How often do you wash your car?

Generally once a week -- but not with soap. I rinse the car off at the DIY car wash, and apply Wax-As-You-Dry Meguiar's or Turtle Wax as I dry it off. Twice a year, weather permitting, I do the soapy wash, claying, and hand-waxing -- Meguiar's in the past, and now Collinite (I forget which number). The Collinite I applied in October is still slippery; I rinsed and hand-dried the car today without any spray wax, and it felt waxed anyway.
 
Generally once a week -- but not with soap. I rinse the car off at the DIY car wash, and apply Wax-As-You-Dry Meguiar's or Turtle Wax as I dry it off. Twice a year, weather permitting, I do the soapy wash, claying, and hand-waxing -- Meguiar's in the past, and now Collinite (I forget which number). The Collinite I applied in October is still slippery; I rinsed and hand-dried the car today without any spray wax, and it felt waxed anyway.
Without a proper wash, any drying will result in friction with the dirt left on the surface - and this is sure to leave marring and/or swirls.
 
Without a proper wash, any drying will result in friction with the dirt left on the surface - and this is sure to leave marring and/or swirls.
But using soap will take off some of the wax, yes? Normally I use the WAUD product, but today I didn't have it with me.
 
But using soap will take off some of the wax, yes? Normally I use the WAUD product, but today I didn't have it with me.
Any friction will take off the wax too. The products you describe will probably survive a few washes at most, so I would not use that as the reason for skipping a proper wash.
 
Any friction will take off the wax too. The products you describe will probably survive a few washes at most, so I would not use that as the reason for skipping a proper wash.
Well, that's my point -- I supplement the hand wax each week with a coat of the spray, which lasts (I would hope) until the next Saturday. I've left out the soap step, except when I planned to hand wax, for quite a while on my cars, and they have all remained glossy and gleaming after I rinse-and-spray-wax. No black cars, though.

Don't misunderstand, Critic, I know you're expert on this stuff. But I don't have a way or place to hand wash my car with soap and water at home. With the car wash's soap, I drip the stuff from the foaming brush onto the surfaces without touching the brush to the paint, then wipe the soap around gently with a sheepskin mitt before rinsing. You're saying the soap would not take off the "core" wax, the hand wax? That the hand wax coat would not be any worse off than with simply rinsing, and that the soap would mainly remove last week's spray wax?
 
Well, that's my point -- I supplement the hand wax each week with a coat of the spray, which lasts (I would hope) until the next Saturday. I've left out the soap step, except when I planned to hand wax, for quite a while on my cars, and they have all remained glossy and gleaming after I rinse-and-spray-wax. No black cars, though.

Don't misunderstand, Critic, I know you're expert on this stuff. But I don't have a way or place to hand wash my car with soap and water at home. With the car wash's soap, I drip the stuff from the foaming brush onto the surfaces without touching the brush to the paint, then wipe the soap around gently with a sheepskin mitt before rinsing. You're saying the soap would not take off the "core" wax, the hand wax? That the hand wax coat would not be any worse off than with simply rinsing, and that the soap would mainly remove last week's spray wax?
I am not convinced that any traditional sealant or wax will last the 6-12 months promised. I also do not see an issue with relying on a spray wax as the only means of protection.

Point is, I really do not see a good reason for skipping the soap step you are describing.
 
I am not convinced that any traditional sealant or wax will last the 6-12 months promised. I also do not see an issue with relying on a spray wax as the only means of protection.

Point is, I really do not see a good reason for skipping the soap step you are describing.
If it's not going to wear off the hand wax much sooner, then I can include the soaping. You have to remember, it is far too hot in The Pesthole for most of the year for me to hand-wax more than twice -- once in November, and once in March or maybe April. And both times can still be unpleasantly, exhaustingly hot. So I've got to make do with what I can.
 
My wifes suv which is garaged usually gets washed every 4-5 weeks unless it has some salt or mud at which time it gets a car wash. My daily driver usually once a month. In cold weather I will use Meguires waterless wash which works fantastic. My older F-150 twice a year. I used to wash my car every week when I was young, but not so young now. I do however enjoy driving a clean car. A few weeks back just as it was beginning a sustained rain I went out with a bucket of soapy water and let the overnight rain rinse it off.
 
If it's not going to wear off the hand wax much sooner, then I can include the soaping. You have to remember, it is far too hot in The Pesthole for most of the year for me to hand-wax more than twice -- once in November, and once in March or maybe April. And both times can still be unpleasantly, exhaustingly hot. So I've got to make do with what I can.
For the time and effort required, I would either ceramic coat the vehicle (which would last 2-3 years) or just use a spray-on/rinse-off product every 3-4 washes.

Doesn't sound like it is worth the effort to "hand wax" a vehicle in your situation.
 
The Atlas stays clean with waterless/rinseless washes in the garage. I'll pull it out and do the wheels/tires/engine bay/undercarriage every month or two. It hardly gets driving since my kids are distance-learning. It's coated so it never gets really dirty even when it does get driven.

The Touareg gets washed whenever I can fit it in between NC rain and customer cars. Maybe once every 4-6 weeks. Think I may do a full detail before the spring semester starts and put a coating on it.
 
Summer: Every other weekend, as we go long stretches without rain and it's just usually dusty. Spring, fall, winter, it gets washed after having been driven in bad weather, as soon as the forecast indicates at least 72 hours of dry weather coming. If you wash a car every time it rains here in the fall & winter, you'll have one helluva water bill.
 
Usually before or after a long trip, and between once a month to once in a few months, based upon how busy I am and how cold it is outside.
 
The Genesis gets a hand wash every 6 weeks or so, and I take it to the touchless wash halfway between.

The Jeep gets washed at the quarter car washes (I use the brush too!) after every time I take it out off-roading. Every couple months. It sits in the garage.

My brother drives my Camry, so it sees a $3 car wash every 6 months or so. It gets pretty bad toward the end there.
 
Every vehicle gets hand washed once a week, to include the engine bay, undercarriage and the insides of the wheels to get rid of brake dust. The engine bay is dried using compressed air and the interiors are vacuumed and wiped down.
 
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