Good evening all. Random topic here, but I am sure this is a very common one in the car community. Anyone here obsessed with keeping your car perfect? I know deep down that scratches, road Nick's, and dents are inevitable especially if you enjoy and drive your car the way it is meant to be driven. One of the worst feelings in the world is experiencing an avoidable accident and daging your car as a result weather it is a minor or serious cosmetic damage. Hope to hear an input from everyone. It is always nice to hear other car lovers experiences. Cheers.

 

Hahahahaha... who, me?

I can mentally walk around my car and describe every little blemish and nick and source of discontent. You do what you can do... car hobbies for cars that are actually driven, it's a compromise.

All that said, people who don't know cars routinely think mine is brand new. And I thank them graciously, without pointing out the many, many flaws.

Here's a photo from last week. 11 years old, 50k miles.

 

78k miles and I always make sure she gets tucked away in the garage every night. On days when I even take it out of the garage that is.... and I spent $950 on paint protection film on the front end several months back. Definitely an obsession

 

I obsess over my car like it was future collectable however I bought it with minor rear end damage and a rebuilt title. I've gone as far as suspending the insurance for the winter and taking it out in the spring after all the salt has washed away. Just rolled over 50k miles the other day and expect the miles to go up quite a bit this summer since my 2 year old son absolutely loves it..

 

I used to do that when I was a young man. My grandfather gave me his '67 Plymouth Fury II as a Winter Car. A lot of guys I knew back then had a "winter car".

Looking back on it now... OMG my parents were patient with me, having this thing rot at the end of the driveway for 8 months out of the year.

 

That's funny. My grandfather promised me his '60s Belvedere when I was a kid. Unfortunately, it had been reduced (oxidized, technically) to a pile of rust before I was old enough to drive.

 

Dang! you guys sure know how to take care of your cars. I am glad I am not the only one. I got my car pre owned, so it certainly does have wear and tear by the first owner. The weird thing about me is I always do a 360 around my car all the time right after I park. I always look at the cosmetic damage and think to myself how can I fix them lol. I also have the obsession of trying to restore my steering wheel. It the most worn out part of my car, and I can't stop putting protector on shine haha. I always try to remember the quote "A ship is safe in a harbor, but that is not what ships are built for." Same concept applies to my car. I want to reach a point of acceptance that nothing in this world is perfect and everything will deteriorate. It is a fact of life. I want to spend more time actually driving and enjoying the car rather than trying to keep it perfect and worrying about the inevitable damage.

 

I am super **** about my car, I don't even drive it in the rain (it's black), or snow. I baby the car and it lives in the garage a lot. I only have about 50k miles on it, and I hope to keep it for a long time.

 

I used to worry about it, once the quarters started rusting though I now view it more into the beater territory, despite not being one at all. Also has a bit of hail damage so it just is what it is. Almost freeing though seeing a new door ding and not caring, though.

 

Very **** about my g. So **** I spent 3 weekends repairing and repainting my front bumper over the winter on a car that has 140,000 miles and also have put tens of hours paint correcting it. I also have a winter/ beater car that I drive when it’s not nice enough for it to come out of the garage.

Before wet sanding (still haven’t wet sanded actually &#128557

 

I can totally relate to you on this one man! Door dings were my biggest pet peeve out of any cosmetic defect out there. I would call & schedule an appointment with a specialist to have them repaired the moment I saw them, costing me a lot of time & money along the way. No matter how far I parked from others or how careful I was at selecting a spot in a public lot, a new one would inevitably appear. I've accepted peoples ignorance in this regard & learned to live with it (albeit sometimes it still bugs me!).... But you're right, it's almost freeing in a sense that you no longer pay much attention to it. I love the car & will continue keep it in the best shape that I can. I wish you all a ding-free weekend! Lol

 

I've seen the PDR guy twice for the G. There's still a spot on the driver's front fender that isn't 100%, but close enough.

Zero dings on this car at the moment. Zero rust, AFAIK. If there were someplace that was actually rusting, I wouldn't own this car, or it would be at the body shop.

Everyone has their own line. I draw mine hard at dings and rust.

 

Rust is just a reality in much of Canada once a car is 10 years old. My car is from Ontario, which is one of the worse provinces for how much salt they use so it's been accelerated for sure. I had no intention of keeping the car past 3 years when I bought it so it wasn't a concern. I wouldn't buy another car that came from there for my next vehicle.

 

My ex bought a car from Nova Scotia. The car was supposedly old lady driven, and the interior was in fact like new, spotless. But the under side of the car was so rusted that there was a leak in the fuel tank.