no real place to clean my car?

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Daven75

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OK guys, I have a dilemma. I have no garage or any covered car port. I have large trees over my driveway that shade the whole driveway. Now I need to polish and wax my car. Would it be better to polish/wax it in the sun or keep it under the trees to keep it cool and shady? I know the wax will dry really quick In the sun but I'm afraid if I do it under the trees ill get tree crap all over it while I wax.
 
Lots of products recommend application in the rain but there are more and more now that can be applied in the sun. The crappiest thing about your situation, in my opinion, is the stuff that will end up on the car form those trees. Maybe look at tougher, longer lasting applications other than wax, like a good sealant (Klasse, Zaino, Collinite, CG Jetseal, and many others) or even Opti-coat or CQuatrz.
 
Right now I don't have the money to spend really on some good stuff. I plan to before winter but i hear ya. It sucks. I'm just glad I have enough time to rewax it when needed
 
Why don't you drive to one of those covered self car wash locations? You can try doing some of it there.
 
kevincwelch said:
Why don't you drive to one of those covered self car wash locations? You can try doing some of it there.
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:whs: Took the words right out of my mouth. I've done that on more than one occasion. There is nothing better to start a small detailing business than to bring your arsenal to one of those self serve car wash and do a full job right there on the spot.
 
what you might do is look for a 12 foot square easy up cover. For about $99 or so.
 
You could go to a park nearby, take your 2 five gallon buckets, rinseless wash and wash media, your drying towels and your polish/wax and make a day of it.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
Daven75 said:
Right now I don't have the money to spend really on some good stuff. I plan to before winter but i hear ya. It sucks. I'm just glad I have enough time to rewax it when needed
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Well if you don't want to have a quality sealant shipped to you from online store, a cheap solution would be to use NuFinish. The only downside I have found to NuFinish is that it stains moldings, fixtures and other plastic parts (especially the black ones).

So if you decide to use this to protect your car, make sure to tape anything that can be stained before you apply it. When money is less of an issue, I suggest you switch to Menzerna Powerlock.
 
Sadly I've done the self serve car wash and got kickee out for "taking to long".... this was at 9pm on a tuesday lol.... as for a pop up tent thing I have one, at home, 4 hrs away lol. Ugh. And yea, I'm working on building up my arsenal of supplies. Lol its takes time for me
 
Dr_Pain said:
:whs: Took the words right out of my mouth. I've done that on more than one occasion. There is nothing better to start a small detailing business than to bring your arsenal to one of those self serve car wash and do a full job right there on the spot.
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How long do they let you stay in there once the wash is completed?

I have the same issue and have been trying to figure out a way to find a suitable location for a while now.
 
Basically I dry it and they're like ur done. Its horrible
 
Calendyr said:
How long do they let you stay in there once the wash is completed?

I have the same issue and have been trying to figure out a way to find a suitable location for a while now.
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Here is what I did and how it worked for me!

1) I met with the owner. It took a little to find out who he was but was able to get his phone and arranged a meeting
2) I asked what his off-peak time was, so I could coordinate coming over then
3) I did ask if I could use an electrical connection and offered to compensate him for the cost of electricity (no matter how nomimal it was)
4) I asked if he would have any problems if I came to use the facility and stay a little longer to finish the processes (which I explained to him in grave details)

At first he was very reluctant but I offered a point which he could not deny, which is people would talk, stare and come over if they saw me doing a full job on my car.... which they did. I also offered the possibility of coordinating (during off peaks) with friends to come over, which he understood the marketing value right away. For those guys, an empty place is not good for business, and a busy (even just busy looking) place much better for business. In addition, one person leads to another and so on!...

I have to admit that I sold it goooooodddd! and repayed his generosity in spades. I guess he was happy to have me onsite (more often then not) checking on the place, and constantly rinsing the bays and racking up the wands, and picking up trash. Not to mention I would be at the place late evenings. It did help that he came to see what I was doing the second week of our agreement, and I was sweeping the place :) He ended up giving me a key to the storage area where I kept my extension cord and some of my products and never charged me for electricity.
 
Dr_Pain said:
Here is what I did and how it worked for me!

