”I worry a cloth or sponge or mitt could trap grit and scratch the paint.”
I’ve thought about this … but conclude that it isn’t much more or any more harmful than washing your car with the same sponge or wash mitt and along with a hose. There are times, early in a rain … or during a very light rain, that I wish all the car surfaces were more wet and I fear a little extra abrasion. I suppose you could supplement the mitt with a modest pail of water. As it is, I wash the car from the top down and usually skip the wheels. The closer to the road you go, the more dirt and the greater chance for abrasion. I had a ‘95 Civic and after 7 years of my care (which included proper washings and 3-4 waxings per year) the paint looked nearly new in most places (except the front which appeared sand-blasted from all the highway travel).
” First thing, I live in an apartment complex, I'm not quite sure how they would feel about me filling the parking lot with we sudsy water. Secondly, I live in GA, and juuuust north of the city. If anyone has ever been about 10 miles north of Atlanta, you know that the weather is IMPOSSIBLE to predict, so if it starts raining, chances are it will stop just about the time I get the sponge wet for the first wipe at the car and then I'll just have a sudsy car.”
OK, I’m with you on the unpredictable weather. I have lathered up my car only to have the rain die off as I was doing so. The result is not that bad … a streaky dirty car instead of merely a dirty one. Nothing that makes the vehicle look odd or otherwise stand out.
Sudsy parking lot?
Dude, it ain’t gonna happen. Seriously. You end up with just a little suds on your car …. Just enough to show you that there’s some soap there. Virtually no trace of soap by the time the water drips off and onto the pavement.
”I could not imagine me washing my Metro in the rain with a bucket of suds and a dripping wet mullet. I might get the neighbors excited.
Johnny, being the paragon of male studliness that you are, I feel you
owe it to your neighbors and the even the greater community to put yourself on display and fuel those fantasies many women live for! If your car happens to get clean in the process, that’s just gravy.
