How Often Should You Wash Your BMW?

By Rick Prevette

It may or may not be a surprise to you, but the one thing that you can do that will have the most impact on keeping your BMW looking good for a very long time is to wash it at least weekly. When you do wash it, do so by hand with a quality soap that is made specifically for washing cars. Also, be sure to use the right type of mitt, brush or sponge to do the washing with.

Now, we are not going to spend our time together this month to discuss how to properly wash your BMW, which will be for another time. What I am going to do, however, is challenge your way of thinking a bit.

Question to ask yourself – why do I wash my BMW? The most obvious answer would be something like “I wash it to keep it clean”. Now ask yourself another question – Do I wash it to keep it clean for my enjoyment or for the longevity of my BMW? Your answer will probably be both and I would agree with that.

Let’s take it just a step further and get to what I really want you to think about. Ready? Here we go. When you think about getting ready to wash your BMW, what is the main thing that comes to mind?

I’ll give you a moment to think about this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ok, what came to mind? I’m sure that there are many different answers here and the relief is that there is no wrong answer. But for those of you that thought – “Is it going to rain (snow, etc.)?” – Why, did you think this? Probably because you don’t want to expend the effort and time to wash your BMW only to have it quickly get dirty again. After all, what would be the point of washing it?

Well, here is where I want to challenge your thinking. Ready? Here is the challenge – You should go ahead and wash your BMW anyway, no matter what the weather currently is or will be within the next few hours or days. Shocking? Remember my earlier question – Why do I wash my BMW? Certainly we do wash it for our own enjoyment as we all do love a clean BMW; however, the best thing that you can do for yourself and your BMW is to wash it at least once a week, regardless of the weather.

Now, you may be asking yourself if I have lost my mind. Well, I don’t think so. The reasoning is simple. What you are cleaning off of your BMW is dirt, environmental fall out (also known as road film), salt, bird droppings, tree sap, fingerprints, etc., etc. And here is the real kicker – all of this foreign matter on your BMW will hold corrosive elements against the paint and accelerate paint damage. This foreign matter must be removed weekly to best protect your BMW. Even though you may wash it and immediately it gets dirty again due to rain or snow or whatever else may come your way, you are still accomplishing a significant and worthwhile task to protect and take the best care of your BMW over the long term.

Now I’ll admit that I too at times struggle with this whole concept, but I tested it on myself about a week ago. My car was very dirty and rain was predicted for later in the day. Well, I went ahead and washed it anyway. And you know what, I felt great because I had done the right thing for the right reasons. And even better, it didn’t actually rain until a few days later and I wasn’t remorseful in the least when it did rain.

So let’s go ahead and break out of the past habit of only washing our BMW when the weather permits. I think that you will find that you will be happier in the long run, as will your BMW.

As always, enjoy your ride . . .

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