Where to detail your car if you live in an apartment?

[pontoon]

Title kind of says it all, but I live in an apartment and don't have a place to get power for a DA or anything else. Anyone know of a place where you can go to get power and water to detail a car?

[pontoon]

I'm in the bay area CA if that helps.

[pontoon]

Hmm, I do have underground parking. Maybe I can get away with it in my parking spot. I'd have to run an extension cord but it might work. No water, though. Also the lighting in the garage is quite dark, so I'm not sure if it would work well.

[PA DETAILER]

Any way you could "borrow" a friends driveway for a day?

[VeloNYC]

My experience after I moved to apartment building :(
1. Self car wash.
2. Onr in one 2gl canister, tab water in another.
I actually was able to find some quite place where I can wash and detail it in quietness and little disturbance. It is lasting already 2 years since I don't live in the house with driveway and garage, still I'm proud of myself to be able to keep up w/ my hobby at max.

Speaking of DA it is hard, I would recommend ACDelco Tools ARS1210. But for now I hide everything with glazes.

[pontoon]

Any way you could "borrow" a friends driveway for a day?

I just moved here to Oakland, CA. I have no friends =/

I thought of a self car wash, but it's like $1 a minute I think. Would they let me use a DA for a few hours at a reasonable price?

[davidc]

Possible to do like my Daughter. She has a AG bucket with the seal and she mixes the no rinse and carries it to the car. As far as power they make inverters to change 12vdc to 120ac in all kinds of wattages. The typical DA is around 700 watts so somewhere around 1200 would work for that. You may have to run the vehicle to recharge the battery at some time during the process. All of this is for options since you now appear to be very limited.

Dave

[pontoon]

Could I DA with corded tool and an inverter? Also I found a car group on Facebook where they all show up and work on their cars (1 hr 10 mins away) on Sundays so maybe they'd let me.

[Kamakaz1961]

This may sound crazy, however, one of my co-workers is doing this. She just moved to an apartment complex and parking is a biatch to find. So about 5 minutes from her place there is a storage rental place. She pays $58 per month for a garage!! I would assume there are outlets in the garage.

She gets peace of mind of having a parking place and not worrying about door dings or parking tickets (she got 2 since she moved there) and she does some exercise by walking to her apartment.

You may want to check into that if it makes sense. In her case it did. You might be close to a storage area or not but at least you could wash and detail your ride.

[davidc]

Could I DA with corded tool and an inverter? Also I found a car group on Facebook where they all show up and work on their cars (1 hr 10 mins away) on Sundays so maybe they'd let me.

The inverter hooks to the battery, the DA if the cord is long enough plugs into the inverter, or a short extension cord. Take a look here and if interested give them a call and tell them what you want to do and see what they recommend.
Large 12V Modified Sine Wave Power Inverters (http://www.invertersrus.com/2500-plus-watt-12volt-modifies-sine-wave-power-inverters.html)
I just looked up the large ones just to get an idea of prices. The storage place as mentioned may work also.

Dave

[SlvrDragon50]

Any university parking garages nearby?

[swanicyouth]

I've used a DA b4 with a power inverter. It worked fine. Of course, you have to run the car to keep the battery charged from time to time. It's not ideal - but it's doable.

My advice: Make some friends.

Offer to watch someone's pet at their home with a garage when they are on vacation. Then - you will have a garage for a week.

[ScottB]

When we had severe water restrictions for a year or two, I would wash my rides at the coin self serve wash late at night. I would only use the water as needed to fill a bucket and rinse. (a buck or two back then tops).

Because it was night, there was no heavy traffic. I could bucket wash without issue. I could also dry in the bay. (old fashioned way with towels, before a MasterBlaster). For heavy detailing I still had a garage at home. I just wish ONR was available at that time ....

[VeloNYC]

This may sound crazy, however, one of my co-workers is doing this. She just moved to an apartment complex and parking is a biatch to find. So about 5 minutes from her place there is a storage rental place. She pays $58 per month for a garage!! I would assume there are outlets in the garage.

She gets peace of mind of having a parking place and not worrying about door dings or parking tickets (she got 2 since she moved there) and she does some exercise by walking to her apartment.

You may want to check into that if it makes sense. In her case it did. You might be close to a storage area or not but at least you could wash and detail your ride.

You dont want to know how much parking spot or garage cost in NYC on a top of that you have to be on a waiting line to get a spot.

[Kamakaz1961]

You dont want to know how much parking spot or garage cost in NYC on a top of that you have to be on a waiting line to get a spot.

I have heard in the $100K + Range. In Tustin, CA it is quite a bit less!!...LOL I have heard of a garage spot going for $1,000,000 in NYC..is that true?

If so that is crazy!!