This is somewhat of a nit-picky post, because I am otherwise elated with my new Prius, in just about every facet. :rockon: Picked mine up on June 1. The Southern California area got some rain this past week, making me lucky enough to wash my car this morning. Before starting my chore, I searched thru our forum and found a few tips here and there. (There's a good one that originated about interior care, that migrated a little toward exterior tips: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...894-protecting-cleaning-interior-gen-3-a.html ) Reading the owner's manual is not for me, so pardon me if they cover something as arcane as this. I wash my own cars about 99% of the time. Pain #1: Wheel cleaning. My III has those plastic wheel covers. These pop off super easy and need to come off to clean the wheels properly. Make sure you put these on securely, to avoid that weebly wobbly look as you drive down the street. And eventually lose one. This wheel setup already has me pondering some aftermarket solutions. Pain #2: Window glass. I guess this means less body parts to wax, but the windshield and rear hatch cover about an acre. Cleaning the inside requires unpublished yoga moves. My aching neck! I put a nice coat of Rain-X on the windshield, now that it won't rain until December! Pain #3: Drying. There's numerous nooks 'n crannies to harbor water. Door jambs, seams, and wipers to name a few. My wife said our car has a cold and runny nose. Looks like future washes will need me to fire up my air compressor and drag the hose out front. So, such is the hard life of owning such a delightful car. I'll take it anyday!:bounce:
#1: lose the wheel covers. #2: clean the interior glass with the Stoner "Invisible Glass" tool and a little Windex. #3: use Mr. Clean Autodry. No drying required.
I used to wash my 08 every weekend, looked good...and full detail about every month. Lately, in light of San Diego's new water restrictions, I used Optimum No Rinse which is not too bad. Haven't noticed any surface scratches or other damage. I still plan on washing it normally at least once a month.
An alternative to using your air compressor is to take the car for a short drive while it is still wet. This will blow off the loose water, making it easier to dry off the residual water drops. Also, if you shift to N before slowing down, then you will dry off the friction disk brakes so that they won't rust.
Very timely thread. I just got my 2010 last Thursday night and it managed to stay reasonably clean until yesterday when it rained. This morning water drop marks were all over it. At least now I know what I have to look forward to. But, I don't have a leaf blower nor an air compressor. Looks like the take it for a drive tip will be most useful. I'm still in the novelty phase enough that any excuse to take it for a drive works for me. Thanks for all the hints.
I probably won't use it with ammonia on regular windows either! Windex Auto is ammonia-free (if you don't already have a household ammonia-free windex bottle)
Do you or Midpack have something to cap the hub with? Maybe Pep Boys sells a skull & crossbones version. Or I could put those spinners on there.
For glass, use something like Stoners Invisible Glass or Sprayway, both of which are safe on tint and available OTC. This tool or ones similar will help you get to hard-to-reach places.
Gen II is equally bad at getting to some of the glass, especially the windshield over the dash. I swear, sometimes the only way I got a truly clean windshield is when it was replaced (a yearly event in AZ thanks to rocks and free glass coverage from State Farm).
This may revive my mundane topic from a couple months back. I forgot to add the matter of the not-so-smartkey. The doors constantly lock at the wrong moment. Or the system beeps as you wander around the car drying it. Forget just leaving the key inside your car - it then lets out a long beep to tell you you're a nimrod. So, while drying, I just try to leave one of the doors open; my strategy to out-smartkey the system. ;-) I otherwise do like the smartkey...
I noticed the same "problem" while washing/drying my car... Since I do all my detailing at home, it seems best to me to just put the key fob out of range.
Man, that's not cool. That could potentially cause problems for people leaving their car undriven for a couple weeks.
