1. for the past year I've been using latex gloves to do most work on my vehicles. They're cheap and keep my hands quite clean. Yes, they will rip and tear, but they're cheap and bought in bulk packages. My hands are far cleaner now after walking out of the garage that I don't have to try and use my elbows to open the door on the house. I wish I started doing this 15 years ago. If anything, the gloves make it easier to hold on to nuts and bolts. I buy the 100 pack of gloves available in the pharmacy deparment at most retailers such as Walmart, Target, Kmart, etc.... As soon as one rips, I put another one on (or sometimes double glove). If you're allergic to latex, use latex-free gloves such as the purple nitrile gloves.
2. When waxing a vehicle, I also wax the glass, inside and out. It makes the glass look like new and debris doesn't stick to it as well. I also wax the tail light lenses and other plastic lenses because it can remove the dull faded look.
3. Leave a hitch in the receiver, even if you don't tow. It keeps the idiots that pull right up behind you from damaging expensive stuff. I've had 5 idiots hit my hitch in the last 3 years. It damaged their vehicle, but not mine! I lived between 2 colleges, and every one of them that hit me was a college student (and usually on the cell phone not paying attention to stopping a safe distance).
4. If the clear plastic lense over the cluster gauges (speedo, tach, etc...) is all scratched up, try buffing or color sanding. See a write-up I did on color sanding on my website:
http://www.geocities.com/toyotashawn/colorsanding.html
This can also work for tail light lenses, headlight housings, etc... My site shows seperate products available to use, but I've seen "headlight polish" kits on the counters at local auto parts stores lately.
