Do You Wash Your Own Motorhome-- Where?

[mweiner]

Obviously, washing a smaller rig like mine is easier... but, what do you guys do with the 30 to 40 foot rigs.  

How often do you do it and where do you do this? 

Or, maybe you pay someone to take care of it? 

My local carwash says that they'll do it for $45.... any Mercedes Benz dealership does it as a courtesy when I take it in for service.. 

What do do??

 

[mweiner]

I've been washing it myself about once a week or so...

[desertdeals69]

I wash mine in the driveway when it needs it.

[mweiner]

32 minutes ago, desertdeals69 said:

I wash mine in the driveway when it needs it.

Thanks... forgot to ask...how long does that take you? 

[jleamont]

I wash ours in the driveway, while traveling if it gets too dirty for me I stop at a truck wash or ask the campground if they have a recommendation for a wash service that comes through. Often campgrounds have a list of RV detail companies that they allow to wash/wax rigs at the site.

At home I use a foam cannon to apply soap, wash/scrub with a horse hair brush and rinse with the garden hose. Takes me less than an hour for all of it. Doing it tonight in fact, but I am polishing the wheels also, that will add a good amount of time to the process.

[desertdeals69]

I

7 hours ago, MWeiner said:

Thanks... forgot to ask...how long does that take you? 

It takes about an hour.  Our city water is full of calcium.  I have rigged up a bottled water rinse with an rv water pump and hose with a spray nozzle.  I buy the water at the water store for $1 for 5 gallons.  It takes about 4 gallons to rinse the coach and it dries relatively spot free.  If I just use city water to rinse, my coach turns white.  I have a 36 foot coach.

[ianbullock]

When at home I wash mine, 38 ft, in the driveway. Use cold water tide in a bucket, wash with a brush, rinse off with a hose. Start off with the roof. Takes about 2 hours.

When on the road, if needed, use Blue Beacon truck washes.  MH and toad,  approx $55. (60+ feet)

Mark,$45 for your rig, may be overpriced.....

[wolfe10]

I also wash mine. Either at home (storage barn) or with permission at some CG's.  About 2 hours.

[kaypsmith]

I have a local bus washer person that goes about town washing commercial buses, comes to my house, cleans inside and out for $25.00. I feel lucky!

[mweiner]

1 hour ago, IanBullock said:

When at home I wash mine, 38 ft, in the driveway. Use cold water tide in a bucket, wash with a brush, rinse off with a hose. Start off with the roof. Takes about 2 hours.

When on the road, if needed, use Blue Beacon truck washes.  MH and toad,  approx $55. (60+ feet)

Mark,$45 for your rig, may be overpriced.....

Ian, thanks. Just to let you know everything is expensive in Los Angeles. Actually, they originally wanted $55 to wash my van and they said that $45 was a senior discount. Normal cars are $15.99 through the machine. Van would be hand washed. I could shop around...

It's only about an hour and a half..or less. Good exercise. Washed it last night in the driveway at my house. 

[mweiner]

16 minutes ago, kaypsmith said:

I have a local bus washer person that goes about town washing commercial buses, comes to my house, cleans inside and out for $25.00. I feel lucky!

You are very lucky.... don't really see how they can make any money? How long does it take them? 

[elkhartjim]

I wash mine myself in our driveway. I plan on two hours and a lot of that time is spent drying it. When traveling I take my chances and use Blue Beacon. Best deal is when we go to the Texas Valley and get the motorhome and Jeep washed and waxed for $125.00.

Somebody mentioned using Tide; be aware that Tide can remove the wax/polish.

[gulya]

I wash mine in my driveway too, when it gets dirty. 

[wayne77590]

I don't wash ours, well I used to and I have pictures to prove DW washes the roof. She doesn't trust me up there...however she has stated that she is done with doing that.

However, when we are on the road for 4-5 months and the MH gets filthy I'll have a service come into the CG and clean it. Most times I have it done when we hit San Antonio.

In between times I use Wash Wax All cleaning kit.  Talk about a nice job and easy, I love it. I can also do the TOAD in about 15-20 minutes and then a few minutes of detailing.

