Car care that is no harmful to the environment?
June 23rd, 2010 | 
Author: Many products used to keep our cars running smoothly and looking nice contain toxins that threaten the environment (more specifically, our water supplies) when not disposed of properly. What are some vehicle maintenance tips that are also eco-friendly?
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To keep your car clean and avoid the need for car washes you can park it in the garage or use a cloth cover. You can also use a duster daily instead of using a water car wash. There are some sprays you can use to wash without water as well. In general I don’t wash my car often, maybe 2-3 times a year and I am lucky because I have a car wash that uses solar panels for power, biodegradable soaps and recycles it’s own water. I also skip the fragrance. If you live in an area where you don’t have to worry about freezing you can use vinegar and water in your windshield fluid reservoir. I have a Prius and had to make a choice when it came time to buy new tires. Toyota recommends the light 10K mile tires, but I didn’t want to toss out a new set of tires every 18 months, so I sacrificed a few mpg and got the 50K mile tires. Keeping them properly inflated and rotated on a regular basis helps them last and gives me the best gas mileage. I take my car to the dealership for all maintenance and they recycle the oil and oil filters.
no you wrong it’s harmful
Look for biodegradable car wash soap and never wash your car at home, only in a car wash booth.
What can I say, I do not have "Car Beautiful". However, I do wash my vehicles a couple of times during the summer. I wait until the drought time, park along side the shrubbery bed, use a lot of water, and mild dish soap. My water pretty much all goes into the shrubbery bed.
I tend to use "regular soaps" in general. Often, you can do a lot for getting chrome shiny by using a sponge, water to loosen and remove the dirt rather than wash and grind it in, non-sudsy ammonia water to get the grime and oil, and a hard cotton towel for drying and polishing. Even if you do decide to use a polish and more, doing this first works fast and cleans without adding scratches.
A number of years ago, we needed to clean a MOST dirty engine. I asked about how many cans of engine cleaner we would need. I gasped at the cost. And, then I started reading the cans only to find out that the engine cleaner is bad for the hoses, plastic, and more. I convinced the other half of us to try liquid, automatic dish washing detergent. It worked like a charm. Now, we use it always because of its ease of use and the great results. For many reasons, it’s happier for the environment, easier to control and healthier for the users, and easier on all of the non-metal surfaces. We use rubber dish washing gloves and a disposable, natural bristle brush to apply it to the moto; we save the brush for later use but, often can’t find it again when we need it. It works better if the motor is warm/hot and, if it’s a motor with thick, caked-on grease we apply it a couple of blocks away from the car wash. Oh, and we go to one of the self-service car washes in town that can handle engine grease. We do wear glasses for eye protection.
If we were running prettier looking vehicles, we would be using a hard wax. Probably one of those paste types that you have to apply and then spend hours rubbing in/off. What a good wax job does is keep the dirt from settling which in turn takes less to wash in between waxes. It also requires fewer in-between chemicals, all you do is wash with a lot of water and mild soap then hand dry to a shine. It takes more elbow grease but, even if you weren’t looking for a lower chemical solution, it is still gives the best shine.
There are several products that are labeled GREEN to clean your car. I use Basic H by Shaklee that is bio degradable and safe for the environment ans is very concentrated and can be used also in place of products like Fantastic and Windex.
I go to places like tire king, super lube. Places I know that recycles my cars waste. Oil, worn out tires and they take care of all my cars needs, I never have to worry about my animals drinking anti-freeze or oil in a bucket dumped over and scipping into the ground Old tires laying around breeding mosquitioes. Plus I don’t have to worry about what to do with the empty container that is so bad to the enviroment
FABULOUS question!
When my husband gets his work car detailed he gets it done by a guy who uses environmentally friendly cleaning products. These actually clean the car better and I dont start sneezing and coughing when I get in! There are alternatives out there and they arent expensive. Check out this site and click on request more information, for free info on the alternatives you can use.
http://www.vine.fourpointwellness.com