I'll never look at cars the same way

[Desertnate]

For years, I've been a car nut. I've always taken care of my vehicles and kept them clean, but my approach to keeping the finish in good shape was defensive. I always tried to wash/dry properly and keep the accumulation of swirls to a minimum over time.

Then came the day I decided to rejuvenate my daughter's old car in order to make it a little more presentable for her when she drives it to college. That got me seriously digging into the huge base of knowledge of experience and advice here. It also got me to pay much more attention to not only the condition of my cars, but EVERY CAR I LOOK AT!

I knew there was no turning back when watching the auto auction on Velocity this weekend when some obscure, 6-figure super car went across the stage and I said out loud, look at the nasty swirls on that beautiful car! Everyone in the room looked at me strangely, but they were so prominant that I could see them on TV in the overhead lights.

Sigh...

[dad07]

Yep you've been bitten by the AG bug!

Let the addiction begin.......LOL

[Jake4211]

Brother, I do the same thing everytime I'm out driving. I love that new Armor All commercial where he says "you don't deserve this car" before he tows it. I wish that really happened

[Gen9Rolla]

Happens to all of us. Its a gift and a curse for sure

[tnecniv]

Ha, pretty much every car I walk by in parking lots I'm down at an angle looking for swirls on every car. People are probably thinking I'm some shady thief or something..

[silverfox]

I find myself looking at cars differently too, but like my own car which is not flawless...I've come to appreciate the car itself and not so much the makeup its wearing.

The bottom line...cars are meant to drive and enjoy. I wonder who enjoys their cars more..?..the perfect flawless car owners who spend all their time wiping and polishing...or the owner with swirls that drives their car like they stole it?

[MarkyH]

I do this too, can never just walk past a car, whatever it is, have to be dragged away saying 'but look at those swirls!'.
I can never just jump in the car and go, I'll always spot something as I'm getting in and have to sort it out before I leave.

[Desertnate]

The bottom line...cars are meant to drive and enjoy. I wonder who enjoys their cars more..?..the perfect flawless car owners who spend all their time wiping and polishing...or the owner with swirls that drives their car like they stole it?

I would say these people are two sides of the same coin. I was there. I loved my vehicles and kept them clean, but was never sure how to truly correct the paint. It wasn't until I actually bit the bullet and tried it that I realized how easy it was to get respectable results.

My cars will enver be swirl free, but I'm confident I can keep my daily drivers at about 85~90% which is all I really have time/energy/money to spend on them.

[DetailKitty]

I'd like to keep a happy medium.... drive it hard but keep him as clean as possible.
It's very satisfying going for a great drive, but also to detail the crap outta it the next day :xyxthumbs:

And we all know they drive faster when they are properly detailed :D

[LSpec]

Happens to all of us. Its a gift and a curse for sure

:iagree:

When I am walking in the street, I am looking to parts to clean, almost everytime the complete car haha
I dont know why but my first interest is the wheels Im the MAN

[DetailKitty]

I dont know why but my first interest is the wheels Im the MAN

That's because I find most people don't clean their wheels... then wonder why they can't get all the crap off them years later when they finally feel the need to clean them :bash:

[danieledwards12]

I come from a country family. I grew up in the country hunting and fishing. ive never owned anything but a truck. ive always been a good steward of the vehicles God has given me. my dad is the same way. but he has always told me, "son its a truck, its ment to be used as a truck."

my friends (who are also country and who hunt and fish all the time and use their truck as a "truck" always give me a hard time and tell me I might as well drive a car. they change their attitude when they want me to detail their vehicle for them though.

[Klasse Act]

I do this when going to carshows and cruize nights all the time. I wonder why a car that sits so long doing nothing looks so bad, I mean the car's in the garage and when its raining outside and your not doing anything why not start making the car look its very best for the next show?

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online

[DetailKitty]

I come from a country family. I grew up in the country hunting and fishing. ive never owned anything but a truck. ive always been a good steward of the vehicles God has given me. my dad is the same way. but he has always told me, "son its a truck, its ment to be used as a truck."

my friends (who are also country and who hunt and fish all the time and use their truck as a "truck" always give me a hard time and tell me I might as well drive a car. they change their attitude when they want me to detail their vehicle for them though.

That's a copout...
When I had my F350, towed my horse trailer and hauled hay my truck STILL always looked nice.
No reason to live in filth.

[swanicyouth]

I do this when going to carshows and cruize nights all the time. I wonder why a car that sits so long doing nothing looks so bad, I mean the car's in the garage and when its raining outside and your not doing anything why not start making the car look its very best for the next show?

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online

Reason why is because it looked like crap in the first place. I'm convinced "knowing what you are looking at" is an acquired skill. For years I didn't know what I was looking at or you could fix it. I just thought when cars get older, they look older.

These dudes are car shows do kind of baffle me. I saw this dude started a club for red cars. All people with a red car of this particular car joined and lined up at the car show. They all had little plaques with #s. The #1 car was swirled out, but had all kinds of expensive mods, stuff that cost a lot more than a good detail. I guess they just see it or don't know what they are looking at.