If cleanliness is next to godliness, then my car's going to hell.
I never seem to have the time to hose it down, scrub the mud stains from the floor mats or extract the detritus that collects between the seats.
Waxing and buffing are otherworldly concepts: I'm just happy when it rains. Not that I'm proud of this. A shabby-looking car impresses no one, and I know it just kills my dad, who spit-shines his antique cars, to see me so lackadaisical about appearances.
So, in the spirit of spring cleaning, I thought I'd at least write about how to properly clean one's car. Whether I heed the advice of our local experts remains to be seen. But that doesn't mean you can't. We'll address exterior cleaning this week, interior and miscellaneous items next.
The only thing I know about washing my car is that I don't do it enough. But how often should I be washing my ride? What soap do I use? Does the car wash beat washing by hand?
Chuck Delaney, who's owned the Allston Car Wash for 32 years, seemed like the right person to ask. "How often should you wash your car, or how often would I like people to?" he said with a laugh.
His personal bias aside, Delaney said that your washing frequency should depend on the season. "The issue in New England in the winter is the [road] salt and the issue in the spring is the pollen," he said. "I would say in the winter . . . a couple of times a month. In the nicer weather, maybe once a month. And in the winter you treat the undercarriage for rust (usually about $5.) Most of the rest of the car doesn't rust anymore because it's plastic, but not the undercarriage."
From an environmental standpoint, it's probably better to visit a car wash, where water is contained, than to let soap suds seep into your front-yard grass, Delaney said. (His car wash uses 7 to 8 gallons of water per wash, all of which is refiltered.)
But for those who enjoy washing by hand, does laundry detergent suffice? Not if you want your car to look good, said Tyler Burns, assistant director of Brookline's Larz Anderson Auto Museum.
"Laundry soap - I wouldn't recommend it by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "A lot of the car wash soaps are softer soaps than your liquid detergents or hand soaps. A harder soap will leave a residue. It defeats the purpose - you'll leave soap scum. There's already a layer of scum you're trying to wash off. You're just replacing it with something else."
Burns said any mild soap sold at an automotive store should work well. But to get the best wash, you can't just slap on the suds. His suggested protocol:
Delaney adds that you should make sure the sponge you use stays clean, as sharp dirt particles stuck inside sponge crevices might harm your paint.
Meanwhile, Domenic Mastro, owner of Domenic's Limousine Service of West Roxbury and Franklin, recommends adding a few drops of ammonia to your suds to make your windows extra water-repellent.
Or you could spray your car's glass with Rain-X. "You wouldn't even need to put your windshield wipers on when it rains," he said.
Which leaves us one last question: to wax, or not to wax? One applies car wax, so I'm told, to protect its paint from chipping and scratching. "It also seals the paint and repels rain so the shine will last longer," said Mastro, who cleans his own fleet.
Wax also helps preserve or bring out the original color of your paint, Delaney said.
"My mother had this tan Torino. She lived on the Cape and in Florida. The ocean air would come in and the color would be really faded," he said. "You compound and wax it, and it brings the color back."
Burns said the auto museum waxes all its vintage cars, but that's partly because older cars lack a finishing layer known as a "clear coat." Modern cars are sprayed in the factory with the sealant, which protects paint and makes water bead, and makes waxing sort of redundant.
"The clear coat gives it a nice finish. And I think it's changed the level of rust" in cars, Burns said. "Look at things like Audis. They now guarantee no rust for like 10 or 15 years." (To be precise, 12 years, according to Audi's website.)
Still, you can always wax your car for extra shine and protection, or to hide tiny scratches, as most automotive stores sell colored waxes that match your paint job. And if you do wax, it's a lot easier than it used to be.
"Before they had that hard toothpaste stuff that you used to bust your knuckles to clean with. Now they have a lot of really nice waxes, silicone, that you can actually wipe them on with one hand and off with another," said Mastro.
But do yourself a favor - on a hot day, wax in the shade, he said.
"It takes an hour, maybe longer than that for a limo."
