Spongy April is the cleanest month

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For most Angelenos, the car wash is how most of us get our vehicles cleaned. Where we can grab a coffee and read a couple of sections of The Los Angeles Times while someone else buffs our fenders. But there are several good reasons why, once in a while, we should get down and soapy ourselves.

It’s always smart practice to give a car a good going-over, to check for any fresh dings and/or bird deposits that might have compromised the paintwork, and look over the wheels and tires to make sure both are in good shape. On top of that, there’s the satisfaction of a job well done, where a little more elbow grease will really get rid of that tree sap.

However, our friends at Meguiar’s feel it necessary to explode a few myths on the great Sunday chore. With winter out of the way, April has been deemed ‘Car Care Month’ (the fact that it’s taken so long to get around to mentioning this might have something to do with our feelings toward car cleaning in general).

The big one is that dishwashing detergent is no substitute for properly formulated car shampoo. The former quite often contains salt (as a bulking agent) and salt plus metal equals rust. It will also degrade paint and any waxes that have been applied. Oh, and old diapers and T-shirts don’t necessarily make the best cleaning cloths. The detailing pros use 100% terrycloth towels and/or premium microfiber towels.

Thanks to Meguiar’s for these tips (there are more on the company’s website) and, of course, car-cleaning products are also available from other companies. And as for the video, you can have too much gunk, but you can never have too much funk.

-- Colin Ryan

Comments

[south ribble handyman]

car care month should be every month nice video though

[Bikerzone motorcycles]

car care month good idea before winter sets in they should have bike care month before summer kicks in

[back links]

classic video,we should all clean our cars more,especially on the inside

[page rank back links]

nice idea

[nintendo playstation xbox gaming consoles]

nice idea maybe they can have a house clening month also get those chores done

[shopping blog]

great video dont know about the car wash though

[Melina Watts]

Car washing should be done on permeable surfaces, such as a dirt road or the lawn, so that the water can be naturally filtrated and cleaned before it heads out to our creeks and the Santa Monica Bay. Keep our water clean while you clean your car: DO park on the grass!

[Kay Flores]

Car washes recycle water. Washing a car creates the chance that the water could be lost to evaporation on the street (where as a cloud it can float to another state) or the ocean, if you are near those direct drains. One wash worth of water is no big deal, but thousands of washes across the Southland together add up. Putting tap water back into the water system helps us keep it available for reuse. In Las Vegas, the water district distributes car wash vouchers to encourage people to wash their cars without wasting water.

[Jeff]

I have to say, well done on getting a Shakespeare reference (Spongy April) with a nod to T.S. Eliot (April is the cruellest month) and combining them with 70s Disco and car washing. That's good value.