Effects of car outside 24/7?

[Camaro3.8L]

I was wondering about how long my shiny paint would last on my car, since it's never in a garage...It's always in the sun/rain, and under what seems like 20,000 trees, so crap like leaves, bird crap, and pollen are always falling on the poor thing. I clean it about every two weeks, and wax it about twice a year. Are these conditions really bad for it, and so my car's paint will look like sh!t in a few years?

[Domestic Violence]

wax it at least once every two weeks. the wax will provide a barrier that tree sap and bird doo will have to penetrate. that's the least you can do.

[Cale]

go to meguiars website and get a car care prescription

You're probably going to need to wax once a month, polish once every 2 months, and paint clean once every 3 months.

Once eveyr 2 weeks is too much you'll clog the pores of the paint and make it DULL.

[Everglades W68]

I'm in the same situation as you - and add in salt air for me. I have a custom car cover (Covercraft Weathershield) to try to at least keep the Florida sun at bay a little.

I'll say this, the 4 gen finishes are definitely superior to the 3rd gen finishes. My 87 Firebird was already showing considerable wear after 2 years. By the time she was 4 years old, I got her re-painted.

[Camaro3.8L]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Cale:
Once eveyr 2 weeks is too much you'll clog the pores of the paint and make it DULL.<hr></blockquote>

Yea, I heard the same thing too, so that's why I only wax my car about once every 6 months.

Looks like the only thing I can really do to help it is the same as Everglades does, and get a car cover for it. Its just annyoying to have to put it on and take it off, and when it rains I'm sure it gets really nasty.

[Dominic]

I've never gad a dull car waxing it often. I wax my car weekly and it looks shinier than anything around town! Dull my *** [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Everglades W68]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Camaro3.8L:


get a car cover for it. Its just annyoying to have to put it on and take it off, and when it rains I'm sure it gets really nasty.<hr></blockquote>

The car cover I have is very nearly waterproof (the water looks like mercury rolling off the cover), so the car is dry underneath after a rain. It takes a few times to get used to taking the cover off when wet. You have to take it off on one side and let all the water run down - while dodging the waterfall!

[pvtschultz]

I'm up for regular waxings. I wax my car every other week if it is nice enough out. I get the nasty rain of Milwaukee, the residual salts of winter, and the wind of downtown. I think that is is turtle wax that has a new color matching wax out. I found it at walmart, and I think that k-mart had it too. So I bought it for kicks to see if I could hide 120,000 miles of bug chips. It actually worked within reason and has a teriffic shine.

[Cale]

GO ask anyone who knows anything about paint finishes.

Wax your car that much without stripping old layers and you'll dull your finish.

Wax is not about mkaing your car "shiny" anyways. The shiny finish is a nice result, but its about protecting your paint more than anything. If you want to do it right, paint clean and polish your finish as well. No one else even seemed to mention either of those products - everyone just seems to wax!

[94Formula]

I bought my White car from someone that had it in the garage always, it looked brand new 3 years ago, now it is starting to show signs of its age, so just wax it as often as you can, but only once a month or so, other than that is too excessive, also get a car cover for the really bad conditions(snow and such)

[99Camaro]

i do mine about once every 2 months...ive had people tell me after 3 years that my car looks brand new..hell now it should after a new paint job...