Weird car cleaning practices and experiences

Our car cleaner not only climbs on the vehicle’s tyre but also onto the scuttle panel, hood, wiper and windshield.

BHPian Sidjohri recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I’m posting this to share my (and our) experiences on practices followed by our revered car-cleaning personnel to supposedly keep our drives spick and span. How many times have you cringed to find your car unclean as you rush to beat the morning traffic? The satisfaction one gets to see both wiper blades in an upright position (a sign indicating your car’s daily grooming) is often priceless!

But all good things come at a cost. How often have you noticed unexplained nicks and depressions in your prized possession(s) which seemingly did not exist yesterday? I was experiencing such instances over the last few days with minor scratches appearing every day (progressively) on the front fender of my car and hood. While I initially brushed these off as routine mobility-related bruises I was (one not so fine morning) appalled and shocked to see this: our car cleaner was literally undertaking some over-adventurous manoeuvres to show off his novel car cleaning practices! As you can see in the CCTV grabs below, the gentleman not only mounts himself on the vehicle’s tyres (could be common practice) but goes that extra mile by climbing onto the scuttle panel, hood, wiper and windshield! On all twos!

I uncharacteristically lost my cool and confronted the said person. I was informed that he is a recent replacement for our regular cleaning guy. He, being of slightly short stature, had no option but to perform such heart-in-the-mouth moves. Heart in the mouth big time for me – not sure about him!

While I have received an assurance from the gentleman that going ahead he would be gentler towards my (and other’s) steeds, the incident has indeed left me a bit shaken. No matter how much TLC you give the forces of nature will somehow slip through the cracks and confront your motor! I would be happy to know the views of our esteemed BHPians on this subject along with any such instances you might have experienced.

Sorry for the low-quality images – the idea is not to put the spotlight on the gentleman in question but just to showcase his antics.

Here's what BHPian shancz had to say about the matter:

Short guy and tall car don't work very well with cleaning.

Ask me, cracked a plastic roof rail since I was using it as leverage to balance myself when standing on the tyres to reach the far end of the roof.

Standing on the hood/windshield part is wrong and unnecessary.

Just get the guy a sturdy plastic stool/small stepladder (non-metal) if you want to avoid the antics.

TLC is only possible personally, IMHO.

Here's what BHPian ashis89 had to say about the matter:

Climbing on the tyres is a common practice, climbing onto the hood is NOT.

As suggested earlier, ask the guy to get something like this (or get him one).

On a side note, the most cringe-worthy cleaning practice (and unfortunately, the most prevalent one too) is the cleaning guy using a single bucket of water and a cloth to wipe a dozen cars. The first car they touch in the day is the luckiest, the last one...

The cars look clean from a distance. Upon close look, you realise the dust/mud/grime has been wiped and spread across the body. With time, swirl marks and scratches appear on the windscreen and body. Learnt it the hard way and decided to do the job myself.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.