[GeeTee TSI]

We take pride in washing the car ourselves, being very deliberate about and involved in the process. Fastidiousness while a virtue, can be challenged by some tough-to-clean spots in terms of time and effort. The reasons point to design quirks which come in the way of cleaning, probably because it comes under neither form nor function!

In case you do not wash yourself, I am sure your friendly staffer will know where such spots are

Fresh from the task of cleaning a dirty car, some of the the areas which are daunting in my Octavia

• Badges and lettering – the zeal to clean the badges with the same attention as cleaning teeth is compounded by their odd height, taking a toll on my back (or knee). Debadged options if available are a boon hence!
  
  
  
• The base of the windscreen and the wiper pivots – I cannot even put my finger around that area where dirt happily accumulates. Given the length of the bonnet of the Octavia I cannot reach that spot from the front nor so much from the sides
  
  
  
• The channel beneath the rear hatch beading – again the sheer length and rake of the rear windscreen makes that spot just unreachable
  
  
  
• The honeycomb pattern in the air-dam – Oh Skoda! Why did you make the intricate pattern which ideally requires attention at an individual honeycomb level!
  
  
  
• Window frame rubber seals – Requires the micro fibre cloth to be run the length of window line meticulously. The rear quarter glass especially is a dirt magnet along the edges
  
  
  
• Rear light cluster edges - While it looks cool, the lip at the bottom of the taillight cluster invites dirt and attention too
  
  

So which parts of your car do you NOT appreciate from the mundane point of cleaning?

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Mine is spoked wheels! A nightmare to keep clean, almost impossible.

[tharian]

The water gutters, if that is what it is called, under the bonnet and the boot/hatch. Dust and leaves collect here and it is a pain to remove them unless you have a blower.
Most of the times, I end up hitting my fingers on some metal part while wiping.

The other more annoying part is removing rat droppings from every nook and cranny of the engine bay. Again, with a blower it is easier, but with protection or it may be a case of s**t hitting the fan.

[KharbandaKartik]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

We take pride in washing the car ourselves, being very deliberate about and involved in the process. Fastidiousness while a virtue, can be challenged by some tough-to-clean spots in terms of time and effort. The reasons point to design quirks which come in the way of cleaning, probably because it comes under neither form nor function!

So which parts of your car do you NOT appreciate from the mundane point of cleaning?

I can really relate to this thread. I wash my car myself and that happens once a week. Getting my car washed by a regular society car cleaner is a strict no for me. According to me the number 1 tip to maintain the outer shine of a car is to wash it yourself and visit a professional detailer once a year.

Like you, I am also very particular about the lettering & badges, and they're not easy to clean, especially if you use hard water to wash. Chrome is easily damaged with hard water. The fix to this is to keep your badging & lettering nicely coated with wax/ceramic. In addition to this, I like my tyres clean and shining, for which I use a silicon gel, but it's hard to maintain in our dusty environment.

Another part of the car which I find difficult to clean is the engine bay. I always dry clean my engine bay and leave the washing part to the A.S.S only.

[ArijitGupte]

I have a somewhat OCD for all the glass, windshields, side glass has to be as clean as the car. No spot or smears.

[anoopGTkrish]

Despite my massive supply of detailing products to make cleaning easy and having a set routine for keeping my car clean, the Plastic cladding on the sides of my ecosport is a true nightmare to keep clean as -

- Washing it too often in hardwater will leave the plastic looking white and is not something that can be removed with a regular wash

- Washing less will let the dirt and grime harden onto the plastic making it impossible to remove completely as scrubbing will scratch the hard plastic

- Leaving car out in the sun too often without the plastic UV protector applied will make the plastic parts fade too quickly.

- During monsoons, I try to not look below the door line as the sheer amount of mud stuck to the cladding will possibly push me onto the clinical OCD side

[RunGaDa]

Aha! This is a very good post, particularly for all the car owners who wash their cars. As you have said this is an intricate job. I had offloaded it to the car cleaning guy who cleans about a dozen cars daily, but soon found it’s not worth.

