Parking A New Corolla Outside

Congratulations on your car.

I want the 2005 but not getting the courage to make payments yet.. U r lucky to have that car.

I have had my car for years but I look out the window 10 times everyday.. !!!

Corollas put that spell on u for being so nice to u by not asking much gas or maintenance, and in my case, I enjoy the size of the car and love the way it handles and drives... Bigger size cars don't do it for me.

Here is what u can do to make sure ur baby stays nice and clean... Other people may have different ideas for u...

NEVER... Park in the middle of two cars, especially if they are two door. U will get door dings and it looks ugly.

NEVER.. park under the trees.. I know u want ur car in shade but tree sap does a lot of damage to your car...

ALWAYS... clean the BIRD POOP IMMEDIATELY after you discover it.

When opening doors, make sure ur or ur passengers' nails do not scratch the door under the door handles. After about 5 years that LOOKS UGLY...

DO NOT....... take car to the auto washes. or washes with brushes..

DO NOT.... dust the car or wipe the dirt off of the dry car

FREQUENTLY... hand wash the car with soft cloth and TRY not to hand dry with any cloth. U can do what I do... Hand wash at home and then take it to the manual car wash for a spray of the SPOTLESS/CLEAN water so I don't have to wash the car.

Make sure you pressure wash the car before you hand wash it as it takes the big debris away and reduces the chances of scratches so basically you are making two trips to the MANUAL car wash, unless u have the equipment at home to pressure wash or provide u with CLEAR/SPOTLESS water...

and if U R ME.... u would put the car on RAMPS every month and maticulously hand wash the UNDERBODY and the suspension components.... the wheel wells and any place where there is a chance the underbody will start coroding.

All above is for the body only..

U probably know the mechanical maintenance already... Even if it is a manual transmission, make sure u replace the transmission fluid frequently... OIL in engine is like the blood in ur veins.. it has to be perfect...............

Let me know if u want to hear more...

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I don't think washing it myself is going to fly... but there's a fancy pants car wash a few miles from my apartment that offers "soft cloth washing and hand towel drying." Are you suggesting I should pass on the hand towel drying and just let the car drip dry? And how often should I wash it? Every week?

I often parallel park on the street in front of my house, which avoids the door dings problem... but creates a "bumper scratch" problem. Hopefully the car cover will help with that.

Yes, wash it once a week. Another thing to extend the life of your car's exterior: Wax it- often- with quality paste or liquid wax. See the "appearance" threads for more about that. Welcome to the Toyota family, and to Corolland!

Thanks for the advice.  Unfortunately, I don't think washing it myself is going to fly... but there's a fancy pants car wash a few miles from my apartment that offers "soft cloth washing and hand towel drying."  Are you suggesting I should pass on the hand towel drying and just let the car drip dry?  And how often should I wash it?  Every week?

I often parallel park on the street in front of my house, which avoids the door dings problem... but creates a "bumper scratch" problem.  Hopefully the car cover will help with that.

U don't know what kind of car has gone thru the wash before urs and where it came from. The towels are basically picking up residue from all cars.

Also they make the car look nice momentarily but we are THINKING LONG TERM HERE... right?

SOFT CLOTH??? B*** Crap........... It scratches anyway.. I messed up one of my brand new cars 5 years ago. It was black color and got small scratches all over... The debris from other cars get stuck in the so called "soft cloth" and then scratches urs.

Do u not have a manual car wash in the area... ?

First of all the auto car wash is NOT ABLE to spray the areas in your car that need the most attention... i.e.. WHEEL WEELS..

They sometimes have underbody spray but it is not good enough sometimes to take the grime off of the bottom.

If u use a manual wash then u can spray the areas a machine cannot do and pay more attention to the worse/dirtier areas.

MANY people will disagree with me about drying the car but according to my experience, if u want to see ur car 7 years down the road in a better shape then it is better to let it drip then hand dry. U can hand dry if u just put the towel on and off, on and off but do not rub. Clear coats are very sensitive and get easily scratched. Again, we are thinking LONG TERM HERE. Right?

U can wipe the car dry and it will look nice and won't have those dried water spots (if u have not done the spotless wash), but u can put up with those dried water spots (if u don't have access to spotless), and 10 years down the road, ur paint will be in an awesome shape........ !

Again, I have not seen majoriy agree with my experiences so u can decide what is convenient for u...

Ur car is silver so u many not see many scratches as it is a lighter color.

PS...... when I was in the apartments, car washing was not allowed, I used to take water in a contained bucked to the manual car wash and used to hand wash there and used to quickly rinse with the spotless water.......

In addition to keeping it clean, a window shade really helps. It will prevent dash cracks and fades in the fabric. Besides, it's a below average experience to get in your car and grab a scorching steering wheel and shift knob!

In addition to keeping it clean, a window shade really helps. It will prevent dash cracks and fades in the fabric. Besides, it's a below average experience to get in your car and grab a scorching steering wheel and shift knob!

Yup, and I purchased a car cover (for too much money, probably!), which should help with that.

Does this obsession ever pass? Maybe I should just move to the suburbs and get a garage and driveway, just for my new Corolla!

