Car Windcreen

I was pointing out that the man on the tram in England would not interpret 'washing your own car' as meaning anything other than 'washing your own car at or close by your own home'

Can you give a link to any statute that makes car washing illegal (for the man on the tram)? (not commercial or business)

I remember being on a camp site in Eguisheim, France, a long time ago. The village was a delightful throwback to an earlier age.

I noticed that the locals appeared to pull up by a water fountain in a square and drop in a bucket to wash their cars.

Locals didn't even give me second glance, though tourists off a bus that arrived nearby seemed a bit more interested.

Chris

I have no idea what the mixture was, but on one occasion whatever had ended up in my washer reservoir had started to precipitate out, and another time the plastic dirt mesh disintegrated. I had not been using anything unusual.

Chris

Yep, take heed of the clean screen before applying and the applying is more than just a quick wipe over as well. Takes several hours to do well and is quite hard work with the apllication and buffing etc.

The only slight niggle are the micro beads left by the wipers, particularly when the coating is new. Very much like smearing but unlike smearing they disappear in a second or two. Once it's aged a bit ISTR that this no longer happens, but you still get the beading and water blowing off the screen at > 40 mph or so.

Several hours? Are you applying it to a bus?

On Wed, 11 Jul 2018 08:57:26 +1000, cantankerous geezer Rot Speed blabbered, again:

LOL Again? You just love those n-words: nope, not, never, eh? Seriously, what is WRONG with you, cretin?

Never was a good way to clean windows. Perhaps a cheap way when everyone had lots of newspaper. And would also use it as bog paper. If the carbon in old newspaper inks really did help it would be added to pukka window cleaning fluids.

Wash the window with warm water and a little good washing up liquid. Rinse with clean water. Dry with a decent chamois leather. Don't attempt in the sun.

Living in a pretty crowded part of London I'd be happy to take my car to a reasonably close facility where I could wash it myself. And even pay a reasonable sum to use it.

No he was claiming it was illegal to wash your own car and that it would also be illegal here soon.

We use English here rod not whatever aussies use.

Yes he did.

It's dennis. He's *always* wrong.

Up to 2015 there was guidance on how it could be done legally. Now it seems you just need to make sure run-off goes to a foul or combined sewer.

So nothing to say that washing your own car in the street is illegal

If it was, it would put those wash your car while you shop people out of business- their waste water simply runs off into the drains in the car parks etc.

I wonder how many of the 'proper' hand car wash places in dis-used petrol stations of even industrial units have any special drainage arrangements? As I recall, when there are 'hose pipe bans' etc, automatic car washes are exempt if they recycle the water.

I confess, other than the motorhome which is too large for the local hand car wash place, we haven't washed a car by hand for years. Our local place has a voucher/loyalty scheme which works out at about £5 at time. Worth every penny.

In the absence of any local arrangements (like the allocated spaces mentioned) it'd be ridiculous to make washing your own car a criminal act.

I used to get a local ex-garage forecourt place to do it - and they did a good job, especially the wheels. £7.

I've taken to doing myself again now - really doesn't take long, and that's doing it in the street using 2 buckets of water to rinse. And it's something approaching exercise :-)

Any petrol station will have run off interceptors before the drain, so they would probably be covered, those in car parks etc. would not.

I don't think the original law banning washing your car on the street had anything to do with polluting drains. Something about using the public highway as a garage workshop. Which was rarely enforced.

Most of the dirt on a car come from the roads or skies. Not quite sure how it differs - washing that from the car rather than it going direct to the drains. Or why car washing shampoo is that much different from dishwasher etc detergent that goes into the drains.

In Germany, likely just a trade pressure group out to make money for themsleves. Exactly the same as the old Corgi etc in the UK, but dress it up as something else.

I wonder if you have in mind the law against carrying out repairs (or indeed washing cars) for reward on the highway without a licence.

I'd certainly like to know where you found a law against people washing their own cars.

It was often quoted once. Could be an old wife's tale like so much else, though.

However, I have had passing police telling me I was breaking the law when working on my own car in the street. Long ago when you did have passing policemen. But it was obviously too much effort for them to prosecute me.