The difference is that the Civic has less than half its life left in it, while the Found On Road Dead Focus is close to 80% of its expected lifespan.

A normal Civic may be ready for another 100k miles.  A Si has a higher likelihood of being beaten on. 

I'd take an Si long before an ST 

Here’s my issue:

I have two options in life. Which is better?:
Option 1: Use a car wash and deal with all the negatives.
Option 2: Do not wash the car ever and let salt stick to my car for years straight.

Honestly which is better? I am NOT going to hand wash it, especially in winter, because all our hoses get put up for…

That looks really great. But if I were to wash my car today, this is the reality:

I have a 2005 mb sl65 i bought new for $150k. Once a week, every week, every year, i take it through my local brushless car wash. It is a very well maintained car wash. My car looks as good as it did the day i bought it. There is nothing wrong with a brushless carwash as long as.the owner maintains it.

I’m still trying to decide if Mr. Paint Guru understands how midwestern winters work. When it’s ten degrees outside and snowing that’s when they use the most salt. I’m sure as hell not getting out in that to half asswdly clean the underside of my Jeep. I understand the stance but it doesn’t work out well in the real…

Dude, the water is filtered and then softened and the soap is added mid stream. The soap isn’t floating shit off, that water is going through a multi tank filter system and being scrubbed by charcoal and then being softened before the nozzle.

Ha. No. Fuck that. If it’s 15F out and I want to clean the salt off my car, I’m going to a car wash, brushless or with brushes. Washing it myself in below freezing? Fuck. That. It really doesn’t matter that much. If it’s a car you really, truly care about and want to look good, you’ll be getting a new clear coat on it…

Whenever I see people getting furious about using automatic car washes, I have to stop and wonder if they’re all driving Ferrari 250 GT California Spyders.

it’s a nice sentiment, but the bigger threat (‘round these parts) is the salt accumulation. Getting the ‘active’ contaminants off the car as quickly as possible must take precedence over gently removing the ‘passive’ contaminants to protect the paint finish.

It’s the age old problem of, do you let perfection get in the way of progress? Yup, the carwash ain’t perfect and won’t wash your car perfectly. BUT, just leaving the salt and grit and dirt on your car until you find a perfect solution will probably result in your car looking like one of David Tracey’s jeeps.…

Counterpoint: what’s more important to you- a pristine finish or salt eating your car? Ditto floor mats and all the salt that gets IN your car...

When you live in, say, Wisconsin where it’s regularly well below freezing, using the spray gun or hand washing your car really isn’t an option for great huge chunks of the…

Man I’m so tired of this garbage. I watched a YouTube video along these lines and the guy basically did an awesome, simple, three hour wash of his car... awesome, dude. You know what we have? Jobs, families, second jobs, etc... if I can run my car through what I consider a decent wash (to which I have a monthly…

I don’t even know if there is a car wash with one of those brushes in my city. And if you think I’m going out in an Ottawa winter to hand wash my car (average temperature in January: -11C / 12F), you’re fucking nuts.

Trying to treat your daily like a show car is futile in 4 season climates. Hell, ice crystals and 60mph salt water spray does more damage than any car wash. So, just using your car as a car in winter is damaging.

Most daily drivers are appliances. You can bet your ass I will still go through a car wash no matter what. As far as washing salt off with a wand goes I’m going to call shenanigans. Unless you lift your car up there is no way you are getting the same level of clean as several jets in a line blasting the underside.…

It’s easy to say “Wash it by hand” when you live in a climate that is warm year round. I’m not going out and physically washing my car when it’s cold out.

It’s supposed to be a high of 18 degrees here next week, and so I cordially invite either your friend Sam or your expert Paul to come wash my car by hand to get all of the sand/salt off of it so I don’t have to take it through a car wash.

Hand washing and claybarring my XC90 takes about 3 hours to do it right. I have kids and a life so if I can do it spring and fall I am lucky. There is no way I could do that several times a month, thats just silly.