Hooniverse Asks: What car stuff do you do with your free Saturday?

Ross Ballot

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The prospect of a free weekend is nearly a novelty. With a loaded work schedule, numerous hobbies, family on both my wife’s side and my side, and regular attempts to maintain something resembling a social life, plans for us seem to make themselves. In turn, that means most hours of the weekend are accounted for, and most weekends get booked up well in advance. Open and free days are few and far between.

But this Saturday has something different in store for me: I have a free day with almost no plans. Plans for a quick hike with my mom in the morning, then…nothing. No friends around. No other family to see. No autocross events. No local car shows or races. An open Saturday in the middle of the fall. The weather seems like it will be perfect, and I’m certainly not about to waste a day sitting inside.

That begs the question: what to do? Go for a long drive? Wash my car? Shoot photos of the car? All of the above? I’m at a loss. It’s a good problem to have, and one I’ve become largely unfamiliar with.

So, how about you? What car stuff do you do with your free days? I’m open to any and all suggestions, so fire away with your free-day car fun in the comments.

About

Ross Ballot

Ross Ballot

Host of the Off the Road Again Podcast. 4WD and four-wheeling enthusiast and expert. Formula 1 fanatic. Contributor to Hooniverse, ATVRider.com, UTVDriver.com, and Everyday Driver. Usually found getting a vehicle stuck in the mud or on the rocks and loving every second of it.

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14 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What car stuff do you do with your free Saturday?”

  1. nanoop Avatar
    nanoop

    Fix a minor issue of the project car, then drive it. Involve a friend, if you want to. Find a reason (they usually make a good coffee 80 wiggly, panoramic miles away, if you need one), and enjoy yourself.
    When you’re back you’ll have to attack the todo list items that were born in the meanwhile, but you have a relaxed attitude now, and hence, are a better member of the family.

    Reply
  2. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I have three kids– I don’t remember my last “free Saturday”. But I have about 8-10 Saturdays worth of work to do on my E28 before it’s in the shape I want it.

    Reply
    1. Christopher Tracy Avatar
      Christopher Tracy

      My first response to this was “What’s a free Saturday?” If I get time in the garage, it’s generally to vacuum out goldfish, cleaning four sets of fingerprints off windows, and get the mud out of the back from the pumpkin patch and football fields.

      I have lift springs and rear shocks sitting in the garage for the Land Cruiser. I’ll get to them eventually…

      Reply
  3. onrails Avatar
    onrails

    The weather is looking less than ideal for the weekend, but we’re on our way to the track after work today. Hopefully the cold and wet at least turns to cold and dry like it’s forecasted to and it won’t be a total washout. It’s been over 3 years and a major (unrelated, but still needing to be dealt with) injury since the last one. Novice group here I come! I’m sure there’s lots of rust to knock off before I get a knee back on the ground. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b8ecdada3a66e8a473bb6a1577e6692cec4152e6ff14b09015a24858851cdc6.jpg

    Reply
    1. Lokki Avatar
      Lokki

      ?My Hero? Sooo jealous! I am old not-so-young-anymore, and sold my last bike long ago. Decades ago, I was knee-dragger. Sigh… Best of luck out there, and we expect a full report!

      Reply
    2. Lokki Avatar
      Lokki

      ?My Hero? Sooo jealous! I am old not-so-young-anymore, and sold my last bike long ago. Decades ago, I was knee-dragger. Sigh… Best of luck out there, and we expect a full report!

      Reply
      1. onrails Avatar
        onrails

        Ha! Thanks. My only goal this weekend is me and the bike back home with no damage. As for the age thing, you’re as young as you act feel. I hope to continue this for a while. I’m in my mid 40’s and I’m one of the younger guys in the group. Average is a lot closer to 50 and at least one is pushing 60. It’s just a track day and we’re not chasing any trophies. Just doing it for the pure joy of doing it which is what it’s all about, right? A little smoother and faster each time out is all I want.

        Reply
  4. Victor Avatar
    Victor

    Throw the cooler in the cruising Van and take a long ride along the lakeshore. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eab09bd81470a33b839ce6bf2d62c65af25707b019ec5c6601f957b5f7a2e689.jpg

    Reply
  5. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    Had yesterday off, and the weather was in the low 70’s (in freedom units; low 20’s for the unimportant rest of world) so I did my Saturday ‘task’ of putting the Fall coat of wax on my daily driver. Since the paint on this one is still nice and new, it got the full spa treatment: slow ‘double-wash’ with dish soap, clay bar, Klasse All-In-One (Red bottle) and then Klasse High-Gloss-Sealant (Gray bottle). I really like the Klasse All-In-One which is the poly equivalent of a cleaner-wax. It’s easy to wax-on and easy to wax-off, and it leaves a nice shine. I usually just stop there. However, I probably won’t wax again for some months so I went ahead and put on the sealant. I really don’t like using the sealant, and I proved that to myself again. Per the instructions you must put on a -very- thin coating (“two ounces for the entire car”) and if you overdo it, it’s almost impossible to get the excess off. However if you put on that thin coat, it can be very difficult to see the stuff after it’s dried and I always end up going over the car two or three times trying to make sure I’ve gotten it all rubbed down… and I alway find some places where I’ve failed a day or two later after the car is dirty again. Still, it does give an amazing gloss finish, and it’ll last all winter.

    I must have done a really great job because in keeping with the theorem that washing your car always makes it rain, today the temperature is in the low 40’s (6 degrees) and it’s raining like hell.

    By the way, does anybody else use a leaf blower to dry their car after washing? I figure if it’s good enough for the machine washes it’s lazy enough good enough for me. It’s a lot easier than shammying and doesn’t leave any water spots.

    Anyhow, a lovely 4-beer day in the fall sunshine.

    Reply
    1. gerberbaby Avatar
      gerberbaby

      Wow, Your description of the Klasse instructions make we want to run and hide from it. I’ve never settled on any specific product, but everything I’ve used is just wipe on and buff back off. Easy peasy. I do live in the rust belt so something does need to be done every fall for sure.

      Reply
  6. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    One my last few days off – bought a steel garage, so now I’ll actually have somewhere to work on the Scrappucino on any other free days. Gotta wait for it to be delivered, but still, finally fulfilling a lifelong dream.

    Reply
  7. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    There always seems to be a backlog of small things I can do to the Trans Am, with the latest being to add a bit more heat shielding around the starter that nearly kisses the exhaust manifold. It has been sitting on my workbench for a year.

    Reply
  8. salguod Avatar
    salguod

    With 7 vehicles in various states of disrepair, one of them always needs something, so Saturday typically has a car project assigned to it.

    That said, I try to make as many cars and coffee events as possible and if there is a free hour or two I try to get myself lost in the country roads west of my house in the Thunderbird with the top down, knowing that the GPS can get me home.

    Reply
  9. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    I work most Saturdays, but I try to use weekends to ride and service my motorcycle and fight the uphill battle of keeping the family car sort of clean.

    Reply