The "obsession" will last about a week. Then you're shiny, new Corolla will get it's first parking-lot door ding, stone chip, or some other such typical scar, then you'll go back to normal. My '03 Corolla has been washed in automatic car washes plenty of times, but still looks great. I wax it no more than twice a year with premium Turtle Wax. The car exists to serve me, not for me to serve it. I'm not going to obsess over it's appearance. If anything gets damaged in an ugly manner, I'll get it fixed. Other than that, I understand that over time it will get that "lived in" look, and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. A good thing about the "silver" color (Lunar Mist Metallic in my case) is that it looks good no matter how dirty it is.

you can use a sponge to wash the car without scratches and a leather shammy to dry it by draping it on the body then pulling it away from it. I dry my left over wet drops with microfiber towels and Ive never had scratches on the finish from using them.

yah clean it then get that finish polished and waxed asap. welcome to the forum and good luck in crowded parking lots.

Larry Roll, thanks for the tips. Yeah, I never thought I would be the type to fret over the appearance of a silly car, but here I am.

Thanks for the tips, gang. The wife and I are taking our first road trip on Saturday -- should be fun to break the car in!

I live in an apartment and thus, can't wash the car properly in broad daylight. Going to one of those coin-operated manual hand washes seems to be expensive because the time water is supplied on each coin feed is never enough for me. Do you have any tips for getting by this problem? Are there ways to wash the car faster? Exactly, what do you do? For example, first you spray water all over the car. Once that water time runs out, you then use your washmit to sop soapy water from the bucket onto the car? Then, when you've soaped up the entire car, you feed more coins to the water hose and spray all this water off? What if you discover a particularly difficult mud or tar spot on your car which requires water during the soaping? Do you then feed quarters during the soaping to use briefly on all the difficult-to-clean spots (assuming you see and remember where they all were)? When all this is done, do you let the car dry by air, clay, and wax?

I have had only three brand new vehicles since 1984 as I drive them 'till they drop. Nevertheless, I haven't (touch wood) had a single "parking lot ding" in those vehicles since then, but I have learned a few added lessons along the way.

- When in a parking lot, take a bit of an extra walk and park where the staff would

probably park, but keep it visible so vandals will be less likely to act.

- Don't park down grade where a stray shopping cart could suddenly decide to go back to the store on its own.

- Don't "standout" by taking up two parking spots or parking sideways as that will attract keys to your new car.

- On a windy day, take into consideration that the opening doors can be blown into your car, especially 2 doors.

- As for parking at the back of a lot, I can't believe people will park beside you even though there are a hundred extra parking spots.....I have no answer to that one.

welcome to the world of corollas! i'm on my 2nd one (05 ce) and yes, i do stare at my car b4 closing the garage door on it. that feeling does lessen over time but although i know some folks think that it's a drab looking little car, i think it's pretty cool lookin'. can't add much to what other folks have already said except to say that when you hit arond 5-6M, change over to a synthetic oil. you can learn more about oil then you ever wanted to know at www.bobistheoilguy.com

i've read alot of posts there and from them learned about amsoil products. have now switched my car from dino oil to the amsoil xl 5-30 and am very happy that i did that. i live in an apt so washing the car myself is out of the question. i take it to a local no-touch car wash and get the works on it. it looks quite nice afterwards. also, as others have said, wax it twice a year. i use turtle wax ultra gloss in liquid and love it. and armor-all the interior after you wax it. doesn't take long and the interior looks great afterwards. armor-all also makes a really good glass cleaner for your car. the windshield practically disappears. but reckon that your idea to move out to the burbs and get a garage is the best idea i've read yet!

have fun with your new toy.

That's great. Thanks to the wonder of Google, I've found a "no touch" car wash and a "self service" car wash -- both within 5 miles of my apartment. I'll give one a try tomorrow, and the other a try next weekend.

That's great. Thanks to the wonder of Google, I've found a "no touch" car wash and a "self service" car wash -- both within 5 miles of my apartment. I'll give one a try tomorrow, and the other a try next weekend.

Instructions for reducing new car appearance obsession:

1. Buy new car

2. Drive home

3. Get hammer

4. Whack new car in side door with hammer

5. Worry about something more important in life

Instructions for reducing new car appearance obsession:

1. Buy new car

2. Drive home

3. Get hammer

4. Whack new car in side door with hammer

5. Worry about something more important in life

1) Kids diapers

2) Kids Education/discipline

3) Keeping the wife under control...

4) Keeping parents calm.

5) Keeping in-laws from butting in...

6) Keeping oneself from killing the brother-in-law....

7) Screaming boss and stressful job...

8) Paying bills/ Worrying about finances.

9) Stupid drivers on the road.

10) Rude people

People have PETS and they are obsessed with their PETS. Nothing wrong with that. Why can't people have a pet called, "CAR"...... ?

Why is it wrong to be obsessed by your car?

One needs something NICE to look forward to, every morning when one gets up.

Love for the family is something else and having a hobby that KEEPS YOUR MIND AT PEACE is something else....

If I had to pick between my son's health and a small scratch on my car, do you think I will pick the car? Never. This question never even comes up.

