Couple questions after day 1...

NEVER use a brush or car wash. Your finish will be destroyed. I can't stress it enough.

Easy for the Californian to say...

hingisfan said:

Any tips for cleaning products for interior dirt? Baby wipes? What about screen? Just microfiber? Buy a screen protector? Abstract ocean or eBay?

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I use Armour wipes for quick detailing. From time to time, I use premium leather and dashboard cleaners. I use brands like Meguiars, Zaino, Armour, and just bought Auto Glym leather cleaner (haven't tested it yet). Since you don't have leather, I suggest going to Canadian Tires and find something from a reputable brand.

Since the service is done once a year, I really recommend that you do it every year. ~$600 is nothing per year given the price of the car. Tesla Service Centre normally do a lot of extra things (e.g. service bulletins) to make sure you're up-to-date. And you get piece of mind...

My car is opti-coated and I'm using Shell's touchless car wash every week during this winter; I can't think of any other way to wash my car when it's too cold! Harsh soap is "in my opinion" better than keeping salt on the car for weeks. Opti-coat will adds a permanent protective layer on the paint. My paint looks flawless since it was added. Please DON'T use a car wash with brushes. You will get swirl marks that will freak you out. Nothing should touch the car other than CLEAN microfiber towels (Costco sells plenty for cheap). And wash them with a "free and clear" detergent.
And be careful with the snow brush touching the paint. I couldn't find a truly soft brush, so try to be easy when you really have to brush the paint.

Doug_G said:

No choice on the brush. It isn't safe - or even legal - to drive a car covered in snow.

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Ottawa police crack down on drivers who leave snow on cars | CTV News

Cue question from naive Southerner: How well does preheating the car melt the snow and ice enough to blow it off with a yard blower (or snowblower with attachment)?

CHGolferJim said:

Cue question from naive Southerner: How well does preheating the car melt the snow and ice enough to blow it off with a yard blower (or snowblower with attachment)?

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It is spotty at best and will not do anything to some parts of the car ... most notably the front hood. However it does help a lot for clearing the windows.

Regarding Slacker - after a few days with my car I signed up for a Slacker Premium account ($10/month) and entered my credentials into the car. I don't have a ton of experience with the regular Tesla (non-Premium) account but it appears to me that I can now search for albums and play an album linearly in its entirety if Slacker has the album in its library. But it isn't a very good UI that recognizes what songs are in the album and I don't think you can easily jump to Track 5 without hitting the Next button 4 times. It also seems that when you search for an artist on the premium account you will create a station that will only play songs from that artist, assuming that Slacker has lots of songs from that artist. I have done searches on Neil Young and Bruce Spingsteen and when I am playing those channels I don't get songs by anyone else. I believe that when you use the regular Slacker account you will also get similar artists and about half of your spongs from your specified artist.

I am not sure that I will continue to pay the $10/month for Slacker premium. I also have a subscription to Spotify that I run on my iPhone and I find the Spotify UI way better than the Slacker UI, at least the Slacker UI on the Tesla screen. And you can use Bluetooth to play it through the car's audio system. So I may cancel the Slacker Premium account as Slacker non-Premium plus Spotify is probably more than good enough for me. Slacker also has lower quality songs than Spotify as Slacker only offers 128kbps whereas Spotify is 96, 160 or 320 depending on what you select. Of course I then have to pay for my own data, assuming that I am streaming the songs rather than have them stored locally. But it isn't clear to me what bitrate I am getting with my Bluetooth connection between my iPhone 6+ and the Tesla.

nothing to worry about AFAIK, just push it back into place ...

CHGolferJim said:

Cue question from naive Southerner: How well does preheating the car melt the snow and ice enough to blow it off with a yard blower (or snowblower with attachment)?

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Doug_G gave a good explanation, but just to emphasize the "unheated hood" aspect of things:


(This was after driving around for about 10 km, and as you can see only a small bit of snow at the front is blown off.)

Doug_G said:

We often get wet snow and that stuff is very sticky. Here's an example of sticky snow and windy conditions... as you can see, it's got some adhesion!

