how kids change your car

Robdav

Robdav

Robdav

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I guess this is aimed at the dads and mums here but i was thinking recently of how having kids has changed my car. before the kids I would valet the car religously once/twice a week and would always clear out any rubbish after every trip.

then the kids came along....

Now the car would be lucky to get a wash/polish once a month, and the inside may get a hover if I get two minutes to do it. Initally I was a tad upset at the state of the car, but now it just seems so unimportant.

so has having kids changed your car ?
 
I don't have kids but yep they have changed one of my cars.........


By putting a nice 4" scratch down the side due to riding a bike past it, idiots :rolleyes:
 
Thinking the exact same thing as you Rob.

You just never get the time to spend 4 hours giving the car a proper clean and polish.

4 hours seems like an incredibly long period of time to yourself when you have kids.
 
Robdav said:
so has having kids changed your car ?
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Yep, though not as much as the wifes which is a rolling skip most of the time. You don't get anything like as much time to play, and to be honest your priorities change hugely. Valeting your car comes way down the list when you have a tiny human being to look after.
 
In the summer I used to wash and polish mine once a month, now it's more like a wash once a week and a polish/wax once every couple of months.

Our little un goes to bed at 8pm every night so I usually go out and clean it at night in the week as it's still quite light around 9pm. If it needs more than a wash I'll do it on a Sunday afternoon when baby is having her afternoon snooze.

I don't think I actually need to polish & wax the car any more than once every two months really. If you do a good job and use good materials....

After a proper polish/wax water should still bead off the car 5/6 weeks afterwards minimum really.

In the winter I just cba'd - take it to the car wash place once every couple of weeks & it doesn't get polished at all - I just get the tar spots off it.

I never get any more than two hours on the car so usually I'll do just the outside or just the inside. Whatever I miss out I do the following week.
 
I used to have a GTIR but the baby seat wouldn't fit in the back so changed it to an E30 BMW estate - class car for lugging all the baby stuff you seem to need when they are small. The best compromise I found was the scoob. Fun for me on my own but room in the back for the nipper.

Having to take my daughter to school and then being roped into taking her friends meant that I decided to get a cheap runabout for the school run, tip, bikes down on the beach, dump out side the pub car etc etc.

As for cleaning. I get a local valeter to do it once a month or when it needs it. Or I book a day off during the week and do it at the back of a mates garage.
 
When the kids are old enough you get them to clean it for you :D. That's what my dad did anyway. He hasn't washed his own car for about 15 years because one of us do it for him. I dread to think what shape it's going to be in when we all move out.
 
Look what they made me buy :(

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So unfair...
 
I've noticed a lot of middle aged men, in MPVs full of kids, giving me filthy looks as I pass them in the Elise on the motorway.

Don't hate me :(
 
I have only ever washed my car once a week, the inside gets done maybe every other week. When I had the Scoob and just 2 kids that was normally enough to keep on top of it anyway.

The RX7 gets similar treatment, but the kiddy chariot Estima (4 kids now) probably has 2 washes a year :o
 
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