The joys of cleaning your car

Ahhh, that feeling when you clean all of the winter grime off of your car for the first time after the snow has melted. When you wash the floormats and realize that they’re actually black and not some weird greyish, browish colour. That is one of the most satisfying feelings I have all year – when I can look at my car and see the actual paint colour for the first time in months.

But it never lasts. Or at least not for me.

I love cleaning my vehicle. I find it relaxing and something that I can take pride in. Currently I’m driving a 2016 Kia Sedona minivan, and while it isn’t the most stylish, fast or thrilling vehicle to drive it does what it was designed to do really well – haul kids, dogs and stuff around. My kids are not exactly the cleanest people in the world and so the middle row of the Sedona is usually covered in footprints, dirt, toys and bits of food that fell between their car seats. Needless to say that cleaning the inside of the vehicle is a bit of a losing battle at the moment. But that’s not the worst of it all.

I’m pretty certain that I’m cursed when it comes to washing my car. It is almost guaranteed to rain the day I wash or the day after I have washed my car, without fail even when there isn’t any rain in the forecast. I remember a time a few years ago when I decided that I would try washing my car in the middle of the winter. I think it was the middle of January and it had been about -20 leading up to this day with no reprieve in sight. I took my car to the drive through car wash at one of the Saskatoon Co-op locations. At the time I didn’t have an attached garage so I had to make sure the car was mostly dried before I drove home, or else I would never get back into the car until spring. Sure enough, with no warning at all, the next day there was rain. In January. I have never experienced rain in January in Saskatchewan before that and I haven’t experienced it since.

I have tried washing my Sedona in the winter the past couple of years and there hasn’t been any rain or issues, though maybe the car gods figure that driving a minivan is punishment enough.

It’s not all bad. Like I mentioned, I actually enjoy spending a couple of hours washing the outside and then detailing the inside of my cars. My kids are starting to be old enough to actually help clean the van when I’m doing it, making an already fun time even better by being able to spend it with them.

For tips of getting your car the cleanest it can be, take a look at the video below from YouTuber Chris Fix.