[jleamont]

40 minutes tonight. The wheel polishing...the rear are done, tomorrow night I will do the front.

[The Dickinson Bus]

I found a truck wash that charges $1.50 a foot.  It stripped years of oxidation off the old Hawkins.  They hand washed the whole rig. Warning don't stand down wind the stuff they use is strong  

[chindog]

I'm a full timer, so I don't have a driveway to wash mine in. I have to use Blue Beacon when I can find one, or wash it at parks where they let you do that.  There aren't many of those.  We are on a tour of western states right now, and there are not many opportunities to wash the coach.  Back east, we could wash at most state parks, but up here in the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana, the state parks and COE's don't even have water hookups at the sites.  And, when we run across road construction out here, they don't just rip up one lane at a time, they rip up the whole road for several miles at a stretch.  To keep the dust down, they have water trucks that soak the unpaved road.  That makes for a mud road for several miles, which causes a very dirty coach.  Wish I could find a truck wash out here!

[kaypsmith]

Mark, about 75 minutes, and he is ready to leave, he does a really good job and shows up with his own equipment, he uses a really soft brush with a really long handle. He is an elderly black gentleman, but moves like about 30. That does not include doing the roof, he charges $25.00 extra for that, I only have that done 2 to 3 times a year. Oh yes he does the tire shine thing each time including the bumpers and the wheel fenders, all of these are black rubber, they look new for 4 of more weeks unless I get into a very bad rainstorm.

[ianbullock]

Chindog, do you have the Blue Beacon app?  It's helpful in locating washes although only a handful in the states u mentioned..

[jleamont]

Front done

before

[jleamont]

After

[mweiner]

18 hours ago, kaypsmith said:

Mark, about 75 minutes, and he is ready to leave, he does a really good job and shows up with his own equipment, he uses a really soft brush with a really long handle. He is an elderly black gentleman, but moves like about 30. That does not include doing the roof, he charges $25.00 extra for that, I only have that done 2 to 3 times a year. Oh yes he does the tire shine thing each time including the bumpers and the wheel fenders, all of these are black rubber, they look new for 4 of more weeks unless I get into a very bad rainstorm.

Thanks K-  I love your converted Greyhound....but, not only would it be impossible to park and navigate in Metro LA, unless it were a "real Greyhound bus.." parking near my neighborhood would be a huge challenge or cost a small monthly fortune. 

As for washing, you have a sweet deal, do you "tip" this person?? I certainly would.

[BillAdams]

No, I never wash my own and I pay folks to polish my wheels.  I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination but I visit Blue Beacon frequently and find wheel polish deals at rallies.  I have not been to a rally in a long time and my wheels look like...uhhhhh....doo doo.

[chindog]

12 hours ago, IanBullock said:

Chindog, do you have the Blue Beacon app?  It's helpful in locating washes although only a handful in the states u mentioned..

Ian, no I don't.  Didn't realize there was one.  I'll get it now!  Thanks!

[tbutler]

I took our coach to car wash facilities at every opportunity when on our Alaska trip.  Most of the parks along the route have some kind of coach wash facilities, power washer or wash/rinse brush.  Other than that trip, I wash the entire coach with a hose and brush several times a year unless we encounter some really terrible dirty driving.  Otherwise, I use a bucket, sponge and chamois and do "spot" washing on a continuing basis. 

The windshield and the front get debugged every time we drive, even when driving days at a stretch.  I have found that the easiest bug wash is done when the bugs are fresh.  Stale, dried bugs get to be really difficult to remove.  If we've picked up some splash dirt from rain in a campground, I'll do the bottom section of the coach, the compartment doors and below.  Frequently the rear tires will spray the rear section of the coach and that section will get a wash. 

When the roof gets a coating from trees or birds, I'll get up there with the same equipment and give it a good cleaning.  We have had restrictions on washing (time of week, time of day, permits required, etc.) where we live in Edinburg, TX.  Those restrictions don't apply to a bucket/sponge wash.  That is the case also in most campgrounds.  I have never paid a crew to wash our coach.