Washed and waxed the car

What about wind?

 

Are you implying that parting air improves fuel economy?

 

Yes, driving either against or with a strong wind can decrease or increase your MPG. Wind resistance is nothing revolutionary.

Also, I really have a tough time believing a waxed car improves MPGs. Maybe, maybe, if the car before waxing had mud, salt, bugs, etc., plastered all over the car. But not just a clean car and a waxed car.

 

I heard the prius mpg can increase .5mpg just by vacuuming the interior

 

My guess? Living in Oregon?

My guess is that your sudden improvement in gas mileage has more to do with the temporary absence of rain than the fact that you washed and clay barred your vehicle.

Driving in rain negatively affects your MPG's...and like you said, it isn't raining....

 

Personally, I don't wax a car for nearly a full year. The polimerization or curing of the palstic in paint continues for a long long time. I only rinse off the grime and brush it off with a soft brush.

Experienced body shop operators will tell you not to was or wax a newly painted car for 90-120 days. That's because the paint has to be allowed to cure.

 

I live in Oregon...

It's been raining since about late October.

 

I've heard the same thing a while ago, but don't know how truthful that is.

 

That may have been true years ago but that's dangerously outdated information today. The paint is already cured once it leaves the factory and modern paints used by body shops are formulated to be quick curing (and hence said not to be as durable as factory paint) and can be waxed right away.

 

It's still like "quick set concrete." Curing is like a descending logrithmic curve. Paint, like concrete continues to cure with time. Maybe, modern paints have a steeper curve, but there is still a curve.

Factory paints are applied under stricter "environmental" control. They too are a compromise from "ideal," since they are time constraints to get the vehicle out of the line and completed as quickly as possible. I can't see how an extra year given to curing can harm anything. A lot of waxes can even be harmful, if the paint is soft.

Custom aftermarket paints , however, are not as constrained by time requirements. They can this can be an advantage in some cases.

 

I've heard people drive better (have fewer accidents) in a clean car. Maybe people drive more economically, too.

 

No, it's the other way around. There are major time constraints for body shops because insurance companies don't want cars in there any longer than necessary. The more days the car is in the body shop the more it costs the insurance company (as well as the rental it has the cover while it's in the shop).

Not clay barring/waxing even brand new cars for a year can be harmful to the paint if it picks up contaminants that permanently etch the paint from being embedded for too long.

 

Additionally, a lot of brand new cars have a large accumulation of contaminates in the paint. My 2012 Blizzard Pearl paint felt like sandpaper. I am not exaggerating in the least. It was easily the worst of every car I have ever purchased. Conversely the 2005 Salsa Red car was the cleanest.

IMO just assume you need to clay bar every new vehicle.

 

Really, but not to surprised at all when I think about it as Carson(where u picked up & bought it) is a highly industrialized area w/ refinery & manufacturing all around. I think it's time for me to clay & wax as well.

 

You "sure" you're living in Oregon?

 

You can easily pick up an extra 2.25 mpg...leave the wife at home.