I'm glad to know I'm not crazy now lol. Some of you guys are worse than me! I forgot to add that I'm "that guy" who purposely avoids the right lane because it usually has a lot of dips and bumps. Oh and I hate when people put their feet on either my seat or dash!!....UGH

 

I know my neighbors think I am crazy because when I wash my cars they always ask me why don't I go to Mike's (drive thru car wash service). I tell them I am ocd on keeping my cars clean the way I want to. Plus those brushes can be harsh on paint. People around these parts spend more time on their yards than their cars.

 

detail every weekend
Birdpoop radar
Constantly check oil and fluid weekly


"annnnddddd I paaarrrkkk, I park so far awayyyyyyy"

 

Curious about this, what/why? (Maybe I misunderstood the context)

I warm the car up before going above approx 3000rpm, but I don't use the coolant temp (directly, anyway) as oil is what I care more about. Having said that I have no oil temp gauge so I have to guesstimate from the coolant temp gauge and wait a bit longer (oil takes longer to warm up than coolant).

Oh and if I have to park somewhere I'm not comfortable I take a different car

 

You're definitely right about those brushes. Can't count the number of times I've went to the self-serve and saw a freshly off-roaded jeep/truck being cleaned with them.

 

i use to work at a drive thru car wash and the brushes there are GROSS. Ive seen oil get on them, they're dirty as hell. People use to come through the car wash and their side mirrors would get broken off or their antennas. Sometimes you could see bad swirl marks in the paint too.

 

I usually let my car warm up for 5-10min before driving it. Let the oil temp guage get to the middle. Sometimes i park far away from other people but the body of my car isn't perfect it could use some new paint but idk if i want to spend 4k on a paint job and than get one paint chip or ding in the car otherwise i'd be sick to my stomach

 

Yeah, if you have a car you actually care about definitely avoid the drive thru car washes at all cost. Your car's paint will usually come out looking worse than it did when you went in.

 

I agree, it shows scratches on black cars the worst.

When I lived in CA I used an auto wash that used no brushes (water jets at various pressures). I knew the guy that owned/worked at the gas station and he told me how much the chemicals/water filters cost. So I assume most of the auto washes do not keep up with the maintenance like they should. That was the only/last auto wash I used on the Z. I used it just to get the fine dust/dirt off my car (between detail wash), rush home and dry it with my chamois.

Also since I live in a place that gets winters now, I rinse off the salt from underneath my cars after I get driving. Nobody does that around here and I guess they want to see their car erode slowly.

 

No food or drinks in the car and i parked at the end of the parking lot and turn around to take one more look at her as im walking away


And no fat girls either

 

Also forgot to add that I idle the car until the oil pressure is close to normal and drive fairly slow to warm up the fluids. As for pausing into second, I make sure the the synchronizers line up. Another reason too is just to be easy on the transmission. You can feel the synchros trying to match the speed and give you second gear and since I"m running Redline MT85 (oem spec weight fluid 75w85) it tends to be stiff when shifting into second until warm. Considering I'm in AZ, yes it still needs time to warm up. lol Just my experience.

 

Besides weekly detailing, I try to avoid the possibility of stones chipping the paint. I stay far behind gravel trucks and trucks in general as they seem to always be kicking up stones and dirt. I know . . . ****! But my Z looks great!

 

This person at the apartments here opened their door into my car leaving a small door ding, and since I check my car for door dings every time I come home (have another car for a dd), i knew it was her.

I seen it, got back in my car, parked next to them and slung my door open into theirs leaving a nice dent and a mark of paint.

F with my car and I will win every time. They never said a word and quit parking next to me

 

I wash, wax, and vacuum my own car since buying it new. Use only micro soft fibro wash mits and micro soft fibro towels. I use a leaf blower to blow off the car after washing and touch up with the micro cloth then. This gets all the water out of the crevices, joints, inside the doors, etc. very good. Use all Meguiars products, the 3 step process once per year and then keep waxed. Meguiars glass cleaner and tire treatment. After drive use Meguiars Ultimate Detail to keep dust off till wash time. Keep covered in garage sitting on carpet. Only one drives car if on road or Leguna SECA Track. Warm up 2 min. per standard for any car to give oil time to move through internals and if not needed will do more based on the oil gauge on the pod. Park in parking lot corners only over to far side from white line. Never follow too close to car in front. Have 3M Bra on front bumper, hood and both mirrors for protection. Keep maintenance up, change oil even if don't drive too much as oil will settle and break down. (Note: drive thru car washes will put fine scratches in the paint - not noticeable at first, but will definitely show the effects later down the road.)

 

Blow drying car with my leaf blower/air compressor.

 

I thought i was the only one who did this. I always look back at my car as im walking away. she is so beautiful

 

A lot of people do this. People who also just got a car will do the look back more frequently.

 

I catch myself doing the look back every time. I also go up driveways at an angle even though I'm at stock height just in case, and I do it really slow...people behind me would always do hand gestures and what not behind me lol.

 

I needed an alignment so it was a good excuse to have my mom drive the 350 while I followed in my SUV.(she is a grandma and drives really careful) She asked me why I was speeding up, slowing down, and changing lanes behind her. To see my car from every angle of course.

 

I love seeing/hearing my car as an outside observer as its being driven by someone else. Its rare for that to happen though as I don't let too many people drive it. The last person that drove it was a very good friend and fellow Z owner.