What is important in life?

1) You are nice to others

2) You don't kill anybody, ever. Really!

3) Make sure your kids have a good future.

4) Make sure your wife and kids are well taken care off if you kick the BUCKET today.

5) Make sure your family is secure.

6) Keep God on your side.

7) Make sure you are skilled enough to bring enough dough for your family.

8) Help your wife with cooking and diaper changing even if you are a MAN, IF she requires your help.

When you have put your life on the right path to acheive all the above, why can't you love your RIDE the way you want to? What is wrong with it?

I say, "If you want to be obsessed with your car for life. Let it be as long as your wife does not kick you out of the house."

i'm on my 2nd one (05 ce) and yes, i do stare at my car b4 closing the garage door on it. that feeling does lessen over time

Amen, RAV. Well said.

I agree with everything said here, exept washing the car every week. You can wash a car too much and it should only be washed when it is dirty.

To protect your car, you can take it to a shop to have the clear coat scrubed, polished, and then waxed. Your car will look better then it did when you drove it off the lot, and you will have a nice coat of wax on it. Do you have a delta sonic?

You are getting a car cover and that's good as long as you get the right one. It sounds like you did. However, you will probably get snowed on while out shopping or something like that. Don't let the snow brush touch your paint. Clear the windows and lights, and if it's a heavy snow, clear snow close to the paint, but don't drag the snow brush on the paint. The rest will melt from the engine heat.

Protecting paint (a really good wax) is the best thing you can do and some of the other suggestions about paying attention to where you park is good advise. I always try and park next to a nice car, or I will park at the end of a lot, or I will park next to the end of a row that has a curb and park really close to the curb so there is more room for mistakes on the other side.

Last, but not least, have good insurance It doesn't cost us anything if our car gets vadalized or something like that. Your car WILL get wear and tear over the years, but you can take care of your car and prolong it. You shouldn't have any problems having a great looking car for 6-8 years if you take care of it. I have a 92 that can still shine up nice. It doesn't look new, but it doesn't look anything like a 92 either.

gvr4evr,

Yeah, our insurance covers vandalism, and any kinds of accidents that may arise from parking on the street. There's still that $500 deductible, though, so I'm on the hook for anything that costs less than $500 to fix! I ponied up for the Coverking "Stormguard" cover, which claims to protect from acid rain, snow, ice, all that stuff. I'm sure the road salt up here in New England is going to be the worst offender, and I'll just have to be careful in the winter about cleaning it more often.

Hey, at the end of the day, there's a reason I bought the car instead of leasing, and it's because I want to drive it until the wheels fall off. Hopefully I'll never sell it, so I don't need to worry about its residual value, I guess I just don't want to be driving around in a rusted-out beater any earlier than necessary!

you can use a sponge to wash the car without scratches and a leather shammy to dry it by draping it on the body then pulling it away from it. I dry my left over wet drops with microfiber towels and Ive never had scratches on the finish from using them.

yah clean it then get that finish polished and waxed asap. welcome to the forum and good luck in crowded parking lots.

EVERY car will get spiderweb scrtached from washing. Some colors just hide it better. I owned a detail shop for several years and I have never seen a car without them unless it was just detailed. I use a washmit. Only other thing I would reccomend is a genuine horse hair wash brush, but they are expensive.

My new cars get the same treatment when bought and at least once a year.

Wash with BLUE DAWN

CLAY

WASH with BLUE DAWN again (removes any oils)

Polish with Porter Cable (should not need a high speed new, unless dealer has gotten ahold of it)

Use Pinnacle Paint Cleansing

Use was,sealant, polymer of your choice.

I also apply polymer at least every 3-4 months.

You cannot wash your car "too much" as long as you keep wax, etc on it.

Carnuaba waxes are good, but begin to break down at 90 degrees F. Think how often your car reaches 90, on the surface of the car, not ambient temp. I no longer use carnuaba waxes unless topping a polymer for a little extra "pop".

I live in the city, too, and I have a silver '05 Corolla.

It only took two weeks before someone keyed it. And that wasn't on the street; it was in a small lot behind my building.

No door dings yet.

I have no suggestions, though, which makes this a worthless post. I'm just here to sympathize with the street-parkers.

It only took two weeks before someone keyed it. And that wasn't on the street; it was in a small lot behind my building.

Wow, that sucks. Some people are just mean SOBs.

Looks like it's gonna rain this weekend in Beantown -- maybe I'll wait 'til Monday to try the no touch car wash!

(I still stare at my car in the garage after driving it for 5yrs. its a good looking car with lots of options too so Im very grateful to have it. )

i've only had mine 4 months! you mean that i have at least 4 yrs 8 months to go b4 i stop staring at it b4 closing the garage door???? hahahaha.

and yeah as some folks have said, there are more important things in life than a car. but on the other hand, a new car is always a rush. it's great to have something NEW ,LOOKS COOL, SMELLS GOOD AND EVERYTHING WORKS! plus the way your friends and family gush over it is nice as well. life is full of small joys. just grasp every single one of them and enjoy them to the hilt.