I clean my car three times a week, regardless of whether I use it or not. Saturday morning 1 hour job. Most extensive cleaning of the week. I use the four step process:
1. Long handle brush
2. Sponge and soap
3. Pressured water
4. Wipe and shine

Internal is another story!

As mine is EcoSport the area under the wiper blades has most dirt, leaves and even insects hidden.

On weekdays I use quick cleaning methods, making sure the windshield is spotless and no hindrance for wiper blades. Always loved to clean my car. Could never outsource it.

[Kkumar]

For me it’s the interiors that breaks my back. Especially the area under the driver seat and the co-driver seat, that to the area between the seat and the body of the car as well as the centre console. Not even the vacuum cleaner could clean these places and this area ends up as the garbage dump.

[century]

I don't know if it is the case with anyone, but whenever my car goes to service centre, I specifically instruct the manager to not use is polish on the dashboard and other interior plastics and make sure no greasy marks anywhere inside by the workshop staff.

Also I hate (literally) to drive the car if the steering has dried sweat stains made by the driver or my sweaty palms younger brother.

[cdrajeevkumar]

Nice post! Never imagined there are such spots that need to be cleaned to have a “spotless” car! In my case the guy who cleans 30-40 cars in our complex just gives our car (used to) a wipe with a weekly once inner cleaning / dusting. I never have cleaned my car but fully well know that cities like Mumbai and Delhi are dust magnets! So deep cleaning would be a futile exercise

[aviator1101]

Originally Posted by GTO

Mine is spoked wheels! A nightmare to keep clean, almost impossible.

True Sir. Also, these two parts :-

• Front Sprocket
• Drive Chain

Generally the front sprocket is supposed to be cleaned by the service personnel during routine servicing which they conveniently skip.
It's a simple DIY. But takes patience and resilience to handle the dirt which waits to surprise you underneath the cover.

Cleaning, drying and lubricating a dirty chain is any rider's nightmare which will inevitably leave the floor messy for the first few times you do it...

Bigger bikes with heavier chains generally have more frequent recommended intervals.

Caution never to either clean or lubricate the chain after starting the bike and putting it in gear. People have lost their digits in the process.


As far as my cars go, the cup holders and the footwells gather maximum dirt.

While a simple wash of footmats and brushing of carpet underneath can clean the footwells, the cup holders especially the ones next to the drivers handrest are like dirt magnets which seem to test your patience to the limit with every attempt to clean them completely.

[streetfighter]

I'd like to quote this from the thread (Citroen C5 Aircross Review)...

Originally Posted by the.city

[*] Door design: Another peculiar observation are doors, which go all the way down. I don't know if any other vehicle is designed this way, but C5 doors wrap all the way to the bottom. All cars I could find have a strip of metal at bottom which is not part of door. That way you can see the door outline when you see the vehicle from side. Now, I don't care so much about the design, but C5 doors going all the way down means that they get dirty at the bottom, especially in wet weather. That dirt is visible on the inside when you open the door. I wonder if this will affect the door's paint coating in long term. It also looks a bit shabby when you open the door. It's not a big deal but it's one of those you-cant-unsee-it situations.
Attachment 2247362

This underside of the door of C5 Aircross gets really dirty, expecially during rainy season. Mud and dirt accumulate both on the door as well as the car body. The lower part of the door is a plastic cladding and the inside area has grooves or lines which makes cleaning that part really difficult.

[Cresterk]

For me, its hard water. Considering getting an entire filtration system for the house installed because I'm tired of water spots and drying the entire car perfectly every single time.

[FarPatel]

I use a large, 3 inch wide paint brush to get at the muck that collects around the wiper pivot points and I think a bottlebrush should help to get into the intricate designs of the grill in front.

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by anoopGTkrish

Despite my massive supply of detailing products to make cleaning easy and having a set routine for keeping my car clean, the Plastic cladding on the sides of my ecosport is a true nightmare to keep clean as -

+1 to this. I have a silver Creta and while it looks really good when the plastic cladding is black and clean and shiny. After a while (thats about a day or two) it loses that sheen and goes back to the semi white semi-grey shade it takes. And Creta's plastic cladding is almost as large (if not larger than) the Figo's