Well, I've had my 2005 8 for several months now. I converted my carport to a garage to protect her. I have washed her at least every two weeks. Last night I drove her to one of my favorite restaurants. I made sure I was seated where I could keep an eye on her. During the meal it rained on her...the first rainstorm she has encountered. When I got home I dried off every inch of her. Will this obsessive behavior eventually taper off?

 

Nope

 

Never gonna stop, but you can save the money by skipping the shrink and buy car wax and towels instead...

Welcome to the obsession...

 

its now a part of yer life ... embrace it

 

Yes you do need a shrink.... you should be washing once a week.

 

^^ yup, washing every week and waxing at least once a month.

Zaino is your friend...

 

i think ur crazy... its just a car. i hope ur being sarcastic cuz thats way overly excessive to me.

 

I just don't drive her when it rains...

 

Whose crazy???

 

after about a year you'll start washing it every 2 - 4 weeks.

after two years when it's got enough rock chips in the paint, you'll quit worrying about it when you go in to eat at restraunts.

But I still park in the back away from other cars. Don't have any door dings and would like to keep it that way.

 

Do you need a "shrink"? Maybe you need a copper red SHRINKA.

 

WOW!!! and I thought I was the only one. But since mine is white It gets bath more often, may be 3 times a week.

 

3 Times A Week!!!???

 

Does your her have a name......

 

No name as of yet.

 

awww....she needs a name! my car laughed at me the first week i had her when i tried to drive the speed limit...she immediately became known as the shedevil from then on ....

 

I use my 8 as a dailey driver and it is a third vehical if you count my bike. I was like you the first year but gave up after snow a salt the lst winter. Now it's like any other car I maintaine but I try to keep it clean and shiny in the summer cause it looks so good. Nice curves. I carefully plan where i drive and park it. I also try to get a window view in restaurants. It's still hard to go somewhere and then leave it for any amount of time. I will worry about it till I get back. I love walking up to it in the parking lot. sometimes I can't beleive it's mine. The car stresses me but it's worth it.

 

This is crazy. You guys act like this is a $200,000 car or something. Mine hasn't been washed in months.

 

Every other week for me.

 

i'm lucky enough to work at a mazda dealership....so during the summer mine gets washed 2-3 times a week...and i don't have to drive her during the winter

 

I don't think you need a shrink. Maybe some new towels, zaino, mistnwipe. I do the same thing. Got caught in heavy fog one day, and when I got home I wiped her down cause she was dirty (dirty meaning a spot here, and a spot there). Was told once that I was gonna "wash and wax" the paint right off the car. Hasn't happened yet.

Oh yeah, her name is "Rose" cause she's so dang pretty.

 

yeah i'm peculiar with mine like that too...although i haven't gotten a chance to wash her in months. the weather has been bad and i just recently moved. i did take it through some brushless gas station car washes (i know i know it's blaspemy). i'm **** as the rest of you where i park it all the way in the back, make sure it's flushed against the curb (w/o the wheels rubbing of course) to minimize door dings. hey they can't ding your door if their door can't touch your car. i did wash it on a regular basis during the warmer months. it feels great to have a clean shiny car and sport it through town.

i need to forward this thread to my wife who says i'm crazy the way i treat my car. sheesh she's my second baby (second only to my real little baby girl) so i gotta love her and treat her right.

 

What's so refreshing about this site is that most everybody really has a love affair to some degree with his/her 8. What's more important, there are a lot of "car types" among us who can pretty much address any question/problem that arises!

 

mine drives faster when she's clean

 

so you're saying you washed the car, took the car out which then got rained on, took it home and dried it off?

If I were you, I wouldn't do that too often. If the roads are wet or dry (especially when wet) dirt/dust are going to be thrown up onto your car and they're going to settle on the paint. Now when you went to wipe all this off you probably scrathed the hell out of the paint.....I'm not talkin huge scratches, but micro-scratches. Next time you clean your car, put it under fluorescent light and you'll most likely see what I'm talking about....

Wash the car first and then dry it. Just to be safe....Then again, you may have immaculate roads where you live....