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And we occasionally get freezing rain that damn near requires a chisel to get off of your car - we had that last year in the Toronto area. Luckily my car is almost always in a garage.

mnx said:

Easy for the Californian to say...

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Ha! Not only is it a dream that it only rains for 4-5 mths of the year, but living in the NoCA Mountains, the roads are a driver's paradise. I lived in LA for years, where it took a two hour drive just to get to a decent road. I thought I was going to shoot myself. I never take it for granted. Coming from New England, I feel your pain on maintenance. I had always dreamed of owning a second car for winter. Now I finally do so my sweet little fire breathing girl doesn't have to get her toes wet.

I am spoiled rotten and I love it!

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hingisfan said:

Not even the ones where you drive in, pay a few dollars, and operate the hose yourself? That way you can stand farther back so there's not so much pressure .

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I think spray-it-yourself is great. I've used them for years. They do good enough to get by. I just never used the supplied brush in the stall. The car wasn't perfect, but I would rather have a somewhat dirty car than one with scratches and swirls that could take me 2-3 days to fix when things warmed up. It's the automated car washes, and even hand washes (if they aren't REALLY good) that trash the paint.

On using a snow brush, I used to just take the top layer of snow off so I could see, while trying hard not to get all the way down to the paint. That helped quite a bit and made the annual spring polish a bit easier.

I must admit, I really am obsessed about finishes. So I do go to the extreme. But...she looks SO lovely!

TDial said:

I think spray-it-yourself is great. I've used them for years. They do good enough to get by. I just never used the supplied brush in the stall. The car wasn't perfect, but I would rather have a somewhat dirty car than one with scratches and swirls that could take me 2-3 days to fix when things warmed up. It's the automated car washes, and even hand washes (if they aren't REALLY good) that trash the paint.

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I am not trying to be difficult here, but what is the difference between spray-it-yourself and the touchless car washes that you find at Esso stations (probably the same at Exxon in the US)? No brushes touch your car with these, just the water spray and it doesn't seem too excessive in terms of pressure.

hingisfan said:

Any tips for cleaning products for interior dirt? Baby wipes? What about screen? Just microfiber? Buy a screen protector? Abstract ocean or eBay?

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I wouldn't think baby wipes would do a good job for two reasons: 1: clean effectively at all, as we don't want to remove dirt like that in our car from our babies, so they are mild, and 2: probably would end up collecting more dirt due to the moisturisers added for the little darling bums. I would recommend a pH neutral interior cleaner specifically made for autos. If you have leather, get one specifically made for that. I have used Griot's products and have been very happy. Their Interior Cleaner works quite well and goes a very long way. I am now gping to try Car-Pro products as a test to see how I like them. I am impressed with many of their products and the owner of Car-Pro US, Corey, is an amazing guy. I actually just ordered their waterless car wash today and am waiting for Corey's recommendation on an interior cleaner. I'll report back, once used.

I think the most important thing is to NOT use any household-based products. They are way too strong for an auto interior or exterior. I am all about having my car last as long as possible and looking brand new the entire time. Clearly not possible, but I have been quite lucky in keeping mine looking so good that I constantly get compliments from non-car people. So I must be on the right track. The Model S is such a big investment-the biggest purchase I have ever made for a "thing" aside from a home, that I really want to take the best care possible.

The last thing is to stay on it. I have deeply regretted procrastinating and leaving a spot-stain-or such for a long time, which I then can't get out, no matter what I do.

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wayner said:

I am not trying to be difficult here, but what is the difference between spray-it-yourself and the touchless car washes that you find at Esso stations (probably the same at Exxon in the US)? No brushes touch your car with these, just the water spray and it doesn't seem too excessive in terms of pressure.

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Oh, not at all. We don't have touchless in my area, so I have no experience. I would think they would be the same. I have always wanted to try one. Though I have heard that the pH is way off in order to dissolve the dirt. But that is most likely better than salt. I would guess. The only things I have in my area are those Shell station automated washers with all the "flaps" rather than brushes. I have an Acura RDX, 2007, that I started running through it because I was way too busy and desperate for a clean exterior. To my utter amazement, I have no swirls on the car at all. I have no idea how, except that Acura does have very hard paint. But I am not willing to risk that on my MS.