HORRIFIED by what I saw...

[sleddriver]

Yea, that's the only way to describe it for a car guy.

I was visiting with a neighbor while she was washing her black, 6 yr old 3-series BMW. She asked me to look at some hood scratches. Unfortunately, they were deep..all the way to the primer. Also, the paint looked 'brittle' around them. Like it was flaking there. Told her that the 'scratch remover' she bought wasn't going to fix this.....

I asked if she ever waxed. "No". Mentioned it was a good idea.

Now the bad part....she took the bucket of black water she'd scrubbed all four wheels with and dumped it on top the car and began grinding away......

I had no words....nothing would come out....

HORRIFIED!

 

[bepperb]

What would a high end repaint run, maybe two grand tops? Maybe you should set up a savings plan for her.

Or maybe complain about what a pain washing a car is and then mention a carwash near by that you think is really great.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

She should save for the cooling system rebuild. Clearly the paint is a lost cause.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
What would a high end repaint run, maybe two grand tops? Maybe you should set up a savings plan for her.

Or maybe complain about what a pain washing a car is and then mention a carwash near by that you think is really great.



A "highend" paint job is much more than $2000. Most bodyshops don't even want to do repaints since they make more off of insurance work. I was quoted $5700 to repaint a car once and that was not even for thier best show car paint job. Maybe if she went to Earl Shieb or Maaco she can get one for about that prioe, however.

 

[Zaedock]

Is she hot?

 

[azjake]

Boy, I would need some serious therapy after seeing that! LOL...

 

[CivicFan]

Was she wearing a bikini while you were having the conversation?

 

[sunfire]

The BMW would have been better off going through a car wash with spray on wax. How old was she, 18 years old?

 

[FirstNissan]

Haha I would have died laughing. The poor paint is crying out in pain. Oh well, I would advise that you stay away. No good deed goes unpunished is always true.

Side note- Get a picture if you can. I would love to see the paint work on that car.

 

[Spazdog]

Every BMW owner in car forums maintains their car to the "Nth" degree.

A large number of "real world" BMW owners are complete neglectful lunatics.

I wonder what the oil change monitor displayed? -9999 miles OIL CHANGE REQUIRED.

If there is one thing about auto maintenance I learned from working a few hundred yards from the Hatcher St E Dallas Projects, it's that rims (ie: wheels ) are everything. Wash those first and often. Paintwork? Blast it at the coin-op once in awhile. Waxes and polishes? Puhleease. Interior cleanliness? Forget that. No one can see you "rollin'" with 250 lbs of dirty clothes, chicken bones, McDonalds wrappers and cups, and other asssorted detritus if it's all inside the car. (New series on A&E: Car Hoarders. How many dead cats will we find in Mr Jenkins' 1987 BMW 528e?)

 

[sleddriver]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog

A large number of "real world" BMW owners are complete neglectful lunatics.

If there is one thing about auto maintenance I learned from working a few hundred yards from the Hatcher St E Dallas Projects, it's that rims (ie: wheels ) are everything.


Show vs Know. Followers vs. true drivers. I live in a very nice neighborhood. She's married and 60. She's an artsy/fartsy type, I'm an engineer. Totally different paradigms here. The TILT sign on her forehead is enabled 50ms into any technical answer I give. Nice lady though.

Still..I was totally unprepared for that one....

 

[daves87rs]

Wow...

 

[Scorch]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: Spazdog

A large number of "real world" BMW owners are complete neglectful lunatics.

If there is one thing about auto maintenance I learned from working a few hundred yards from the Hatcher St E Dallas Projects, it's that rims (ie: wheels ) are everything.


Show vs Know. Followers vs. true drivers. I live in a very nice neighborhood. She's married and 60. She's an artsy/fartsy type, I'm an engineer. Totally different paradigms here. The TILT sign on her forehead is enabled 50ms into any technical answer I give. Nice lady though.

Still..I was totally unprepared for that one....


Dang. I was hoping early 20's smoking hot and you creep camera shots all the time. Moving on.

 

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: Spazdog

A large number of "real world" BMW owners are complete neglectful lunatics.

If there is one thing about auto maintenance I learned from working a few hundred yards from the Hatcher St E Dallas Projects, it's that rims (ie: wheels ) are everything.


Show vs Know. Followers vs. true drivers. I live in a very nice neighborhood. She's married and 60. She's an artsy/fartsy type, I'm an engineer. Totally different paradigms here. The TILT sign on her forehead is enabled 50ms into any technical answer I give. Nice lady though.

Still..I was totally unprepared for that one....

nice answer

 

[spackard]

First thread I've ever clicked to read where the shocking title *did* match the contents.

 

[DaHen]

I thought of this topic yesterday while I was driving to the grocery store. Saw a gentleman in his driveway dumping the last of his car wash that was in his bucket onto the trunk area of his car.
There was a garden hose on the driveway, so hopefully he rinsed it off. But still, who knows what was in the wash bucket.

 

[Boatowner]

People get ideas stuck in their head about the proper way to do things. I was told, as a teenager, to start at the bottom and work up when washing my car. My sister said that was how neighbors did it. Somehow that advice just did not make sense to me. Obviously it does make sense to many.

 

[bigmike]

Maybe that's how they shower/bathe?

 

[Hethaerto]

Originally Posted By: Boatowner
People get ideas stuck in their head about the proper way to do things. I was told, as a teenager, to start at the bottom and work up when washing my car. My sister said that was how neighbors did it. Somehow that advice just did not make sense to me. Obviously it does make sense to many.


This technique is the only way to wash gigantic MH-53 helicopters. The fuselage becomes covered in oil, fuel and salt from missions. The best way to wash it all off is to clean the bottom first and work your way upward. This allows the dirt that is running off to flow unimpeded to the ground. If the dirt is not removed from the bottom first, the flowing dirt will simply hang on to the dirty surface below, and build up, making the job even harder.

 

[yonyon]

Is she originally from Australia? With all the cars being upside down all the time the rinse water should flow off the car from the bottom to the top, right?