keeping cars and RV's clean (ish)

[MrMullen]

Here is my input on the subject, I have a Volkswagen Passat 2003 with leather interior and I took it to Burningman 2004. With just a few small steps, you can protect your car and not have a heart attack after you look inside your car on Sunday night.
What I did before I went was looked up how to winterize my car and pretty much did what Volkswagen said to do. Basically, that means that you wash your car really well when you get off the Playa and check the air filter. In my case, I was up for a regular checkup when I got home, so I told the service guys to do some extra checking for dust. What also helps is that you have a good tight seal between the car doors and the car itself. In my case, and I imagine most newish cars have this feature, the Volkswagens have rather tight sealing gaskets that makes the car fairly air tight. There is one little spot in back passenger doors that air leaks in but it was not a big deal. Before you get to the Playa, make sure the car doors close properly and get a good seal.
When I packed my car, I put the stuff that I would leave in the car and accessing during the event, in the trunk. This meant water and some clothes that I did not want to get dusty/stolen stayed in the trunk. The main cabin of the car was never opened from after unpacking to when I packed to leave. Also, before I drove onto the Playa, I turned off the fans, closed all of the vents in my car and set the close air circulate button to on (You know when you turn on the AC, you make it so that no new air from the outside is drawn in; just cool the air in the car). Yes, it gets hot inside the car when you do this, but you have to think about the future of the car.
I took everything out of the car real quick, put the sun shade up, locked her up, set the car alarm and she stayed that way until I left. When I packed up to leave, I put all of the really dirty stuff in the trunk and basically put everything that went into the car into plastic bags. When I got off the Playa, I drove for about 20 miles before rolling down the windows (Don't run the AC or turn on the air until you wash it!), hit up the first gas station with a car washer and ran my car through it (Make sure to get the extra good washing). With all those precautions, I got a little dust in the car, but none in the vents (Which was my main goal). When I got home, I emptied the car and cleaned every inch of it. This included a good exterior hand washing, vacuuming, wiping down the leather with leather cleaner/protector (You must do this because the Playa will dry out leather) and cleaning the gaps between the car and the car doors. Basically, this will take you about 3 hours to do this.
I took a car cover, but basically it was worthless because the wind will cause it to flap against the car, scratching the paint. I tried this for about 3 hours and noticed it does scratch the paint rather quickly, so I took it off. Luckily, the scratches buffed out with little effort. This year I am going to put the tin foil window shades to keep the inside temperature lower.

[TheJudge]

If you have a K&N filter on your car, replace it with a cheap paper filter before hitting the playa. Otherwise you will have a rather expensive mud filter.

Wash and wax your car really well before and after. Use a little vinegar in the wash when you get back. The vinegar will neutralize the alkali and get the care much cleaner.

Seat covers, dash covers (or a nice beach towel) floor mats, windshield visor etc.

[robotland]

You can use palette-wrap on your car seats....just like gramma's house!

[TheJudge]

The construction company at my work used this stuff that looked like plastic wrap on the building's carpets. They were thicker than most film and worked well.

At the exit from the construction site into the rest of the building, they used these plastic sticky mats to trap the workers dirt from their boots. The mat had multiple sheets to it (about 30) and could be torn off each day to a new sheet.

I was thinking about how usefule something like that could be for an RV on the playa.



Or you could live in a tent for the duration and just embrace the dust.

[safetythird]

The construction company at my work used this stuff that looked like plastic wrap on the building's carpets. They were thicker than most film and worked well.

http://www.curtain-wall.com/carpet_barrier.htm

Yes, it works great! Can also be used to cover furniture. I'll be using it again.

At the exit from the construction site into the rest of the building, they used these plastic sticky mats to trap the workers dirt from their boots. The mat had multiple sheets to it (about 30) and could be torn off each day to a new sheet.

Having worked in a clean room that used those sticky mats I'd wager that they'd be useless on the playa. We had to change ours several times a day and we didn't have nearly the same dust to contend with.

Adopt a "No Shoes" policy for the RV. Have a bin right outside the door for shoe storage. Occasionally sweep out the large chunks of playa that manage to infiltrate the RV. Having a big piece of carpet remnant outside to trap dust is a good thing too.

You can't totally avoid the dust but you can minimize it, a little.

S3