What do the less fortunate do?
 

Okay, so here's my deal.
I want to keep my car clean, but everything goes against me...

1) I live in an apartment, and don't have a garage. All the parking is on street or in a lot. I don't even have a carport. (I'm sure the college kids can sympathize.)
2) I live in San Diego, where it's really humid, and dew/frost forms on the car every night.
3) With all the fires here, the ash, dust and dirt are in the air constantly.

Result: Even if I did wash my car, by nighttime, windows would fog/frost up. By daytime, the fog/frost would drip, and the drips would form on the window, and the dust in the air would stick to the moisture overnight.

And *DING*-- instant dirty car.

What can I do? This takes all the desire out of even detailing my car, let alone even washing it.
What do others do? Especially those on a budget...
I'm not the ONLY one with out a garage, am I?

no your not ! i park mine in my yard (grass) and in the morning time i see all the condensation on it to but by the time the sun starts coming out it dries it up and voila car still looks like new so umm i don't really have that problem when washing!

water resistant car cover

get this or a cheaper version
http://www.handa-accessories.com/civext01.html

just suck it up i guess, haha, or buy a garage, but dew does suck in the morning and snow and ice are even worse, i dont bother to clean me as often

I had that problem before. One of 2 things I did in the past was get an apt. with a garage. Another thing I did was get a white or silver car since you really can't see the water spots. Also, don't tint the windows...clear looks cleaner.

Actually, I bought a silver car just for that reason. It sold me, the way it looked pretty clean even when dirty. However, I wound up tinting my windows. So now when the drip marks form every night and the dirt sticks to them, I can see them on the dark window real nice :hgrin:. So there's no real recourse, not that I can really see. Just grin and bear, huh?

Also, I work until night time (after the moisture starts accumulating), so the car cover wouldn't be really helpful. Unless I covered my car while at work, and it would kinda be weird sitting covered in a parking lot. Eh.