od_man99
New member
Truth be told, it is best to not live where there are things like snow, ice, and the salt that goes with them, but many of us do. The best solution to winter car care is to always hand wash, and to do it often. Then reality rears its ugly head.
Unless you have access to a warm garage with a drain and inside plumbing, you won't be able to hand wash your car for a large portion of real winter weather. So what is the next best thing?
I recommend that you keep the car clean, even if that means using high pressure wand-type washes, where you do it yourself, or good quality full automatic or "full-service" car washes. It is more important to get salt and muck off your car than to worry about the few minor scratches or haze marks that will get on a car during a wash that is less than perfect. Some people might gasp and yell "traitor" at me for recommending this, but if you are driving a car in real winter weather, you have already done damage to the finish. It is impossible to avoid. So I ask, which is better, a few minor haze/scratch marks, that should come out with a full detail in the spring, (use my glaze) or the chance of letting rust get a foothold on your precious metal/paint?
If you have followed good advice, and given your ride a coat of quallity wax like our Collinite 915 Carnauba before winter, then the layer of wax should protect your paint from minor scratches at car washes for most, if not all of a typical winter. Then the challenge is to keep the car clean.
I use all methods to keep my cars clean. I try to hand wash when possible. I use wand type washes when necessary and I use full-service washes from time to time. I try to keep the wheel wells and body seams sprayed out with clean water, and try not to wash when temps are well below freezing. When below freezing and you must have a clean car (for that hot date or a wedding etc) then use a good full service car wash. OR take your car to a full detail shop which is always an (expensive) option. Make sure the detail shop does not use high speed buffers! Go where they had wash/wax only. Search out newer or proven full-service wash locations.
I always try to keep some paper towels or cloths available, and I always have my Hydra-Wipe Pro in the car, ready for use. While it may freeze in some weather, if you keep it in the passenger compartment, interior heat should thaw it out after a short drive. Always dry off the weather seals on all doors and the trunk, and roll down the windows about an inch and dry off the seals there. Leave the windows down and drive the car with the heat on full for a while to dry out the seals in the windows before rolling them back up, to prevent them from freezing shut.
I usually never have problems with door locks freezing, but a spray of door lock anti-freeze doesn't hurt before and after any wash.
Get that crud off your vehicle as soon as possible and worry about the minor haze marks in the spring. I have proven that paint will rebound from an Illinois winter and let you win trophies in the spring if you prepare properly, keep the vehicle clean when possible, use glaze to remove minor problems at regular intervals, and do a full detail in the spring.
P.S. the car at the top of this article probably has never seen a real winter, but my 89 SHO has seen many of them and it still shines fine.
Anot
I found this and thought of MR.
I know many of the detailing pros in the forum may disagree with the content in this article. Winter washing can be a very tricky subject. My main objective when washing in the winter is to keep the salt and other dirt off of my car, and ensure that it stays swirl free. I’m not necessarily looking for the perfect shine.
I’ve come to accept the reality that my car will not stay clean for more than one day in the winter. No sooner do I wash it, it starts snowing, and the salt trucks are out in full force not long after that. With that said, I decided that it wasn’t worth it for me to freeze my ******* ass off attempting to hand wash my car in my garage with warm water. The effort always seemed wasted. I needed to find a way to get the dirt off without damaging my finish in any way. Thankfully, I found it.
Imho, the most effective and painless way I have found to wash my car in the winter is to go through a touchless automatic car wash found at my local gas station. Touchless washes have many advantages:
- They don’t use any brushes whatsoever. No contact is made with your paint.
- They use recycled water. Many believe this is a bad thing. I don’t think it is. Recycled water tends to be softer, thus reducing the potential for hard water spots. Most reputable places will filter the reused water ensuring it is clean prior to reuse on your car.
- Many automatic car washes will also wash the underbody of your car, another area where salt can stick and cause damage.
- The water pressure is not directed at a concentrated area of your car, rather it is dispersed evenly everywhere with the express purpose of cleaning the finish safely.
The biggest key to avoiding swirls from a touchless wash is NOT TO DRY THE CAR AFTER YOU EXIT THE WASH!!!. Let the car dry on its own. Why you ask? Well, as good as touchless washes are, they will never replace a good home hand wash. There will still be a very thin film of dirt present on your paint. Guess what happens if you rub a towel on your paint with dirt on it? That’s right, nasty swirl marks will appear. Not a good thing. As mentioned before, there is no need to worry about water spots, because the water is recycled.
What I would recommend is wiping off your door-jambs and door sills, as water may find its way in there.
Many people advocate visiting a coin operated hand wash place. My question is why?? It’s really no different than hand washing at home. And I’ve already told you why I don’t like that. I also don’t like the high pressure of the spray nozzle. You could potentially push dirt into your clear coat.
I’m also not a fan of the quick detail in between washing, or worse yet, as a replacement for washing. No amount of qd can replace the thick suds of good car wash soap. No qd can lubricate and safely lift winter dirt and salt off your car safely. I guarantee you will create swirls using this method. Remember, friction is the enemy. The less you touch your car, the less micro marring you put in the clear coat. This goes not only for winter washing and drying, but also for year round washing and drying.
Many people have also expressed concern about the aggressiveness of the soap used at touchless washes. Will it dull my paint? Will it strip my wax or sealant? The answers are no, and no. I’ve been taking my cars thru touchless washes for the last few years and have encountered no problems to date. My klasse sealant glaze always sheets water the first time I hand wash my car in the spring. This tells me that there is still SG left on my paint. The fact that there is still a thin film of dirt present on my paint after existing the wash is another indicator that the soap is not as aggressive as believed.
It’s also very important to clay and use a paint cleaner on your paint during your big spring detail. Performing these two steps are the best ways to rejuvenate your finish after a harsh northern winter.