1) I met with the owner. It took a little to find out who he was but was able to get his phone and arranged a meeting
2) I asked what his off-peak time was, so I could coordinate coming over then
3) I did ask if I could use an electrical connection and offered to compensate him for the cost of electricity (no matter how nomimal it was)
4) I asked if he would have any problems if I came to use the facility and stay a little longer to finish the processes (which I explained to him in grave details)

At first he was very reluctant but I offered a point which he could not deny, which is people would talk, stare and come over if they saw me doing a full job on my car.... which they did. I also offered the possibility of coordinating (during off peaks) with friends to come over, which he understood the marketing value right away. For those guys, an empty place is not good for business, and a busy (even just busy looking) place much better for business. In addition, one person leads to another and so on!...

I have to admit that I sold it goooooodddd! and repayed his generosity in spades. I guess he was happy to have me onsite (more often then not) checking on the place, and constantly rinsing the bays and racking up the wands, and picking up trash. Not to mention I would be at the place late evenings. It did help that he came to see what I was doing the second week of our agreement, and I was sweeping the place :) He ended up giving me a key to the storage area where I kept my extension cord and some of my products and never charged me for electricity.
Click to expand...

I just had to say that's awesome. Great job thinking out side the box. :cheers:
 
I've been lucky in that our small town areas haven't said anything. I used to (before I got into more than just washing), take my buckets, and soaps and towels to the car wash. I would fill up with their water, and rinse the car off, let the time expire, hand-wash, then rinse it back off again, and dry it. Then I'd pull it outside and wax it. I figured that way, I wasn't using the bay any longer than someone else who was just being extra thorough with the wands.

I'm also in the same boat as the OP though, in that my current house is on a hilltop, with NO shade at all. I don't even have trees that would shade me. Definitely looking into either a pop-up to keep on hand, or even piecing together a PVC carport type thing with a tarp, something I can stake down, but then take apart and store in the shed or something, or even put in my trunk to take with me if I need to do something elsewhere.
 
are there trees everywhere in the neighborhood or just the driveway? If there's just trees on your driveway why not wash the car in your driveway then pull the car down from your driveway to the street/parked next to sidewalk and then dry, then polish/wax. Or as long as its not extremely windy and trees debris is falling like crazy, you might be fine with washing the car/drying and then go panel by panel. If any, the only significant debris will land on the horizontal panels, so do those first and when you get to each panel clean the panel with a quick detailer and then polish/wax. And if there isnt trees at the end of your driveway/curb then just wait until the part of the day where there isn't blazing sunlight or do it when the forecast is cloudy.
 
I could give the asking the owner thing a shot but he'll just look at me as "another college student" sadly. Thats how it is around here. There are trees EVERYWHERE sadly lol. Good news is my mother's gonna find a way to get me our 10ftx10ft pop up canopies for me to use! now I just have to wait, which sucks. lol
 
Has anyone in this situation contacted other types of places where we can work? For example a garage (the type that repair cars). I am thinking maybe they would be willing to lease the place during hours they are closed? Or underground parking lots (heated), most of them have water so they can wash the floor and electric outlets.

I will need to find a solution for sure before winter. I phoned around today and all the car wash places in this town are not do it yourself. They do it for you for almost no money : 10$ for hand wash and 15$ for handwash+interior... I am scrared of the work they do for 15$ Inside outside! Ouch! Even if their employe is paid minimum wage, which is 10$ per hour here, they still need to make a profit so I can't see him taking more than 30 minutes to do both Inside and outside... Not even talking about the cost of products here.

I think I will bring them one of the cars from the community service I am part of tomorrow. Cars are all beated so even if they damage something it will not stand out from the rest of the damage users are doing to them. I have to witness this 15$ service for myself ;)
 
Hey man, sounds like the pop-up tent is your best option at the moment, which should work. You'll probably wanna get good at Rinseless washes as well. And no rush to buy a bunch of stuff--you'll need to buy supplies in waves anyway. Determine the staples you need the most and get them. As a college student, you need good multi use products. Things like a good APC and ONR will be your friend.

If you still like using a bay, you could just rinse off dirt best you can in the bay and then drive to a parking lot, do a Rinseless wash, and then come back to the bay and rinse if you need to. Take a look and modify if need be: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVtnRoiIRRI]How to properly wash your car in cold climates - YouTube[/video]
 
Well here's my suggestion. do something good for your town and become a Volunteer Firefighter. Most fire stations have a wash bay and the members are free to wash theirs cars anytime you want. Mine charges $1. If no one is waiting I can stay in there all day or night. It's warm in the winter. Not only do you have a clean car you are doing something worth while for the community. I've belonged for over 30 years even though I don't fight fires anymore.
 
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