# Whats the longest period between carwashes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250 "2000-11-22T05:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@chief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chief)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/1 "2000-11-22T05:26:24Z")
what is the longest time you have waited before washing your car? there’s gotta be some good stories out there!! ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/2 "2000-11-22T05:59:40Z")
I’ve had my current car since I bought it new in 1993. I have never washed it. I bought my car after I quit being a full-time drummer. I intended not to use the new car to cart gear around because that destroys the interior and the suspension. My good intentions didn’t last long, so seeing as the inside was doomed I have never worried about the outside. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/3 "2000-11-22T06:10:41Z")
When I lived back north, I didn’t wash the car after October. It was usually too cold, and it only took one time of freezing my locks to make me realize that washing the car in the winter was a **bad** thing. The first nice day on the spring without a chance of dropping below freezing, the car would get a well-deserved bath. Looked much better without the salt and road grime. If I had had a heated garage, that baby would have been washed all winter. Down here, if we are not under drought conditions, maybe every couple of weeks. I had the car washed yesterday (it had to be vacuumed, so I had the whole thing done), so that was about 7 weeks since the last wash. (We haven’t had rain for awhile, and little to no chance in the near future.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/4 "2000-11-22T14:14:47Z")
My roommate commutes from South Bend to Chicago. He’s been working for his company for about 2 years. A year and a half ago, his car wouldn’t start in the company parking garage. So he bought a new car. He’s a consultant, so he’s constantly being assigned to different businesses and offices. Last week, he went to his office for the first time in about 7 months. There was his car, covered in dust and dirt. He has the best spot in the lot, as well. Right next to the door. Someone about 4 months ago wrote in the dust on the windshield “Wash me, I’m neglected”. Its barely readable now. There were several notes on the car offering to buy it, with phone numbers. He just thinks its just phone numbers of various partners trying to find out whose car it is. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/5 "2000-11-22T14:43:22Z")
Well, I drove my first car for 10 years. During that time, I washed it 3 times. I think the longest period between washes was about 6 years. Every time I washed it, it broke down. I think the dirt was holding everything together. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/6 "2000-11-22T15:56:06Z")
I’ve had mine since 1998 and never washed it. It looks OK to me, but then I’m notorious for my inability to perceive dirt. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/7 "2000-11-22T21:11:35Z")
Let’s see: carwash . carwash carwash . carwash They look the same to me! Maybe it’s my computer… ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/8 "2000-11-22T21:41:24Z")
Jeez, I felt bad because I haven’t washed my car since February. I don’t feel so bad now. Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/9 "2000-11-22T21:50:09Z")
I just don’t wash my car. I let Nature do it for me. I have, in the past. I just don’t bother any more. [slight hijack] Have you noticed that when you wash your car, or clean out the inside, on some level you expect it to run better? Or is it just me? [/slight hijack] ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/10 "2000-11-22T22:04:29Z")
Sometimes I leave my truck out in the rain to dissolve the worst of the dirt, but I have washed it only once in the 4 years I have owned it. (Even then I only used water and a sponge: no detergent, no soap, no wax). I have been told by people who know (or ought to) that washing with soap or detergent is conducive to rusting. Heated garages are also supposed to be conducive to rusting. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-period-between-carwashes/42250/11 "2000-11-22T22:40:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by screech-owl \* > \*\*When I lived back north, I didn’t wash the car after October. It was usually too cold, and it only took one time of freezing my locks to make me realize that washing the car in the winter was a **bad** thing. > \*\* No doubt, screech-owl! I still live in the north, and it only took me **two** times (I’m a bit slow) to realize that car washing in winter is a big mistake! There I was, locked out of my car because the locks were frozen and the lock de-icer (that I bought after the first time being locked out) was, of course, **locked in the car!** I like white cars, and I think that color goes the longest without having to be washed. I was foolish once and bought a dark blue car and I had to wash it at least once a week or it looked like crap.