HOA: Friend or Annoyance

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How do people still have time to wash a car?  Back in my single days with no wife and kid, I have all sorts of time.  I wash that crappy civic on a weekly basis and takes about 2-3 hours to do a decent job (I had white TE37 rims). 
 
ps9 said:
How do people still have time to wash a car?  Back in my single days with no wife and kid, I have all sorts of time.  I wash that crappy civic on a weekly basis and takes about 2-3 hours to do a decent job (I had white TE37 rims).
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unless you're waxing your car constantly it should only take you 30 minutes
 
ps9 said:
How do people still have time to wash a car?  Back in my single days with no wife and kid, I have all sorts of time.  I wash that crappy civic on a weekly basis and takes about 2-3 hours to do a decent job (I had white TE37 rims).
Click to expand...

Ever since we've been married, my wife knows Sunday morning is car wash time.  Even with the kid, that hasn't changed and it's just part of the routine.  It only takes me a little over an hour to do both cars, and on long weekends, I might wax the cars.  During our year end company shut down, I'll bust out the clay, polish and D/A buffer and do a major detail.  Just part of life in our family.
 
ps9 said:
How do people still have time to wash a car?  Back in my single days with no wife and kid, I have all sorts of time.  I wash that crappy civic on a weekly basis and takes about 2-3 hours to do a decent job (I had white TE37 rims). 
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In my hood no one washes their own cars--I only see the mobile auto detailers with their vans and power washers cleaning cars. They love leaving cards on my dirty car ;-)
 
gaogi said:
ps9 said:
How do people still have time to wash a car?  Back in my single days with no wife and kid, I have all sorts of time.  I wash that crappy civic on a weekly basis and takes about 2-3 hours to do a decent job (I had white TE37 rims).
Click to expand...

Ever since we've been married, my wife knows Sunday morning is car wash time.  Even with the kid, that hasn't changed and it's just part of the routine.  It only takes me a little over an hour to do both cars, and on long weekends, I might wax the cars.  During our year end company shut down, I'll bust out the clay, polish and D/A buffer and do a major detail.  Just part of life in our family.
Click to expand...
I have a love/hate thing with car washing.  I take pride in washing my own cars and love the end product, but I'm too OCD about it.  It takes me too long cuz if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right.  Just the wheels take me over half an hr (BMW brake dust  >:(). I won't detail my own car tho, I know my limits.  Wax/seal is about as much as I'll do.  A simple wash takes me at least 2 hours and that doesn't even include the interior.
 
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I have a love/hate thing with car washing.  I take pride in washing my own cars and love the end product, but I'm too OCD about it.  It takes me too long cuz if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right.  Just the wheels take me over half an hr (BMW brake dust  >:(). I won't detail my own car tho, I know my limits.  Wax/seal is about as much as I'll do.  A simple wash takes me at least 2 hours and that doesn't even include the interior.
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Same here!  I wash my cars every week.  Washing for me includes all exterior including a new coat of wax, engine bay, and interior. 
 
OCgasman said:
gaogi said:
ps9 said:
How do people still have time to wash a car?  Back in my single days with no wife and kid, I have all sorts of time.  I wash that crappy civic on a weekly basis and takes about 2-3 hours to do a decent job (I had white TE37 rims).
Click to expand...

Ever since we've been married, my wife knows Sunday morning is car wash time.  Even with the kid, that hasn't changed and it's just part of the routine.  It only takes me a little over an hour to do both cars, and on long weekends, I might wax the cars.  During our year end company shut down, I'll bust out the clay, polish and D/A buffer and do a major detail.  Just part of life in our family.
Click to expand...
I have a love/hate thing with car washing.  I take pride in washing my own cars and love the end product, but I'm too OCD about it.  It takes me too long cuz if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right.  Just the wheels take me over half an hr (BMW brake dust  >:(). I won't detail my own car tho, I know my limits.  Wax/seal is about as much as I'll do.  A simple wash takes me at least 2 hours and that doesn't even include the interior.
Click to expand...

I buy the Sonax wheel cleaner by the jug:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sonax+wheel+cleaner+full+effect&sprefix=sonax+wheel%2Caps%2C0

This along with a pressure washer makes wheel cleaning super easy.  I know about German brake dust, I use to crouch by the car with a little brush to get into the nooks and crannies.  After I started using this stuff, it's basically spray it on, wait till it turns red, then a quick boar's hair brushing and spray off with the pressure washer.  Takes about 5 minutes.  If your car is nicely waxed/sealed, then it should be quick to do a weekly wash and dry.

irvinehomeowner said:
Engine bay?

You guys kill me.
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I wash my engine bay once a month.  Spray down with degreaser, boar's hair brush, pressure wash spray.  Easy peasy and impresses my friends when I open my hood to jump their junkers.
 
So you get hit by a bus, and end up in the hospital on garbage day.

your reward is that your neighbors fine you hundreds of dollars and take away your trash can?

not exactly the kind of place I want to live....

 
irvinehomeowner said:
Engine bay?

You guys kill me.
Click to expand...

There's actually alot of benefit in keeping your engine bay clean (electrical, hoses, etc).  If you keep it clean from day-1 it's relatively easy to maintain.
 
so glad I was able to turn this into a thread about washing cars...apologies to the OP...but if the concern is water waste, I'm definitely more efficient with water usage  when I wash my own car than the big car wash businesses are.  And trust me, we dump a lot worse things down our storm drains than some soapy water. plus if and when I buy a nice car, I'm not taking it to the car wash so that I can get swirl marks in my paint job. 

On the topic of oppressive HOAs, they charge you in woodbridge if you leave your garage door open too long or leave christmas lights up too long, but as far I know, you're allowed to wash your own car...
 
So is this no-washing-cars thing common among Irvine HOAs? I'm in the escrow process for a property in University Park (University Park HOA, managed by PCM), and would be dismayed if I'm not allowed to wash my own car :(

Driving around the neighborhood, I was struck by how many contentious HOA-board election signs there were... seems like high school elections were more mature.

EDIT: I looked through the CC&Rs and By-Laws, but couldn't find anything specific to car-washing. Seems like I'll need to get permission from them to breathe or cough though. If I had only known... but it'd be on the crappy side to back out now.  >:D
 
Just washed my car, 2.5 hrs with a quick seal at the end.  The light rain during the week made a mess of my car.  All it did was make the dust very visible as just plain dirt.  Didn't touch the interior.  I gotta take an hour one day and wipe it down and condition the leather. 
 
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