwash at least once, bought a leaf blower, washed it by hand, then blow dried it, at least twice, then bought Mr. Clean Autodry carwash system and washed it with that three times. I would have washed it more often than that but it was always raining!Once I wash it, I feel I have to polish it one way or another. I think the first time, I just did a quick polish with Zaino Z-6. The next time, I applied Zaino All-in-One, then Z-2, Z-6, and Z-CS. Then I tried some Carnauba wax that I had lying around my basement for a while. It didn't look bad but I think it was too old and hard and it was very difficult. Then I did the whole Dawn wash thing to strip the wax, and applied Z-AIO, Z-5, Z-6, Z-CS. After my last wash, I used some Z-6, then I waxed it with S100 motorcycle carnauba wax. I can't say for sure whether it adds more depth than Zaino, but it looks pretty good!

Are other people as obsessed as me? How often do you wash and wax your car? I should add that I don't have a garage so the car is subject to all sorts of environmental assaults and crap from the tree and birds in the driveway. Being dark grey, it does show dirt. On the other hand, it really shines when it's clean and polished.

I thought I was the only crazy one in the world who blow dries the car with a leaf blower? I now know that I am not alone here... The good thing is you only touch the finish once while washing. Hand drying ... your touching it again. Use the leaf blower. Do you have gas or electric? I guess the car will look better twice as long? Any how, Wash your car at least once a week if you can stand to do that without going crazy You do have a few things against you, no garage and it is exposed to the weather.

YES... do the Zaino process but don't apply any wax on top of zaino. The Z-CS will help your situation of harsh elements.

Look at your car the sun if you have the wax still on it. With the Zaino process only you will see the entire panel with the metalic properties. This I have observed with my cars with metaclic paint. The 2010 Prius Black does not have any metalic in it what so ever. The Zaino process make it look as black a ONYX. Awesome!!

I had a Black Midnight Pearl Honda Prelude. I used conventional wax by Zymol. $$$ I had this mudded look to the panels with only a small area of metalic showing. I used the Zaino product and that changed my life. Awesome shine and easy to keep up and I could see the metalic properties..I found that wax makes the optical properties muddy. That is, if your paint has any metalic porperties, they will appear obviously in a 6 -12 inch area, outside that area you will see no metalflake in the paint.

[cpatch]

I wash every two weeks with ONR and clean the windows twice a week (which goes a long way towards making it look and feel cleaner). Haven't waxed it since I bought it (when I wasted the money on the dealer paint protection) but plan on paying a detailer to do it a couple of times a year.

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by Econ

I thought I was the only crazy one in the world who blow dries the car with a leaf blower? I now know that I am not alone here... The good thing is you only touch the finish once while washing. Hand drying ... your touching it again. Use the leaf blower. Do you have gas or electric? I guess the car will look better twice as long? Any how, Wash your car at least once a week if you can stand to do that without going crazy You do have a few things against you, no garage and it is exposed to the weather.

YES... do the Zaino process but don't apply any wax on top of zaino. The Z-CS will help your situation of harsh elements.

Look at your car the sun if you have the wax still on it. With the Zaino process only you will see the entire panel with the metalic properties. This I have observed with my cars with metaclic paint. The 2010 Prius Black does not have any metalic in it what so ever. The Zaino process make it look as black a ONYX. Awesome!!

I had a Black Midnight Pearl Honda Prelude. I used conventional wax by Zymol. $$$ I had this mudded look to the panels with only a small area of metalic showing. I used the Zaino product and that changed my life. Awesome shine and easy to keep up and I could see the metalic properties..I found that wax makes the optical properties muddy. That is, if your paint has any metalic porperties, they will appear obviously in a 6 -12 inch area, outside that area you will see no metalflake in the paint.

A lot of people on this forum use a leafblower -- it's where I got the idea to begin with. It probably looks crazy though!

I think the shine is pretty good but I still haven't had a chance to get a real good look at my waxed car in the sun. By the time I finished waxing last week, it was starting to get dark. The next day it started raining again. (Of course it did, I just washed and waxed my car!) It's been overcast and/or raining ever since.

Yesterday evening, I when I picked it up in the parking lot (outside) and noticed little smudges all over the hood. They didn't just rub off when I passed my fingers over them so I think it's tree sap or something like that. Sheesh...

[rstark18]

I wash once a week with ONR. I am a new convert to ONR and can't get over how much better/easier it is over a conventional wash. For me one of the great things about it is I can wash my car at night in the garage. Also, I live in SoCal and water restrictions are in place. I can easily wash the car thoroughly with two gallons of water. I also tried out Optimum's Opti-seal and spray wax. They both went on fast and easy. I can wash and wax my car in about 45min total.

Btw for the guy that was saying less often washing is less harmful on the paint. Don't forget the longer between washes, the more embeded grit will be on the paint when you go th wash it off which will be pretty harsh.

[a64pilot]

I pay to have it washed and waxed monthly.

[Bobby]

Ok, this thread makes me feel bad. I haven't washed much less waxed my car since I got it in June. Is waxing really necessary?

[San_Carlos_Jeff]

I wash the outside about once every six months. The inside gets vacuumed and wiped down about every two months. Still have yet to wax it....

[don_chuwish]

Originally Posted by Bobby

Ok, this thread makes me feel bad. I haven't washed much less waxed my car since I got it in June. Is waxing really necessary?

Wax, Zaino, Klasse, something to protect the paint is good, yes. If you want the paint to look good in 5+ years anyway. Nice thing about the Prius is that it's so small none of these tasks take very long.
A great resource for detailing products and info is autogeek.net.

- D

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by Bobby

Ok, this thread makes me feel bad. I haven't washed much less waxed my car since I got it in June. Is waxing really necessary?

What does it look and feel like? Does it look dirty or dull? Does it feel a little gritty or sticky? If it doesn't, or being a little grimey doesn't bother you, then I guess you don't have to wash/wax it. But a clean, freshly polished car glows and feels as smooth as glass.

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by cpatch

I wash every two weeks with ONR and clean the windows twice a week (which goes a long way towards making it look and feel cleaner). Haven't waxed it since I bought it (when I wasted the money on the dealer paint protection) but plan on paying a detailer to do it a couple of times a year.

I might try ONR for washing during the winter, when I've shut off my outside water fawcett.